Great post and great family fun! (hey, is there a meme for "family fun"?)

ResourceQueen’s last blog post..Increase your Bookings using the Dice Game!

1. Rub cotton balls with vaseline and store in a ziploc bag. This is a great fire starter and you can put it anywhere. If you forget to do this, tortilla chips or fritos work in a pinch (they burn like a candle,but they smell like burning tortilla chip/frito).

2. Go to Cabela's or an Army surplus store and buy a spool of "550" cord (aka parachute cord). You can get a lot of it for pretty cheap. It's small, strong and has a billion uses.

3. Unless you feel the urge to be Julia Child in the wild, invest in some camping meals or MREs. They're self-contained meals and most of the time they come with their own heater so you can "cook" your dinner. Your kids will like it for the novelty alone.

4. Always carry a small container of either hot-sauce (tobasco, red hot, texas pete) or seasoning spice mix.

5. If you go camping in the fall or winter, put some insulation between you and the ground. The ground will leech your body heat. The air mattress won't be enough to keep that from happening. You'll wake up to find the mattress has a person shaped patch of dew on it (and you'll be lying in it). I suggest a sheet or a cheap fleece blanket to put between your mattress and your sleeping bag.

6. NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE MORALE BOOSTING POWER OF DRY SOCKS!!

7. The amount of DEET in your bug spray is inversely proportionate to the amount of mosquitos that will try to give you malaria.

8. For all other bugs, try treating your tent with a permethrin based bug repellant.

9. Always carry a supply of toliet paper.

10. A small folding shovel is useful in case you get caught in a sudden downpour and your need to divert water around your tent.

Most of the tips you've listed are things we've learned the hard way too. We take dishes for some things but we take paper to use most of the time. We also make sure to have our air mattresses. It's miserable without them!

Kristen’s last blog post..When Love Blooms by Robin Lee Hatcher

So my biggest question at this point is….what do you do about bugs and snakes? Hate 'em, hate 'em. Don't want any venomous things or blood sucking things near me or mine. So is there any point in camping at all?

Jamie