Camping with a Toddler: A How-to

I have not seen an actual book devoted to this topic. There is a chapter in the book titled "Be Prepared: A Practical Handbook for New Dads" but the authors overlook many nuances of a family camping trip. So here's what Keith and I came up with:

#1- Divide and conquer
We had to divide the duties in order to succeed at camping. Someone had to watch Cole while the other put the tent up. Someone had to watch Cole while the other cooked a simple dinner. You get the picture: someone is in charge of parenting while the other does the camp set up and maintenance.

#2- Always remember the things you forgot the last time
Remember that post where I talked about the things we forgot and the things that really worked? Yeah. About that. We forgot the mosquito netting. Again. And we didn't bring enough formula.  Thankfully, there was a supermarket and a CVS close by. We never found netting, but we did buy the formula at the CVS.

#3- Don't feel bad when your toddler wakes up everyone at  6 a.m.
Seriously. It's going to happen. In fact, your toddler is going to wake everyone up several times a night. But don't feel bad. Why? Because your neighbors are going to ignore the beginning of quiet hours anyway, so you'll be pissed off enough about them keeping up your tired baby. When 11 p.m. rolls around and your neighbors are setting up an easy-up with stakes and everything, you will be plotting your revenge for the next morning, or two, or three. You won't even need to remember this rule.

#4- Strategize beforehand how you will handle night waking
If it weren't for breastfeeding, I really don't know how we'd have gotten Cole back to sleep each night. It's not like we could have brought our Glider with us camping. Or the sound machine. But for those of you who bottle feed, a pacifier is the next best thing. Make sure you have plenty of those. Because you will lose one or two or three.

#5- Have a fool-proof plan for getting toddler to sleep at night
Our plan worked 2 out of three nights in Cape Cod. Our plan? If he didn't fall asleep while nursing, we'd walk him in the stroller until he passed out. The second night, Cole refused to fall asleep in the stroller. And we were both dog tired from walking the campground. So we laid in the tent and pretended to sleep and eventually, after bouncing off all four walls of the tent like 20 times, he finally passed out on the other end of his sleeping bag. The same thing happened when we were in the Daks.

#6- Be aware of the environment around your campsite
Poison Ivy is all I have to say. Cole left the Daks with two pimples that blossomed into several "pimples" on both his knees. He still has it (although it seems to be fading a bit) and I am convinced it was from something he walked into while on that first camping trip. When we got to the campsite in Cape Cod it looked as if the site was surrounded by poison ivy, so we went to the clerk at the office and she said she was "pretty sure" it wasn't poison ivy. Pretty sure didn't cut it for me, so I asked her to tell me what it was. She then did a crappy job of trying to google it while simultaneously calling another camp employee on the phone who - it turns out- couldn't remember the name of it. But they were sure it was some type of fern. In the end, Keith noted that it was leaves of five (well three on top and 2 underneath) so it must not be poison ivy. Plus, she was quick to add, they wouldn't be in business if there was poison ivy everywhere. That story aside, I watched Cole closely and only allowed him to stay within the confines of the site. I felt bad about not letting him explore more, but I didn't want to take a chance. When we got to the beach though, we went at low tide, so I made up for all the containment by letting him go where he wanted.

#7-Draw the line between campsite and camp road
While walking Cole in the stroller the first night, we watched a young man almost drive into a fence while checking his iPhone. Of course, he then drove down the road past our campsite and I was paranoid about the road from then on. Even though this was clearly a family campground, people were on their cell phones everywhere or they were speeding. So I made sure (just like I did during our first camping trip) to
draw the line between the campsite and the road.

#8-If your vehicle is not big enough for all your camping stuff, don't buy a bigger vehicle - just get a roof box
We have a CRV, but now that we have a child, Keith has been remarking that we should have gotten a Pilot, since we have so much crap and not enough room (now that we can't pull down the back seats). So, at the end of June, we took the plunge, bought a roof rack and then purchased a Thule Ascent 1600. It saved us on our last two trips. We were able to fit everything we wanted, including Cole.

#9- Bring the whole toddler medicine cabinet and don't look back
Keith thinks I'm paranoid, but if I didn't bring the thermometer, I might have been scared that Cole had a fever, and if I hadn't packed the acetaminophen, we would have had to pack it up and leave for home on that first night (of each trip!)

