a camping we will go

A friend of mine is celebrating her 30th birthday with a camping trip, and invited us. I was stoked right away, but a bit nervous as to what Noah’s reaction would be. He’s, uh, not really the outdoorsy type. But! He said he was in, without hesitation. Well, the hesitation came afterward in kind of a what the heck did I sign myself up for? kind of way.

We have a tent, it might fit five people. We have a few sleeping bags, but will need to grab a few more, unless we just go the blanket route, which might work better for the younger two. But … that’s it. I camped with my family all the time when I was growing up, but I never once did any of the packing. The last time I camped with kids, Kaylie looked like this:

She was 11 days old. And I was with my mom and again did pretty much none of the packing. So, basically, we’re camping exactly 12 years after that photo was taken. Less 11 days, as we’re camping over her birthday.

Noah and I have never done anything like this before. When I traveled with my family as a kid, we camped along the way. When Noah and I travel now, we stay in hotels along the way. My parents were way more hardcore, obviously.

I’ve taken the kids to the lake for a week every summer for the last two years (our third annual trip is next week), but we stay at my friend Lisa‘s cabin, which is less of a cabin and more of a house with running water and toilets and beds and a kitchen. Maybe we’ll try spending a night in the tent in her yard just to test it out.

We’re not going hardcore camping, we’re staying at a campground. I’ve gone real camping a few times, and it was totally awesome, but since I’ll have three kids with me, I’m not quite ready to dive all the way in. Although I guess tenting is more hardcore than staying in an RV? Though if I had an RV, I’d most likely take that route.

Anyway, the point of this whole post is, do you camp? Do you camp with kids? If you’re a seasoned camper (with or without kids), I’d love any advice you can throw my way.