When I was younger, I used to go camping all the time. I was a member of Guides (which I absolutely hated at the time - minus the cookies, of course), where we used to camp fairly regularly, and I used to tag along with one of my childhood friends families, Kaytie and Sarah - I'm looking at you!
As I got older, camping wasn't so much on the radar anymore. I always really loved it, and anything outdoors, but I didn't really have major urge to go for whatever reason.
With having the boys, and having so much technology, social media, and really being 'available' at all times to people - I was really feeling the need to disconnect. I wanted the boys to experience sleeping in a tent, cooking on a campfire, and NOT having all of their toys and belongings at their fingertips. I wanted them to learn to be kids, and do whatever their imagination desired - but in nature. Nothing but rocks, sticks, trees, sand, and water. And maybe a couple monster trucks for at the beach.
I mentioned it to Mitch, and he was all game for it as long as I was taking the reins and setting it up (booking, making sure we had everything). Mitch is still working, and is super busy, so I was more than happy to find what we needed to go!
I found our tent, and I was super excited. It was an 8 person tent, and it had a divider in the middle. PERFECT. Why not set it up before hand, right? Make sure we've got all the parts, and there are no rips anywhere. Well thank goodness we did this, because that tent was missing every single pole. Needless to say I went to Canadian Tire and got a replacement tent. I found what was basically a replica of what we had before, '8 person', with divider. We set it up in the backyard and it was perfect. Also - if you're planning on buying a tent, when it says '8 person' it is as if people are packed in there like sardines. Our 8 person tent fit one queen air mattress on one side, and a double mattress on the other side. 8 people? Not a chance.
Moving along.
I made a reservation at Emily Park for one night. We decided that we would stick to a local park incase we had to pack up and come home. We were fairly unsure of how it was going to go with the boys being so young!
We packed up all of our gear on the Saturday morning, which turns out is So. Much. Stuff. We would have needed a similar amount of things for a night or for a week. Things you forget about are the cooking gear, clothes for ALL types of weather, all of your food, and of course - ice and drinks.
We had the van jam packed full of things, and we set off. We got to Emily Park around 12, and official check-in time for the sites are 2PM. We drove by our site, and it was still occupied, so we went to the beach. They had a nice beach area that wasn't too busy, and had shallow water.
The boys LOVED the beach, to say the least. It was a hot hot day (32C, felt like 39C with the humidity), but being able to be in the water made it much more bearable. On a typical day in this heat, I really struggle to be outside for very long. Being pregnant has me constantly feeling like I'm about to burst into flames, and it makes me super nauseous. Being able to be in the water was a life saver. We swam, played, built mud castles, and found rocks under water until about 3PM, then we packed up and went to our site.
Once we were there, it was a fairly quick set up. The tent was super easy to set up, and we didn't have much other gear. For sleeping arrangements in the tent, Mitch and I had a queen sized air mattress, and the boys had a double sized air mattress.
Before we knew it, it was 4:30, and we decided to eat an early dinner (so we could roast weenies on the fire before the boys went to bed). I had prepared chicken, pineapple, peppers, mushrooms, onions, and cherry tomatoes in a teriyaki and pineapple sauce marinade so we could just put it in tinfoil and cook them over the fire. They turned out perfectly, surprisingly!
After dinner we went for a nice walk through a wooded path they have at the park. It led us to the beach, where the kids were able to run around and play in the sand again. By the time we got back, we were pushing 7PM and decided it was weenie roasting time. I don't know about you, but as a kid, I always LOVED making spider dogs, so thats what we made for the kids. They thought it was fun! Mitch cooked some Bison burgers and they all had a nice little snack. Then we made s'mores!! We don't typically feed the kids much sugar, sweets, or treats, but I figured that it was always a camping tradition so I have to at least let them try one. I roasted them marshmallows and put them on the graham crackers (without the chocolate though), and they were in heaven.
After cleaning up from s'mores, it was getting to be time for bed. We got the boys in their jammies, let them play around a bit longer, and then put them in their little tiger sleeping bags. Then we waited. We listened to all of the commotion. They were jumping from bed to bed (under and through the divider), and definitely weren't settling down. My own fault likely for giving them a sugar bomb right before bed, but ALSO all of the excitement of being in a new place and having these new experiences. After a few warnings, and then a few more, we made the decision to set up the pack n' play for Murphy. We had brought it just in case - thankfully. Murphy wasn't too pleased to go in it, as he's now sleeping in a big boy bed at home, but it ended up being the best decision, and probably one we would begin with next time.
By that time, it was finally dark, and we were also ready for bed. Did you know that sleeping on an air mattress 7 months pregnant does NOT come recommended? Because I'll let you know. I was SO happy to be camping that I tried so hard to ignore the fact that i was a kinked nightmare with my mid section sinking into the air mattress more and more by the minute. It was uncomfortable, and definitely did a number on my back. Also - did you know that 18C in the sun is super warm, but 18C at night is absolutely freezing? These are things you tend to forget until you (unfortunately) have to experience them first hand. Luckily the boys were nice and warm in their sleeping bags, but Mitch and I had agreed that all we needed was a little blanket. And by little, I mean thicker than a sheet, likely the same warmth factor as a towel. That was a mistake we will not make next time! We were both frozen and sleeping on this bouncy castle of an air mattress trying not to toss and turn, and trying not to wake the boys up. We might have gotten one minute of sleep all night, and the boys were up around 4:30AM for the day.
We slowly woke up, got out of the tent, got the boys dressed, and started a morning fire to keep everyone warm (and of course to boil water for Mitch's morning coffee). We had brought a Coleman stove for camping with the attachable propane tanks, but we didn't even end up using it. I cooked eggs in a pan over the fire, which was great, and we had some fruit salad to eat up - so we had a decent breakfast!
The tear down was just as fast as the setup, and seemingly easier to pack the van since we kind of knew what needed to go where. We were up so early, that we were totally packed up and heading to the beach again by 8:30AM. The boys were so exhausted from their lack of sleep that Murphy fell asleep on the 30 second drive to the beach. We were the only ones on the beach in the morning. It was so peaceful. Mitch got to do some reading, and I just relaxed and watched the boys play in the shallow water and the sand. They were super happy to be playing outside again.
We stayed at the beach until about 10:30, then we had a snack, and drove home. We were all pretty exhausted from that night of no sleep that we wanted to be home in good time for naps.
Minus the sleep situation (which we would change), we had a GREAT time camping and would totally do it again. The boys did incredible, and had so much fun, and Mitch and I were so happy to be able to disconnect from the world and connect with our family in the woods. We would 10/10 do it again, but likely for at least two nights! It makes the whole packing / set up seem like its more worth while with more time to explore and enjoy.
If anyone has any tips or tricks for camping with toddlers please share! Also, any recommended camping spots would be greatly appreciated! We will definitely be doing it again!
We hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as we enjoyed ours,
B