#10-Keep the dinners simple. If you must be fancy, prepare the fancy part ahead of time.
Keith fancies himself a gourmet chef. And, he is. He cooks awesome dinners and made delicious baby food for Cole when we were doing the whole puree thing. But it's not suitable for camping. It takes too much time and is too much of a hassle come clean up time. I told Keith as much before we went on our second camping trip, and he swore he would keep it simple. And he did! We had pasta and ravioli. Cole loved the pasta, but spit out the ravioli. Well, you win some and you lose some.

#11- Two nights. No more. No less.
We camped two nights in the Daks and then stayed the third night in a hotel. The third night was an adventure and much more comfortable. Our second camping trip was supposed to be two nights an hour away from home. On the morning of our departure, it was raining and, according to both iPhone weather apps, we saw how crappy the weather was going to continue to be.  So we decided spontaneously to head to Cape Cod, where it was supposed to be beautiful. It was beautiful. And it was fun (albeit, lots of hard work). But on Monday night we decided to reserve our site for a third night. We realized later that we should have waited until Tuesday morning to make that decision. By Tuesday night, I was hoping we could either go home (totally unrealistic) or go to a hotel. We decided upon neither and stuck it out. Cole woke up just before 6 a.m. on Wednesday and we were gone by 8 a.m. Our first stop along the way home? Grumpy's Restaurant in East Dennis. Kind of fitting.

"Dude! I can see Dada!"

This was too cute not to include.

"You mean I can go anywhere?"

"Hm. Where should I go next?"

Mama and son- back to the ocean, and back to their roots.

"Come back seagull, come back!"

"I'm going to climb that rock and she's not going to stop me."

"Wheee!"

"This is the shovel my parents bought me so I wouldn't steal anyone else's."

On one of our long evening walks up the hill from our site.

"Yeah, I woke up the French Canadians next to us. What are you gonna do about it?"

Birds watching.

The "ferns" surrounding our site.

Our little chipmunk.

The fish face

Our little hiker

We just got back from four day camping trip in Cape Cod (yay for spontaneous trips with a toddler!) We did not take nearly as many pictures as we did the last time, so I promise to write about THAT trip in one post. Also, this trip was, for some reason, a lot more work (probably because we slept a LOT less) and camped for one night more (won't do THAT again!). Still, it was a great worthwhile trip. Cole saw the ocean for the first time and mommy got her annual ocean fix (I grew up near a beach, how can I deny myself that in my adulthood?)

Anyway, here are the rest of the pictures from our camping trip in the Adirondacks. (The pictures from the Gondola ride will be for another post.)

Our little hiker explores the forest

Poser

Cole tugs at Dada's legs to show him his new stick

He found himself a walking stick

Hard at work moving the walking stick from one end of the campsite to the other

Breakfast (and not an ad for Klean Kanteen - although it certainly could be!)

Cole throws breakfast overboard

Cole does the first thing he can think of when he sees the mirrored door: he kisses his reflection

"I can't believe you didn't tell me about this sooner!" (Cole's first experience with his own slice of pizza)

"I'm stuffed."

"So stuffed."

Cole discovers the fun you can have with a hotel bathroom  tissue paper slot. He tried repeatedly to put the tissues back after Keith had removed the box.

I'll be honest. This group of photos is my favorite. Cole is so expressive and such a little explorer. I hope he really does grow up to love nature (and pizza) as much as we do. Which photo do you like the best?

Our camping weekend extravaganza (complete with funny lists and cute pictures)

Okay I lied. After I published the previous post, I realized two things. I have too many pictures for just two parts, and there were more topics I had wanted to write about - namely: camping with a toddler. I'd love to give you tips, but since this is only my first time, I don't consider myself an expert by any means.  So here are a few lists of things we learned along the way...

Things we forgot that would have been EXTREMELY helpful:
1) Bibs (even 1 bib would have been nice, but no, we brought none)
2) Stroller netting (This is funny because we bought it last year for the car seat and used it all of one time.)
3) S'mores (What kid wouldn't love himself a roasted marshmallow?!)

