Set up a tent with your family. A fun activity? Or is it just horrific? We are going camping with our family. Almost. For the first time. In a tent. That's why we wanted to set up our new tent at home first. To see if everything is there. And to practice. We don't want to be embarrassed at the campsite. Whether that worked….
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Last year my family talked me into camping in a tent. She had wanted to go on holiday with her own tent for some time. Not me. Renting a holiday home or mobile home was fine with me. My family persevered and now we are real big tent owners. With accompanying camping equipment. We are about to expand. A tent is one thing. But then also all those other camping gear. Not normal what you have to buy and take with you.
Last year we went camping for a week in a borrowed tent. And fair is fair. That was great fun, even sleeping on a sleeping mat didn't disappoint me. I agreed to the purchase of my own tent, but subject to a number of conditions. At this point I didn't even think about setting up the tent.
All these conditions have been met. We bought a six-person tent, which is quite different from the fresh and black tent Joyce has! With a spacious awning/awning. Here we will sleep with three people. Our son has appropriated his own tent. There are hanging options and there is a large closet. We have wonderful air mattresses, good camping chairs and our own refrigerator has also been purchased. So far so good.
The campsite is booked and I'm really starting to get excited about our holiday. But put up that tent. I think that's a thing. My hubby has camping in his blood. He passed on his love for camping to our son. But for our daughter and me, camping is not so obvious. Not yet.
Hubby has a family activity planned on a hot Saturday morning. We will set up the tent together. Let's see if everything is there and how it works exactly. After all, good preparation is half the battle. And once well prepared, we won't make a mistake at the campsite.
The tent is divided into two huge pockets. The tent poles, groundsheet, inner tent, everything is neatly and tightly packed. Before the stuff is carried out, I'm already broken. What a drag. But I don't let myself be known. I help husband and son unpack and try to see how it goes, setting up such a tent.
Our son is truly a hero. He immediately gets to work and slides the aluminum tent poles together without any effort. I don't know how it's possible, but I'm still having a bit of trouble with that. I look closely at how our son works and I am getting better and better. Daughter continues to monitor at an appropriate distance and brings us a nice cup of coffee in between. We can also use her as a temporary tent pole, but that's where it really ends.
The men quickly understand how setting up the tent works and the tent will be up in the foreseeable future. Okay, it's not quite tight yet, but it's standing. Hubby thinks we should also see how the floor should go in. I think it's enough, but then I realize that I can now make myself immortal. I'm sure I can lay such a "floor", and then I can let those men smell a shit.
This looks a bit different. I'm laying the floor upside down, it seems. Because of this I'm overlooking the color labels so I don't see where to start with zippers. Really, I'm really trying, but I can't get it done.
While hubby watches my bumbling, holding back his laughter, my son takes over for me. He is ten years old and does not turn his hand around setting up the tent. Then he also zips the entire floor to the tent. Like it's nothing. And I? I watch in astonishment. Buy another pocket knife and he can go out into the meadow world without his parents!
It's the same story with the awning. I have already turned the canvas back and forth three times and I still don't see how it should be attached to the tent. Fortunately, men know how to do it and in the end we manage to set up the tent together.
And wow. How beautiful he is! And big. It doesn't disappoint. It takes a while to find and look closely. But we can do this job together! And that is a very nice feeling. So you can really learn to camp.
I almost want to grab a glass of wine on the good outcome of setting up the tent. Because it is still a bit early, and there is still more work to be done, I have left it alone. Because what I didn't realize is that the work isn't done yet. Far from. Now it's just getting started. Everything has to be packed again. How do we get the tent back so neatly in the bags? Well…. So that doesn't work.
No matter how I fold back and forth, smooth and fold again, I don't get the tent rolled up as tightly as when we bought the tent. The tent pockets are bulging and I can barely get it all in the pockets. Do you have that now? Or does one of you have the golden packing tip for us?
Now only one important question remains….. how do we get everything on board?? The training “setting up a tent” may have been successful. Taking a smart course wouldn't be out of place either. I expected to be tense before setting up our tent. But with two camping champs by my side, I'm confident in that now. But now I'm nervous if we're going to get it all. Hubby doesn't see the problem. That is perhaps what worries me the most. Under the guise of "selection at the door" he will soon pack the car. He easily leaves things that don't fit well and are not necessary. That's for sure. And let's have quite a different opinion about the definition of necessary camping equipment….
The trunk of our station wagon is almost completely filled with tent. We do have a roof box, but in addition to all camping equipment such as kitchen utensils, camping chairs and the like, there must also be room left for my necessary camping supplies:dresses, beautiful camping crockery, camping wine glasses, table cloths, cute pillows and nice lights for the tent. Because say yourself. You can camp in style.
How are you going on holiday this summer?
