So for any of you that love to sleep under the stars and eat bugs in the middle of the night, and for the even fewer who will attempt to do it with a child strapped to your back, here is a throwback of our camping trip last year with (then) 8 month old Burger.
(That's me there on the left) Yea.
First, I must say I was very proud of ourselves for being so awesome and taking a baby camping. Second, it really was not that hard. Other than the fact that hubby and I both got food poisoning the night before and he had the shits all trip.
Anyways.
1. FOOD
Most of you are probably not as psychotic as I am about food, maybe you are, but Burger has grown up to be a 99.92% organic Burger. Free-range and grass-fed. Don't take that the wrong way. No hot dogs or canned beans for him!
We only went for a few days, so we packed a cooler with dry ice and a glass tupperware container of his home-made cereal and another of his home-made chicken soup and some blueberries and other snacks. I did bring along some organic jarred and pouched baby food for him as well, because sometimes that's just easier.
Pops brought his propane (or something) burner with some pots and a huge jug of water for rinsing out said pots. So that covers that. We could have probably heated Burger's food over the fire, but this was easier, not trying to get too crafty here or anything.
I did bring several containers of water from home because Hamburger was still on some formula (as well as breastfeeding) BOOBIES. And I read that sometimes if you change the water source up on them, they get upset tummies. And we don't want that.
And now, listen up, because this is VERY IMPORTANT:
ONLY bring food that your baby has already had and enjoys to eat. For the obvious reason of food allergies and ease of feeding as well as, and we found this out the hard way, the POOPING factor. For the love of gawd do not let your mother cook the soup the night before you leave, because she WILL put too many beans in it and your baby WILL poop all over the walls. Um, trees.
Don't let this be you.
Or this.
THIS.
We quickly realized our mistake, after my mother got some angry phone calls, and quit feeding him the soup. I like to over pack, and had plenty of extra cereal and jarred food. And diapers. Bring lots of diapers.
2. SLEEP
Now I'm not trying to get all fancy here or anything so we just brought Burger's pack n' play for the sleeping situation. It worked out just fine for us. That's the beauty of camping, is that you have all your stuff in your car, and you can fit a lot of stuff!
3. Bugs
Our pack n play came with a mosquito net for the top, The mosquitos weren't too bad, but I still put it on just in case. Because bugs are gross. Speaking of mosquitos, BUG SPRAY! And this is the fun part, because most bug sprays have DEET. And whatever DEET is, it's bad! Because mosquitos seem to think so. I scoured the stores in search of a decent bug spray, and found Burt's Bees All Natural Insect Repellent, it consists of all sorts of things I can pronounce! Does it work? I have no idea. Didn't have to use it! But the reviews seem to be ok for it, so maybe this year we'll give it a whirl. My mother, however, was completely convinced that this "all natural" crap will only attract mosquitos and baby will for sure, 100%, get West Nile Virus if I don't use a REAL bug spray. So I also found Coleman Insect Repellent (DEET Free) (also comes in pen form). This product instead has 20% 3-[N-Butyl-N-acetyl]-amino propionic acid ethyl ester and 80% "other ingredients". So basically, many other harmful substances that have just not yet been caught up with. And yes, I took chem, and then I took orgo, and THEN I took biochem, so there was a point in my life where I could have drawn out that ridiculous chemical name for you in pretty lines and dots. Instead I'm blogging. Yay college.
I digress.
4. CLOTHES
Bring EVERYTHING. Because you're just going to throw it in your car anyways. This is one time when over packing is ok because it won't cause extra stress lugging it around; and when you're camping, who wants to drive an hour to the nearest convenience store because your kid pooped all over all his clothes in one day?!?! And we tend to forget that even in the middle of summer, camping gets cold at night. Make sure to bring warm pajamas and extra layers and blankets. And butt cream. Cuz sand knows no boundaries. And of course sunblock. Duh. hats. shoes. swimwear. towels. plastic baggies. Can I stop?
5. ACTIVITIES
We went camping about 30 minutes north of Ludington, MI at Nordhouse Dunes. Our campsite was a short hike to Lake Michigan. We did drive into Ludington one morning for some great breakfast in town and a little kayaking action at Hamlin Lake at Ludington State Park.
Don't forget the baby carrier!
Really though, as far as "activities" go, you're camping! That's that! And baby will be amused as long as you are.
We did a little kayaking on Lake Michigan
Apparently ACTUALLY kayaking with baby is considered "bad parenting". But pretending is ok.
A little flipping our kayaks. The waves were pretty decent, in his defense. I guess. I didn't flip mine....
A little sand in our bums action
A little drinkin on the beach
Speaking of drinking... Do NOT let your husband who "doesn't really drink much anymore" bring a bunch of high gravity beers along. Because he will keep up with everyone who's drinking Labatt, and he will start getting pretty drunk after 3, and the baby will start crying at some point, and hubby will just stare. And stare some more.
And some straight chillin'
And this....
BAAAAAAH TINY CHAIR!!!
So there ya have it, our first camping adventure was quite a success, and even all the poop can't keep us away this year! We'll see how round two goes with a toddler... There will be NO soup involved.
If you are interested in camping on the beautiful coast of Lake Michigan here are some nice spots:
Ludington State Park -- Has electricity and nice showers/bathrooms
Nordhouse Dunes -- More primitive. "Nicer" facilities are at the entrance of the park.
Sleeping Bear Dunes -- Just awesome. And they're ok with bonfires on the beach!
http://www.recreation.gov/ -- Handy little site for finding camping and making online reservations!
These are just some places that I have been to over the years... There are hundreds of great places along the coast though, you really can't go wrong.
Happy Camping!
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