Not Yo' Momma's Camping Trip

When Peter and I were first married, living in Connecticut, without any kidlets, we went camping a few times. It was usually a last-minute deal, glance over at each other on a Friday after work: "Wanna go camping?" "Sure, grab the tent." And within 20 minutes, we were on the road, a few things thrown in the cooler, two rolled-up sleeping bags, a tent, and some bug spray. We had a little white Honda, and our gear didn't begin to fill the back seat, much less the trunk.

Camping with children--and older, rounder grown-ups--is a whole different ballgame. One of my goals in traveling with children is to avoid whining/pouting fits. This is not to say that I spoil the children (though I have been known to bribe them on occasion); I just plan accordingly, to avoid unnecessary discomforts that may precipitate whining. This includes comfortable bedding, food choices that please everyone, bathrooms, etc. So camping these days is planned, lists are made, the van is strategically loaded. I research sites, find tent locations we can drive to (no primitive, pack-it-in camping for us), with actual bathrooms close by--no squatting, please, because dribbling on the edge of one's sock will lead to previously mentioned whining.

I wanted to go camping for Mother's Day. Decided on Chickasaw State Park, a litte over an hour away, and, it turns out, lovely. Weather was predicted to be in the low 70s in the daytime and mid-to-upper 50s at night--perfect. What used to be a 20-minute prep time is now a multi-hour prep time. What used to be half of a back seat in a 4-seater is now a trunk full and half of the inside of a mini-van. Now we have air mattresses, air pumps for same, a giant tent, two coolers, two bags of food, garbage bags, a sleeping machine for P, baby wipes, Pull-ups, hand sanitizer, wet wipes for hands and faces, bug spray, sunscreen, mosquito coils, firewood, campfire grill, camp forks, towels, food for carnivores and vegetarians, sippy cups, ice, five sleeping bags, five pillows. Yikes.



All this prep paid off, though. There was minimal whining. No problems with wet socks. It was most assuredly not "mid-to-upper 50s" at night--more like 40 and freezing, but even with multiple children waking up to cluster around "the warm one" (Daddy) while sleeping, we still managed to sleep in the tent all night. We cooked both dinner and breakfast over the campfire, everyone enjoying his/her own food. We made smores. We hiked around the lake, went boating, rode horses, played on a playground, went fishing (this was less pleasureable due to the time of day we chose and the fact that 2-year-olds are not patient enough to go fishing or be contained in a boat for an hour), and had lunch at the park's lovely restaurant, which was like the best Southern Baptist church potluck you've ever been to.














Best Mother's Day ever.