Podcast Transcript
0:02
Hey Mama, it is Kristen and I am excited to be bringing you a podcast episode today on how I took five kiddos camping by myself.
0:11
Now this is the first episode that I’m doing with a video, so if you are watching this video on YouTube or Facebook or on another video channel, I do look at my notes when I take my podcast.
0:23
So you might see me doing that.
0:25
Otherwise, let’s just jump into today’s podcast.
0:28
Let’s talk about how I prepared to take 5 kiddos camping, what went well, and what I’ll change next time.
0:34
I’ll give you a spoiler and tell you there’s definitely going to be a next time because it was a lot of fun.
0:41
So before we jump into that, my name is Kristen Burgess and I am a pregnancy coach.
0:46
I work with pregnant and new moms who want to have a great pregnancy and a beautiful birth for their baby.
0:53
And I also work with Mamas who want to create a home that is peaceful, filled with laughter and a happy family.
1:00
So let’s jump into the camping.
1:01
Now.
1:02
I decided that I wanted to take the kids camping because my kids are all involved in a scout troop and they all like going camping.
1:10
And also, I wanted to be able to take a family vacation.
1:15
And financially, that hasn’t been something that’s been possible for us for quite a while, just given the circumstances that led me to be a single mom and all of that, it just was out of my budget.
1:27
But I knew that we could go camping relatively inexpensively, at least with equipment.
1:32
And I’m going to tell, you know, at least once we had the equipment.
1:36
So I’m going to talk to you about gathering the equipment.
1:38
Also, my kids are being super noisy, and I think they must be right outside the door.
1:43
So if you hear them, know that I am a real mom with noisy kids just like you have.
1:48
So anyways, let’s get back to talking about camping.
1:50
So I knew that my kids enjoyed camping.
1:52
I like being in the great outdoors.
1:55
I like the idea of doing family activities and being close to nature and the fact that camping is a budget friendly thing for families.
2:02
To be able to take a quote UN quote real vacation was a motivation for me.
2:07
So I like books.
2:08
I’m definitely a researcher.
2:10
So the very first thing that I did was check out books on family camping and I’m going to leave you a links in the show notes for the ones that I really found to be the most helpful for me.
2:21
But one that I really enjoyed was kind of a memoir Slash tutorial and one called See You at the Campground and that was where a family talked about having twin boys and they somehow ended up going camping and realized that they had found their family vacation.
2:36
And they give a lot of details on the nuts and bolts of camping, the how TOS all wrapped up in their experience of camping with their boys.
2:43
And it was just really inspiring and really fun and really helpful.
2:46
They end up talking about RV camping, which isn’t something that I’ve done with my kids.
2:50
We went tent camping, but I could definitely see one day that might be something that we would enjoy doing even if I rented an RV.
2:57
So if you’re interested in tent camping or RV camping, that’s a great book.
3:02
Another great book was Family Camping.
3:04
Everything You Need to Know for a Night Outdoors with Loved Ones that was a great book to help me get ready to camp with kids.
3:11
And then another book and I believe this book is out of the UK is called the family Camping Cookbook.
3:16
Delicious, easy to make Food The Whole Family Will Love by Easton And that book was a lot of fun and gave me a lot of good ideas for meals to make while camping.
3:26
And I’ll definitely return to that book when we take a longer camping trip because this summer we did just one night.
3:32
Now we probably would have tried A2 night camp trip, but my mom also passed away this past summer and and that really took up a lot of time with just the grieving and the logistics and everything.
3:42
So we only made our one camping trip.
3:44
But it was so successful that I’m looking forward to doing more.
3:47
And I know especially with meal planning, that looking through meal planning books for things that have worked for other families will be something that is a really good idea.
3:56
And I enjoyed that book.
3:57
So those are the books that really helped me.
4:00
Now the first thing that I had to decide was where are we going to go camping?
4:05
And I was, I wanted to go somewhere close by and so I knew I was we were going to go to a State Park because that was what was going to be economical.
4:14
You can stay at a State Park for very inexpensively every night.
4:19
And so I looked around at state parks in our area, there’s a National Park that’s pretty close to me as well, Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore.
4:26
And I did look at that for a possibility, but it tends to get much more crowded than some of the State Park campgrounds.
4:32
So what I looked for was a campground that I felt wasn’t super crowded and that I liked the campsites at.
