Friday, May 8, 2009

Camping.... the good, the bad and the ugly

I figured I would run down what we liked and what we learned about our first camping trip with the Triplets.

The good:
Kids LOVE playing outside so you don't have to pack many toys.
Buckets and small shovels are good to take to collect rocks, bugs, leaves, etc...
Flashlights for the kids to play with at night (helps to keep track of them)
Either use a headlamp around their waist (the nuke-doc's wife's idea) or glow stick on them to keep track of them.
Kids can eat the messiest food and it doesn't matter:)
We had a first aid kit with bactine with lidocaine, wound wash, tweezers (for splinters and removing ticks) and LOTS of band-aids.
We planned out meals so we knew what to take.
Soccer balls were a great hit.
Have a white-noise maker for nap/sleep time.

The bad:
Kids are exponentially bigger than their number. a.k.a. get a bigger tent.
Next time we will pack by event not by kid. We had one bag for each kid. We need a beach bag (bathing suits, towels, etc...), a bath bag (diapers, towels, soap, etc...), and a bag for each day.
Make a checklist before you start packing and then follow it:)
We camped on a hill so the soccer balls had to be "rescued" from a ditch/road a lot.

The ugly:
If you like clean kids you will not like camping in the least. We decided on one bath at bed time each day and periodic wipe-downs throughout the day.
Get a campsite with water. You need it for washing stuff and kids off.
Did I mention our tent was too small?
Review the checklist or check things off as they get put in a container and/or the vehicle. I forgot to buy some stuff, I forgot to pack other stuff and forgot to bring some stuff I packed:)
Our kids are very good at staying near us but when they are chasing a ball or each other they run off without knowing it. We always had one person whose "job" it was to only watch the kids. This is one of the reasons going with another family is good, more people to take turns:)

All in all we really enjoyed the trip and will probably be going again soon!



Setting a good example for children takes all the fun out of middle age.
William Feather (1908 - 1976)

Al

1 comment:

Liz said...

Cute pictures! Don't tell me that you dressed them in WHITE on a campout?!! Looks like you had a great time.