That sort of thing can be the greatest fun when it's done well like that and the cool thing is that the kids LEARN useful stuff without even thinking about it.

I've got to toss out one thing that has been "bugging" me for the last few years - ticks. I never had a tick on me all my growing up years here. I go away at 18, spend a career in the Army, retire back here, and OMG! We've got some sort of ecological spasm going on here - dunno if it's a cyclical thing with a long period or if it's an eco problem, but it's nasty to be warm-blooded around here and be out anywhere. One of our dogs already tests positive for Lyme, and they go nowhere that we don't go. Last backpacking trip, despite frequent applications of DEET, wife scrounged 4 off me when we got back and I got 7 off her - and we were flicking the little buggers off us constantly, DEET or not. I'm now resigned to having to permethrin my clothes (thought I was done with that when I left Africa). That's expensive and I doubt that I can convince many parents to do it.

I slept out on the ground lots of times as a youth and sure as heck spent a lot of time wandering ravines, woods, creeks, etc. Never had a tick on me - I was an adult before I even saw one. This is wierd.

Oh, well. Winter is my favorite time to camp anyway...