Disclaimer: This post has lots of boring details about the planning of the trips. If you are reading this as a friend or family, just scroll through and look at the pictures. I've provided captions.
After all said and done, would I do it again? Meh. While it was a great experience for Nathan, I'm finding that the positives and the negatives for this trip have balanced out pretty evenly. With sleep being the most stressful event for us, I'd say (putting my personal discomforts aside) it was a pretty good trip.
What brought the whole trip experience down was really allergies. There was something in the air that I was allergic to, and the allergy meds that I brought with us didn't work too well.
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| Our gigantic 8 person tent. We got it since our family is growing and our 4-person tent would basically just fit the pack and play. At first we thought it may be a bit too big for the 3 (+dog) of us, but after spending a few days in it, we love the extra space. |
Before the trip, I looked all over the internet beforehand to see if anyone had any brilliant tips to offer, I found a few, here are my experiences and I hope this will help someone in the near future.
Packing
Create a packing list, or several, starting a week before the trip so that you can add things on as you remember them. If you are having lots of preggo brain lapses, a list will be essential. I actually created 2 lists: one for food related and one for non-food.
Plastic containers are your friend in this case. Besides clothing and cold food items, I tried to organize everything in plastic containers. One blogger suggested packing things in one huge plastic bin and using that bin as a bath tub in the shower. Just fill it up a bit with water, plop the kid in and wash away. It worked pretty well.
I had one bin each for kitchen gear, bathing, miscellaneous non-food items, and used the large bin to carry non-perishable food items.
Non-Food Items for Everyone
PJ's, outfits, hoodie sweatshirt or light jacket, swim wear, shoes, sandals, socks, underwear, hats, towels, pillows, sunscreen, insect repellent (be sure to get "family" with lower percentage (7%) of DEET), shampoo/shower gel, lotion, toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, medicines, first aid kit, vitamins, folding chairs, headlamps or flashlight and tent. Sleeping bag for adults as well as any type of fancy padding that you may want to for comfort.
We realized last minute that we had left our air mattress at my mom's house last time we visited, so I ended up packing 2 old comforters and using them to cushion me and my baby bump. It was probably one of the most comfortable camping sleeping set-up I've experienced. I slept with a regular pillow and a mini-pregnancy body pillow. It worked.
Toddler-Specific Items
Pack and play, sheets, PJ's of various types (footie pajamas, two piece long-sleeve and short-sleeve), diapers and wipes, baby carrier, 2-3 toys, 2-3 books, and any comfort items that your kid would need (ex: blanket or stuffed animal). If you want to use the big bin as a bath tub, be sure to bring 1-2 toys to keep toddler occupied while you wash up. (I forgot toys so I just handed him toiletry items for him to pretend-play with).
We really just used the toys to keep Nathan entertained during the portion of the car-trip when he was awake. We pretty much timed the drive to the campsite during his nap time so that bored-toddler-in-car syndrome would be avoided. He slept for about half of the trip and played with his toys or looked out the window for the rest. Surprisingly, he traveled quite well. On the way back, he slept even longer (even though it wasn't during naptime) and then took an afternoon nap as well. There was so much stuff for him to see, feel, and listen to, that we simply didn't really need to take out any toys. However, when we first arrived, and were setting things up, he was completely happy playing in the front seat of the car. The buttons, controls, and cubby holes were new things to explore and try. And then when he got bored, we gave him a shovel and bucket, which kept him occupied while we finished up unpacking.
Food
I planned out each meal so that we wouldn't bring too much food. I threw an extra can of tuna into the box for an emergency situation. If a bear came out and ate all of our bacon, we would still have some sort of protein (and you know how important protein is to a preggo). I also divided the food list up into frozen items, cold items, and non-perishable items. In the cooler, I packed the frozen items on the bottom and the cold items towards the top (since colder, more dense air, sinks). Since we were essentially going on a 48 hour trip, I didn't do anything too special to keep our food cold. I simply bought a 24 pack of bottle water, froze them and packed them between the food layers to keep things cold. We also drank the bottles as they thawed out.
My 1.5 year old drinks about 18 oz. of milk a day, so I ended up getting aseptic milk (milk in cartons) for him. A 32 oz container was perfect for our needs. I got single serving milk boxes for myself. The milk tasted a bit like evaporated milk, but it worked.
