Tents, Huts and Forts

I have come to the conclusion I like the same things I liked when I was ten.

I came to this conclusion tonight while sitting in the tent I set up for Camille and Sadie.

I bought it at Costco when the girls were about three days old. It was just something they both really needed. It been a long 375 days without the tent (and two crawl thru tubes), so finally, after a great amount of whining ( mostly on my part) , I finally set it up for them...

And then I sat it in all night. Camille stayed in it with me for a while, but she tired of it after a few minutes. Sadie actually used the crawl tubes and I even got the Yorkie to run through one side. But overall, I seemed to enjoy it more than anyone else.

Sensing my disappointment Christian tried to console me, " They will play with it more when they are older," he said. Or maybe not.

If this was my tent I would so be sleeping in it tonight.

I love tents, forts and huts. I even got a water bottle for us to use if we got thirsty. Camille wasn't thirsty, Sadie only had a little sip.

"Having something to drink and eat is part of the experience, " I tried to explain to them both. Although I can't be 100%, I don't think they get it.

It is absolutely possible my daughters will not share my enthusiasm for the tent, or for their two other tents I have not opened yet.

When I was a kid, my life would have been so totally complete had I had a tent like this one...set up in the LIVING ROOM...

Although Gioconda did not appear to oppose the tent, I noticed she didn't spend any significant time sitting in it.

"Now we have THAT house," she said while I was rearranging the furniture to allow for the crawl tubes on both sides.

She's right. We do have THAT house now. There was a time we didn't even have a television in the living room, now a foot tall Alice in Wonderland sits on top of one of the three push vehicles which are filled with little plastic toys, most of which make sound, then there are the stuffed animals, and a set of menacing "twin" dolls Gioconda's mother bought the girls for Christmas...and that is just the living room.

It's difficult to go ape shit over a pair of shoes left in the living room when there is an actual temporary structure taking up the majority of the space.

The day after my daughters were born a colleague told me the best part of having kids was that you get to live your childhood over again, but this time you get to do it your way. He was right. Everything is more fun.

So now I get to set up a tent in my living room and sit in as long as I want...I'm just not clear how much of my childhood my daughters will actually enjoy reliving with me, but while I can still overpower them we will all be spending time enjoying the inside of the tent.