CAMPING! Camping with kids!

[Guest]

This is another strange ritual we have. Spending a small fortune to live like homeless people, not get any sleep, and be dirty.

But we love it.

Does your family camp? What are your best camping memories, or tips?

I'm getting ready to go for a few days tomorrow. I got some totes and I'm trying to be more organized this time. I also bought a Yakima cargo carrier on Facebook for pretty cheap, and now I know why. It needs a lot of TLC. I feel manly and capable today with my tools and JB Weld. 

[beefche]

My husband loves camping. He grew up in Alaska and the whole family (aunts, uncles, cousins, grands, etc.) camped all the time.

I grew up in urban area in the Midwest. No way, no how, and under no circumstances will I ever camp in the summer in Indiana. When it's 90 degrees and 60-70% humidity during the day, it lowers to 80 degrees with 60-70% humidity at night. Can't breathe, can't sleep, and bugs galore. Not my idea of tolerable.  

I've camped a couple of times when I lived in Utah. Totally do-able. I agreed to camp if we are in the West or during Spring/Fall in Indiana. Otherwise, our "camping" will be in our front room on an air mattress.

[anatess2]

My boys do.

I used to go with them.  But I become a wet blanket for everybody because of things like... having to have tarped area on the front of the tent.  No shoes allowed on that tarped area, earthen bowl and towel by the front "door" to the tent where everybody is required to wash and dry their feet before entering the tent... tarped area needs to be broomed often, etc. etc.. I get so stressed when dirt gets into the tent.  And I have to have the 4-drawer set-up inside the tent where all the clean clothes have to go, one drawer for each person and it needs to be folded neat instead of just wadded up in there.  I also have to have the air mattress and proper pillows.  Dirty laundry goes in the foldable laundry hamper.  I need the kitchen table (table divided into 3 sections - burner section, prep section, washing section) on the camp site.  The wash section needs 2 bins (I use cement mixing bins) - one for soapy water, the other for clean water.  There's gotta be table cloth (plastic is ok) on the main eating table and I gotta bring the picnic basket (contains service for 4, 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 cups, 4 tumblers, 4 spoons, 4 forks, 4 knives, thermos, servers, and even a salt and paper shaker all strapped in the basket nice and neat).  I don't mind zero electricity on the camp but I cannot stand being too far from the water spigot.

So when the kids got bigger, the camping trip became a Boys Quality Time and they go survivalist mode... they only bring what will fit in their backpacks.  No air mattresses, no kitchen table... none of that.  They have the tent, the sleeping bags, clothes, just-add-water meal kits, mess kits, their clothes, and maybe their fishing poles... that's it.  They can go for an entire week like that.

[Guest]

Yeah @anatess2, that sounds stressful for everyone. LOL With kids and camping, you kid of have to embrace the dirt. 

[classylady]

I love camping. When we were first married some of our earliest purchases was camping gear. We had a tent trailer for a few years, but now we're back to just a tent. We have gone on three week road trips where we would camp in our tent most of the time, but then splurge on a motel every once-in-awhile. I've brought my babies camping with us. It can be hard when it's raining and muddy and you have toddlers.

Now that my husband and I are older, we can't sleep on the ground comfortably anymore.. Neither of us like air mattresses, so we bought  3 inch foam pads. The pads do take up a lot of space, but we have a pick-up truck so we can pack a lot of stuff in the back. We don't camp as much, but we try to get out at least once or twice a year.

Edited July 28, 2016 by classylady

[Guest MormonGator]

Hope you have a great time with your family @Eowyn!!!!

[mrmarklin]

I loved camping, but have not done so since we bought our country home near where we used to camp!

The wife is happier this way. 

[anatess2]

I forgot to mention...

For the first time in my 15+ years of church membership, the scouts in my ward finally went on a proper week-long scout camp.  They drove out of the state on a Saturday and came back the next Saturday.  The Bishop even went on the trip.  They held sacrament meeting at camp even.  We had EQ guys pass sacrament in the ward.  It was an awesome trip.  My boy even swam a whole mile.  There was electricity in the camp but there were no cell signals so the kids couldn't communicate to the outside world except for a designated day where they went to the scout office and took turns video calling their family on the office internet.

 

[unseen]

I'm taking the kids on their first backpacking trip next week - hoping they can handle 5 miles a day.  We're renting Lamas to haul some of the food/water - I can't wait!  

[Traveler]

I believe the skill set of camping (and survival) is very important.  I use to take a knife and rope as a lad and take off into the mountains for a week or so – living off the land.  The longest I have spent “survival” camping is 40 days.  There is a spirituality that cannot be realized any other way than living for a time only on what G-d and nature provides.  Even Jesus found this to be a good idea.  My dear wife thinks that staying in a motel is camping enough.  Never-the-less about 30 years ago we started a yearly tradition of a week long white water rafting and camping trip with our family and friends.  There were years that our rafting and camping expedition included 60 souls. 

One of my favorite things to do after such an expedition is to ask the teenagers if next year they would rather go to Disney Land or other amusement parks or join us again for another rafting trip.  I have never gotten the Disney response.  I also found the rafting adventure a wonderful opportunity to teach basic life lessons.  The main reason we picked white water rafting and camping is because my brother invited me on such an expedition and each night I observed 3 generations of both sexes of rafting campers sitting around a camp fire and joyfully exchange and engage in reminiscing the day’s activities.  I have not found any other activity to be so inviting.  We have even taken visitors from other cultures and nations and find this activity the best way to bring people together and make lasting friendships.

 

The Traveler

[anatess2]

4 hours ago, unseen said:

I'm taking the kids on their first backpacking trip next week - hoping they can handle 5 miles a day.  We're renting Lamas to haul some of the food/water - I can't wait!  

How old are the kiddos?  Mine were 8 and 6 when they did the backpacking.  They can go more than 5 miles of flatlands at this age.  When we did it, the boys carried a pack 1/3 of their weight and they walked up and down the Smokey Mountains near Pigeon Forge, TN.  No llamas to help.  They carried MREs, trail mix, protein bars, and a canteen they filled with water along the way.

I'm positive you're gonna have fun!  Okay, so I didn't go backpacking... I stayed at a cabin... 

[Guest]

We made it. Cooked some great meals over the fire, did lots of talking, built a little lagoon in the stream next to camp. Now we are home and happy and tired and covered in many layers of dirt.

[Guest MormonGator]

7 minutes ago, Eowyn said:

We made it. Cooked some great meals over the fire, did lots of talking, built a little lagoon in the stream next to camp. Now we are home and happy and tired and covered in many layers of dirt.

Very glad you made it back home safely Eowyn! 

[Guest]

I used to like camping.  But for the past several years it seems that the only times I've had to go camping were under adverse conditions (weather or otherwise).  So, I've kinda lost my taste for camping with ANYone.

[Guest]

I think Faramir have decided that our tent camping days are done. My uncle might be giving away his camper, and none of his kids want it, so maybe we'll actually get sleep next time. 

[Traveler]

There is no such thing as camping in bad weather – just bad preparation, bad attitudes and bad equipment.   The most extreme weather I have camped in is 30 degrees below zero winter camping.

 

The Traveler

[Wheats]

Went from a 5th wheel to a class A several years ago. It's the only way to go 

[GratefulHeart]

My family loves to go camping. There just is something about nature, and stripping away the chaos of every day life and technology that really helps to bond and focus on each other. We just do it old-school with tents. These days its a lot easy with solar lanterns, mosquito bracelets, comfortable inflatable mattresses etc...