7 Best Things About Camping With Kids

Taking care of little people may not always be strenuous, but what it is is constant. You are filling up the 6^th sippy-cup of the morning, searching for an Elmo bandaid instead of Big Bird for the crying child at your feet, breaking up a fight over a toy that no one has even looked at in a month, and mopping up a puddle of pee (while using one leg to fend off the baby who is trying his best to splash in it) all within the space of about 3 minutes.  Do we really need to mix in all the extra work and dirt of camping???
 But what I've come to see through our times away, is that there is something about camping that transforms the daily commotion of life with multiple children. When you are camping, somehow normal everyday things take on a sweet- ‘I am almost nostalgic of this moment right now!’ kind of feeling...

 The typical re-filling of bowls of Cheerios in the morning transforms into camping memories of eating breakfast outside with our green plastic spoons…

...a potty break becomes holding hands while walking to the bathrooms and hearing all about the fun games they were playing with their new friends…  

...snack time becomes a picnic break on the grass and I can’t help but swoon a little in my heart as I look down at the sunshine gleaming on a fuzzy little head…  

...supervising my trouble-makers turns into watching the boys playing the day away… seeing them just come into their element finding rocks and sticks (the ultimate and preferred toys of all time!)...

...digging in the dirt and climbing trees (if I was ever looking for Elijah, my best bet was to look up!)...

 

 

...having to tackle a sink of dirty dishes becomes a time to chat with the girls outside and talk about their favourite parts of the day…

 ...The evening bathtime routine means heating up water and bubbles for the marshmallow/dirt plastered baby...
  And is there anything cuter than a baby in a basin? 

(Gabriel absolutely loved his basin baths- especially trying to squirt me with his bath turtles and laughing till he’d almost fall out of the tub)

...The nightly battle to put the children to bed (and get them to stay there!) turns into simply scrubbing filthy black toes and tucking those tired little people three deep in the bed- full of fresh air and completely played out.

If it ever seems like too much work to go camping, I try to think about these things... and I remember that there is nothing quite like it :)