Recently, on our Facebook page, I posted this…
Well, I’m here to come clean and admit that I was actually asking for myself. And a ton of you piped in and gave some awesome tips… including BRING LOTS OF WINE.
You read my mind.
Every year over 4th of July weekend, my side of the family goes camping (you can read about previous years here: 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014). Each year, we go to a different location… typically somewhere in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Illinois. This year we went to Wyalusing State Park just over the Mississippi River into Wisconsin.
Packing to go camping with 3 littles is NO JOKE.
We made a special point to get to the campground before any other family members so we could settle in, get first pic of tent locations, and just generally relax as a family before all the chaos started. I’m sooooo glad we did this!
The girls collected sticks while Nick and I unloaded the van. I wasn’t sure how Cypress would take to the great outdoors, but she seemed to have no problems adapting.
I had spent a lot of time worrying about how this camping trip would go down, but it ended up being soooo fun. The girls are now old enough to run and play with cousins, help make water balloons for the annual Water Balloon Fight, and roast their own hotdogs. Life is good.
Of course it doesn’t hurt that the weather was p.e.r.f.e.c.t. I mean, weather can make or break tent-camping… am I right? Last year it rained, and the year before that it was 150 degrees (give or take). So it was literally a breath of fresh air to enjoy mid-70’s all weekend.
I pretty much hung around the campsite the whole weekend with Cypress, but Nick got to escape with the girls on a bike ride a few times. He took this adorable pic of them at a look-out point. Please don’t ask what’s going on with Dell’s hair.
I had maybe wayyyy too much fun playing with the panoramic function of the camera on my phone. I’ll spare you and just post one.
There was a lot of chilling in the hammock. Paisley and Dell are obsessed with my sister Anna, and pretty much want to be with her allllll the time. She’s leaving soon to spend a year teaching in Belgium, so the girls soaked up as much time with her as possible. We’re all going to miss her tonnns!
It’s so fun to look back and see how our family camping trips have evolved over the past 10-ish years. It used to just be all my siblings and my parents. But spouses and kids have slowly been added to the mix, and it definitely makes for chaotic-yet-fun dynamic.
We love making memories and spending time with family. It’s getting harder and harder to get all my siblings and their families together all at once… so when we DO, it’s super special.
Does your family camp? If so, are we talking tents or RV’s? And if you’ve taken your little kids, was it a good experience or bad?
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We have been camping for a few years, and last year we bought a new 26′ travel trailer, so that’s what we use now. In less than a week, my husband and I are going to the U.P. of Michigan for 6 days….taking along our 8, 6 and 3 year old grandkids. Also camping with us (in their own travel trailer) will be my daughter and her family…which includes 3 more of our grandkids. So, after nearly a week of camping with a total of 6 grandkids, ages 3 – 9 (5 boys and 1 girl), I’ll let you know if it’s a good experience or not! Hehe!
We took our our kids tent camping in Michigan mid-June. Our original plan was to go to Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie in Pennsylvania, but the weather forecast was not good, so we changed plans two days prior to leaving and headed to Hoeft State Park on Lake Huron. We’ve camped in Michigan before and knew the weather could get chilly, so we were better prepared. It was our two-year-old’s first time camping, and he did much better than we expected. Of course, he ended up sleeping between us and taking over the air mattress and sleeping bags. We brought a portable dvd player to help entertain him in the late evenings. We also brought glow-in-the-dark ring toss, which he loved. It helped that we were near the beach and the park had playground near our site as well. Despite being better prepared, it rained HARD our second night. The two older kids ended up having rain come in on them, so our last night we packed up the tents and upgraded to a small cabin, which was heated and didn’t cost much more than the tent site. My husband LOVES tent camping, but after this experience, he’s considering cabins from now on because there is less to pack up.
Beth,
This is the stuff life is made of! So glad you are making these memories with your girls now and are not afraid to take on the adventure. I never got to do anything like this with my daughter when she was small because we were always moving and my husband would always say “No.” Now I work constantly and still don’t get to do things like this. Suck up all the life you can. 🙂
Maureen
We have always enjoyed camping. We have three kids, and they are now 10,12 and 14. This year we finally upgraded from a tent to a pop-up camper. The kids were getting way too big for all of us to fit in the tent anymore. I think it’s such a great thing for kids though. Unplug, connect with family and get some energy out. We are headed up for a week in Northern Michigan in August. Can’t wait!
Every year for my birthday, this week, I choose camping as a way to celebrate. We go to the same campground my family has been going to since I was a toddler (40+ years). This year is extra special because I will be getting married (in 4 days) to the man I have been with for over 22 years! We are having a camping wedding. Most of the guests will be camping with us! I’m most excited to do the set up ( can’t wait to see if it turns out the way it looks in my mind). This is the first time we will be camping in a trailer (we always tent camp) so it will be a little different, but I felt a shower was important for the big day!