4:40
So I actually went and scouted, and if I had only little kids, I’d probably have just driven there with them.
4:46
But since I have the luxury of having older kids and I can go do things without kids, I did the scouting when I didn’t have kids in tow.
4:53
And what I actually ended up doing was choosing a quote UN quote primitive campground for our family, which meant that there aren’t RV hookups and all that kind of thing.
5:02
So there are still RV’s that will stay at a primitive campground, at least in my state, which is Michigan.
5:07
But they don’t have hookups in the same thing that they do.
5:10
And so it just doesn’t get quite as crowded because you have either tent campers or RV ers who are willing to be away from hookups.
5:17
And we did have a generator running at one point when we were camping, and that can get annoying to hear a generator running.
5:23
And you’ll find that even at a primitive campground.
5:26
But I think it’s a lot, there’s just a lot less hubbub and they’re a lot less crowded.
5:30
So that’s why I picked a primitive campground.
5:33
Having said that, the primitive campground that I picked did not have a place to go swimming.
5:38
It was on water and you’ll hear me talk about my kiddos fishing and really enjoying that, but I didn’t have a place to go swimming.
5:44
So what I did was I scouted out another campground that was close by that did have water and this one was a full hookup RV campground and it had but we could go in and use the beach.
5:57
So what we did was we took our one night camping and then the next day when we we packed up our campsite got ready to go.
6:04
And then we drove I think 5 minutes to the other State Park that had the the beach to swim out on the lake.
6:12
And so we just parked there, got out and I let the kids swim and play in the water for a few hours and then we went home.
6:17
So that worked really well.
6:18
So if you can’t find a campground that has everything you want, like no swimming and that sort of thing, then maybe there are campgrounds that are close enough.
6:26
And again, these are State Park campgrounds.
6:29
I have a State Park recreation pass which is a Michigan thing, and that allows us a day pass or a overnight stay at any campground in the state.
6:37
So you can look and see what there is in your area and how state campgrounds work in national campgrounds or in your jurisdiction, because there’s probably some.
6:46
And then of course, there are private campgrounds as well, which I think have more amenities and more luxuries, but we’re not there yet.
6:52
So I’m just sharing from our experience where we were at, going and scouting the locations was also super helpful to me because I can feel anxious and unsure about what I’m doing, especially when I have 5 kids in tow.
7:04
So having driven through, picked out potential camping spots that I liked out of the different campsites there, and having driven through the other parks so that I knew the lay of the land, I had talked to the gate guard because that campsite had a gate guard.
7:17
So I talked to the gate guard making sure, yes, my recreation pass works for day use and taking a look around, knowing where bathrooms were, all that sort of thing was really helpful to me.
7:26
So if you’re going to travel to a campground that’s a ways away, you may not be able to do that.
7:30
This is one of the reasons why I intentionally chose a campground that was within about half an hour of my house for our first excursion.
7:38
Another thing that can be helpful if you’re going to a campground that’s not super close, could be to look at it on Google Maps or another map viewer like that.
7:46
Because sometimes you can kind of get a feel for it.
7:49
And I often will go look at it on Google Maps after I’ve driven through because then I have a lot of layers of familiarity with it.
7:57
I can look at that bird’s eye view and remember driving around there, but driving around was really kind of priceless for me.
8:03
And I will consider staying at the state camp that had the swimming pool.
8:08
Perhaps next or not swimming pool had the Lakeshore beach next summer, because now that I’ve driven through there, I can see that one side tends to get really crowded with R VS.
8:17
The other side is a little more rural and there could be some places tucked back in the woods there that might be fun.
8:22
And one of the things that that campsite had was full showers, which could be nice if we’re staying for a few days.
8:28
So those are my thoughts on scouting and finding a place to camp.
8:32
Now let’s talk about gathering gear and how I did that because that can be a big thing.
8:37
I would say that outside of food, which you’re going to pay for anyways because it doesn’t matter whether you’re camping or not, you still have to feed your kids.
8:43
But getting camping gear, if you don’t already have it, it can be an expense.
8:48
So we had some camping gear given to us.
8:51
We had a couple at church that had a twelve person tent that they realized they didn’t need for just two people and that was given to us.
8:57
So we had the tent given to us, and I know that was a huge savings for me.
