OK, so it probably had something to do with growing up in Denmark where all childhood experiences in a tent resulted in mild hypothermia (minus camping at the rock festivals of my youth for some reason... - but I will spare you those stories...).
I just never really saw the point! I mean, if you are in the middle of the jungle then yes, you sleep in a hammock because you dont want a giant hotel in the middle of the beautiful jungle. But I am ok with a lovely B & B in the California Hills...
However, this has changed since I had kids! Camping is so much fun for children (especially when it does not involve hypothermia) and just looking at their happy, dirty faces makes it totally worth it.
We had our first camping trip with kids last year in Samuel P Taylor State Park. It was a lot of fun but we also had a few problems:
We brought one big giant air mattress for all four of us and we got approximately 2 minutes of sleep. The kids were moving around all night, raccoons broke into our ice chests outside, and I had an irrational fear of my children being kidnapped by bears and mountain lions.
This year we came prepared! We had invested in some neat little kids' camping cots for the children (Amazon), individual Hello Kitty sleeping bags and we were aware (and prepared) for the surprisingly high intellect of raccoons (my irrational fear of my children being kidnapped by bears and mountain lions was and is still there).
This year we did two 2-night stints. First at Caspar Beach CA, a cute little campsite right by a beach which of course gives the whole family lots of fun things to do; from tide pools to abalone diving to paddle boarding.
Second leg was at Samuel P Taylor State Park; beautiful redwood forrest, a creek, lots of animals (including before mentioned raccoons and mountain lion) and great trails for walking, bicycling, scooting etc.
We went with close friends who have kids the same age as our eldest daughter, and I can highly recommend this (choose like-minded people though). It really took the parenting-in-an-unknown-place- pressure off, as the kids were constantly entertaining each other and parenting duties were shared all around. It also meant that we had some great after-hours adult time in the evening which included great conversations around the fireplace accompanied by red wine.
As with all travel, preparation was key in making these trips as easy and enjoyable as possible. For the Caspar Beach trip we kind of agreed upon what we were eating, but we all brought way too much food and random things we didnt really need.
Second time around, we decided that since we were three families we would share the meals i.e. one family was responsible for breakfasts, one for lunches etc. This worked great! when you are responsible for only one type of meal, you dont have to bring as many different things and there is no confusion as to who brings what.
The kids (and lets face it - grown-ups too) did of course make s'mores over the campfire, but it has also very quickly become a tradition that I make "snobroed" dough. this is a Danish campfire eat that is basically a very simple bread dough that you twist around the end of a stick (with optional hotdog) and bake it over the fire. Super fun for the kids and a great way to involve them in the making of the food.
One of the biggest issues for us and (I presume) most parents of young kids, is how to make them go to bed in the tent and the parents being able to go outside and have grown up time. We were a little worried - especially since we were camping with two of their peers, and we knew they were going to have more fun than they could probably handle.
I think what worked for us all was that 1) all parents were on the same page i.e. bedtime around 8ish and grown-up time afterwards, and 2) even though we were only camping for a couple of days, we quickly established a sort of routine for all the kids; they got to make their "snobroed", they had dinner, pajamas, s'mores, brush teeth and then goodnight story. My husband took the girls into the tent and read for them and then it was goodnight (just like home). After a little bit of messing around in the tents, the kids would fall asleep.
At the end of the day, they were exhausted and ready for sleep and it turned out that the thought of campsite bedtime was a lot more daunting than at actually was.
Camping should definitely be on everybody's "parent bucket list". whether you yourself is a camper is irrelevant; seeing how much fun your children are having and how many great nature lessons and experiences they take home with them makes it all worth it...... and of course there is always that glass of red wine in the evening...
If you are considering camping with your little ones for the first time, I recommend starting small; just a couple of days and not too far from where you live. If things are going horrifically, two days is something we can all survive, and if it is really that bad, its a short drive home..
Because of the success of these two little camping experiences, we are feeling brave, and are currently considering a 5 day trip to Yosemite next year!
SnoBroed Recipe:
1 lbs All purpose flour (plus a little for kneading)
1 packet of dry yeast
10 Oz water
1 tsp salt
Mix all the dry ingredients (I normally do this at home and put it in a ziplock bag and then mix in water at the campsite). Add water a little at a time until the dough is sticking together without sticking to your fingers. Knead thoroughly.
The dough is cut into 4-5 pieces and each piece is rolled into a sausage that you twist around your (bamboo) stick. You can also add a small hotdog and twist your bread around stick and dog. Remember to cover the end of the stick so it doesn't burn. Hold the stick over the campfire (not in the flames - better over the coals) until the bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when you knock on it.
You can experiment with the recipe and add for example whole wheat flour or herbs like oregano to the dough to make it more interesting.
enjoy
