This is supposed to be a life hack, but mostly it’s a story about camping. Anyway. We went camping a few weekends ago. We had not been camping as a family since August 2019, and I have had three. more. babies. in the interim. There are now seven of us total. We have, in threes and twos, gone on short backpacking trips in the last five years, but not the “whole family camping” shebang. So, we had not gathered items in proportion to our growth. But this opportunity was too good to pass up: cousins at the Great Sand Dunes. Relevant context: there’s a National Park in Southern Colorado called Great Sand Dunes. Due to a remarkable natural phenomena (read: God decided on a gigantic sandbox), there’s an enormous dunefield—home of the largest dunes in North America—nestled against a mountain range.
Whoa! That's amazing! Thanks for the photos--it would have been hard to picture it quite like that. I never knew there was something like that in Colorado! Yeah, I guess God really knew we'd need a giant sandbox here in the US. :) I'm going to add that to my list of places to visit for our Grand Trip West that I hope to take one of these days. Illinois and Mississippi are as far west as my kids have gone. They need to see some real mountains. lol.
It is so amazing!! The creek is running from late May -- early June. It's still awesome outside of those times, but the creek really made it extra fun with the kids.
I think maybe it was a Lazy Genius episode where someone talked about how they do this for every major holiday — a “what did I need that I didn’t have” list.
As far as camping, I finally realized that I could just make the same food every time and that has really helped to make it less stressful. But 2 nights is still my limit unless we’re borrowing a tent trailer from someone and have luxury hookups — like water 😂 The access to a real toilet is my limiting reactant.
Camping with kids is magical. Even though if they're under three, their entire experience is pretty much "falling while trying to walk" lol. STILL magical.
We have never been camping with all three of our kids and had a trip planned for this weekend that got completely rained out. Three kids in a tent during an all night thunderstorm is where I draw the line 😂😂 we are disappointed but hopefully hot dogs and s’mores over our fire pit for dinner will suffice for now
Uggghhh how sad! I would absolutely have drawn the line there, too. We were so grateful it was just the one evening -- even with all the right stuff, there's only so much fun you can have in a days-long downpour.
Whoa! That's amazing! Thanks for the photos--it would have been hard to picture it quite like that. I never knew there was something like that in Colorado! Yeah, I guess God really knew we'd need a giant sandbox here in the US. :) I'm going to add that to my list of places to visit for our Grand Trip West that I hope to take one of these days. Illinois and Mississippi are as far west as my kids have gone. They need to see some real mountains. lol.
It is so amazing!! The creek is running from late May -- early June. It's still awesome outside of those times, but the creek really made it extra fun with the kids.
I have the exact same list for camping!!!!
The list for next time is so smart.
I think maybe it was a Lazy Genius episode where someone talked about how they do this for every major holiday — a “what did I need that I didn’t have” list.
As far as camping, I finally realized that I could just make the same food every time and that has really helped to make it less stressful. But 2 nights is still my limit unless we’re borrowing a tent trailer from someone and have luxury hookups — like water 😂 The access to a real toilet is my limiting reactant.
It really helped me stay positive... when I would have been FLIPPING OUT otherwise.
The list idea is honestly so simple but so genius…!!
At least I had a receipt! (of library books we need to return 😅)
We went to the sand dunes a few years ago! I didn’t make it to the top but we really enjoyed it all the same!
Loooooooove camping though and can’t wait to take our girls one day
Camping with kids is magical. Even though if they're under three, their entire experience is pretty much "falling while trying to walk" lol. STILL magical.
We have never been camping with all three of our kids and had a trip planned for this weekend that got completely rained out. Three kids in a tent during an all night thunderstorm is where I draw the line 😂😂 we are disappointed but hopefully hot dogs and s’mores over our fire pit for dinner will suffice for now
Uggghhh how sad! I would absolutely have drawn the line there, too. We were so grateful it was just the one evening -- even with all the right stuff, there's only so much fun you can have in a days-long downpour.
Narnia callback
You know it