And look what I realized was growing right next to the patio?

A Poinsettia tree!  Big, bright and beautiful right outside the window.  Wow.

Jake and Eli thought it was pretty cool, but not as cool as the tent.

Mike set it up on the deck to check it out before our upcoming camping trip.  It hadn’t been opened since our last camping trip as a family in the 80’s, when we moved to Seattle and went camping in a rain forest.  I remember that it was wet, and that the raccoons ate all our cookies!  I don’t know if the tent was ever opened after that.  And WHEW, it SMELLED like it!!  After two days of “airing out” it showed no signs of giving up the stench, so Ms. Hilda and Steven attacked it with vinegar, soap and water.  Good thing for us because neither Mike nor I were interested in cleaning the tent.  Lazy?  Yes.  But they did a WONDERFUL job and now the tent smells great!  No holes, no problems, easy to put up and take down… wow, what a nice tent.

The boys think so too!

Thank you Dad, for letting us use all the old camping stuff.  When I think of camping, I think of the Grand Canyon, Prescott, Yellowstone, Mormon Lake, pancakes, popcorn, pine needles, happiness, chipmunks, the hum of the propane, and someone accidentally misusing the trailer potty.  :).  Fun times!   We will give these things new memories and remember the old ones.  Thank you!!