There are two kinds of people. Camping people and motel people. And you know which one you are.
Then there are two kinds of campers…tent campers and well,
those of us who don’t tent camp. When
Mama retired, she bought the Cougar, a 5th wheel camper, to have to
spend time with the girls. So far, we
have taken it to the beach, the lake and the race track.
One of our favorite camp grounds around here is Cottonhill
over near Fort Gaines. The girls have
made friends over there and we normally see some of the local “camping
people”. Wink wink, we know who we are!CottonHill sunset |
We take the bikes, the boat, the tube, lots of chairs and an shade tent. It use to take Forevah to get set up. Now, Scott backs up the camper while I line him up to the hook ups. Maddie helps him level while I start taking out all the stuff and getting set up outside.
Green carpet. Check. Table for cooking supplies. Check. Big Cooler. Check. And on it goes. The other two girls help with the unloading and tablecloths. Within about 30 to 45 minutes we are chilling at the lake.
We’ve been camping since before HC3 was born. So we’ve had toddlers, infants and
now…teens. Sooo, if you are camping with
kids and preteens, What do you take? And how much?
I try to plan a menu and we actually do some light cooking. But it really helps to pre-cook or in my case
overcook to prepare for meals. I have an
electric skillet, a griddle, an electric burner, a small toaster, a coffee pot
and a Coleman camping grill. This means
we have a pretty large extension cord and a plug strip. **Note:
Plug your extension cord directly into the electric hookup. Learned this one the hard way…kept blowing
the breaker when using the plug on the outside of the camper.
Meals for Camping week:
1.
Taco’s:
You can’t mess this up. Brown and
season your ground meat of choice. All
the other fixings are easy. This go
round we are trying the Doritos taco bags.
Check out pinterest, but basically open a bag of Fritos or Doritos add
meat, lettuce, sour cream, cheese and a fork.
Portable and easy to eat outside.
Awesome
2.
Spaghetti:
Make a wash pot full prior to your camping trip. Freeze in a big ice cream bucket. Reheat in your electric skillet. Add a prepackaged salad and voila! Easy dinner the kids will eat. And who cares if they make a mess? They eat outside and can wash off in the
lake!
3.
Hot dogs/Hamburgers…you got to grill at least
once. And by far this is a
favorite. To make the trip easier go
ahead and pat out those burgers and freeze between wax paper. Makes it much easier to use the amount you
need. You will be amazed at how many
friends you accumulate when you camp and cook!
Fun note: Take some wire hangers or buy the nice camping forks from Wally
world. Let the kids cook those hot dogs
over the fire.
4. Boston Butt:
Crock pot it once you get there or cook ahead. I like to cook ahead, have for one meal then
freeze for the camping trip. Add buns
and some cut up veggies. Great lunch for
hungry swimmers!
5. Big Breakfast Sunday: This means I’m cooking. Grits in a pot on the electric burner. Bacon in the electric skillet, pancakes on
the griddle. To keep things hot, we use
a tortillas warmer. They sell them at
wal-mart and you’ll want more than one.
Breakfast is an easy meal to make self-service Holiday Inn style. Big kids and cook their own pancakes or
waffles and an adult can help the little ones.
6. Tin Foil:
You can cook about anything in tinfoil over your campfire. So take a big roll of heavy duty!
Other items to take are homemade baked muffins for
breakfast, lots of pre cut vegetables for self serve snacks, fruit, homemade
cookies or brownies for after tubing.
Now for the fun stuff with little kids:
2. Bubbles, sidewalk chalk and other
cheapo entertainment type toys. We have a toy box, an old paper box, with sand
toys, wiffle ball sets, etc.
3. For rest or down time, a few
coloring books and crayons.
4. Try to camp near the playground.
5. Life vest. Life vest. Life vest. If
you are doing water sports make sure you have vests specific for children and
their weight.
Either way, get a tent or starter camper and hit the
road. I can’t believe we have been
camping for 10 plus years. We have great
memories and have had some wonderful times with our girls. Now get out there, get your gear or camper ready. It is spring break and time to hit the lake or beach with your family.
I like your ideas, but I am a "hotel girl"...preferably, of the 5-star variety! LOL
ReplyDeleteTell Kerry to buy you a prevost...Phillip can drive and Katie can cook. We call that "glamping"!!
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