nature

We had our very first camping trip with kids, it took us long enough considering that my husband and I met while camping and even our handfasting/wedding was a camping festival. The last time we camped I was heavily pregnant with my first but then car seats took over the backseat and we had the logistical challenge of how to fit gear and kids in the car.

We finally overcame that challenge and had a weekend trip to a festival and aside from some mishaps such as our tent frame breaking during setup and having to rig things with duct tape, bungee cords and rope to avoid a 30 minute drive to civilization for a new tent it was a relative success.

The boys had fun and while it was a completely different experience for me, I enjoyed seeing them play in nature, dancing around the fire at drum circle and being kids.

Some things that I learned about camping with kids:

1. don’t use the old pre-kids packing list or you’ll end up driving 45 minutes to the closest store because you didn’t pack underwear for your 4 year old.
2.  If your car can’t fit a kiddie pool, make sure that your kids tolerate showers or at the very least like to get wet with a hose. That was quite the loud scene for the whole encampment to enjoy after the kids had a tad too much fun playing with dirt.
3.  Two tubes of bubbles from the dollar store that look like lightsabers will provide endless hours of entertainment even after all of the bubble juice is gone and will keep the kids from playing with the dirt and requiring a very loud screaming filled shower.

So aside from needing a new tent and having to train the boys to not act like a shower is medieval torture, I would go camping again.

Have you gone camping with kids? Any tips to share?