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| Nathan's strong man face as he tries to squeeze the milk carton. |
All the food prep and cleaning supplies that we brought fit into a plastic container that is a bit bigger than a shoe box. The container also acted as a cleaning bin when it came time to doing dishes. Just squirt a bit of dish soap, add some water and wash. Things that we brought included garbage bag, paper towel, sponge, silverware, paper plates, a camp stove, mess kit, cooking utensils (spatula, whisk, knife, cutting board), propane tank, and lighter.
Our campsite had this high hook where you could hang your trash bag. We ended up putting our trash bag into a reusable grocery bag and hanging that on the hooks. As we generated waste, we would put garbage in the bag and recyclables outside of the plastic bag, but in the grocery bag. When it was time to leave, we just took the trash bag out, dumped it, and packed the grocery bag home for recycling.
For breakfast both mornings, I bought whole wheat just add water pancake mix. The first morning, we had bacon and with the left over bacon, I made a broccoli salad for a pot-luck dinner. That worked out pretty well. Our other meals consisted of beans and fajitas and tuna sandwiches.
S'Mores
What's camping without s'mores? Anytime we broke out the camp stove, we had s'mores. We didn't start a fire or anything this time, but improvised with the camp stove to make toasty marshmallows. We even had s'mores pancakes!
Nathan wasn't too crazy about eating s'mores, (the kid prefers a plain graham cracker or just the marshmallow) but he loved squishing the chocolate over the marshmallow.
For our pot-luck, we even made cookie s'mores. Someone bought lots of cookies so Steve had an idea of making cookie s'mores. Sooooo good.
Doing Things
This time we visited Llano River State Park in west-ish Texas. This is a small park about 2.5 hours west of Austin near Junction, TX. There's a river, trails, and lots of birding opportunities there. We sampled a bit of everything that the park had to offer.
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| Swimming/floating the cool river was nice on a hot and sunny day. |
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| Observed a variety of birds through a bird blind. |
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| Went on a short hike along the river. |
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| Let Nathan do some some walking... |
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| Which didn't last too long. |
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| Even after our hike, he wanted to stay in the carrier. |
Every morning, you woke up to a chorus of birds singing. I wish I recorded the sounds, but it was just crazy how loud it got. We also saw lots of wildlife including deer, turkeys, birds, and Nathan's favorite, the Armadillo.
Toddlers love to help out. Camping is also a cooperative experience, so in theory, camping is a perfect opportunity to promote cooperation and working together. Unfortunately, my toddler lacks the coordination to do many things, but throughout the trip, Nathan would "help" us with carrying things, holding Teddy's leash, closing containers or doors, setting up or taking things down, and sweeping.
Sleeping
This was the one thing that I was most worried about and it turns out that I was right. Here are the conditions that we were battling:
1. Unfamiliar territory
2. Odd nature sounds and random footsteps from an army of armadillos that surrounded our camp after lights out.
3. A dog who would growl at the above mentioned sounds throughout the night.
4. Drastic temperature changes 80 at tuck-in time down to a low of mid-50's during the night.
5. Neighbors in close proximity.
6. Bouts of sneezing fits along with sniffly nose from me.
Here is a situation where co-sleeping would be super beneficial, but ever since my son was 4 months old, he preferred to sleep by himself. In fact, he will not fall asleep if I'm around. (Unless he nurses to sleep, but I've only done that one other time on a camping trip to Yosemite).
First night: We skip the bath because by the time we finished dinner and looking at the armadillos, he was cranky and it was almost an hour past his bedtime. So, I followed the usual bed time routine of books, light swaddle (really just roll a blanket around him), and lullaby before I put him down. When I started the lullaby, he started to cry. but I just continued and then put him down, noticing that he was really sweaty. After a few minutes of crying, I decided to change him into shorts and gave him a cold bottle of water to drink. That seemed to calm him down. I re-sung the song and put him down again. This time, completely leaving the tent, letting him cry. After an eternity of thinking about all of the judgement that I was receiving from the neighbors (about 6 minutes), he quieted down and fell asleep. Aaaaaaah (sigh of relief) and we spent the next couple of hours looking at the clear sky through our telescope.
