i ♥ tent camping

ever since i can remember, our family has always been tent campers. it's in our blood. my grandparents first took my mom camping when she was six, i remember throwing up in the tent camping when i was 3, and now my children have FINALLY experienced the joys of camping!

i even remember family vacations where we would drive states and states away, and instead of overnighting in a motel somewhere, we'd find a campground and set up camp for the night, just to pack up in the morning and continue on our journey.

back in the day we'd each have a sleeping bag and one mat to sleep on, one tarp over the [itty bitty] tent, and one screen tent for a reprieve from the mosquitos.

however, over the years we've evolved a bit. some of the first ammenities we added to our camping gear was a welcome mat in front of the tent and tv tables for inside the tent. and so was the start of our comfortable camping. since then we've conjured up some brilliant little things to bring that make our multiple days of camping so much more enjoyable.

as of last week, here are some of non-essential items we can't go camping without:

a ladder

about 6 tarps

a shovel

foam pads for the picnic table

2x3 boards

nails

air mattresses

2.5ft tall rubbermaid 3-drawer storage thingy (sorry, can't think of what it's really called!)

folding tables

propane grills

radio


this was also the first year we've camped at an electrical site. so we TOTALLY took advantage of the electricity. we brought:

extension cords

power strips

trouble light

laptop for the kids to watch dvds on

crockpot

nightlights

christmas icicle lights


we also like to bring silly stuff camping. although i guess you could argue that some of the aformentioned items are silly, this will probably take the cake.

years ago when we went camping, i decided to sneak in our bronzed baby shoes. after mom and dad had their tent all set up i went and stuck our baby shoes on their tv table. it got a good laugh and we still reminisce about that every now and then. so since this was the first time i went camping with my family in seven years, i decided that the baby shoes needed to make an appearance again. my sisters were in on the fun and becky brought a nice tablecloth and a framed picture of us girls when we were little. we snuck in mom and dad's tent, set everything up, and got another good laugh. it was presumably the highlight of mom and dad's vacation...


so there you have it. no matter what your camping preference may be, we like to rough it--christmas lights, baby shoes, and all!