jrandtysmom
I'm not cool enough for the Tag Fairy...or maybe I
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2008
OK we just got back (well actually we got back Sunday but its taken a few days to catch up) from our first camping trip! Here is how it went:
We first arrived and discovered that our entire site was gravel not sure if this is normal or not with a tent but I wasnt very excited to see this to say the least.
So I quickly got over that to try and not start the trip off badly for the boys, started unpacking ALL the crap I had managed to stuff into my car and realized that even though I thought I had packed up the entire house and brought it with us, I inadvertently forgot the hammer. Ughhhh!!! So we walked down to the little camp store hoping they sell them instead of a hammer they had this plastic mallet thing that said it was for tent stakes so I bought it because you know if the package says that its for driving the tent stakes into the ground and this particular campground happens to be carrying it then it must work right? Wrong! It wouldnt have drove the stakes through my marshmallows let alone into all that gravel but luckily our friendly neighbor was bored and asked if he could butt in and help. I said butt away! (Is that an etiquette thing at campgrounds dont help unless asked?) He had a hatchet that drove the stakes right in and I was so grateful for that man I wanted to hug him 
! So finally we got the tent up and everything was great luckily I had brought air mattresses because sleeping bags would not have cut it on that gravel. We went for a walk and checked out the campground, came back and started dinner and a fire. The rest of the night went great until bedtime when my DS4 asked where the TV was so he could watch his cartoons while he fell asleep. 
I laughed and said welcome to roughin it! He finally fell asleep but I think he was over the whole camping experience at that moment.
The next day was great, we woke up and I cooked French toast on the little camp stove and we headed out to the beach for the day at Assateague Island. I had mentioned to the boys that this beach is a little different from where we normally go and that they may see wild ponies on the beach but not to feed them as they may bite. This freaked them out a little and all day they kept watching for them but we never saw any. As we went back to the campsite I noticed dark clouds rolling in and was hoping that a storm was not coming wrong again! Over dinner it started thundering and then as it got darker, the sky started lighting up. By this time, both boys were ready to pack up and go home. I myself was a little nervous but tried not to show that to them. I laughed out loud when my DS6 came out of the tent with his blanket, gameboy and toys he had brought and put them in the car incase the tent blew away or got wet - he wanted to protect the important stuff.
Finally they settled down and fell asleep before the hard rain hit and after all that whining and complaining - they slept right through it all. Thankfully the tent held up and nothing got wet (thank goodness for this board where I learned about waterproofing. 
)
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. My DS4 thought that every golf cart that was parked we could take because obviously no one was using it and he really wanted to ride in one. We went to the water park they have at the campground a couple of days and the beach the rest. The boys had a blast and even said they wanted to camp again. The hardest parts for me were figuring out how to do the bath houses with just myself and 2 boys. I finally took them into the showers in the womens but received a few dirty looks so for the rest of the week they bathed in the pool.
Gross I know but hey, what else was I supposed to do that wouldnt make someone upset and they are too young to shower by themselves in the Men's. Also, dishes were another pain. Our site had water and electric but I didnt bring a hose and the whole process was just a huge pain and my least favorite part of the experience.
We are definately going again but the boys asked when are we getting one of those motorhomes and a golf cart for next time.
We first arrived and discovered that our entire site was gravel not sure if this is normal or not with a tent but I wasnt very excited to see this to say the least.
So I quickly got over that to try and not start the trip off badly for the boys, started unpacking ALL the crap I had managed to stuff into my car and realized that even though I thought I had packed up the entire house and brought it with us, I inadvertently forgot the hammer. Ughhhh!!! So we walked down to the little camp store hoping they sell them instead of a hammer they had this plastic mallet thing that said it was for tent stakes so I bought it because you know if the package says that its for driving the tent stakes into the ground and this particular campground happens to be carrying it then it must work right? Wrong! It wouldnt have drove the stakes through my marshmallows let alone into all that gravel but luckily our friendly neighbor was bored and asked if he could butt in and help. I said butt away! (Is that an etiquette thing at campgrounds dont help unless asked?) He had a hatchet that drove the stakes right in and I was so grateful for that man I wanted to hug him ! So finally we got the tent up and everything was great luckily I had brought air mattresses because sleeping bags would not have cut it on that gravel. We went for a walk and checked out the campground, came back and started dinner and a fire. The rest of the night went great until bedtime when my DS4 asked where the TV was so he could watch his cartoons while he fell asleep. I laughed and said welcome to roughin it! He finally fell asleep but I think he was over the whole camping experience at that moment.The next day was great, we woke up and I cooked French toast on the little camp stove and we headed out to the beach for the day at Assateague Island. I had mentioned to the boys that this beach is a little different from where we normally go and that they may see wild ponies on the beach but not to feed them as they may bite. This freaked them out a little and all day they kept watching for them but we never saw any. As we went back to the campsite I noticed dark clouds rolling in and was hoping that a storm was not coming wrong again! Over dinner it started thundering and then as it got darker, the sky started lighting up. By this time, both boys were ready to pack up and go home. I myself was a little nervous but tried not to show that to them. I laughed out loud when my DS6 came out of the tent with his blanket, gameboy and toys he had brought and put them in the car incase the tent blew away or got wet - he wanted to protect the important stuff.
Finally they settled down and fell asleep before the hard rain hit and after all that whining and complaining - they slept right through it all. Thankfully the tent held up and nothing got wet (thank goodness for this board where I learned about waterproofing. )The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. My DS4 thought that every golf cart that was parked we could take because obviously no one was using it and he really wanted to ride in one. We went to the water park they have at the campground a couple of days and the beach the rest. The boys had a blast and even said they wanted to camp again. The hardest parts for me were figuring out how to do the bath houses with just myself and 2 boys. I finally took them into the showers in the womens but received a few dirty looks so for the rest of the week they bathed in the pool.
Gross I know but hey, what else was I supposed to do that wouldnt make someone upset and they are too young to shower by themselves in the Men's. Also, dishes were another pain. Our site had water and electric but I didnt bring a hose and the whole process was just a huge pain and my least favorite part of the experience. We are definately going again but the boys asked when are we getting one of those motorhomes and a golf cart for next time.
Otherwise it would've been really bad - such as the waterproofing the tent. Dumb me assumed that when you bought it, that was already done. 
I had no idea you had to buy additional product to waterproof it yourself. The best parts for me were the comments the boys made.
