Camping with Kids

We took the boys tent camping this weekend -- our first family camping trip.  We had our fair share of grumbles throughout the weekend.  Matthew woke up in the middle of the first night and emphatically demanded that we go home.  The first words out of his mouth in the morning were, "I want to watch a TV show."  But altogether I'd say it was a rousing success.

The boys delighted in the tent and enthusiastically proposed that they share the retro sleeping bag.  Two brothers who can't sit next to each other on the couch without, "Mooom!  He touched me!" and they want to sleep in the same crowded sleeping bag?  Riiiigghhtt.  That lasted about as long as it took to snap a photo.

The boys learned that EVERYTHING tastes better when it's cooked over a fire outside.  Well, turns out that Matthew believes that holds true for jar cakes and s'mores, but not hot dogs.  "It smells yucky," he said contemptuously.  "And it's dirty."

When we handed out root beer, they rejoiced so loudly that David warned that the whole campground was going to come to our site and ask for some.  "And I'll say, 'Hey!  No root beer for you buddies!'" warned Matthew.

There was much retrieving of balls kicked into forest and undergrowth, as well as an uncanny reenactment of the classic Caps for Sale.

I surprised the boys with a giant magnifying glass, which I envisioned them using to explore the beauty of the natural world around them.  Like this caterpillar.

What I didn't envision was David helpfully showing the boys how to focus the sunlight through the magnifying glass to set stuff on fire.  Which was all Cameron wanted to do the rest of the weekend.  "I just love setting fires," he sighed wistfully, like something out of a Lifetime movie.

But when we weren't scorching napkins, we hiked.  Cameron was a trooper, never complaining and enthusiastically running ahead of his exhausted parents.

Matthew had his moments of unbridled energy as well.

But he spent a lot of time on the trail sleeping.  On my aching back.

In my aching arms.

And when he awoke, he'd instantly whine, "Not mama.  I want Daddy to carry me." 

No complaints from me.

Cameron commiserated with me that I must be very tired from carrying Matthew all over and was shocked when I told him that the last time we camped here, he made me carry him the WHOLE time.