Things we did not need, but brought anyway:
1) Cole's float (What made us think we'd put a pool float into a mountain lake is beyond me.)
2) Alarm clock (We brought this stupid device because we thought we would need the sound machine to help Cole stay asleep. The only thing this clock did was wake us up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. Totally not necessary).
3) Cole's moo milk. (The 20 oz. of milk we brought in our double insulated Klean Kanteen went bad in 24 hours. We used about 3 oz of it and even then, Cole wasn't that interested in it.)
4) An extra tent (We thought Cole might need his own tent to nap in. Who were we kidding???!!)
5) An extra carrier (I brought the Beco Butterfly II for some weird reason I can't even remember. Needless to say, it never even saw the outside of the Thule roof box.)

Things that came in handy for camping with a toddler:
1) Formula. (Like I said, I mostly breastfed him, but when I got tired of that, a little ready-to-use formula went a looong way and it didn't go bad either!)
2) The Happy Baby yogurt melts. (I gave this to Cole after the trip up  Little Whiteface. He was upset because it turned out, he was hungry! The banana mango melts were just what he needed to smile.)
3) The inflatable tub (Cole took two baths in it and had a blast the second bath. See below.)
4) The ultimate diaper bag (Fisher Price makes the best bag - whoda thunk it?)
5) The Pack 'n Play (He didn't sleep in it, or stay in it for too long, but when mommy needed a break from chasing him around, I placed him in there so I could recharge.)
6) Lots of books, toys, and hats everywhere for easy access (or so we told ourselves).
7) Duct tape (We taped together our therma-rests so that Cole wouldn't wind up on the ground like he probably did the first night)
8) The Chicco Cortina stroller (this was a sleep aid and high chair rolled into one)

Without further adieu....

The sign for the Loj

The electric fence around the garbage containers for campers

Loving the Ergo!

The view of Heart Lake during our "hike" around it

Heading up the trail with a sleeping Cole

Finishing the trail in a beautiful green field with a sleeping Cole.

Cole walks the site with his plastic shovel and rake

Cole discards the shovel in favor of a stick

Cole contemplates life

Cole investigates the eco-system of a tree stump

Cole at meal time

Cole taking an early nap (we paid for THAT later) 

Cole trying to escape the ring sling

The kitchen at dinner time

First bath outside

To be continued at some point in the next day or two....

Our camping weekend: Part 1

So instead of telling you every single detail of everything we did over the weekend, I'll tell you about it in topic form. I like to categorize things. It's how I roll.  I'll include some of the pictures in this post and the rest in the next post (Part 2).

The Fear Factor: Black Bears

I didn't realize how serious the threat of black bears was until we got to the campground. There were signs everywhere explaining what to do if you encounter a bear, warnings not to leave food anywhere outside of your car, electric fencing around the garbage containers used by campers, a tent on display at the information center that had a huge tear in it made by a bear, and bear-proof food containers on sale at the camp store. I was ready to leave that first night, and I hadn't even slept there yet. I was that scared. Not only was I scared for my son, but also for us as a family. I am a lactating woman after all, and I knew I'd be breastfeeding Cole in the tent at night, so my biggest fear was that a bear (who have a very acute sense of smell) would smell my sweet milk and want some!

Fortunately, Keith asked the woman at the entrance gate if there had been any black bear sightings and she said no, along with a look that said there hadn't been in a loooong time. This made me feel somewhat better. Weirdly enough, I didn't feel completely better until I had to go potty around 1 a.m.  the first night.
Following the directions, I jingled my keys while walking the short distance by myself to the bathrooms and did not encounter anything out there, not even a chipmunk or the large rabbit we had seen earlier in the day. Sometimes it just helps to see your surroundings (at night) to calm your fears.

Naps

Naps were difficult to be had. Cole was totally out of his element and also really excited by his environment.  Most of his naps were had while moving: being worn by me, ridden in the stroller, or driven in the car. All in all, it wasn't too bad.

Sleepytime

All three nights Cole went to sleep for the night several hours after his usual bed time. That's because there was no way he was going to sleep in the play yard and there was no way he was going to stay asleep in the stroller while we were awake. He slept in between us. Keith and I barely slept the first night. We were uncomfortable and literally sleeping on egg shells around Cole. Plus I had to pee and Keith had a stomach ache. But the next two nights of sleep were much better. We even got Cole to sleep in until 8 a.m. on Sunday. What helped Cole sleep, of course, was breastfeeding. I nursed him whenever he woke up in the middle of the night and that gave him comfort enough to drift back off to sleep.