9:02
And then we also borrowed some camping things like the camp stove was borrowed from a friend and that can work really well, especially if you’re not sure if this is something that you’re going to want to do and keep doing.
9:14
Borrowing can let you experience camping without having to make some of the upfront investments.
9:20
So see if you’ve got friends or family who enjoy camping and borrow from them, and also make sure that you know how to use the equipment and make sure that it’s pretty good equipment.
9:30
So we have we have a number of sleeping bags and sleeping mats because like I said, my kids do scouts, but we also had some borrowed and my kids like the borrowed ones better, so they end up using the borrowed sleeping bags more than they do our own.
9:43
And these are from a friend whose kids are grown, so the sleeping bags are pretty old, but apparently the kids still find them pretty comfortable, so that could be an option.
9:53
Even if it’s older equipment, as long as it’s not moldy or musty, it’s possible that it could be perfectly usable.
9:59
That same friend also actually gave us a bunch of camp dishes that, you know, they’re probably 20 years old, but they still work really well.
10:06
They’re just enamel wear, and they look pretty.
10:08
They’re easy to clean, so that can be something.
10:11
That looking second hand can be helpful too.
10:13
Another thing that I did was I I started thinking about going camping last fall, so almost a year ago, from the time that I’m recording this podcast, and I knew there were certain things that I would need that I wouldn’t be able to borrow as easily or things that I just wanted.
10:28
So I wanted to get lightweight hammocks for the kids in case they wanted to sleep in a hammock.
10:33
And Galen actually didn’t end up sleeping in the hammock.
10:35
The other kids slept in the tent.
10:37
But I so I bought some things over the course of months.
10:41
I just allocated a little bit of the budget each month.
10:44
I think I got their hammocks during Black Friday because I got them on special, which made it much easier to buy five of them.
10:52
And the kids actually use the hammocks a lot.
10:54
They set them up in the trees at my house a lot, so those were a good investment.
10:58
They have mosquito netting and everything.
11:00
They’re not top of the line, but they’re certainly good enough for kiddos.
11:04
Another thing that I bought over time was camp chairs, because we had a couple of, like, beaten up camp chairs that had been through the wringer.
11:12
And, you know, they’re probably really old.
11:14
I don’t know how long we’ve had them around, but I I went ahead and bought camp chairs and I did that over a couple of months because even if you’re buying budget ones, it can be pricey when you’re buying for a large family.
11:27
So that was something that helped me.
11:31
Yeah.
11:31
So those are things that helped.
11:33
Another thing that really helped me was investing in packing cubes.
11:37
And this is a tip that I think that I got from the CU at the Campground book.
11:42
And this is something that I actually used when the kids and I went on some trips for church and that sort of thing was using.
11:48
Because I think I was reading that book at the time.
11:50
And so I used their suggestions for packing cubes and making packing lists and coordinating with packing cubes.
11:58
That was also an investment because again, part of it is a big investment for me because I’m buying.
12:03
In the case of the packing cubes, you know, I’m buying times 7 because I’m buying for me.
12:13
And then I bought for Brennan my big boy, and then I bought for the five younger kids as well because we were using these for a church function.
12:20
So now we have color, but having color coordinated packing cubes is pretty, pretty priceless, which is that’s really nice.
12:28
And I also bought a large duffel bag like it could hold hockey gear large.
12:33
And most of the younger kids packing cubes will fit in there, which makes it, I think all of them will actually including mine and Phoenix’s, which makes it so that one duffel can be packed with the packing cubes thrown in the van.
12:44
And then each person gets their three color coordinate coordinated packing cubes to put in their corner of the tent or the room where we’re staying or that sort of thing.
12:53
So that was a really good suggestion.
12:55
So those are the big purchases that I made.
12:58
And I like I said, I spread those out over some months and if I had needed to buy the tent then I would have probably budgeted for the tent over a number of months as well.
13:09
We already had, like I said, sleeping bags and sleeping mats because those had been purchased over time for the kids for Scouts.
13:15
But again, I think the best way to think about it, if you don’t have enough to go out and buy all the camping gear is borrow what you can realize what you like and then buy over time knowing that you’ll build up.
13:26
Like I would definitely want to get more sleeping mats and thicker ones going forward.
13:31
And so that, you know, it’s the sort of thing where you just think about that over time.
13:35
So that’s how I handle gear and that’s also how I handle packing.
