Our camping adventure started off on the wrong foot. When we woke up Thursday, the boys saw that their Dad had collected most of the camping gear and it was in our entryway, ready to be loaded into the car. With the benefit of hindsight, I now realize that they were excited and stimulated by the visual reminder of our trip, and would be unable to concentrate or basically follow any direction. I didn’t realize that, unfortunately, until later in the day, so I started us off like a normal day. Schooling was a disaster, Lucas couldn’t concentrate at all, zoning off multiple times in the process of writing one word. Alan wasn’t much better and whined about writing letters the entire time. After I finally gave up, exasperated, I started working on a lengthy list of follow ups that Dennis had sent. During this time, the boys fought so hard with each other and just generally broke so many rules, that they got sent to time-out 3-4 times each. To benchmark, they normally get sent to the stairs for a couple of minutes, maybe 2-3 times each in a WEEK and it normally does the trick. By 3pm, I was going out of my mind and called in the reinforcements (Dennis). At that point I told the boys that we were going to have a family meeting to decide if we would go camping at all or not.
Once Dennis got home and we sat down to talk, Lucas proceeded to tell Dennis and I that they were really excited to go camping. Basically, he said (in his 6-year-old way), that they had misbehaved because they were really happy about camping. I had an ah-ha moment! Of course they were excited and unable to concentrate! They are kids! UGH! I don’t know why I didn’t realize it earlier. Instead of schoolwork that required them to sit and write and concentrate- maybe I could’ve made it into a funner day, with field trips or with me reading to them. Well, food for thought for next time.
After our family meeting, the boys said that they would behave and listen – and they did. They helped Dennis and I load the car and once we got to the site, they helped unload.
We camped at Kentucky’s Kincaid Lake. The first night was pretty seamless, we set up our ridiculously large tent, started a fire and prepped beds. The boys went to bed at the same time we did (midnight) and woke up at 6am. Our campsite is on the water and we have a great view. In addition, it was really cold at night so no need for fans, but during the day it’s hot –basically perfect for camping. We have been lucky that the colder weather has prevented most of the camping pests, mosquitoes and flies, from bothering us much. While our camping site is on the water, the area is very sloped and so when you combine a plastic tent floor with slippery sleeping bags and fidgety children – you get sliding. A lot of sliding. Dennis would place the boys and their sleeping bags pretty much at the highest side of the tent and by morning they would both be tangled up in a sea of sleeping bags, at the bottom of the tent. As for us, we have a handy dandy inflatable mattress that apparently has a ginormous leak since we woke up in the middle of the night on the floor. I thought sleeping on the floor would horrendous but I actually didn’t sleep that badly.
The first full day we woke up early and it was SO cold! We went to the campsite playground and went to the local pool after lunch. Board games and glow in the dark accessories capped our night. We were lucky the first night because we had no neighbors, but the 2nd night on we had neighbors on both sides. I will say that the positive thing about car camping is having the accessibility of restrooms, facilities (such as the pool and boat rentals- which we took full advantage of) and the fact that you can get up and leave when you want. The negative is that you are on top of your neighbors! In our area, people blasted country music and/or hair metal from their car or huge speakers all day long. I would’ve rather listened to nature or birds but I listened to a whole lot of country music. Not a deal breaker, but it does make me wish for more remote camping where we can actually listen to nature.
When Dennis and I have camped in the past, we’ve haven’t had the best time. This camping trip, our first alone as a family, was truly wonderful. Kincaid Park made it easy because there was so much to do: we went to the pool twice, rented a motor boat (which both boys got a chance to drive) and even went hiking. During hiking we saw wild turkeys (with baby turkeys!) which added to all the nature we saw in Kentucky (turtles, deer and lots of birds). I wish our hiking was longer (it was a beautiful day) but I was worried about overtiring the little one. Once we were back and started chatting our neighbors- she told us that her kids, of similar ages, hike over 1 mile with no problem. She just uses the age-old and time-tested method of full-out bribing – you make it to the halfway point? you get a fruit snack. You make it to the end (with no or minimal complaining) then you get a popsicle! There will definitely be more hiking for us in the future. At some point, Lucas saw something he wanted to draw and we stopped to take out our drawing pads. I was so proud of him! He really does like nature.
All in all- I see camping in our near future! Perhaps with a canoe or paddle board?
Side Note: Food
The food menu is another area of opportunity for us – we brought some stuff that probably doesn’t belong in camping and we definitely overpacked the food. Here are my thoughts
What we ate:
Breakfasts:
- Almond Milk & Instant Coffee The idea of pouring boiling water on oatmeal and being done is a good one but the oatmeal was way too sugary (it was Quaker Oats Medley) – this brand was WAY to sweet. Can I make my own mixture and bring in containers?
- Pack of Belvita cookies
- Scrambled Tofu-> Tofu is not camping food – from packing it on the cooler and keeping it cold, to making it. It’s big, messy and doesn’t lend itself to camping. Reconsider this one.
- Trader Joe’s hash browns -> Hash browns are SO greasy – the boys loved it, but I would reconsider this one too!
- Individual container Cheerios & Wheat Chex with Almond Milk -> This one we ate in the car on the way out! Cereal is simple and uncomplicated. What if we just have cereal for breakfast every day? Maybe bring bananas to go with it.
Lunches:
- Morningstar Burgers-> We love these burgers from Costco!
- Baked Beans -> the x-large can of baked beans was too much – we ended up mixing it into the dinner soy meatballs. Still, it’s easy and the boys like it.
- Cornbread- I made the cornbread at home from a Trader Joe’s mix (replaced the egg by flax egg in the recipe). The boys and I liked it but Dennis thought it was too sweet. Leave this one out.
- Leftover meatballs & sauce with pre-prepared Earth’s Best buttered loaf -> The meatballs/ sauce were messy to store (we stored them in the saucepan we made it in but this might need to get used on the same day, versus the next day). This whole thing was too messy! leave behind.
- Veggie Skewers- they fell apart and were soggy after being stored in the cooler. I would like to have this, maybe cut when on site?
Dinners:
- Vegan Hot Dogs/buns with condiments-> Meal was fine – repeat!
- Trader Joe’s Salt and Vinegar chips -> TJ’s chips were not my fave (don’t buy again)
- Smores – vegan chocolate, Grateful Graham cookies & vegan marshmallows from Whole Foods – definitely a winner!
- Premade Penne pasta with Soy meatballs and Trader Joe’s marinara sauce. We tried to heat up the the pasta with the sauce but it didn’t really do a good job – so we ate half cold pasta with hot meatballs and sauce. The boys picked at the meatballs and ate nothing else. Rethink this one – messy and not that tasty. As a side note, Trader Joe’s soy meatballs are delicious!
- Corn on the cob: I loved the corn but the boys didn’t eat them.
- Smores
- Pastry pan bread with apple filling – we tried the pastry pan for the first time and while it was good, it was very messy to eat!
Snacks:
Trader Joe’s Granola Bar I overpacked on snacks – I brought chips, pita chips, pretzel bites, granola, clementines, oatmeal cookies etc
Yay! Yo te amo!