The BIG Hike: NOT!

We only went on one hike on Saturday morning. I know big surprise right? Keith has a pinched nerve, and my foot is still healing from the hard hit by the hard drive, so we went on a very light but beautiful hike around the lake at the campgrounds. It was about two miles with barely any inclines, just spectacular views and beautiful scenery in the forest. Keith took some gorgeous pictures of that hike. As you'll see from the shots, I wore Cole in the back carry with the Ergo. Damn did that thing come through for us this weekend.

Sightseeing: We were tourists

We did a little sightseeing by taking a Gondola ride up Whiteface Mountain to Little Whiteface. The smaller peak had an elevation of approximately 3,600 feet. Pretty awesome. Even though I'm afraid of heights I wasn't too scared. Plus I was wearing Cole in the Ergo, but in the front carry this time. So I couldn't be scared. On Sunday we did a little window shopping in downtown Lake Placid, trying to get Cole to nap. We stopped and bought him a swimsuit top from the Gap Outlet and then had a wine tasting at Goosewatch Winery while he slept soundly in the stroller.

Cole

I think the most rewarding part of the trip was watching Cole get so excited about the outside.  He ran around the campsite for most of the time we were there, with me closely following him. I got some adorable pictures of our little hiker and can't wait for our next camping trip to capture more. Cole discovered sticks and re-familiarized himself with rocks. He showed his determination by running up and down a hill again and again after he fell down coming down the first time. He walked around in circles in the lake and laughed every time he threw a rock into the lake and caused a clunking sound.  He woke up each morning so happy to be surrounded by Mama and Dada, that he'd break out in a huge smile and start jabbering immediately. After Keith left the tent to get breakfast started or before bed while Keith cleaned up the site, Cole would stand in the tent and look out the bottom window and call over and over again "Dada!"

Routines

We really tried our best to keep with our usual routines. We couldn't always get Cole to sleep at the usual time, but he was always asleep by the time we fell asleep, usually around 8 or 9. The campers around us were really quiet. The two male hikers next to us actually played guitar each night and that seemed to lull me to sleep. We gave Cole a bath each night too, which is part of our nightly routine. We brought with us the inflatable tub we used when transitioning him from the infant tub to our bathtub. The pictures we got from one of those baths are priceless.

Weather permitting

The last full day we were there was on Sunday and, according to the weather, a thunderstorm was going to be rolling in that night and rain was going to continue the next morning. It wasn't 100% likely but 40% (storm) and 60% (rain) was enough for us to pack up one day early and head for a fancy hotel in downtown Lake Placid. It was totally worth it because we had a fun time at the hotel eating lunch with a spectacular view and using the indoor pool twice with Cole. We ordered in from a local pizzeria that night and took some adorable pictures of Cole eating and post-eating. Sure enough, later that night a nasty thunderstorm with balls of lightning rolled through with rain on and off Monday morning.

On the way back

We decided on Monday as we drove down the Northway (and Cole slept in his car seat) to stop in Saratoga Springs so we could eat lunch, walk around, and then get Cole back into the car just in time for Nap #2. It worked out perfectly. Although it rained a little in Saratoga, we still had a nice time. We ate lunch at a yummy Irish restaurant and stopped at a toy store and a coffee shop. We bought Cole a wooden noisemaker, a long plastic shovel (something he could drag around the house without injuring himself) and a touch and feel book. (He seems to love these!)

Daddy and son get excited about the trip at our first stop for breakfast: the Saratoga Diner

Cole waves to the camera at Lisa G's in Lake Placid

Another restaurant patron (who turned out to be a fellow camper) offered to take a family portrait. 

Cole fell asleep after we walked around the campground drinking our Lake Placid 46ers (which happens to be the best pale ale EVER)

Yes, Keith it's Beer:30

Mommy snacks in lieu of a camped cooked dinner

A trip that exceeded my expectations

We just got back from camping in the Adirondacks. We took way too many pictures, and now I must sift through them and narrow down the best ones to share with y'all. I also must take some time to tell you how camping with a toddler  - who doesn't like to sleep - actually exceeded my expectations. So here's a sneak peek before I come back in a day or two with our story....