Camping Weekend was a huge success! The weather was like Hot,Sunny Summer everyday...just perfect for lake swimming, stream splashing and drip drying in the sun. Hot sunny days mean the cooler nightime temps are just right for sleeping with just one layer of PJ'S and a cozy blanket,and it means you wont freeze during the dreaded middle of the night port-o-potty trip. If youve never been camping, especially with a family,I can tell you,it is a LOT of work for a weekend,but,I can also tell you that it is well worth the work and makes memories the kids will have for years and years to come. This trip we had both family and a large group of friends with children tag along. It made for bunches of super duper happy,busy kids who were entertained so simply right up until bedtime the entire weekend! The majorty of the work involved in Camping is in the preperation,packing and then set up.

After youve successfully set yourself up a nice organized "camp home" it then becomes a very simplified,laid back life for the weekend that follows. I was on a mission to ensure our comfort and maximize our space with some organizational tricks Ive learned over the years from experience as well as pinterest. Our tent seperates into 3 small "rooms" by attaching the included curtain dividers and makes it just right for a Main center area to house our clothes and micellaneous items and have room for changing. The center is full height so its ideal as the changing/living area, whereas either of the side rooms are lower in height and just enough space to comfortably fit a large air mattress. We place all 3 kids on one mattress in their "room", while my husband and I have our room on the other side. We use a folding platform made specifically for air mattresses which lifts it up off the ground much like a bed at home. I actually prefer to bring along actual comforters and blankets and sheets versus individual sleeping bags. It feels more like home, and I was never a fan of being zipped inside a small bag anyhow! 😄

When it comes to keeping thing organized and fairly clean....within reason,this is camping afterall,there is no CLEAN as you know it, but there is a level of "camp clean" as we say! 😂 Ive learned through our years of camping that while suitcases are great for travel,they arent ideal for tent use. They sit on the floor,close to moisture, clothes never ever stay in them the way they arrived which means clothing gets stepped on, mixed up,wet and lost. I LOVE our plastic rolling drawers!!(Pictured above) They are basically portable dressers! They take up extra car space,but are so worth the extra cramming. They keep clothes off the ground,dry,easily accessible and well organized just like at home. Theyre found easily and affordably at Target in various sizes and shapes. I also always make sure to bring along a couple of mesh laundry sacks (easily found at Dollar tree) and attach them to the curtain divider tabs using shower curtain rings, one in each bedroom area. This keeps all the dirty laundry seperated from the clean,contained in one spot,off the ground and when we go home its easy to transport right inside to the washing machine without ever mixing in with the clean stuff.  I also used my shower curtain clips to hang a small cheap organizer similar to a shoe organizer you would hang on the back of a door,and used it to hold micellaneous items such as extra batteries,tissues, hand sanitizers,bug spray,sun lotion, wet wipes,flash Lights,etc. All of these micellaneous items were packed and transported inside a giant plastic tub with a lid along with our affordable camp game supplies like glow sticks,sparklers, head-strap lights,and art supplies. I purchased pretty much everything from our local Dollar tree! I even found the cutest little items to help jazz up our humble camp abode a bit. I found these great little Solar powered lights that stick right into the ground. They're made for lighting walkways or gardens,and made for a great way to light the way to the front of our tent and mark were the stakes were to avoid tripping. For $1 a piece you cant go wrong! I even added some adorable decorative string lights wrapped around each side Of our front door. Theyre battery powered by just AA batteries so they're easy to switch on in the evening and just add a cute little "homey" feel as well as clearly marking our way to the front door in the dark. Another simple but very helpful trick is to bring along some sort of basket/laundry bin type thing to place right outside your camp door to house dirty shoes upon exiting and that way they're right there as you exit. In the past we would always wind up with dirty shoes scattered inside the tent or if they did get removed they would end up scattered and seperated outdoors or even stuck under the tent. Placing our little laundry basket on top of a little entry mat in front of the door is an easy way to remind the kids to slip off their shoes before entering and keeps them safely in a pair where they can slip them back on before hitting the dirt again! 

One of my most favorite pinterest finds was our nightlight. You take a gallon jug of water and one head-strap light, strap the headlight aroud the jug with the light aiming into the water,turn it on and it creates the perfect amount of glowing light within the tent to keep the kids from being scared and allow you move about without tripping while not shining brightly in your eyes or keeping anyone awake. I set ours up dead center of our tent on a short little folding side table,but on the ground works just as well. 

Probably equal in love is my tidy personal potty stall I set up for the kiddos! Its one thing for me to hold my breath and quickly brave the portolet,but its a whole other thing to attempt to cover the seat in rolls of paper and then hold a child on the seat while squatting in front of them at a very unfavorable level😝😝while crammed in a tiny hot claustrophobic space and remind them not to touch anything over and over! 😲 Sooooo....I designed the perfect solution. I came across a pop up changing station meant to be used for changing at the Beach. It comes folded into a small carry tote and instantly pops up into an adult height stall that can be pinned to the ground and has a large zippering door. I simply set up our travel potty inside which also unfolds and uses regular old plastic grocery sized bags. I place wipes, tissue and hand cleaner right next to it and Voila! Instant portolet that is about as clean as they come! 😊

So thats the basics of our Camp home set up. Once thats all set its onto the fun! 

For the most part the fun is made with nothing  but nature amd imagination,no supplies required! But, we did bring along a few simple favorites. Camp art is always fun, and is made by bringing along some cheap paints and brushes. Our canvases are found by collecting rocks. My daughter loves doing this and then bringing the painted rocks home to place in our garden.

 

Another Fun activity required nothing other than some rolls of cute designer tape found again at Dollar tree and some good ol'sticks. The kids used the tape to decorate their own personal walking sticks to hike the camogrounds with.

A really fun group activity that we saved for the very last day because it kept them busy during the packing up process is a simple nature hunt! I had brought along simple brown paper bags and written a checklist of items on them. I handed them out and Sent them off to find natures hidden treasures!

Theres also a fun game of balloon Badminton using some plastic fly swatters and a balloon....so simple and yet so fun! 

A few other fun and simple things we always do are glow sticks,sparklers,smore making,but,this year I expanded on those basics a bit as well. Glow sticks can become a really fun game of Night time ring toss or bowling by wrapping a glow stick around a stick in the ground and then tossing circular glow sticks at it, or fill your empty water bottles with glow sticks and use them as bowling pins. For Smores this time we used ice cream cones stuffed with mini marshmallows,chocolates of choice (be creative and think reeses,mints,etc) and even dried fruit,wrapped them in foil and let them slowly melt for a bit. I suggest turning them often however to avoid a burnt side on your cone. 

Foil Packet cooking was my thing this year and I even did bbq ribs inside a foil packet!!! They turned out delicious! I simply placed 2ribs per packet,covered in sauce,wrapped them up and placed right next to the flaming fire in the hot coals. 

 

The rest of the weekend was spent watching the adorable gang of kiddos all creating their own fun together,racing across the sand into the lake swimming area, splashing around in the stream area that feeds the lake, collecting bugs and spending countless hours just hanging out on the floating wooden docks scooping up frogs and fish with a cheap little net. They were soaked,mud covered, and happy as could be!

And THAT is what camping is all about! 😁