Here are some more ways of how we packed for a tent camping excursion.

I took plastic wash bins for doing dishes in and washing up babies.  For traveling these were great to store things under the seats.  I took my Starbucks coffee jars and filled them with dish soap and laundry soap for easy traveling.

We brought all plastic silverware and paper plates and cups.  I had a bag full of medical supplies for emergencies and a bag full of batteries, mini flashlights for each child, duct tape, scissors, and extra baggies.

I stored our extra shoes in bags and put them under the seats as well. Bread does NOT travel well.  Especially if you are taking a large amount for a trip.  I used 2 diaper boxes and stored our bread in it.  For sandwiches I did flat bread, pita bread, and wraps.  That way I wasn’t freaking out trying to keep our bread from getting smooshed.  

I labeled my pita bread because some of it was going to go bad before the others, so I just put a little note of which ones to use up first.   We took our electric tea kettle for instant coffee in the mornings.  I took ice cream pails for the little ones to use at the beach and put their finds into.

I took a toaster and coleman stove for cooking over.  I realized we would probably just use the fire exclusively and will decide to keep that at home next time.  It was a little cooler so we had a fire going pretty much the entire time we were at the campsite.  After our meals were cooked, I would put a stock pot full of water over the fire and use it to heat up and wash dishes with.  The I would do it again and use it to wash up the children.  We even heated up pots and I washed the little ones in the wash pans for a quickie bath one night by the tent.  They loved it. 
Up front, I kept a bag filled with our bathing suits, a few towels, a sheet to sit on, and one extra hotter outfit per little child.  The weather was supposed to be cooler so I packed that way, but I was glad I took some hot clothing because one of the days turned out to be rather warm and I was grateful for the change of clothing.  Plus having it up front helped to not have to dig through the trunk looking for it.

 

I also packed another bag up front full of our coats.  This was good because while we were out, we needed something to keep us warm and being able to have ALL of the coats in one location helped not to have to look around the van for them all.

Everytime we got in and out of the van, I would take the little ones shoes off(flip flops) and keep them by the door.  We had packed the van to capacity and if a child decided to put a shoe in a crack somewhere, there is no telling where it would be at when we needed it for a bathroom break.  This worked out well.

Here we were as we ventured out.  You can see we packed it to the ceiling.  

Dad and I were ready for a drive.  We tried to leave early but didn’t make it as early as we would have liked.  It was still good.   Here I am ready to embark……..

One of our first stops for bathroom break.  Thankful it had a field for the children to run in.

Plus a coffee shop for a pick-me- up for driving.

We took advantage of our state parks.  Cost me $11 and we were able to goto many of them.  This one had a lumber camp recreated in it.  Educational and fun for inexpensive.  

We did lots of stop off’s and let the children get out and run.  There were lots of climbing stairs and running involved.  We took the stroller but never used it.  They did great for lots of walking.  

Our campground had a nice children’s playstructure.  Here Lauren and I were taking selfies while the little ones played.

 

Sitting by the campfire, getting warm.

The temperature was close to 80 most days, but one night it dropped down to 45 degrees!!! Oh yeah, thankful we took the space heater and heating blankets.  

We had a tent for the older children and one for Dad and I and little ones.  I wasn’t going to bring any type of tv entertainment, but I am glad I did.  At night time after they were all washed up and ready for bed they needed something to help them wind down after a long day.  I had a few movies on my phone that we set up for them to lay down and watch.  This helped hugely, because there WERE meltdowns and sadness as they were getting ready for bed.  That helped to ease the stressfulness of my job.  But we could lay there and watch a “comfort” show and fall asleep.  

Amazing all of the beauty that God gives to us “free.”  We just have to go out there and search for it.

So, did this trip make me to never want to do this again?

Sure we had:

• meltdowns
• crying before bed
• craziness before bed
• a million trips to the bathroom
• dirt in every corner of our tent, including the bed
• craziness before mealtimes

But we also had:

• memories created
• children that still talk of the fun we had camping
• smiles
• laughter
• experience of being outdoors and doing things differently
• good family bonding time

For me, all the bad parts of it, get erased when I see my children just beam with happiness when talking about our vacation.

