CAMP OUT!

(*Note: Please forgive me, I couldn't take any pictures the night of my date because my camera is busted and currently in for repair! So I did the best I could with what I had. Enjoy!)

Every time I hear the two words Camp Out, I automatically think of the movie "The Sandlot". (We've always loved that movie.) Hopefully you have all seen it and now know where my initial inspiration came from. My hubby and I love camping...scratch that. We realized that we were IN LOVE while camping. It's true. We took a trip up to Hoback Junction, WY with my parents and my little brother for a weekend camp out. I have always looked back on that trip and remembered that feeling of realization that hit like a ton of bricks. Little did I know, my hubby had the same realization at the same time. This also happened to be the same weekend that we said the big "I love you" to each other. I wanted to share this story with you so you have a good idea of where my date stemmed from. (Below is a picture of our first Camp Out together.)

I was also really inspired by Corie's recreate your first date. Although, this wasn't our first date - it was obviously the turning point in our relationship. So I decided, what the hey?! Why not try to recreate that date here in town? Several reasons for this being: it is hard to find someone to take the kids overnight, a literal camp out in the mountains takes a lot of planning and preparation and packing and time that I just don't have, and I wanted something that would involve our children for the part of the date they'd be awake for. Thus doubling as family bonding and a date with my man, blah-blah-blah. LOL. I wanted this to be something that I could put together easily in one day with my crazy schedule and still have it be fun, creative and inexpensive. SO without further ado...here is how I pulled off my date:

Camp Out Chapstick is Essential

I wanted to give my husband a little incentive (not that he needs any) to hurry on home after work. Over our Hoback Jct, WY Camp Out weekend, we literally went through an entire tube of NEW chapstick because we were kissing so often. (Yea... you've all been there once too! Can't seem to keep your Puckers separated! {*WINK**WINK*} And above is a pic of my hubby during that weekend using the said chapstick) I wanted to give my husband a little "invitation" to part of our date on his way to work, so that he could be thinking about it all day long...heehee! (unfortunately, I didn't have it put together in time, so I slipped it onto the dash of his car while he was working.) I got a new chapstick and put it in an envelope with his name and a lipstick-smack on the front. (*Note: This apparently wasn't the smartest idea on my part b/c he caught on right away...but since none of you have this exact same experience - right - you're significant other will still be in the dark).

Click Here to view the Invitation.

The "invitation" was more of an outline for one of the "games" we were going to play later in the evening called A Kiss-a-Thon. That goes without saying (ahem *dot*dot*dot*).

Camp Out Entertainment ;)

I had prepped everything during the day so that it was ready to go by the time he got home. I set up a small 2-man tent in our backyard and laid down our "make-out quilt" on the bottom. (This is the same quilt we dragged around with us to parks to cuddle and kiss on while we were dating.) I picked up a bag of trail mix, 2 small flashlights (at the dollar store), some water bottles, the games Skip-Bo and Phase 10, our dating scrapbook (with all of our Camp Out pictures from Hoback Jct, WY in it), and this book (Mysteries of the Unknown Mystic Places):

Since I did all of the set up during the day I had both of my boys help me. They thought it was so cool! So it made for some fun bonding time with my kiddos.

Camp Out Food

To go along with my Camp Out theme and my "Keep it Easy" theme, I opted for tin foil dinners, fresh strawberries and indoor smores for dessert. And I must say that SIMPLE was definitely how to describe it. Tin foil dinners are super easy and quick for clean up. No dishes required.

Click Here to view the Tin Foil Dinner recipe and Here to view the Indoor Smores recipe.

We made the Tin Foil Dinners when Adam got home from work and he cooked them out on our grill. After dinner was done and our boys were in bed, we made our way out to our little tent. The first thing we did was take a trip down memory lane and reminisce about our first Camp Out together.

We actually didn't end up playing either of the card games, but I'm glad that I had them available in case we got bored {*WINK**WINK}. After we looked through all of our dating scrapbook, we just read to each other from the Mystic Places book. Adam and I both enjoy learning new things together and this book definitely had some interesting topics.

Once we were finished reading it was time to play our Kiss-a-Thon game ;). It is amazing how you can get out of the make-out groove over the years. We both got the giggles trying to stick to the rules and then a few minutes into it - the rules all went out the window. Hahaha! But we had a good time trying to play this game anyway. Happy Camping!