13:39
Now I have a set packing list.
13:41
This is again something that was recommended in the CU at the campground book, was having a set packing list.
13:48
And that really was helpful to me to have that listed out and to know.
13:54
OK, here’s what I need and I divided it up by category.
13:57
So here’s what I need in my kitchen bin.
13:59
Here’s what the kids need as clothing.
14:01
Here’s what we need in like the hygiene bin.
14:04
And so I’m a thinker and a planner and I found that that was really helpful with pre thinking and pre planning for camping.
14:11
It was also helpful for me.
14:13
Again, I think many of these tips come from the CU at the campground book to make a list of who was going to do what.
14:18
So who’s going to get this bend together?
14:20
Who’s going to get that bend together?
14:21
And then having a list for the kids that said, you know, this is what you need to pack in your packing cubes and then going over with them and making sure that they packed each thing.
14:31
If you only have little ones, you’re probably going to be doing a lot of that packing for yourself.
14:35
But if or for them, but if you’ve got older kids, then they can be responsible for some of their own packing.
14:43
And then I also talked to them about limits.
14:45
Like if you’re going to bring stuffed animals or toys, they need to be able to fit in your backpack and no more because our van was stuffed to the gills even for one night camping.
14:56
And I know that one of the nice things is, is most of that was infrastructure like the tent, like the chairs, like everything.
15:03
There won’t be that much more for like say a two or three day camping adventure.
15:08
But I’m also thinking that we do have a car top carrier and I’m thinking that on if we’re going to stay for longer next time I might bring the car top carrier and at least throw the sleeping bags and pillows and that kind of thing up there.
15:23
So those are some things that really helped me with packing and going with.
15:28
So for sleeping I decided that I was going to sleep in the back of the van.
15:36
And again this is part of my stage in life at that time.
15:39
So I had my youngest was a 5 year old then and I felt perfectly comfortable with him being in a tent with four of his siblings, with his 14 year old brother sleeping outside of the tent, and then me and the van just feet away literally.
15:53
But I wanted a little bit of space.
15:55
If I only had little people I would probably have slept in the tent with them.
16:01
And if I had a nursing baby, I’m not really sure.
16:04
You know, sleeping in the back of the van may have been pretty comfortable with a nursing baby.
16:08
But if I had a bunch of little ones and the baby was nursing, you know, clearly I’d probably be in the tent.
16:14
So I think you want to think through sleeping arrangements and who’s going to sleep where.
16:20
Kids aren’t super picky about sleeping arrangements, but you do want them to be comfortable, right?
16:26
You want them to be comfy and cozy, and certainly you want them to be warm enough.
16:30
And sometimes things can get chilly at night, even if you’re in the middle of the summer, which we in northern Michigan certainly know.
16:37
But that’s something that you definitely want to keep in mind.
16:40
So the kids were in the tent and they had sleeping mats and sleeping bags, and then I slept in the back of my van.
16:47
It’s a Toyota Sienna.
16:48
I just dropped down the back seat and pushed the front seats up or the middle row seats up once we got there and had everything unloaded.
16:57
And then I laid a sleeping mat out in the back of the van and I actually just brought a couple of blankets from home for me because I knew that I wasn’t going to need a sleeping bag again.
17:09
This was in the middle of the summer, It was pretty warm and the blankets kept me cozy overnight.
17:14
I also put the cooler in there with me for the night so that that wasn’t out and it also wasn’t in the tent with the kids, so that worked out really well for us to have that there.
17:25
I also put I put the trash in the front seat of the van, like in the passenger seat at where my kids feet would be for the night.
17:32
But if we hadn’t had that option I might have just had Galen take the trash to the dumpster that night.
17:39
But thinking through like where are things going to stay when you’re sleeping can also be really helpful.
17:45
So with meals it really helped me to pre plan and to pre prep meals and this is definitely something that I will do again.
17:54
We decided to do pretty simple meals that didn’t require a lot of fuss or fanciness.
18:00
We might get more fancy with the Dutch oven and that sort of thing going forward, but for our night there, for our supper that we had there, we did foil packets.
18:08
And I got the foil packets ready at home, got them all put together in the packet.
18:14
You can put a piece of parchment paper inside the packet, put your fruit or your fruits, your meats, your veggies, whatever you’re putting in your packet, your potatoes in there, fold it up in the parchment paper and then fold your heavy duty or double layered foil over that.
