C-A-M-P-O-U-T!!!

Before our third son was born, my husband wanted to start a special tradition with our kids..  At the time, our oldest son was 4 and our second son was 2. We decided to make Friday nights our Family 'Camp Out Night'.
Every Friday night we would drag out the sleeping bags and pillows to our living room floor.  The boys picked special movies and games that they wanted to watch and play.  I usually made a special snack to eat while we watched the movie. As a baby, our third son joined family Camp Out Night's in the Pack-n-Play.  The boys loved Camp Out Night and never wanted to miss it!  Sleeping on the living room floor wasn't easy, but I wouldn't have missed all those giggles and games for anything!
As the boys grew, when they reached special goals or achieved certain things, we wanted to reward them.  The boys got to choose, within reason, what they wanted as a reward. That usually meant pizza.  It didn't take long, before they realized that they would like to have an extra 'Camp Out Night' as a reward!  Imagine, trading in pizza for sleeping on the floor!
There are 10 years between our oldest son and our youngest son (4 boys).  When number 4 was born, he also enjoyed Camp Out Nights with all of us. Sometimes in the summer we would drag the sleeping bags out to the trampoline and all 6 of us would sleep there.  Needless to say, when one of us rolled over, everyone else knew it!  We have a sleeping porch off of our Master Bedroom.  When the weather was warm, we would drag the sleeping bags and fans out on the sleeping porch and have 'Camp Out' there.  We would lay out there and listen to stories that the boys would tell.  Sometimes we would break out into song!  We certainly weren't a choir, but we had a great time.  I am sure that the neighbors wondered what was going on when they could here us giggling and singing, but they couldn't see us.
Our boys enjoyed family Camp Out Night's so much that they looked for reasons to be rewarded with extra nights!  As the older boys grew up and moved out of the house, the youngest still wanted to have Camp Out Nights. We have so many great memories from our Camp Out nights!  Our boys are old enough that the really cute sleeping bags weren't easily available then.  Today, there are so many cute ones on the market.

Horse Nap Mat

  Check out the adorable Stephen Joseph Nap Mats at The Crazy Dazy and start your own family Camp Out tradition.  There are Boy Nap Mats and Girl Nap Mats and there are also Nap Mats that work for both like the Monkey and the Horse.  Stephen Joseph offers may great designs!  You can make the Nap Mats extra special by having them personalized.  Whatever you choose, enjoy making special memories that will last a lifetime!

Pink Turtle Nap Mat