A Camping We Went--and Survived! Part 1

After testing out the tent in our backyard for a couple of days, the next logical step was to go to our nearest state park. Thankfully, it was only 30min. away which provided me a level of comfort knowing that if it got too bad, I could get back home quickly. :)

You might not be able to tell what my girls are doing in the picture above, but they are coloring. On a whim I decided to purchase clipboards that hold paper and pencils for each of them. My plan was that they could do some nature drawing/journaling while out in nature. This was one of my best plans ever! LOL! It gave them something to keep them occupied while we needed to work, or when we were just plain tuckered out! It was especially good at keeping the 2yr. old busy. I purchased a Crayola Color Wonder Travel Tote for her. She loved it and I didn't need to worry about melted crayons or drawings on our tent. :)

Since one of the camping tips shared with me was "have a good attitude," I knew that to help me with that, I needed to be somewhat organized or else I'd feel overwhelmed. I purchased 3 blue Rubbermaid tubs (that way once stored in the garage/attic, we would know exactly which tubs were our camping tubs). One was packed with tent equipment/lanterns/tarps, another was packed with cooking pots, roasting sticks, dishes and campstove, and the last was packed with food that didn't need to go in the cooler.

Inside the tubs I had smaller items packed in snap-n-lock containers. I love these containers! I use them at home for my flour, sugar, and other dry-goods. This container in the photo above, had disposable rain ponchos, maglite replacement bulbs, maglites, a whistle, rubber bands, clothespins and some carabiners.

Now this pink snap-n-lock tote has three levels. Oh I love buy organizational stuff! I purchased this and the tote below at Target. The top had boxes of matches (one was being used when I took the photo), the second compartment had batteries for our laterns, and the third had misc. stuff.

The blue container held all our cooking utensils. The top had stuff like serving/mixing spoons, can-opener, measuring cups/spoons, cutting knives, cutting board and washcloths. The bottom had our plates and silverware. It worked out pretty well! The only thing I need to find is a utensil caddy to place on the picnic table while we are camping (you know those things you use at a picnic that has the separate compartments for holding plastic silverware). That way we aren't going in and out of that bottom compartment so much. The tote works great for transporting everything though.

Of course the best organizational thing I brought was the Pack 'n Play ! It kept dd#4 from getting into everything--lol! We used it as a play-pen during the day, and at night we moved it into our tent for her bed (but did she sleep in it---noooooo)