He calls it his castle...

DH knows how badly I want a Kingdom tent from REI. A nice tent with height to stand in it, and a separate room that can be closed off. We have several great tents from our years of camping, but our family has grown since we met 10 years ago (golly, it's been that long!) and we do not have a tent we can stand up in. DH doesn't think that is necessary, but he did try to accommodate my wishes for more space:

It's not the Kingdom, but it did make for more space when he put two of our tents close together and covered the middle with a rainfly. It makes a small tunnel that links our tents together so that the boys are still "with us" and yet have their own "room." He calls it his castle, and you have to smile about that! All 5 of us camped in the front yard last night and it was fun. The boys have asked to camp out there again tonight, so when I finish this post and finish with the laundry, we'll head out there again.

Tuesday evening the kids and I went for a few mile hike at Rancho San Rafael Park. We hiked the trails through the Labyrinth and around the two ponds, waterfall and playgrounds. It was a nice evening, with a good breeze after a hot day. J has completed many mountain and flat hikes with me, the longest being 11 miles when he was 5. L is more of a sprinter (though at 3.5 he snowshoed this winter with us for 3 miles), but he did well on our hike, but definitely had more fun searching the ponds for tadpoles and minnows with his big brother. I brought the boys' nets and a gallon jug for collecting critters. The trails are all smooth enough for E's little stroller. On previous hikes I've carried her in the Baby Bjorn front carrier, but I thought it might get tricky if I had to fish the boys from a pond :0) Here are a few pics from our hike: