A Trial Run

Yesterday was a really nice day, so the kids and I decided to have a trial run of putting up the tent all by ourselves. Tyler says he wasn't laughing at us as he was looking on, but I have my doubts. We must have been a funny sight, so I can't say I blame him if he smirked a little here and there.

Here's the cast of characters:

• a Coleman Stockton 8-person tent
• a 12x16 tarp
• a rubber mallet
• a can of weather-sealing spray
• a container of seam sealant

And here are my lovely assistants, left to right:

• Matthew, 2
• Rebecca, 5
• Hannah, 8
• Clara, 7

First, we got out the tarp and opened it out. The tent is 9x14 and the tarp is 12x16 so we had to fold it up a little. The breeze made this a little challenging but I got it figured out. Four kids, four corners ... perfect.



Wave 'Hi' to Grandma, kids!!

Next, we opened out the tent and got it spread out over the tarp.



We lost a kid along the way, but that is ok. Three kids on three corners works almost as well as four kids on four corners.

Becky asked at this point, "Do we have to inflate it?" Trying to explain the mechanics of the poles and stakes to a 5 year old can be frustrating. After a few minutes I just said, "Watch and see!"

Then, we got all the poles put together and threaded into the proper sleeves. Getting them pushed through so it was tight was a little scary - I had to have the kids hold them on one side while I pushed them up from the other. I was worried that the poles would somehow come loose and smack one of them in the face, but thankfully that didn't happen and all was well.

Here it is part way up.



Finally, I staked it down and then put on the rainfly. I was also concerned about doing this part with no adult help because the tent is tall and I didn't know if we would be able to get it all the way over without help. But we did! We even did it a second time ... since I put it on backwards the first time!

So now I have no worries about getting this tent up without Tyler while we are on our trip. As long as we're not trying to set it up in heavy winds or pouring rain or in the middle of a hurricane or something, I think we'll be ok. And if we're in the middle of a hurricane, we'll camp out a the Motel 6 right down the road instead. Yet another advantage of not being out in the middle of the wilderness. ;)

The kids couldn't wait to get inside the tent and play.





Look (chuckle, chuckle, snort.) They're laying down, pretending to be asleep. We'll see how excited they are after they've done it for real for a month.



And so, we did it. We were proud! We were happy! We coated the whole thing with water-sealing spray, so that the rain would just roll right off of it, should we encounter any rain on our trip. We let it dry and then took it all down and put it away.

We forgot to seal the seams.