Basement Camp Out

Ever since Bryson got his new pirate sleeping bag for Christmas he has been DYING to have a camp out. So rather than waiting until the snow melts enough to venture into the mountains, Mike decided to surprise Bryson with a camp out in the basement. Without warning, Mike told Bryson to pack a bag and grab his sleeping bag and pillow because they were going on a camp out! Bryson was a little hesitant because there was a foot of snow outside and he didn't know if he wanted to camp out that bad, but Mike insisted and they got everything packed up in the car and off they set--first to return a library movie and then to "a special spot" to camp. They drove around for a while with Bryson in the back seat utterly confused and thinking his dad had gone completely crazy. He was not excited at all about the idea of sleeping outside in the freezing cold. When Mike pulled up to the house and told Bryson that the special spot was in our basement, his mood immediately changed to pure excitement and he came running into the house beaming. I was on the couch feeding Lilly as he ran in, threw down his sleeping bag and excitedly yelled, "we're camping in the basement!" He thought it was the coolest thing.

They lugged all of their camping gear downstairs and worked on getting the tent set up on a little patch of carpet we have in the corner of our unfinished basement. Bryson couldn't contain his excitement and was so busy jumping and dancing around that he hardly helped with the set up of the tent, but eventually Mike got it set up and they were ready for their big adventure.

They got their sleeping bags situated, changed into their jammies and then put on a movie to watch. We didn't want Lilly to feel left out so we let her join in on the fun for a little bit. It was so cute to go down the next morning with Lilly in my arms to find Bryson and Mike curled up fast asleep in their sleeping bags. Mike said that sleeping on our cold, hard basement floor made for one of the most uncomfortable nights of his life, but that it was worth it to get to spent some quality time with his son. I feel so lucky to be married to such an amazing father.

Life rules!