1: Kids want to play with the fire all the time. They also wanted to swing around burning sticks.
2: Start dinner as soon as you get to the camp site. It always takes long than you think it will and if you start early, it might be done before dark. If it isn't, you will be sharing it with all the bugs that come out at night and are attracted to your lantern that you are using to see your dinner in order to eat it!
3: When camping with a baby, take 2 cars to accomodate all the stuff as well as the kids.
4: A wagon is a necessary piece of equipment to get all the stuff from the car to the campsite. Make only 3 trips with the wagon, instead of 25 with just your arms.
5: A wagon also helps to carry the 23 pound baby that doesn't yet walk and keeps her from eating all the treasures she finds in the wild! (Bring lots of binkies, preferably with attached cords and clips: she will drop as many of them as she can in the dirt.)
6: A family of 6 needs an 11 man tent. That ensures there is enough room for the air mattress, the pack and play, all the food and garbage that you can't leave out at night or the racoons, skunks, and/or possums will get into, and 3 children who constantly will complain that someone is touching them while they are trying to go to bed at midnight. Also, bring flashlights that work so that you can see who's where in the middle of the night when you are trying to get out of the tent to use the bathroom and are tripping over everything trying to find the tent door.
7: S'more's are the best part of dinner. It is usually more fun to just burn the marshmallows to a crisp and then get a new one to do it again, than to actually roast them golden and eat them. (That only happens with the first one.)
8: The most important part about breakfast is the hot chocolate so you can warm your cold hands. Food comes second and is usually not eaten all the way because someone always spills their juice because they set it down in the wrong place on the lumpy table top. (Happened twice.)
9: You have to get the fire going early in the morning to warm up the children that didn't bring warm pants and jackets, even though you told them to pack them because it was going to be cold. (They won't believe you because it is currently 85 degrees when you tell them to pack.)
10: Just count on everyone being as dirty as possible and that everything that you took on the trip, whether you used it or not, will have to be washed.
Betsy (to Nate): Which jacket would you like?
ReplyDeleteNate: Just grab one of my flannel shirts?
Betsy: Which one? Is the blue one OK?
Nate: Yeah, that's fine.
Fast forward to the following morning. . .
Nate: Hey, where is my blue flannel.
Betsy: I didn't bring it. I thought you were going to pack it.
You guys crack me up! We haven't been camping in about 4 years...probably for many of the 10 reasons above. Brad loves it, but me, not so much that I'd choose it over any number of other possible diversions. Still, your entry brings back some fun memories. Great insights!
ReplyDeleteooops! That was obviously not Bonnie typing above. It's getting confusing with 3 different bloggers logging in all the time!
ReplyDelete~Julia
Thanks for the fun tips. We're planning on camping later this year. We'll keep these tips in mind! (Our boys love sticks as well.)
ReplyDeleteOn number 6, putting the food and snacks INSIDE the tent might not be a really good habit to get into. Some critters WILL find away to the food. If you are tailgating, stick it in the car.
ReplyDeleteOf course on the website for Yosemite, car windows didn't slow doen the bears much.
Jeremy wants to go camping but I don't think it sounds like that much fun with two small children who both need there individual space to go to sleep at night. It is fun to just build a campfire and roast s'mores then go inside your house and sleep in your bed.
ReplyDeleteYou can see why we didn't go camping any more than we did. Try the above with 4+ more children.
ReplyDeletei loved camping as a child, but as a parent, i don't do it anymore - it seems like i was always pregnant, or had a little one who had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. I love walking in the dark with wild animals around.
ReplyDeleteso maybe we'll start camping in a few years.
And I get tired of being so dirty. I know, whine, whine.
but I do love s'mores. Bruce is the supreme s'more maker. So we just go to the beach and build a big fire - that's pretty camp-like.
I posted a great post yesterday - a rebuttal of the complaints about camping. But it's lost in cyberspace somewhere because it's not here - but I suffer from short-term memory loss - acutally I always have, now I use age as an excuse - so I can't replicate it.
ReplyDeleteSuffice it to say, I still love camping in spite of it's many so-called deficits. And I didn't grow up camping - I didn't start doing it until I was an adult. Maybe that's what you have to do - start it "late in life!"
My kids are among those who complain about it - but they may mellow in time - especially as their kids grow older.
I think it's good disaster training!
I really do like camping. It is just much more complicated with a baby. We went backpacking a few years ago when Isaac was about 3 and we had a great time. The kids were all old enough to walk themselves without getting tired and even carried their own packs. Nate and I obviously carried most of it, but they did their share. I am sure that things will once again get easier. Just need to wait a couple more years.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it is good disaster training. Let's you see just what is a necessity and what is optional. It also makes you grateful for all the luxuries at home!
Great post. I love camping too, but I've never camped while being in charge of kids; I imagine that changes things!
ReplyDeleteI think I'd still like it though. One thing I actually like about camping is that everything gets dirty. Normally I don't like getting dirty. Somehow, though, with camping it's okay.
I draw the line with plumbing, though. There must be flushing toilets. I don't do Port-a-Potties OR holes in the ground.