Camping Lessons

My friend Mandy at J Mom inspired this post, even though I have avoided camping all summer due to severe pregnancy. I've missed it so much, especially when I see how much fun Ellie has being outside in the dirt! Anyway, in Mandy's honor, here are some lessons our family has learned while camping:

1. If you go to the bathroom as often as I do, it's well worth putting Kleenexes or toilet paper inside the tent so that you can just squat outside in the middle of the night.
2. If you pee outside at the same time, don't do it on a hill. Even if you're out of sight from each other, one person will have to avoid the other's river while peeing.
3. Pack a small play tent for your child to have fun with - that way bugs and dirt don't get tracked into your real tent nearly as much.
4. If you're going to check for ticks at night in a group campsite, please be aware that when you shine the flashlight all over your body, your shadowed profile is visible to those outside your tent. (Note: this also applies to indoor hot tubs when it's dark out. We've unfortunately made this mistake more than once.)
5. Don't cook extra potatoes over the campfire to bring home as leftovers. Yes, they're incredible while you're camping, but at home, the smoky taste is very wrong.
6. A fun game is the wolf pack game: the wolf leader covers his eyes while the rest of the pack hides. When the wolf leader howls, everyone else has to howl in response. The wolf leader follows the sound of the howls to find his pack. Last year, a deer actually walked through our campsite as we were howling like wolves. We must not be very realistic.
7. In the Boundary Waters, don't put your only toilet paper and money in a silver coffee can to keep them dry in the woods. Bears like to take shiny things. It's hard to get shiny things back from bears.
8. Putting a doormat outside your tent really helps keep it clean.
9. When it rains overnight, make sure you take your shoes in from the doormat. Otherwise, you have to dry them by the fire.
10. Don't expect overly tired children to nap while camping, no matter how much they need one.
11. Don't expect children to stay in their sleeping bag, or even to stay horizontal in the tent. They will wiggle into whatever spot you least want them. They also like to sleep snuggled up against the outside of the tent (which makes the inside wet), even though you put all your bags there as a barrier.
12. Don't forget tent stakes. (We were saved by the stakes from Ellie's play tent!)
13. An extra tarp covers a lot of mistakes. Especially if you also forget the tent flap and it rains.