Camping with Kids Part 1

I was inspired by the July/August 2015 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray to take my family camping...with four days notice...having never taken my family camping.  I'm kind of a baby when it comes to swimming in places where I can't see my feet, so rivers, lakes, and ponds aren't my thing.  the ocean, however, I'll take it.

Have you ever tried to book a campsite, four days ahead of when you want to camp, two days ahead of the biggest holiday of the summer?  Well if you haven't, it severely limits your options.  After much searching and failure, I finally found Edisto beach, SC.  The campsites aren't on the water, but about a half mile away (yay FitBit steps!).

So I've spent the last few days scrambling to get everything together to take five people who have never been camping together ready for a two night three day stay.

Naturally, I forgot to check the weather forecast before booking our "can't be cancelled for refund $50/night campsite".  Oops.  Looks like we're expecting thunderstorms on our second day.

What's a mom to do???

FUN BOX!

I've loaded it up with everything we may need for rainy day tent fun.  Wanna see inside??

Books area necessity for any travelling.  I tried to pick out some good picture books that require no reading for the three year old.  We're big fans of the "I Spy" series, as well as anything Richard Scarry.  Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and Johnny Appleseed all seemed to be good choices for wilderness reading, too.

Blokus Junior is one of our family's all time favorite games. Simple to learn, way fun to play.  Only two can play at a time so we typically battle it out to see who plays next.  The only card game my kid knows is War, but everything I've read says to bring a deck of cards, so we're bringing two.  One of Charlotte's favorite activities is writing, so I'm including these write on/wipe off LeapFrog cards.

Eli is a LEGO fiend, so a pack of LEGO is a natural go-to for a fun box.  This bag spreads out for play and cinches closed for storage, so it's perfect for taking on the go.

Another of Charlotte's favorite things is dress up and magnetic sets; this one combines both.  Like most of our belongings, this was picked up at a Thrift Store and stored away, waiting for play.  We probably have five other magnet sets currently out at our house, but this one has been put up for a while so it should make for a fun "new" toy experience.

Since we're staying on the East Coast by the ocean, we need beach necessities.  I packed these in their own bag so all we have to do when it's time for sand is grab and go.  This kit includes: two blow up donut rafts, tools for digging in sand, and a parafoil kite.

If all else fails, we have colored pencils, a sharpener, a couple of pens, a notebook, some drawing paper, and a roll of paper.  

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no rain, but seeing as how there's a 50% chance of thunderstorms, I'm not holding my breath.  If and when it does happen, we'll at least be prepared!