When it was time for us to turn in, I lifted Nathan out to put a sleep sack over him. The temperature had dropped a bit and with only shorts and a shirt, he would've gotten pretty cold. He stirred a bit, but I was able to pat and shush him back to sleep. About 10 minutes later, Nathan woke up. (If he ever has a night-waking at home, I just go in and sing him the lullaby to calm him and then put him down. He is normally asleep in a few minutes. Sometimes he cries for 2-3 minutes, but he always goes back to sleep quickly.) With it being almost midnight, I didn't want his cries to wake up or annoy the neighbors, so I did the usual, sang to him, but instead of just putting him down, I patted his back (while slumped over the pack n play sides with a belly) and tried shushing him to sleep. No luck.
So then I brought him with me to the sleeping bag. Sometimes it seems like he would fall asleep, but then our dog Teddy would growl at some noise and Nathan would wake up. Eventually, he just wanted to play and started to poke around at my nose and eyes.
At this point, Steve stepped in and decided that he would try to rock Nathan to sleep. About 40 minutes later, I heard a gentle plop and my husband returning to our sleeping area. We slept soundly until the choir of birds woke us up in the morning.
The next night, we tried to do things a bit differently and he slept through the night. He did cry for like 10 seconds, but I think it was a dream or a night terror thing. He settled down before I had a chance to get up.
1. We did the whole routine. Bath, story, swaddle, and lullaby. But I decided to skip putting on the sleep sack later since the weather was going to be a bit warmer. Instead, I would just put a towel over him before I went to sleep.
2. Teddy slept in the car that night.
3. Not think about how neighbors may be judging us for letting our baby cry.
4. If he started to stir and I happened to need to blow my nose, I would just quietly wipe and lay as still as possible. I didn't want him to think that for me to go and get him was an option.
I, on the other hand, did not sleep as well. My back started to hurt after sleeping in a position for too long, so I had to wake up and readjust everything. Then, sometimes it would take me 20-30 minutes to fall back asleep. And then there was the runny nose. But I'm going to stop complaining here about the allergies and move on.
For naps, fortunately, we only had to take one in the tent during our trip. Even though most of the tent was in some tree shade, it still got pretty hot. With outdoor temperatures close to 90, you can imagine how hot the inside got. We opened up all the vents of the tent to allow maximum air-flow, but most of the air flow was occurring close to the top, so if you were standing or sitting up, you would feel a nice cool breeze. But if you were laying down on the ground (or in a pack-n-play), the air was still and muggy. So, if you are camping in a hot climate, I would suggest you get a tent that vents all the way to the floor area.
Nathan fell asleep after crying for 4-5 minutes, but didn't sleep long. 45 minutes was about what we estimated, but I don't blame him. It was too hot. Afterwards, we went to cool off in the river and he was generally pretty happy until bed time.
Tips for expectant mothers.
1. You are not as _____ as you were before pregnancy. You can fill in the blanks with pretty much any positive word associated with being healthy: hot, fast, able to hike as long, able to carry as heavy a pack, etc. Before we had kids, our camping hikes would be on moderate to strenuous terrain and we would cover anywhere from about 6-12 miles a day. This time I was tired after reaching the .2 mile marker and exhausted after 2 miles.
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| Taking a break after 5 minutes of walking. |
2. If you have fears of peeing in dark, unfamiliar places, get over it. With a little baby pressing on your oh so delicate bladder, that special feeling can come often (especially if you are downing bottles of water to prevent dehydration). Either reserve a spot close to the bathrooms, or scout out a good spot behind the bushes during the day for easy access at night.
3. Cushioning is your friend. Camping pads, air mattresses, comforters, and any other sort of padding are your friend when it comes to creating your haven of sleep. We opted to bring extra comforters in lieu of the stroller. Make it a priority.
4. Have fun, relax, and try to have a positive attitude. I would have to admit, my words towards Steve have gotten a bit harsh and negative throughout the trip. Hormones, aches, heat, allergies, and fatigue can make even the most positive person step into the shoes of a pessimist, but remember, we are all here to have fun, and your hubby is doing the best he can to try to help make things go smoothly too. So if you find yourself being a negative Nancy, apologize, and give him a hug and a kiss.
I hope I didn't ramble on too much. I give you a lot of extra information to paint the picture of how things worked for my toddler, given his normal mannerisms and temperament. If you have any specific questions, feel free to comment below. Happy Camping.
Oh, don't forget to bring a camera to document and capture all of these amazing memories that you make.
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