Backyard Camping

(To the tune of Farmer in the Dell)

A-camping we will go,
A-camping we will go,
Hi-ho and off we go,
A-camping we will go.

~~~~~~~

My daughter was so thrilled and eager when her Tatay (daddy) announced that we would be camping in the backyard last night. She trotted and marched around the living room singing the song A-camping we will go, something she learned from watching Barney videos during the day. "Can I go camping, Mama?", Hannah would repeatedly ask me and I patiently answered her, "Yes, darling". My boys were equally ecstatic about camping in the backyard; they couldn't contain their excitement as they helped their dad set up the tent. Summer would soon be over and Bernie & I wanted our boys to have stories to tell their friends when they return to school in September.

Camping was something we wanted to try this year, however, my husband & I got too wound up with gardening and landscaping and so; we never got the chance to go camping in a real campsite. We said we'd buy a tent whenever we see it on sale, but we never got around to buying one until last Sunday. It was 70% off on selected camping gears in Superstore and so we bought one for $29.99; it was just the right size for a family of 4 (or 5 with a little one). We didn't want to invest in a bigger one because we were not sure whether camping was going to be a yearly thing for us we wanted to test the waters first before we really jump in and go all out on the gears. So last night Bernie assembled the tent and we made us cozy as possible for the kids. They were cozy alright...except for me! I was cramped in the middle, the boys were snoring, the cars and people passing by disturbed the silence and lastly, the ground was too hard for my back. It probably would have been more comfy for me if we had an airbed, but we didn't so we laid blankets and comforters instead. I ended up sleeping by myself in the master's bedroom...the bed was all mine! Still I am happy that the kids were able to experience camping even if only in the backyard. Francis & Marcus requested if they could sleep in the tent again tonight, just the two of them...I said 'yes'. Maybe next year, we could go to a real campsite and have the sounds of nature put us to sleep. For now...backyard camping is good enough for us.

Those of you who haven't tried camping maybe you could do the same and camp in your backyard. Here are some websites I've researched that you might find some ideas on how to make camping in the backyard fun:

How to Create Your Own Family Camp-Out at Home

Creative backyard Camping
How to enhance Backyard Camping

Places where you could get your camping gears:
Canada
Canadian Tire
Real Canadian Superstore
Mountain Equiptment Co-op
Ebay Canada
USA
Ebay US
REI
Campmor
Eastern Mountain Sports
Coleman
Mountain Gear

WELCOME

First of all, thank you for stopping by and sharing with me a few minutes of your time. I am so thrilled about this new blog of mine because, unlike my other blogs, HODGEPODGE BLOGGER is going to be a family blog--meaning, my husband & kids will co-write with me.

Let me explain how I came up with the name, HODGEPODGE BLOGGER. My first choice of name was MISHMASH (n. A collection or mixture of unrelated things; a hodgepodge.), however, the name was being used by someone else already. Then I thought, "how about hodgepodge?"...that was taken as well. The name Hodgepodge, I thought, was appealing and cute, and so I added the word blogger to it, however, the url Hodgepodgeblogger.blogspot.com was not available so I decided to use writer instead. I kept the Hodgepodge Blogger for the title of my blog because it seems more appealing to me.

Needless to say, you know what to expect from this blog. It will be anything and everything that comes to our mind or pleases us. My husband, kids and myself have different interests, although, we do have some things in common. Like myself & Francis (my eldest son), we both love to read books and so we might write about the lastest books we've read. Bernie (my love) is a programmer by profession but he does more than program softwares; he is a man of many talents. You will see and learn about him as you read his posts. Marcus (my youngest son) is our musician & mathematician and he loves to play games on the computer, on the Nintendo Wii & DS...he is not yet into writing, but who knows, he might come up with something to write about. Watching movies is one of a few things my family enjoys, we like to rent DVDs or go to the cinemas together. My husband & I share a passion for singing, not professionally, but it is what kinda brought us together (cheeeeeesy!). My daughter, Hannah, is only 2 1/2 years old and so you won't hear from her until another 5 or 6 years, we're still figuring out her interests as she grows.

Now I've briefly introduced my family & myself to you. I hope you will come back and visit us again. Once again, thank you for your time.

WELCOME to HODGEPODGE BLOGGER!