The First Official Parry Furlo Family Camping Trip

Last weekend we went on our first camping adventure as a family with the addition of our friends James and Jessi. We sat down to plan our camping trip in June, and none of us had any real idea of where we wanted to go. Naturally, we hopped online and searched for campgrounds closest to home. Turns out that most of the ones we had heard of were booked (duh, we were a little late to get reservations at the good places!) but we found Sand Beach campground which sounded good. After all, who doesn't enjoy sandy beaches? Turns out that we made a critical error which we didn't discover until we rolled into the campground. Sand Beach is a mecca for the ATV crowd and every single campground had several ATV's in addition to their huge $$$ RV's and tents. Needless to say, it took us at least the first day to become acclimated to the constant revving of engines and tin can rattling noise. Eeek.

We were determined not to let the inescapable noise ruin our trip and we even joined in with the crowd the best we could by sitting on the concrete blocks in the parking lot next to the sand dunes and watched the action. It definitely looked like fun, but not the kind of fun that is doable with small children. We did find the sandy beach, though it was a ways away from the ocean and was more of an inlet. That didn't stop the kids from having the time of their life getting as wet and sandy as possible. Ethan usually doesn't like sand on his feet and he cried for about 20 seconds after we took his shoes off until he realized that he could play in the water with his shovel. That did it. He LOVED it! Grace had fun wearing herself out by running up and down the dunes. Grace even figured out how to climb trees like a koala bear at our camp site.

We made s'mores both nights and Grace got to roast her own marshmallows which made her very happy. Ethan tried to roast one but it mostly just got rubbed in the ashes and eventually tossed. He was happy though. The first night we roasted hotdogs and had hamburgers. The second night we did veggie packets and cooked a salmon in the fire which was very tasty. Nothing says gourmet camp food like sourdough pancakes which is what James and Jessi treated us to both mornings. We even brought our stovetop coffee maker so we were far from deprived! I made a big batch of 64 peanut butter chocolate chip cookies to bring on the trip which were reduced to the grand total of 2 by the time we got home Sunday afternoon. I'd say we ate good!

David, the kids, and I shared a four man tent which is a bit on the tight side. I honestly don't know how four adults are supposed to fit in that thing. It barely worked for two adults, a preschooler, and one toddler! David, Grace, and I slept in a row and Ethan slept above our heads. Nothing other then our sleeping bags (and David's blankets since I don't have a sleeping bag yet and he was gracious enough to let me use his!) fit in the tent so all of our clothes were in the van. Worked well since the van floor was cleaner then the dirt to change a diaper and gave us a little bit of privacy to get them dressed and Grace slathered in anti-itch cream.

It was definitely a good weekend, despite the noise, and we will definitely go camping again. Grace has asked me almost every day this week if we can go camping again so I know she had a good time! We couldn't pry the bucket and shovel from Ethan's hands the whole time we were there so I know he enjoyed himself too. David was highly reluctant to go car camping but even he seemed to enjoy himself and said he'd be willing to go again. Car camping is definitely the way to go with small kids. It may be less "back to nature" but it sure makes life easier when you're dealing with diapers. Of course we could have done without the ATV noise all day and night (curfew was midnight to 6am!) so I'm pretty sure we won't be back to Sand Beach Campground anytime soon.

I handed the camera to David a couple of times during the trip to make sure I had a few pictures of myself to proove that I was there too! Our friends James and Jessi have a bunch of their photos on their blog (with several more that I'm actually in!) on their site Outside the Rat Race.