Camping in My Big Backyard

Russ, Tyler and I camped overnight in Memphis Botanic Garden's My Big Backyard (MBB) this weekend! And we had an absolute blast!

It was Tyler's first time to camp and Russ and my first time to camp since before we had kids. We dusted off the tent and set it up in the yard before we went, just to make sure it still worked. Tyler and Caroline thought it was great fun and Tyler even cried when we had to take it down.

That little blur had fun running back and forth inside.

Granna came in town to keep Caroline...I was worried about her sleeping in the tent with us overnight. We headed to the Gardens with all our gear, picked our campsite and rode their shuttle to MBB to set up. Since we have a newly potty trained kiddo, I wanted to be close to the bathrooms just in case. We had a great spot and Tyler loved helping pitch the tent.

Campsite #7!

Tent up and ready to go!

Our attempt at a family selfie but Tyler was too busy looking around. Ha!

After our camp was set up, Tyler got to make a nametag necklace with help from me. We then went on a scavenger hunt looking for things all around MBB. We found most of them pretty easily except for the feather...but Russ was determined to complete the list! We finally found one and Tyler claimed his prize...a mini magnifying glass. But, I think he had more fun playing as we were hunting. :)

Reading the list of things to find on our scavenger hunt.

Throwing in a piece of "litter" that was on our list.
The rest of the camp out, every time he saw trash, we had to pick it up! Ha!

All that hunting and playing got everyone hungry, so we made a trail mix snack. Tyler LOVED scooping his own into his cup to make his mix. We took it with us as we enjoyed our free time in MBB before dinner.

Chasing each other on the stone path.

For dinner, they had several fire pits set up for grilling hot dogs and Russ did the honors for us. We also had fruit, carrots and chips. Then, of course, we played some more.

Tyler's favorite part was the yummy lemonade.

We stopped by our tent to drop a few things off and
Tyler wanted to try out his cot and pretend to take a nap.

Making music!

Beautiful sunset!

After dinner, they had a couple super cute craft stations set up for us to do as a family. At the first one, we made our own fire with a piece of wood, rocks, tissue paper and a tealight. Tyler was super pumped about it until he accidentally touched the tip of the hot glue gun! Oh there were screams and tears!!

Excited about the glowing tealight.

Placing the rocks on the hot glue.

Russ snapped a picture right after he got burned, poor kid! :(

Showing off our fire after a Popsicle to help with our hurt finger.

The next craft was a family handprint fire...this one was my favorite and will be a great keepsake from our first camp out. Plus, who would have ever thought I'd get Russ to paint his hand! :)

Once it got dark, we roasted marshmallows for s'mores and went on a night hike led by a staffer with our flashlights. Then it was time to get ready for bed and lights out for the night.

Picture break on our night hike.

While waiting in line for the bathroom, Tyler climbed up in
the rocker next to Russ and said, "Take a picture of us, Mommy!"

In our tent, looking at all the things he got throughout the day.

It was an unusually pleasant July night (it got down to an amazing 69* I think that night!), but we still slept with the flaps open to let in some air. Tyler did GREAT sleeping on his cot in the tent. Russ and I were on sleeping bags, though I did have a camp mat under me, and neither one of us slept too great. MBB is really close to the train tracks and the trains went by all.night.long and blew their horns...it kept Russ and I up, but it didn't seem to phase Tyler. I snapped a few fun pictures of him sleeping on his cot in the early morning hours. The other families around us started waking and getting up about 6a!

Once we got up, we grabbed some breakfast...they had hot oatmeal with tons of toppings,, bacon and pop-tarts. We packed up our gear and did a little more exploring before we took the shuttle back to the truck.

Checking out all the things we found the night before on our scavenger hunt.

Enjoying his first ever poptart!

Throwing some rings on the "campfire".

Walking the balance beam.

Building with Daddy.

Driving the car they made.

It became their mission to use every building piece there was. Ha!

We really did have the best time! I would totally recommend it as a great first camp out for a young family just because you don't have to bring and prepare your own food or come up with activities to do. I can't wait to do it again with Caroline!

Tyler showing off our finished handprint art from our 1st Camp Out!