18:28
But the foil packets worked really well because I was able to get those all together and then put them in a zip lock bag and then they were ready to go.
18:35
When we got to the campground and got the fire going, we let the fire go for a bit.
18:39
I wanted to get there early enough that we could get it down to Kohl’s and then we cooked those over the coals.
18:45
That worked really, really well for breakfast.
18:48
We did scrambled eggs, toast, that sort of thing.
18:51
It was fairly easy, but I had thought through everything beforehand and looked up some tricks and things that could help help make things go easier when you’re camping.
19:01
So that was really useful for that first night that we had supper.
19:05
The friend who lent us the camp stove actually came and had supper with us, which was really nice.
19:11
Just to have another adult there keeping an eye on things, helping me double check and make sure that we got the tent set up and all of that, and then just joining me for supper.
19:19
But he also showed me how to use the camp stove, which was invaluable if he hadn’t been able to come for dinner that night.
19:25
You know, whenever I picked up the camp stove from him, we would have sat down and worked on it.
19:29
But that was really useful to know how to use it, to have somebody show me how to use it.
19:35
So definitely if you’re borrowing equipment, have the person show you how to use it.
19:40
And so that, again, that was really helpful, really nice.
19:42
The meal time went really easily.
19:45
We brought dish pans.
19:46
My kids know how to hand wash dishes and they’ve done it again at Scouts, so that wasn’t too complicated.
19:51
We did tend to use the camp dishes.
19:54
I think that if I had only had little children weren’t going to be able to do a lot of helping.
19:59
Maybe I would have relied on some paper plates more than then the camp dishes just to lower the amount that I had to clean U.
20:06
Things like the foil packet meals are fairly easy to clean U because you’re not using.
20:11
A lot of cookware, so those can be things to think about is how much cookware is needed?
20:16
How confident and comfortable do I feel with this?
20:18
Like one thing that I definitely want to do going forward is some Dutch oven cooking at the campground because I love my Dutch oven at the house for Chili’s and stews and I actually bake bread in it as well.
20:29
So that would be something I think would be fun to do at the campground.
20:32
But all of that pre planning can really pay off and I can definitely say that meals were easier.
20:38
And I think part of it is because of the novelty of the situation.
20:41
The kids were really good about wanting to help and so that made a big difference.
20:46
The camp stove was nice for boiling water to be able to use that for cleaning the dishes.
20:50
It wasn’t important to me to have hot water for coffee because I’m not a coffee drinker, but that’s also something to think about if you’re a coffee drinker.
20:58
If you want to have hot tea, think about how are we going to be able to boil water?
21:02
Even primitive campgrounds tend to have a water pump, so finding the water is pretty easy.
21:07
But yeah, so that was nice, handling the fire.
21:10
I think that if I was the one having to do that, I might have done some day trips to work on that, have a friend come out and teach me to light the fire and that kind of thing.
21:20
I have a wood stove at home, so I’m fairly comfortable lighting the wood stove, but an open camp fire Fire wasn’t quite sure about.
21:26
Fortunately, I have boys and girls who are in Scouts and the boys have done a lot of camping and so they were able to get the fire going for me.
21:34
But I would definitely plan to practice that on a day trip or have a friend come with me or a friend, you know, go to a friend’s house or somewhere where there was the ability to practice the fire.
21:45
Or if I didn’t have any of that, I would definitely have some YouTube videos that I had watched and be able to have those ready, downloaded to a device or something with a battery pack.
21:54
So even if you’re at a primitive campground, you can get some help getting the fire lit, because that’s an important thing for both warmth and camaraderie and fun and s’mores.
22:03
We did do s’mores, you know, you want to have all of that ready for you.
22:09
So think through handling the fire and then also putting the fire out safely at night because that’s one of the biggest things about camping and then activities and family time.
22:20
So what did we do once we were there and set up and what we did was when we got there, we set everything up right away and that worked really well.
22:27
And then when we got home again, this is another tip from see you at the campground.
22:31
We put everything away right away.
22:34
I don’t, I don’t remember if we let the tent air out.
22:36
We didn’t have any rain, which was fortunate.
22:38
So we didn’t need to really let the tent air out.
22:40
But anything that needed to be washed the laundry.
22:43
I started the laundry.
