Adventure #357: Camping with children

I used to think that the entire human race could be easily divided into two catigories:

• those who love camping

and....

• those who hate camping.

Summer camping trips were fantastically fun to me growing up. Playing in the lake with my cousins, card games by lantern light, finding socks in the bottom of my sleeping bag from last year, scrambled eggs by a smoky morning camp fire, and our family's old canvas tent that was as big as our house. Those are just a few of the fantastically fun times. They were all good memories. I considered myself a camping LOVER. 

And then I had a child of my own and went camping with her. I didn't sleep at night. She had to be held all the live-long day and everything baby-care related was 146 times harder and dirtier.

I had to revamp my idealistic view of camping because, well, it's a lot of work for all the non-child participants. My new categories look like this:

• Those who really, really dislike camping because it's a lot of work and why in the world would you voluntarily leave the comforts of home?

• Those who love camping for the simple adventure of it. These people are known as "hard core." Even children don't slow them down. They still tumble out of their sleeping bags refreshed with smiles on their faces.

and then there are....

• Those who love camping because those they love love camping. Confused? It's more of a chosen love for camping. They put in the work, live through sleepless nights and bathrooms that are 100 yards away on the other side of a noisy tent zipper. All to enjoy the campfires, good food, great conversation, beautiful outdoor views, uninterrupted family time, and the permission to eat an entire bag of marshmallows without anyone raising an eyebrow.

We went camping over Mother's Day weekend. It's a tradition (started by my husband's family many decades ago) and we've been nearly every year since we got married.

 

Camping in the rain in 2005 when Emmaleigh was 6 months old.

2006

2007

I was pregnant with Mandy and had to get up about 15 times during the night to pee. Good times. Good times.

2009

Camping with Mandy (18 months) and Emma (4 and a half) and me pregnant again. More mid night porta-potty runs.

Looking through all these pictures makes me realize how fun those experiences were. The difficulties morphed into good times somewhere along the way. Even though it was hard work. Even though tears were shed, porta-potties were used too often, and the nights seemed to never end.

I also realized I've been wearing the same coat for 7 years. Good times. Good times.

Last year we started the tradition of finishing off the Mother's Day camping trip with a night at Eagle Crest, a nearby resort. Again this year we packed up our campfire smoke infested belongings, wiped the kids down with wet wipes and drove over to the resort. More family. More good food. Indoor plumbing and electricity (not to mention cable tv) really made my weekend.

So, which of the categories do you fall into? Are you a camping hater? Are you a camping LOVER. Or a camping lover because you have to?