Family camping? Well, we'll give it a try. Here are the lessons we learned from camping in Texas.
We started our last 12-week term just after Easter and I intentionally refocused my priorities, trying to concentrating on schooling my kids. Blogging was sadly one of those things that got laid aside. But after a one-month break, I'm hopping back into the fray — not committing to anything, but I'm hoping to slowly return to sharing my thoughts on a semi-regular basis.
This last month has seen several changes in our family. One of those changes is that Jaden, Jerah, and Joely have all started getting involved in scouting programs—the girls with American Heritage Girls and Jaden with Boy Scouts. Of course with Boy Scouts comes camping, which is one thing that my husband had never done…not even once in his life.
But he was willing to give camping a try if it meant getting Jaden involved with scouting. So he and Jaden planned to attend a scouting family camp a couple weeks ago (I could not attend since my students' piano recital was the same weekend). They got all their supplies together, most of them borrowed, but then the day of the trip, due to severe thunderstorms, they decided not to go. It turned out to be a good choice as the weather turned nasty. It would not have been a good introduction to the camping experience.
But we still wanted to give camping a try, so we made plans to head out the following weekend to our local state park for an overnight camping trip as a family. I'm happy to report that the trip was successful, and we have unanimously agreed that camping is something we'd like to do on a regular basis as a family.
Since this was our very first camping trip, and since I haven't camped since I was a kid, we used this trip as a learning experience. So here are just a few things we learned this weekend.
1. When pitching a tent, level not only means an even surface, but also not sloping. It might have helped to look around a little harder for a more "level" place to pitch the tent.
2. Thirty-seven-year-old fathers with high blood pressure should not mow the lawn in 90 degree weather hours prior to a camping trip and then proceed to pound stakes into the ground while bending over at the waist. This may (and did) result in loss of vision, dizziness, ringing of the ears, and near loss of consciousness.
3. It's important to leave the tent doors zipped closed as much as possible. Otherwise, you might get lots of bugs in the tent which are difficult to remove. You might even get a wasp in the tent which you'll be unable to kill or remove and then have to sleep with all night, all the time hoping the kids won't notice it and freak out.
4. When trying to start a campfire with wet wood, a little camp stove fuel can help…but it would have been better (and safer) to ignite it with a thrown match as opposed to a butane lighter.
5. Jerah learned that when roasting hot dogs, the roasting stick cannot be held vertically in the flames or the food will fall in the ashes…and then her mom will have to wipe it off, cook it for her, and make her eat it anyway.
6. Thirty-four-year-old mothers of three should never, ever sleep on the hard ground. Next time, we'll all be bringing air mattresses. (I suggested this air-mattress-option when we planned the trip, but I was overruled. A certain unnamed individual wanted to try out sleeping on the ground with camp pads.)
7. When camping in Texas, flip flops and sandals are not appropriate footwear. I was reminded of this fact as we were sitting around the fire roasting marshmallows and a scorpion came crawling around the fire pit. No one was stung, but I immediate swapped out my sandals for my tennis shoes (and the scorpion was quickly dispatched by Jaden).
I'm sure others have lessons they have learned while camping. Care to share?
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Dana says
That is totally how my husband starts fires. And he never seems to learn…or he enjoys the rush of flame and the falling over himself to dodge the inferno.
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Amanda says
Glad to learn from your experience 😉 I've never been camping either and I would love to this summer, only we have no equipment! And I agree to the mother of 3 should NEVER sleep on the ground!
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Tracy says
Glad everyone survived! Glad you will be back to blogging…I have missed you!
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Dee says
I am soooo there with you!!! I've been revamping our school schedule here and really had to prioritize what I was going to work on. Sigh… things got left behind.
And it sounds like you have repeated our camping trips! HAHAHA Lots of lessons learned. HEHEHE
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American Texan says
We have been camping as a family many, many times. One time my dad poured a 1/2 cup of lantern fuel on the fire and then lit it.
It looked like a miniature atomic bomb and came out several feet past the fire barricades (sending my little brother and I who were watching running).
We still don't know how my dad avoided getting burned and my mom nearly had his head. 🙂
angela says
we love camping but glad we do not have scorpions here
Untypically Jia says
I totally know how you feel about blogging. I sometimes can't believe how much time I spend online, and I don't even have kids! I don't know how ya'll do it.
These are some great tips. My poor hubby could have used them a few years ago when we went camping the first time as a family. Poor guy never went much as a kid so he didn't know how to put a tent together. We ended up breaking the darn thing and slept in the truck! LOL!
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Dawn Mellick says
This was HYSTERICAL!!!
matthew says
Camping was a regular and fun occasion, usually just for us boys, with dad each year.
I'm a bit spoiled by the Sierra Nevada mountains, El Dorado national forest, and PG&E land minimally developed around beautiful, remote lakes with one outhouse and one water spigot per campground.
I can't really consider it camping unless there's a lake nearby.
But we always had tons of fun (even when it rained non-stop that one year).
Another nice thing about camping over 8000 feet is there are few mosquitoes and other bugs. No poison oak.
Food was always good too. My dad had a concoction that was made up before hand: potatoes, green pepper, ground beef, and anything else that goes well with that. Put it together raw in pre-portioned amounts. Wrapped well in tinfoil.
At camp, simply throw the tin foil packages on the fire, in the coals, and cook until done (I never measured the time, but I'd imagine not more than 10-15 mins).
We called it camp stew.
And if you want eggs, crack them up before hand into a Ball (glass) jar. It's so much easier to pack and makes the prep that much quicker too.
Have fun in your future camp outs. 🙂
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Sherry says
Wow! Now I know why I don't go camping. LOL! 😀