Last weekend we took the kids on their first tent camping adventure. We went to the rim, near Blue Ridge Reservoir. Owen has gone camping with Grandma & Grandpa in their motorhome, but obviously this is a different experience. For him & us. As I mentioned, I've done a lot of packing lately - week long trips to CA & NY - but it's been a long time since I've camped, and adding kids to that makes packing even harder. We somehow managed to bring just about everything we could possibly need (read: too much) and still have room for the kids. It'll probably be a year until we go camping again, so to remind myself then what I know now, here are the things I want to remember next time.
1. Go super easy with the food. We went with some friends who brought the main course for the dinner (hamburgers). We brought corn and bacon. For breakfast I cut up potatoes and brought eggs, cheese & green onions to go along with the leftover bacon. I figured we would enjoy some good food while "roughing" it. Even though I cut up everything ahead of time, it still seemed like everything took too long. I would have rather rolled out of bed and had a pre-made muffin that cleaned up easy and had more time to spend with the kids. Same with the dishes; this trip I was attempting to clean the dishes in the dying light. Disposable is probably the way to go, but if I'm feeling environmentally conscious, I could bring enough plates/silverware to not have to do dishes.
That being said, don't skimp on the s'mores. Our friend had the idea of trying different chocolates (kit kat, crackle, etc.). We'll have to try that next time.
2. I don't need to pack so much. I brought a bag of toys/activities for the kids that never even got opened. Sophie was (mostly) content to just crawl around and explore. Owen played with the other kids and their stuff. And I need to make a rule for next time. No electronics once we are there. Yep, I'm looking at you, Keith. No music and no movies on the Nook (although I will admit having the movies makes the car ride a lot easier).
3. Except, of course, for the camera. I don't have many pictures this time cause we've been having trouble with our batteries, which of course died in the middle of the trip. I find taking pictures is therapeutic, so this was a source of frustration for me.
4. The other exception would be flashlights. When my family went camping growing up, we usually went for a walk after dinner. So this time I sold it to the kids as a "flashlight walk". Everyone had their own, which Owen really liked. It was a very small campground (only 10 spots), so the walk was short, but hopefully as the kids get older we can extend it and make it a tradition.
5. One other thing not to forget is water shoes. Probably the best part of the trip was when we went to the creek (East Clear Creek on FR 95) and walked around in it. Sophie of course crawled right in. Owen, expanding on the courage he gained playing in the rain and swimming in the lake in NY, got his clothes wet. And didn't even complain about it!
6. Make room for the wine. That was a good call, if I may say so myself.
7. Not only do I need to pack less, but I need to pack *better*. Living out of the back of a car is not easy when nothing is in easy reach and mixed in with a bunch of other stuff. For our car trips to CA we started using big bins to put our stuff and clothes in. It works great when you have a place to go where you can take stuff out of the bins and organize them. However, digging through a bin of the whole family's clothes, in the dark, to find one specific piece of clothing, was frustrating.
8. The middle of the night is probably not the best time to form a plan on what to do if a bear attacks your tent/car. Sophie did not sleep well that night. She went to bed fine, but then when we came back in the tent to put Owen to sleep, she woke up. And stayed awake for 3.5 hours. Which left me half asleep/half awake, listening to the sounds in the campground. I definitely heard animals in the distance (supposedly cows, but I'm not so sure). Combine that with my parents telling me the week before that some campgrounds near the rim were closed due to bears attacking tents, and my mind was playing tricks on me. At one point I was convinced a bear had his paws up on a car and was pounding on it. Turns out it was just our friends getting in their car to get their mattress pump. Hmmm, maybe the wine wasn't such a good idea.
9. Give Sophie the Tylenol at the first sign that she is going to be awake, don't wait 3.5 hours. That usually puts her back to sleep, so I'm not sure why I wait so long. Guess I was too busy thinking about bears.
10. Spend more than one night. Camping is a *ton* of work. We couldn't go Friday night, so we arrived Saturday around noon. By the time we made lunch, cleaned up from lunch, put up our tents, organized things a bit, we only had a short time to do things like hike and go to the lake before we had to get dinner ready. Then clean up from dinner. Then get ready for bed. Sleep, then get breakfast ready, then clean up, then take down the tents, then... Well, you get the idea. At one point Owen asked who was going to play with him and Keith and I couldn't - we had too much work to do. I felt a wave of guilt come over me. The idea of camping is to have family time, and we didn't have enough of that this camping trip.
Overall we did have fun. I'm not sure if it was worth all of the work, but you never can tell for sure. Each new experience for the kids helps them grow. I've been told it gets easier as the kids get older, and hopefully I'll know how to pack/organize better next time.
And, in case you are wondering, I just looked up how to deal with a bear. If there is a bear outside of your tent, make sure it is aware there is a human inside by using a firm monotone voice, turn on a flashlight, and if the bears enters the tent, fight back and yell.
Ok, I'm ready for next time.
The group hiking. Owen called it an "Explore" (from Winnie the Pooh). Whatever you call it, it didn't last long, as it started raining and thundering, so we headed back. Pictured: Megan with Maya, Rob with Kayan, Tina (with ??), Bryan with Finn, Keith, and Owen. I had Sophie on my back.
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| From O So August 2012 |
Owen was a little cranky at the start of the hike and refused to walk. Then five minutes later he was running up and down the trail chasing people. That's Owen for you.
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| From O So August 2012 |
The Blue Ridge Reservoir. Our friends brought kayaks, but the lake itself was only accessible at the boat ramp, which was crowded, so we didn't end up going in because it wasn't very kid friendly (and the kids all fell asleep on the bumpy dirt road to the lake). But it was very pretty!
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| From O So August 2012 |
Sophie enjoying the campground (Blue Ridge Campground).
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| From O So August 2012 |
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