So, yes I am ready to do it again

 

 

Even going to embrace the dirt.  (Northern Michigan actually has sandy dirt.  Much “cleaner” as far as dirt goes.  Makes for great drainage.  Less mud. 

Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
He shall receive blessing from the Lord,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Psalm 24:3-5

 

My husband has been wanting to go tent camping for a really long time.  For many years we have ALWAYS had babies and lots of little ones.  To me, tent camping did not sound like something that I would envision as “fun.”  Watching toddlers steer clear of the fire, taking little ones to the bathroom multiple times , and trying to keep them on somewhat of a schedule was not VACATION for me.  Oh, and did I mention all of the dirt?!?!!?

Well those days are behind us now, we decided to embark on a family tent camping trip this past week.  I myself, grew up sleeping in an RV.  When we had the tent out in the backyard, some of the children and Dad would sleep in it, I had no interest whatsoever.  But I was determined to “enjoy” this tent camping experience.

But I had to do it in a way that was low stress and doing it with some sort of “feeling” of control. Even though I knew that anything could happen and who knows how the little ones would do.  I just had to be prepared and embrace whatever situation I was faced with.

It started out with lots of planning and preparing.  Here is what my  kitchen looked like for the days leading up to vacation time.  Most everything was in disary, while I was organizing and packing.

I first started with a menu.  What were we going to eat?

Breakfast was going to be on the road, so I made breakfast for everyone before hand and kept it warm in mini thermos tubs.  Some chose oatmeal, some had eggs in a cup and some had bagels.  I wanted to steer clear of fast food and keep my children on somewhat of a “normal” food schedule and avoid upset tummies and sugar spikes.

Lunch was on the road but we stopped and ate at a picnic site.  I made a Mexican buffet.  Sounds different then your typical camping foods.  But for the next 2 days our lunch meals were going to be sandwiches with lunchmeat or peanut butter and honey.  I didn’t want to be sick of eating sandwiches so I went this route.  I kept these items warmed in a casserole cooler bag.  It stayed warm for 6 hours.  Everyone enjoyed a lunch of nachos and burritos.

The rest of our meals I bagged in individual grocery bags.  That way all we had to do was grab a bag marked with that meal and take it to the table to prepare it.  This was only for the non cooler items.

 

I made individual snack sized bags of treats for my children.  For the younger half I made some puppy chow and kids snack mix.  I added Goldfish crackers and veggie sticks to it, to give it a new variety.  I also bought some mini Oreo and mini  Chips Ahoy cookies.  I NEVER buy these types of items for regular consumption.  But sometimes my children get a treat at the store they will typically want these.  I thought it would be a nice treat for vacation time.  It would help cut down on the need to feel like we had to buy a treat for them.

I did not do Smores for this trip.  All I could envision was sticky little fingers and marshmallows stuck in hair and I wouldn’t be able to wash it out properly.  I stuck with the mini snack bags.   For breakfast, Daddy likes to cook over the fire.  He loves to make eggs.  The first night, we did fire pit pizzas.  Pita bread, topped with pizza items.  That left us with leftover veggies and meat….perfect for scrambled eggs.  Instead of taking 2 dozen eggs in a carton with us.  I cracked them into an old coffee creamer bottle.  This worked out perfectly to store in the cooler with way less space.   Dad likes to have some treats while driving.  I stocked this wash pan up front with some fun foods.  Jerky, candies, and healthy cracker snacks.  I also kept a smaller cooler up front with our water bottles and cucumbers and carrot sticks perfect for munching.

For all of our clothing.  I rolled up everyone’s complete outfit for each day individually with a rubber band.  This was a GREAT idea.  It kept clothing mess to a minimal and was great just to grab a roll and pass it out to someone that wanted to help get little ones dressed. In each roll contained the outfit, leggings, socks, and underwear.–if you were a girl.   I then put them into a large plastic tub.  This one fit everyone’s outfits and pajamas.  We went for 3 days and 2 nights.  I took 3 outfits and 1 pair of pajamas per person.  In the plastic bag on left is towels, one for each person.  We took 2 pairs of shoes per person—1 gym shoe, 1 flip flop.  

 

 

Want to see more about how we packed?? Plus some photos of us on our trip, up next….stay tuned part 2