22:44
As soon as we got home, everything was gathered up.
22:46
Had the kids put all of the year away basically, you know, so we got home, we unloaded and as quickly as possible and that way, you know, we were able to enjoy the trip.
22:56
We got everything set up and then we were able to just be there and enjoy and when we got home we got things taken care of quickly.
23:01
I think that helped my sanity a lot and made it so that we will really enjoy future things.
23:07
And my kids, actually four of my kids did scout camping trips, some girl and some Boy Scout camping trips over this past weekend.
23:15
And they were grumbling because as soon as they got home, I was like, all right, load the laundry into the laundry room.
23:19
I’m going to start the laundry right now, put everything away right now.
23:23
But I know that later on, when they didn’t have that hanging over them, they felt a lot better.
23:28
So that was a good tip as well.
23:30
Now once we were there, once we were set up and it was time for family time, what did we do?
23:36
First of all, part of the excitement and the adventure for kids is just exploring and getting to know the area.
23:41
And so getting everything set up and having everything ready to go and then going and walking and exploring and having fun and seeing the lay of the land can be really fun for the kids.
23:52
We did not have a place to swim at this campsite, like I mentioned, but there it is on a lake.
23:58
So there was a lot of people fishing and people go out on that lake and fish in their boats and that sort of thing.
24:04
So the kids had a lot of fun watching the people fish.
24:08
And of course, you know, when you’ve got congenial people fishing, they usually are willing to let kids do some of the fishing.
24:14
And that was true for my kids.
24:16
So that was a lot of fun, being able to just walk with them, being able to let them explore, being able to let them fish.
24:23
And there were other families at the campground as well.
24:26
So the kids were able to enjoy playing with other kids.
24:29
That was a great thing.
24:31
So they had brought some things to do and I think that going forward in the future, I might think a little bit more about, OK, what are things that we could take rather than just saying, OK, pack what you can fit, fit in your bag thinking, OK, what can we take that is more conducive to being at the campground.
24:47
But having said that, I think being there for 24 hours, nature was plenty.
24:51
Nature and friends that they met was plenty to keep them busy.
24:55
So that was a lot of fun for them.
24:58
One of the things that I will do differently next time involving that is think through more.
25:07
What times do I want to be family times?
25:10
And what times am I OK with them going and playing with newfound friends at the campground?
25:16
Because I felt like in the end, they were so excited and wanted to spend time with the new friends that they met that we didn’t maybe have as many family times.
25:24
And in some ways I think that was an OK thing.
25:27
But I think that maybe each day I’d like to plan something like we’re going to go on a family hike.
25:31
And for me, I’m OK with kids like friends tagging along, you know?
25:35
So if Joe wants to come along with us or Annie wants to come along with us, that’s fine.
25:40
But I want us to go and walk as a family kind of thing, right?
25:44
So I would do that differently.
25:47
Another thing that I would do differently is I will take walkie talkies and this could be another thing to save up for my kids have some walkie talkies.
25:56
But we may need to buy another set or two because they usually come in pairs and batteries because it got stressful at times when I was trying to find my kids and yelling for them wasn’t working, even though we were at a small campground.
26:11
When I hollered and they didn’t come, of course I started to get stressed and I almost always still had Sadie and Phoenix with me because they were the little ones.
26:19
And so it’s like you know how you go all over the place trying to find these kids.
26:22
And sometimes different kids were in different places.
26:24
I had three older ones running around.
26:26
Where were they at?
26:28
So I feel like having walkie talkies on my kids belts, which is something I saw other families.
26:32
They’re doing would be helpful because then I could let them know, hey, I need you guys back in 10 minutes because we’re going to have supper or we’re going to do s’mores or we’re going to go on our walk.
26:42
We’re just asking, I haven’t seen you guys in a while.
26:44
Where are you?
26:45
And then also being able to have them check in with me, you know, like Joe wants to know if I can do s’mores with his family.
26:51
Is that OK, Mama?
26:52
So we would be able to check in better.
26:55
I thought that was a good idea and that certainly would have eased my mind as a mom.
26:59
So those are big things that I would have done.
27:02
I also want to take better inventory of our sleeping mats because though we have enough sleeping bags with the borrowed ones, we seemed to not do well with sleeping mats.
