Two Moms, Four Kids, One Tent

It had been slightly more than two years since the last time we went camping (and, to be clear, I use the term camping incredibly loosely here; we were sleeping in a tent, but that was the extent of the ways in which we were roughing it), and I swear that our tent shrank significantly during that time. The first time we used it--when Luke and Jaz were 3, and I was pregnant with Zeben--it felt positively spacious. Lena and I were accustomed to real camping at that point (the kind where you're miles from civilization, cooking on a propane stove, peeing in the woods, and sleeping in a tent just big enough to lie down in), and the fact that we could fully stand, upright, in our giant, not-suitable-for-backpacking, temporary shelter was enough to make it feel like it was more house than tent. But now, post addition of Zeb and Leo, post creation of our outrageously comfy family bed extraordinaire, post ability to remember much of life pre-kids (real camping included), our 9' x 9' tent felt kind of a lot like the 81 square feet it truly is.

We brought a quilt, sheets and our king-sized duvet from our bed at home, hoping to recreate our cozy nest inside the tent. But I think the key ingredient to a cozy nest of a bed is actually not the bedding, but the mattress. And our tent version of the family bed was sorely lacking in that exact category. Our therm-a-rests just didn't cut it.


The kids actually slept really well in the tent. They woke up well-rested, and smiley . . . for the most part anyway.

I feel like I'm glimpsing a teenage version of Lukas here.

"Why, yes, Love, I slept absolutely wonderfully last night."


Fun with flashlights . . .

6:42 a.m.

6:44 a.m.

. . . quickly became fighting over flashlights.

6:46 a.m.

But what I love about camping at the Cape--why we'll continue to do it, despite less than ideal sleeping conditions--actually has nothing to do with the tent or sleep at all (or even, to some extent, the huge amounts of money we save, not renting a house). I love that camping forces us to be up and out by 7:00 a.m. each morning, with only one place to go: the beach. We ate three meals a day while looking out at the ocean, clocking in at least 40 hours of beach time in a three-night vacation. For a brief window, the rhythm of the tides became the rhythm of our life.

7:00 p.m.
Bedtime reading, 10 feet from the ocean

The lack of a house or a kitchen meant there was no need for us to spend any time preparing food or cleaning up (such a change from regular life!). There was no temptation to put the kids in front of a movie, and no need for toys of any kind. There was just sand and water, stones and wind to keep the children entertained all day long. We'd return to the campground after dark, transfer the kids into the tent (at least 50% of them would have fallen asleep on the drive home from the beach/P-town), and take a luxurious 4-minute shower (bonus feature of this campground: outdoor showers) before climbing into the tent ourselves.

As we were packing up on the last morning, I did find myself eyeing some of the pop-up trailers and RVs longingly, wondering what it would feel like to both sleep comfortably and be "camping," but the truth is that I think we do pretty well with our 81 square feet. And if nothing else, it certainly makes us appreciate our bed when we get back home, despite the fact that, sadly, there is no ocean in our backyard.