“Mommy, how cold would I need to be to freeze to death?”
He had asked me this question as we basked in the heat of the campfire but at 4 in the morning, literally hanging out amongst the trees, the question was enough to draw me from the warmth of my sleeping bag and hammock to ensure he wasn’t freezing to death.
He wasn’t. His body was cocooned in layers of wool and sleeping bag, snuggled tight with Blue Bear.
Struggling back into my hammock and sleeping bag I realized I couldn’t quite zip myself up with all the layers and the awkwardness of a hammock, so spent the rest of the early morning hours attempting to not stir the precariously pulled together sleeping bag.
I was rewarded by seeing two shooting stars – truly the heavens declare the glory of God!
Freezing wasn’t an unimaginable scenario – the night of our great camping trip dipped down to the lower 30’s and while we attempted to be prepared in our layers and blankets, we lacked the underquilt for our hammocks and everyone’s bottom end felt the chill.
I am researching homemade underquilts versus this well rated and moderately priced under blanket so we will be better prepared for our next winter camping trip. Because there will be many more of these chilly nights. This was our second winter camping trip, our third hammock camping trip, but our first winter camping in hammocks trip.
Winter camping in hammocks is hands down my very favorite way to camp.
The boys and I arrived at the campsite a few hours before Paul and our friends showed up. We had taken the day off school as it was the day our eldest turned ten – but a day without books isn’t a day without learning.
The boys came prepared with their wildnerness survival kits – flint rock, knives, bandana (filled with snacks, including bear jerky that a friend shared with them.), binoculars, compass and a few other little odds and ends they’ve put together.
Judah hunkered down with the flint rock and spent ages attemping to get a fire going.
He was determined to make it work and worked his hands to a chill swiping over and over again. “I will not give up on the way of my ancestors! I will not give in and go the way of my father!” He made that statement over and over … but in the end, ended up using a lighter to get our fire going. He did a great job at building a fire and it blazed well into the night.
We explored the beach a bit, the boys enjoying the squishy mud that their feet and Wesley fell in – resulting in himself, and later on his hammock, being crusted. The adventerous life of a boy.
He surprised me after a little while on the beach by announcing; “I think we should go back to the campsite and hang out in our hammocks and read. That sounds perfect!”
He is not my reader NOR my relaxing in a hammock kid, so I stared at him in confusion for a moment until he added his true intentions, “… And we could grab some snacks to eat in our hammocks, too.”
Ah, yes. That is my Wesley. 
We went back to camp and waited out the time til our entire group arrived by lounging in our hammocks and eating snacks and reading. It was a perfect way to celebrate our newly turned ten year old.
