Thursday, July 21, 2011

“Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance…”

A beloved music teacher of mine used to drill that into our heads…you’ll have to excuse the colorful language on this family blog, but there are times when the words are just so perfect…

Many years ago we were planning our first trip together, Superman and I.   It was our first vacation, freshly married and taking on the world as a pair.  We had barely any money but did have a tiny car and a great sense of adventure … and he had a big blue tent.  Having grown up in a very outdoorsy family and with his military experience, he reassured me that he would take care of everything - he was very adept at camping and he would show me how great it was.  I kept my apprehension to myself and we were off to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. 

We pulled in to a lovely little campground just next to the beach and by the time we got there I must say I was excited for our adventure to begin.  I was sure that this trip would vanquish my previously unpleasant experiences (I’ll share those in another series!)  and make a camper out of me yet.  We had our pick of campsites – the campground was conspicuously empty for that time of year – and we got the tent up.  Well,  HE got the tent up while I watched, and then it started to rain.  No worries, we were young and excited, not afraid of a little rain – and besides, there was a bar close by. 

We figured unpacking the gear from the car into the tent might not be such a good idea, so we headed off for the bar to wait out the rain.  We were surprised at the lack of customers at the cute little bar – wasn’t summer supposed to be busy near the beach?  The bartender quickly informed that this rain was actually the edge of a hurricane.  Apparently we missed that little detail of checking the weather while planning our trip!   Ah, yes, planning – we didn’t do too much of that in our haste for a new adventure.

We passed a nice, long afternoon in the bar and then decided to head back to the campsite – no little hurricane was going to ruin our fun, we thought.  We clambered into our big blue tent with some of our gear and discovered it was wet … really, really wet.  Again, we missed another little detail while planning – check your gear!  Planning, it was becoming painfully clear, was not our forte…ouch.  Our tent was riddled with holes and no amount of Superman’s great experience could fix it in that downpour. 

After some consideration we tossed the tent and the camping idea and made for a local hotel – thanks to that hurricane we were able to get a pretty nice room at a rock bottom rate that weekend.  But we never forgot the lessons we learned on that first camping adventure together – plan, plan, plan!  Check the gear before you go and check the weather, too, or you might be in for some big time surprises! 

Happy Camping!  

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Ready, Set, Go!

You can't wait...the kids are already bored on summer break, the dates are set, the campground is reserved...you are counting the days until VACATION!  

But getting there is half the fun, right?  In our next few blogs we are going to focus on preparing for that camping vacation.  Not too many people actually enjoy preparation, but a good prep setup can save you a ton of stress and heartache, not to mention money, when you get to your destination.

I pride myself on being very prepared – I keep an emergency backpack in my truck with just about anything we might need while we are away from the house – either at the grocery store or on a road trip, and I keep a well-stocked pantry for all kinds of emergencies.  I believe in the old Scout motto:  “Be prepared.”  But I really dropped the ball on our last adventure, as you will soon see! 

As with any vacation, there’s always something that will be forgotten – with us last time it was pants.  And coolers.  How on earth could we forget pants – and coolers – for Heaven’s sake?  Unfortunately it’s pretty easy when you’re stressed and in a rush! 

This last trip our camping group consisted of Superman and I, our 5 kids, 2 kids from another family, and the dog.  Prepping was tough as Superman was coming off a stressful new part of his job, I was swamped with work, and one of our kids was actually going to be leaving us during this camp trip to go over to his Boy Scout camp for a week, so we had to have all his gear prepped for that trip inside of our trip.  But we did pretty well with packing most everything and figured we could sort it all out when we got there.  We had talked about purchasing our food at a grocery store a few miles from camp when we arrived as there was no space in our vehicles for food – with so much scout gear and 2 extra kids, we were loaded to the max for our 4-day adventure in the woods.

When we got there (after the traffic jams, no air conditioning in my vehicle, and 95-degree temps) we were exhausted.  Superman and the boys set about to prepping the gear and after some set-up drama I took the girls to the grocery store for those immediate food necessities.  It wasn’t until the checkout register that I realized I had cold food in the cart and no cooler to put it in.  Stupid, huh?!  Sometimes you just can’t see the forest for the trees, folks…so I bought a foam cooler.

That night I discovered that this camp in the woods was a mosquito breeding ground, and I had this nagging feeling that I forgot to remind everyone about nighttime gear to combat the little buggers – pants.  Fortunately, everyone remembered but ME!   It was late and I was tired – I put pants on my mental list to find the next day.

Needless to say, there were quite a few more shopping trips for that 4-day adventure.  I had to buy a bigger cooler (a real one and not a foam one), a pair of pants (in a grocery store, no less), and various kitchen items to help with cooking…all of that stress and a ton of money could have been saved had I taken a little more time on my prep setup! 

We are currently in the countdown phase for our next adventure, camping at a state park on one of the Great Lakes.  We are all so excited!   I’d like to hear from some of you out there – what are your best prep ideas and things you have learned over the years of camping with your family?  I invite you to post your comments – we’ll put together a list of tried and true tips for getting organized! 

Thanks for stopping in!  

Monday, July 18, 2011

Welcome!

Welcome to Camping with Momof5Cuties!  I'm so glad you've decided to stop by and take a peek at the first in what I hope to be a long series of blogs about all things to do with camping, campgrounds, nature, traveling, organization, preparedness, etc., and how we try and manage with our big brood!

There are 7 of us, my Superman hubby and myself and then our amazing kiddos who put up with us, ages 17, 15, 12, and twins who are 9.  We discovered the joy of camping a few years ago and only now are really getting into serious camping as a family.  Along with camping, we love to hike, fish, canoe, kayak - you name it and we're pretty game!  We aren't experts in any of these activities by any means and know that we have a lot to learn, but we do possess a healthy desire to try new things and are not afraid to keep at them, always learning.

We look at camping as not just a fun summer activity but believe that there are serious lessons to be learned and very important life skills that we can teach our kids as we are out traipsing through the woods and streams.  There is so much to learn that cannot be taught in a classroom and definitely not through the t.v. or video games, things like the patience it takes to learn how to tie a strong knot, the importance of preparation and organization, the absolute necessity of environmental stewardship, no matter where you are or what you do - there are so many things to learn, for the kids and for us!

So I invite you to follow along on our journey as we grow - thanks for stopping by and you're welcome back anytime!