This weekend my boys wanted to go camping.  But The Only Girl doesn’t so much like camping.  In fact she’s really more like a hotel girl.  Or a cottage girl.  Definitely not a tent-in-the-middle-of-the-dirty-woods girl.  And besides, the only camping equipment we own is a tent (that we got for free when we cashed in some of our credit card points) and a flashlight.

So I gave them my list of requirements.  If a campground meeting those requirements could be found, we would go.  And no – I don’t think I was asking for too much:

- somewhere less than 1 hour away

- MUST have clean, bright, bug-free flushing washroom facilities

- must have clean, bright and bug-free showering facilities

- hydro must be available at all times

- there must be hardly any bugs

- there must be no threat of animal attacks

- there should be a playground in the vicinity (at first it appears that I’m a really nice Mom who requests this for the sake of my children, but really, it’s just to keep them busy so that I can get some relax time)

- and in an attempt to sabotage them, I requested that it must be near water that’s suitable for swimming and at least 80 degrees warm

But even with such a demanding list, they were able to find such a campground.  So I packed up everything and everyone, and away we went . . .

To our backyard.  For the night.

And it was fun.  And if you used your imagination – you could have been in the middle of nowhere.  Like Survivor Man.  With only the bare necessities to keep you alive.

But we weren’t.  We were in the comfort of our own backyard.  With our heated swimming pool.  And our swing set and sand box.  And my own washroom nearby.  And in case of extreme discomfort or an unpredicted storm – several cozy beds were just steps away.

And in the morning when we woke up, Willie went for Timmies!

Now that’s my kinda camping!