Camping!!

Item number one on my summer to-do list was to go camping. Check!

Camping is a whole lot of work. And now that I am camping with my kids, I have a new appreciation for the effort that my parents put into taking my siblings and me camping every summer. And we camped A LOT when I was a kid. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Did I mention that camping was a lot of work? You have to pull out all the camping gear (ours in under the stairs in the basement), sort it all out, check off all the items on the list, pack the coolers, the food, the clothes, the sleeping bags, pots and pans, toys, towels, beach stuff, sunscreen, bug spray,first aid kit (do not camp with kids without a first aid kit!), camp stove, flashlights….you load it all into the car, and pray you haven’t forgotten anything. When you get to the campsite, you take it all out of the car, set it all up, figure out what you’ve forgotten, haul water, buy wood, build a fire, cook, clean….and when the weekend is done, you take it all down, clean it all up, and put everything back under the stairs until the next camping trip. And you hope like crazy that it doesn’t rain.

Yep. A lot of work, but there is something that makes all the work worth it, and here it is:

Kids, Benjamin and Nicholas included, love camping. Enough said.

And really, what’s not to love? Think about it. When you’re a kid (and an adult too!) camping is the perfect vacation. You spend all day outside, in the dirt, getting messy. Hand-washing becomes an as-necessary event (what’s a little mud in your hotdog? Protein!), toothbrushes make an appearance once a day (don’t tell my dentist!), and the whole woods are a toilet (this is easier for the boys!). If your face doesn’t get washed before bed, no big deal. It’s just going to get dirty again anyway. Walks to the loo become an adventure, there are cool bugs everywhere (except for ticks. Ticks are not on my cool-bug list), and there’s always the chance of finding a frog or a toad or a salamander. The beach is a bath. And s’mores are the best dessert on the planet. Oh, and you get to stay up way past your bedtime too.

We went spent three nights camping with close friends. Our kiddos are all around the same age, and get on extremely well. They played, non-stop, all weekend. For Benjamin and Nicholas, camping with two of their favorite friends was the play-date ever.

The kids played, and ran, and swam all weekend long. We made sand castles and s’mores. We went on hikes, and had campfires. We slept in a tent, and listened to the rain on the tarps. And one of the three boys even peed (accidentally) on a frog. No exaggeration. How’s that for aim?

We were rained out the last day, but our little bugs didn’t mind. They found a cozy spot under the tarp, and ate sugary cereal (another reason that camping is so great!) while the moms and dads ran around putting everything back in the cars for the soggy ride home:

Yep. A lot of work, but every day since we’ve been home, the boys have asked to go back. Just another reason why camping is so great.

xo Naomi