Last night I got four hours sleep. 

The Daddy and I had the brilliant idea of letting T-Bot and Baby Sister camp out in the tent in the yard. It was all going to be so cool. The Daddy would get an early night in the tent with the kids and wake up refreshed, while I would have peace and quiet holding fort in the house while The Wictor slept. 

So at around 8.30pm The Wictor and I tucked the three of them in, each with a green glow stick, a sippy cup and a look of pure glee on their face. Then I took the Wictor to bed. So far so good. As expected, there was some commotion as the dark set in. They activated their glow sticks and ran crazily around the yard. Yes, even The Daddy. There was some confusion as to whether the tent was broken, but we ascertained that the zip was just stuck. And then they all fell asleep at around 9.30. 

I worked solidly until 12.10, and as I was turning in, The Daddy came in to use the bathroom. Apparently Baby Sister was awake and had woken everybody up. I was dispatched to offer harsh words and threats of discipline, and all was calm. Or so I thought. An hour later The Daddy came to get me. Baby Sister had been spending the intervening time bouncing uncontrollably around the tent. The Boys could not fit a wink of sleep into the schedule and they were getting understandably frustrated. So I dished out a Last Ultimatum, listened to The Daddy whine about how he had already given the last ultimatum and I was supposed to just take her inside couldn’t I because he had had enough, and went back to bed.

Of course, once back in bed I decided that it was only a matter of time before I was summoned again, and it was therefore probably not worth sleeping. For the next hour I didn’t. At some point afterwards I did, only to be woken up just after 4 by The Wictor.

And then at 6 o’clock, as day broke, the Happy Campers came stomping indoors, the two younger ones enthusing about the Great Camping Experience while the elder one just collapsed silently onto the couch. 

And that, I think, is the end of our camping experiments for at least the next decade.