Summer family camping fun

Camping. Time in nature. Man, those are things I love. Those are things I grew up with in the 80s. Running through the woods without a care in the world. Roasting marshmallows over a wood fire. Sleeping in a tent. Those were the days growing up.

And that is the hobby and life that I wanted to pass down to the kids. Both theWife and I are pretty big campers. We have car camped and we have backpacked, and I have done mountain backpacking hunts. In essence, camping and the woods are elements of what makes me run.

We have camped in prior years with the kids. With the LittleBoy, we started him off a little before his first birthday. We went out for a one night trip. However, the next time we camped wasn't until the LittleGirl was almost one and the LittleBoy almost four. We camped for a night in our backyard. And then we went on a longer four day, three night trip with our parenting group. (More about this group in another post)

This year was the first time that both kids got to experience more of what camping is and it was great. We were able to go on three separate trips, each being four days and three nights, with one of them with the parenting group that we're a part of.

In the course of these three trips we learned some lessons. And we learned some ways to have fun that I would love to share with you.

On with the lessons:

1. Always write down anything you may need. Yes, we had a list but we took some things for granted and didn't bother to write them down. And guess what? We left them at home.


2. Plan for a variety of weather. We live on the West Coast of Canada, a place where weather is unpredictable and generally wet. It can get wet fast and camping wet ain't very fun.


3. Bring more snacks. I can't emphasize this enough. Kids love to snack and eat. And they tend to snack and eat more when they are out and about and being active little munchkins.


4. Just relax. No really, you really do just need to relax. You are on vacation. You really should just sit back and let the kids run wild in the camp.

Fun things to do that we want to share with you:

1. Bring your bikes. There is nothing more fun than just riding around the whole day. Cause you have a lot to explore.


2. Go on a hike. Pick a trail that is simple and easy for the whole family and just go. Best to pick a place you don't know, that way it's an adventure and experience.


3. Try Geocaching. There is always excitement when it come to scavenger hunts.


4. Make some s'mores. Yea, this one is a classic but it's a much loved classic.


5. Just run around in the woods. You never know what you may find and discover in the woods. Just make sure you know how to get back to camp or at least the kids know how far is too far to explore.

Hope this gives you some ideas and directions as you start dreaming of family camping trips. Also, stay tuned as I will be posting more about family and camping and how to pull it all off smoothly.