Category — Camping

My long time friend who know me or Mr. Rojo well enough probably do the double take and wonder if this is really our blog. What with all the camping posts! Well, I can’t promise you that this will be my last post about camping because we are already cooking up our Fall camping trip. As I have said it before and will say it again that we are not outdoor type family.

We love going to Walt Disney World, shopping at the outlet mall and hanging out by the pool after a long day. So camping is probably one of the last thing they will think we will do as a family.

It’s not easy to step out of our comfort zone. It’s a work-in-progress. So if we can do it, I think you can do it too. Keep in mind that we are not talking about backpacking and trekking 5 miles to your camp site nor primitive camping. We are talking about camping in style. Hey! At least we are camping.

So how did we do it? Here are our 5 Baby Steps to Ease Your Camping Phobia

1) Take a baby step:

If you have never gone camping before in your life, don’t go out and book the next campsite at the Smoky Mountain Park that you will have to hike and camp out with no modern amenities like electricity or water.

Start out small like camping in your backyard. And even then, it might still seem scary at first. How about talk to a few friends to do backyard camping together? Camping with a group of friends is fun and their kids will be your kids instant play mates.

Or if you feel like you can step up a bit, you can find local nature center that provide overnight camping at their center. You will be in a good hand and still yet get to enjoy outdoor experience

2) Comfort is everything:

When camping with kids, you want everyone kids or adults to be comfortable. You don’t want to deal with cranky kids after a sleepless night.

The best advice I got from my friend was to get the biggest tent I can get. What a great advice! You want space that you can move around. Don’t just think of tent as a place to go to sleep.

A big enough tent can be a sanctuary for kids at night to play together without being eaten alive by bugs.

A big enough tent will allow you to have separate bed from your kids. I love my kids but I am done sleeping on the same bed. They can move like nobody else. At the end of the day, you want to be able to sleep. Sleeping outdoor out of your own home already hard enough for newbie like us. You don’t want to add the kick factor to the equation.

3) Bring YOUR comfort toys:

This advice is not only applied to kids. I’m sure each of us adult have something like book, laptop, ipod that keep us sane. Bring them! When things get tough, you can just spend some quiet time relaxing.

For me, I love the kindle application I download on my iphone. I don’t have to bring big, heavy books. Plus I can read them at night without having to use lantern or flashlight.

For Mr. Rojo, it’s a laptop. A few minutes playing computer game helps him to forget about that noise next to the tent.

4) Location, location, location:

Do a research and look for campground with all amenities that suite your need. Here are a few must-have for us on our first camping trip

• Within driving distance to our house. Just in case it doesn’t work out. We can just pack up and head home.
• Must be near the water. I think that campground nears water will give us better breeze at night.
• Must have restroom. We got it and more. The campground also has shower and laundry. Perfect. Next time, I can even pack less.
• Must have electric hook up. Yes! We need it. We want it and we are not shame of it.

5) Timing is everything

Even though the thought of setting up a campsite and then having to take it down a couple days later doesn’t seem worth while. You also don’t want to plan your first camping trip to be a week long.

Why not try it out for a weekend. If you like it, then next trip you can always extend your trip.

I think camping doesn’t have to fall into the typical stereotype of ‘roughing it’. I hope that these 5 simple steps will help get you outdoor and enjoy nature.

What other tips do you have to help making camping more fun or easier?

Kids love to help out. And here are a great example during our recent camping trip. They jumped right in to help out in putting up the tent. I think that what make camping fun for the whole family. The sense of togetherness and working together really bond them. Until 10 minutes later when they fight over the flashlights but that’s another story. :)

Putting up a family tent is not as hard as I thought it would be once we have some practicing. It’s a great idea to try it out at home in your backyard for first time camper. The first time I put my tent up at home it took me over an hour to figure things out. Ok.. Maybe because I’m a bit directional challenge when it comes to tent. But every newbie will probably face the same problem. The 2nd time we put up our tent on our first family backyard camping, I did it in under 20 minutes. And this time, it took us about 15 minutes. Once you figured how to do it, it’s that easy. Wonder how fast I can put it up next time? :) Yes.. there will be more camping from The Q Family for sure!

Here is my contribution for this Photo Friday. Head on over to Delicious Baby for more fun photos from travelers around the world.

Well, we did it. We went camping with our kids and our friends. An outdoor camping trip!

Ok. Even if the trip was literally 10 minutes from our house, I considered a big step up from the city gal like me. I will write more in detail on our experience later.

But today, I want to share our fun things we did during our camping trip with kids. I was so worried about things to do. But with great advices from my pals around the blogosphere, I took the deep breath, relaxed and let it go. Turned out it was the best advice.

Here are our 5 Fun Things to Do with Kids on Family Camping Trip

1. Walking, Jogging, Hiking – Whatever you want to call it, just put on the shoes and explore your area. Kids will be running up and down the trail and enjoy their freedom in the natural environment. They will discover the sun’s ray in the morning and turn that into a game of their own.

2. Campfire fun – Sitting around the camp fire at night is probably one of the best things to do on a camping trip. They will love BURNING their marshmallows more than making the S’mores. We ended up with a lot of leftover chocolate. Can you believe it!

3. Make sandcastle – Even if your campground is in the mountain, they still can make sandcastles. Give them a plastic cup and water and they will turn the dirt around the campground into a sand masterpiece.

4. Flashlight adventure – Give each kid a flashlight or lantern and they will make it fun. We don’t even have to do anything for them. They will make up their own games from hide and seek (might want to watch out for little ones not to wander too far from the campsite), shadow show, spot light tag and more.

5. Swimming – Our campground is situated by the lake so it’s a perfect activity during the day. Kids love to swim and play on the beach. An inflatable boat is a big hit for the whole gang. They love to just paddle the little boat out to the lake. But if you don’t have lake or pool nearby, just take the opportunity to explore the area. We also play ‘Mushroom Hunting’ game. There are so many types of mushrooms in the wood. We hunt for yellow, red, brown and white mushroom.