27:11
So I want to make sure going forward next time that I’ve just double checked my inventory before we pack, Well before we pack in case I need to purchase anything else.
27:22
And then like I already mentioned, I’ll probably pack the van differently using the car top carrier a little bit better.
27:28
Especially if we were going to go on a further camp out where we’d be in the car for longer because we were pretty cramped in there.
27:36
Every square inch of space was taken up with either a kid or camping gear, and so that really says a lot for the carrying capacity of my Toyota Sienna.
27:45
But I’d like to have a little bit more leg room in the car and also just know that it’s a little bit easier to get everything packed without feeling like everything is quite so precariously packed in there.
27:57
And then I’ll probably double check my kids packing a little bit more.
28:01
I feel like I’ve got a great solid packing list started now that I can reuse each time and get better and better as we get used to camping and do more.
28:10
But those are things that I think I would really change if I had a baby or toddler that I was bringing along.
28:17
And I mentioned that Sadie and Phoenix were with me most of the time because the older kids wanted to run off and play with their new friends and they didn’t, you know, necessarily want littler siblings tagging along.
28:28
It was funny because I was sitting next to the campfire reading a book while Phoenix was kind of careening around the campsite probably for two or three hours at least, and he didn’t sit down at all that entire time.
28:43
I was just like, son, you know, you just are not even going to sit down.
28:48
You have so much energy.
28:50
But that that did work really well.
28:52
Having city in Phoenix, I mean they felt a little bit sad sometimes and they I did take them on some hikes and walks along down by the water to watch the fisherman and along the hiking trails and that sort of thing.
29:03
Just they and I and they really enjoyed being able to do that.
29:07
But also they were fine with playing.
29:09
One thing that they wanted to do was was dig.
29:13
And so I think that I would try and find like a OK, what are some things that I could bring that they could do, they could do activities with at the campsite for the littler ones.
29:23
So that’s something that you might want to think about, whether it be like a little sand bucket that they can play with and dig off to the side of the campsite or Hot Wheels or trains or something like that.
29:35
You know, something that they can do that they can be creatively playing with that is also well suited to a campground.
29:41
I think dinosaurs, toy dinosaurs or anything like that might have been fun as well.
29:46
So thinking through activities for the littler ones who maybe aren’t going to be running off with friends quite so much and who you want to stay within your field of vision.
29:54
So definitely think that through.
29:56
What are activities for the little ones when we’re not actually walking or actively doing anything.
30:01
So those are things to think about as well.
30:04
And like I said already, if I had a baby with me or a toddler that I needed to stay with, I would have had different sleeping arrangements.
30:12
And if I had a baby I certainly would have brought my baby carrier and probably baby would have been on me much of the time and you would have you know I wouldn’t have had quite so much time to read.
30:21
I would have had to be a little bit more vigilant with with everything.
30:25
But All in all I felt like it went really well.
30:28
I feel like the pre planning and the working and the you know working and thinking in the future, OK this is how many months until next summer when we’re going to want to do some camping to get everything together ultimately made it really economical.
30:41
Now basically all of that equipment is purchased except for the few things that I’d like to add, like the walkie talkies and a few thicker sleeping mats.
30:49
But we have the base of the equipment.
30:51
I’ll probably borrow my friend’s camp stove again to be honest, as long as I’m OK, you know, as long as he’s OK with me doing that and I don’t have to make that purchase.
31:00
So those are things to think about borrowing and that sort of thing.
31:03
And then also pre planning, your packing, pre scouting your campground, pre thinking through activities and family time versus friend time, like all of parenting, doing that pre planning is really very, very, very valuable.
31:17
OK, with that, I’m going to go ahead and wrap this episode up.
31:20
I want to let you know that I do have coaching slots open right now for Mamas who are pregnant.
31:26
If you want pregnancy coaching, somebody who’s going to be there guiding you step by step, walking you through as you prepare for this ecstatic birth experience and as you feel more confident in yourself, able to make decisions.
31:37
I also do have a couple of mommy coaching slots open as well.
31:41
If you’re wanting to calm the chaos in your house, create routines and systems that help everybody feel happier throughout the day and your family, I am here for you.
31:50
You can reach out to me, Kristen, at naturalbirthandbabycare.com.
31:53
Like I said, I’ve got some slots open and I am taking applications with that.
31:57
I will talk to you next week and I hope that you have a blessed week.
