Our camping trip was a success! Thanks to our great friends who were so helpful and patient with us! Our kids had a great time and loved every minute of it! We camped at the beach on the Oregon Coast. Every time we make a trip to the beach and I am always reminded of the beautiful country we live in! If you haven’t seen the Oregon Coast, I highly recommend it!
Thank you to everyone for the great camping tips… There were so many of them we took advantage of. Camping is really fun but it is a lot of work to prepare for, no doubt about it!
One thing I learned very quickly is if you like to camp, it’s best to be organized! I plan on creating a camping checklist for the next time we go and save it on my computer, that seems to be the only way to go, in order to make sure you do not forget anything! For this trip I used my friends, which was a great help! Her extra tip was to include a pen and a pad of paper while you are on your trip. As you think of items you forget, wish you had, or items that are broken write it down now rather than later! You eliminate the chance of forgetting. Good idea!
Here are some of the best tips I used and some lessons I learned!
- Plan your menu – although I did not actually prepare and freeze our meals, which by the way I think is a great idea, I did plan and pre-cut everything, and made a list of all the ingredients to make the meals, that way I did not forget anything. It was such a great relief to know exactly what we were eating for each meal and have everything we needed.
- I clearly understand the need for a towel or mat at the opening of the tent. I wasn’t as strict as I should have been with the kids shoes, most of our bedding got very dirty… ooops!
- Bring extra blankets – Especially if you are at the Oregon Coast! It gets chilly at night!
- Wear sunscreen on your face, neck and ears – It was kind of cold so I didn’t think about putting sunscreen on, I was fully covered, except for my face, ears, and neck… and guess what, I woke up Sunday morning, very red!
- One tip was to make sure all of our equipment worked before we left… we did and realized we picked up the wrong tent from my sister, so we had to go back and pick up the right one… I am so glad we checked first!! However, we did not check one of the air mattresses and did get to the campsite and realized there was a hole in the mattress. Our camping neighbors were kind enough to lend us a patch! Thank goodness!
- For the first time, I tried a peanut butter cup on my S’more instead of the standard chocolate bar, I must say… this is a new favorite now!
It helped to go camping for the first time with a family who knew what they were doing! I feel now that we have the first outing behind us, the next time it won’t take so long to pack and prepare. I want to come up with the checklist for our family and keep all the camping gear together in the garage, so it’s easy to load and unload. It was nice to have separate bins for snack food, one for dishes, one for first aide, etc. Having the items categorized and in separate containers made looking for the items easier.
I think with the right system and practice, we can get this down to a science…
We will be going again and probably soon, as my son said on Saturday, “This is the best day ever!”… It makes your heart smile when you know your children are having such a great time and will remember these days for a very long time!
Happy Organizing!
