Camping with kids

This series is on hold for a few months because our camping trip was canceled due to a fire. It wasn't too near our campground but with allergies abound in our family I wasn't going to risk the bad air. It was the only chance we were going to have to camp until the spring because we have a family trip planned to Las Vegas. I am planning a post on going to Vegas with kids because it possible to visit there and have a good time with everyone.

Camping with Kids II- Packing

*Intro to this series is here and part I is here


It seems that our family prefers colder weather when camping. Maybe because where we live gives us more 100+ days than I care to think about and we want a much needed relief. Or maybe it is because our food stays cold on it's own. The reason's don't really matter, the point is I have to scrounge up jeans, long sleeve tops and heavy jammies for the kids.

This summer we are lucky and seem to have enough tops and jammies for Babalu and Rookie. Snuggle Puppy has plenty of jammies (I found a box of his brother's clothes in the garage). I obviously had a few things to buy (I took advantage of the internet!).

When I pack my kids for an overnight trip with specific dressing requirements I have a system. I start with the outfit they will put on the last day and pack it first. On top of that the jammies for the last night and on top of that the clothes of the day before and you get the idea. It saves time and we always know what clothing is dirty and clean. I find this especially important when camping because there is dirt everywhere and I want my kids to wear clean clothes. Or at least put on clean clothes in the mornings.

Camping with Kids Part I: Diapering

*Intro to this series is here*

For many people the question of "how to we want to diaper our little one?" is an easy one and they pick up an extra bag of disposable diapers and wipes. For others it isn't so easy. The real question becomes "do we want to cloth diaper on our camping trip?". On our last camping trip we went for it and used cloth. It was only a weekend so it wasn't too bad (especially considering our week long trip out of state on which we used cloth only 6 month before). We have used disposables when we leave the house many times but since we were already buying new things for the trip and I went over-budget on food (poor planning... that is a whole post on it's own) we wanted to save the 20 bucks and use cloth.

My strategy-

1. Make sure all of the diapers are clean the morning we leave so we aren't leaving a pail full of nappies at home.
2. Plan on when to change Baby and then add 2 per day. That is how many to bring. I ended up packing all of our Thristies brand covers (my absolute favorites), which is about a dozen, with all of our prefolds and pocket diaper inserts to just put in the covers (*covers do not need to be changed at every change, only 2 or 3 per day are necessary). For each night, in our case 2, I packed a double stuffed Fuzzi Bunz. This is what we use for nighttime at home. I also packed all of our wipes (just two layers of flannel sewed together and a few wash clothes) and had a water bottle set aside to get them wet. We will also have the gDiapers that we keep on the car on a regular basis. 
3. I kept all the cleans in a a duffle and brought a pail liner to keep the dirties (held together at the top with a hair tie). We did not have an issue with smell and if we had I would have put a cup of baking soda in with the dirties. Baking soda is amazing for getting rid of odors.
4. "What did you do with the poo?" is always a common question when cloth diapers are concerned. This is the answer- it depends on the poop. If it the kind of diaper that the poo can be easily shaken into the toilet I do so. If it isn't I don't worry about it and just put in into the dirty bag (now that I'm really thinking about it I should have a separate wet bag for these so I know where they are) and rinse them with the diaper sprayer when we get home. 

Something else you can do (that I have done in the past) is use the disposable gDiaper inserts with the Thristies covers or the gDiaper covers. I like these inserts because they biodegrade very quickly (you can compost the wets!) and disposable diapers take a very long time. This is what I like to use when Snuggle Puppy gets a yeast rash and I need to use the prescribed cream for a few days (and then I follow up with a week or two of coconut oil at each change. I haven't had a build-up problem with the coconut oil so I feel comfortable using it with cloth diapers).

I hope this has made using cloth on camping trips a little less scary :)

Camping With Kids Series- Intro

For years I turned up my nose at camping. There is DIRT everywhere. Showers are either nonexistent or have to be paid for. I have to sleep in on an air mattress.! All very horrible things for me. But somehow, last summer, I decided I could live with it for a weekend (Friday afternoon until Sunday morning). We took one camping trip last fall (that is just how our schedules worked) and the camping bug bit me. When we made our reservations for our campsite last fall I did what any uninformed person should do- I googled "camping with kids" and "camping with toddler". I found just enough info for me to feel comfortable with our plans. I decided that I should add to internet's repository of knowledge on the subject by blogging a series of posts. I'm hoping that my series will help others. Our current camping trip is scheduled for the first weekend in August so as I prep our supplies I will be posting and expect at least one post after we return home.

 Aside from our regular cast of characters we also add a few more-

RP3- my BFF/boy's favorite uncle

Fish Guy- RP3's boyfriend and another favorite uncle. He also likes to keep fish.

Nephew #5- self-explanatory. He joined us last year for camping and will be joining us again. He is a blast. He is #5 because I have 6 nephews and in chronological order he is the #5. Same age as Babalu and is one of his and Rookie's best friends.

Niece #5- also self-explanatory. She is sister to Nephew #5 and Niece #6. I have a lot of nieces/nephews (including great of either kind), my husband comes from a large family. She plans to join our next camping trip.

Other Other Grandpa- Niece #5/6 & Nephew #5's other grandfather. Navy Vet and Camping Extraordinaire. Also joining us for our camping trip. Really cool guy with cool stories and is really good with all the little boys. Real Outdoorsy type.