Thursday, July 2, 2009

Hope's Idea...Summer Club

I got an idea from Hope over at My Hope Is In The Lord to set up a tent in the back yard and stay out there like once a week for the summer months. She called it Summer Club.

We don't have a tent so I thought for a couple of days about how I could make one. I decided to take all of the twin size top sheets that no one wants to use and sew them together and hang it over the clothes line and use a couple of stakes and some twine and that would be it.

So here the kids are using clothes pins to hang the tent in place so I could get an idea of what I really needed to do.

I wanted to see what it would look like so we put some broom and mop handles in the corners and posed for a picture. Then we showed hubby a couple of days later after the rain and wind finished and it got sunny again.

We noticed that it was too heavy for the clothes line and it needed
more than twine. Hubby had some ideas, he took some
measurements and promised to dig around at work in the
left over wood and PVC pipe bin. Well he forgot for two
or three days and then the weekend came. It took a while
to get back around to it.

One morning I left the house to run some errands for an hour or so and this is what hubby and JB (our son) came up with. I thought it was cute and that it would be perfect. We discussed anchoring it and attaching the covering to the frame because the wind has been crazy this year and he said it blew over on the test run with the covering.

Later that evening I went out and tested it myself so I could take a picture. It definitely needs some more support and anchoring, but I can see that it'll work. So I took the covering off and hung it back on the line. I walked away and the wind was blowing. Then I heard the sound of PVC pipes collapsing on each other. I turned around and saw this...

Ahhhh! I sighed and got the camera. Look at the sheet. It's not moving at all, but moments earlier it was whipping all over and whipped the frame into submission.

Today hubby went back at it in the hot sun which he hates. He put it back together, anchored it into the ground, draped the covering over it again and my daughter (H) crawled in and layed down. There's still more to be done as you can see the sagging, but we're going to the ocean tomorrow for the day. Mr. Tent, you'll have to wait some more.

This might take all summer, but by golly we are gonna play in that tent some day or night and maybe even sleep out there.

Thanks, Hope, for the idea. Maybe next summer I'll buy a tent, if I have a job.
Happy tenting everyone.

8 comments:

  1. Awwww....I am sorry you have had a time with your tent. Don't give up, Momma....you WILL have your Summer Club Tent up soon and will have some amazing memories to keep forever in your heart!

    Blessings~
    Laura

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  2. Okay, that is one devoted mama!!! I mean seriously, I (as the good mother-of-the-year that I am) would simply take the easy way out, give kudos to Hope on a job well done, and say "Sorry kids, wish we had a tent so I could be that sweet, but we don't." and then I'd move on. You on the other hand, MAKE a tent!!!!

    What an awesome mommy you are. Better mama than me!!!

    BUT I guess I did take my kids to the beach on a whim.... yea, I'm not all that bad, huh?

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  3. Cool, Jacob had a tent but he would sleep in it all night lol

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  4. Hi Nannette! Well, I give you all credit for trying and trying!! It will come together one day, and I can't wait to see the pictures of it!!!

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  5. Nanette,
    You are funny! And very creative! I am sure your kids will probably have more fun in your made up one than any one you would ever spend a lot of money on. Great idea!
    Christy

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  6. I love it!
    This is so sweet, Nannette, and when my daughter saw it while I was reading your post, she said, “It’s so sweet it almost makes me cry.” What you have done is really special, and even if you do not sleep in it, you and your family are still making good memories!

    ♥Hope

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  7. Your hubby is so creative and I love how you sewed the sheets together. I loved the frame he made, so cute!

    Maybe you can borrow one some weekend? I wonder if you could get the cat to sleep out with you, lol!

    Hope you had a great day today and I'll see you tomorrow!

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  8. I hope you had a WONDERFUL 4th! Please stop by my blog. I have something for you!

    Blessings~
    Laura

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