Camping it up with the kids

I live to tell about my adventurous night with seven rising first graders in the tent in our backyard. Faith has been looking forward to her "Midsummer Night's Dream" sleepover party since she left school in May. Although none of the girls had much experience spending the night away from family, we managed to make it with only one little one going home. The worst part of it all, was the muggy night Friday. After low humidity early in the week, it was pretty brutal. We kept a small fan running in the tent, but by about 4 a.m. I could do without it. My only regret was not taking the camera out into the tent when I went to sleep. When I absolutely had to get up for a nature call at 7 a.m., the half dozen girls were precious in their various sleep shapes. A couple of heads popped up when I got up, but they sleepily went back down. My plan was to return with the camera, but by the time I got out of the bathroom, all of them were in a single file parade out of the tent and into the house. We managed to take a couple of shots back in the tent, including all of them piled onto my cot. This might turn out to be an annual tradition for Faith. The hardest thing was not being able to accommodate everyone considering our limited tent space. While there were a few girls not able to make it, the magic 7 number proved to be a good one for us. Everyone got along and seemed to have a fun time. I'm just glad I had the rest of the weekend to get some sleep.

- Liz Fabian