Campers!!

This past weekend has been circled on the calendar in the JDHTEACH house hold for 6 months. This past weekend was Pack 817 Fall Camp Out! Why was this so important to our family? Because it was going to be the first time EVER that we were going camping as a family. This is a journey that began back in April of this year. The SPRING camp out I missed due to recovery from pneumonia. This greatly upset Jack but he understood. Caroline did not go as well. She stayed with other family members. Tracey was not to gung ho about it because neither she nor I had grown up camping. Bugs…staying in the elements…um not so much.
The start up cost for camping can be expensive. We had no idea if Jack would even like camping so as far as we knew back in April this could be a ONE AND DONE kind of deal. So we borrowed just about EVERYTHING from some friends of ours that are seasoned campers.
Tracey and Jack came home and Jack could NOT STOP talking about all of the fun he had. In talking with Tracey she said, You know…we actually had a lot of fun! So now we were committed. We knew the next camping trip with the pack was in October so we started purchasing camping gear at special occasions. Through Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and my birth day we had purchased blow up mattresses, battery powered lanterns, and a huge tent! We had the essentials.
This time we were all going. Tracey, Jack, Caroline and ME! We had an absolute blast. We knew our camping site buddy family very well so we enjoyed getting to sit around and talk with them.
Here is what I really enjoyed about the trip!
- Everyone helped one another- We helped each other set up and take down the camp site. This makes is go by so much easier.
- The kids could run and play- Everyone watched out after the kids. You did not have to worry about where your kid was at all times. Somebody was always with them.
- Caroline had many kids to play with. There were a ton of younger siblings there and Caroline had a nice crowd to hang with.
- Jack let Caroline hang with him quite a bit. He was not bothered at all that she tagged along at times. Usually this is the case but we thought with his Boy Scout troop he would want to be “with the guys” more but he looked after Caroline very well.
- Jacks pack is a great group of boys and their parents are great. I enjoyed visiting with everyone.
- Everyone was so nice to me because they knew I had had to lay low due to exposure so they were all very welcoming.
- I enjoyed going from camp site to camp site seeing all the neat set ups people had.
- I guess since we were in tents we were camping but we were not what you would call roughing it.
Things I did not enjoy about the trip
- Restroom was 75 yards through the woods.

Things we learned this camping trip.
- Christmas Lights- Everyone puts up Christmas lights at their camp site. If offers a soft light so that at night you can see your way around the camp site.
- Mesquite Wood- Made some very good smelling and long lasting fire wood.
- We are going to get another tent the same size as the one we have. This way we can have a boy tent and girl tent with some ROOM to move. The way it was at night we were butt cheek to butt cheek.
- Packing- we are going to purchase more storage bens. No more fights putting the tent back in its tiny bag. We can also categorize stuff- Sleeping Geer, Battery Powered, Electrical. In the future when it is time to go we won’t have to search multiple crates.
- With my deep dish skillet I can cook up quite a meal at the camp site in the future.
Overall we all had a great time and we created a family memory that will last forever! I can’t wait for our next trip! We are officially CAMPERS!!