Heading Out

We're leaving in about an hour to go camping despite some strife... Wish me luck lol. Hoping to have some peace on my kayak, fishing. Still have way too much packed so I'm gonna work on streamlining our gear some more for next time. We're still taking the huge grill this time.

 

Have good time. Take pictures.

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Wow! I wish you luck on your latest adventure. I hope you all have fun out there! Do take some pictures to share with us soon. I'm quiet new in this forum but I'm really enjoying myself reading the posts and learning from all of you here. Your personal experiences are great sources of learning and information when it comes to the great outdoors.

 

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My 4 yr old daughter paddled out to me by herself.



My 1 yr old with me.



My 4 yr old on dishes duty.



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Stepson, daughter, and 2yr old son.



Kinda proud of my daughter since she's only four and already doing 4mi hikes, staking her own tent, paddling out in the James River to get me, fishing, washing dishes, etc. She's also a pretty awesome gymnast lol.

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Racing... Sort of lol.

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My 2 yr old climbing around in his diaper...


Lots of Tiger Swallowtails

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I personally always prefer to travel light whether it is for kayaking or normal camping. However, sometimes when you are travelling in a group, things can get stacked up pretty quickly. Good luck for the trip.

The pictures look good. By the way do drop us a line after the camping regarding how was the entire experience of camping with kids.

 

This wasn't a "typical" trip for us due to my stepkids being with us and kayaks/bikes/added stuff. Normally it's just the three littles and our camping gear.

We had to leave today due to heat (my youngest has eczema and has to be covered most of the time or else he could get an infection from scratching) and running low on food. My husband was in charge of packing this time and, not that he isn't capable, he just doesn't have much experience with our specific needs (for example, food allergies) since he works a lot.

However, camping with kids I've found is pretty easy. The hardest part is getting camp set up, but no one ran across the tent this time. The older ones (basically everyone except our 1yr old) had their jobs to do. My bio kids are not very tech centered at home, but even my step kids who are did well. Even helping out when they normally wouldn't at home.

The other minor hassles are just that the tent gets dirty quickly, the dog gets a little fatter from food that's dropped, and actually packing enough food to feed their gaping maws while working around food allergies. Also, when relaxing, they still like to be directly on top of me in 90 degree weather and 90% humidity...

Other than that, it's the perfect opportunity to let kids be kids with very little "don't do that!" stress. They were saying, "Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints" as we were cleaning up the campsite today. I also gave them crash courses in starting a campfire and fire safety; each of the older 3 helped. My stepson has tourette syndrome and his tics stopped while he was outside.

 

Sounds like y'all had a great time. I loved the pictures thanks. I didn't see anyone tied to a tree though. Better luck next time ha.

I couldn't imagine trying to cook and clean for that many people. Doesn't Purina make like allergy free people chow? Ya know, just add water and poof instant mush. How did your new stove work out?



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Those are really beautiful pictures there. Seems like you all enjoyed your trip, especially the children. I'm also amazed that you were also able to bring some bikes and kayaks with you, which I'm guessing would have made your adventure even more thrilling. Thank you for sharing all those pictures with us.

 

We sure did! Actually the little ones did a lot better; I think they're finally getting the idea. My 2 yr old was walking around the tent while it was being set up and I had my 1 yr old on my back. Then my daughter happily set up the little cheap tent and she was pretty dang proud of herself.

They need to start making people chow except I'm sure there would be lots of gnashing of teeth- not from eating either. Cooking is a huge deal with people like my aunt and grandma. My mom told me about a rice krispie commercial where the mom dabs flour on her face and acts like she slaved away in the kitchen for hours to make rice krispies. That sums up my aunt and grandma. They don't like my meat + vegetable formula. My aunt showed up with a crock pot of chili so my mom and I were looking at each other, waiting for it, because we knew there was no way she slaved over a crock pot all day. Then my aunt pulls out homemade pico de gallo. Which was awesome to eat, but probably not worth the 3 play by plays we got of the painstaking process lol. Food processor anyone?

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Also my new stove was great. A little too great as I almost burned the green beans because I underestimated it's power lol.

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Yes, we did. The kayaks were good and bad at the same time. I really enjoy kayaking and I got a few nibbles fishing out there but no catches. They looked too small anyway. It was also nice being on the river vs a lake. We can go kayaking (ocean, lake, bay, or river) locally so I don't think it was really worth the trouble of bringing them. The bikes were definitely the best use of extra space overall.

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@missyify I'm really glad you all had fun out there. These are the kinds of moments that are just so precious for a family especially while the kids are still small and active with these kinds of activities. I'm really amazed at how energetic and brave your little ones are when it comes to kayaking. I must confess that I myself have never tried doing it yet because I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat when it comes to water activities.