This past weekend, we went on a spur of the moment camping trip to Prince Edward County with the kids. I've been working way too many sunny weekends this year and missing spending good quality time together as a family outside our house. By the time we got around to booking, most of the campsites were full!! (What with the amazing weather they had promised!)
We found a great campground near beautiful Sandbanks provincial park, called Quinte's Isle. We were pretty impressed with everything for kids there--a pool, splash pad, playground, horseback and pony rides, mini golf nearby, the beaches, boating.... We felt like we really just barely scratched the surface of everything there is to do there, opting to spend most of our time at the beach and trying to figure out our new camping gear.
We arrived very, very late on Friday evening... set up our tent (which we have only setup once before) in the pitch dark with the help of Gabriel flashing the flashlight like a strobe. It was nearly 11pm by the time we got to blowing up the air mattress... needless to say, a little too loud. Jordan rigged up the mattress to blow up most of it inside the car (with the doors closed) so as not to wake up the whole campground. Gotta say, i was pretty impressed with that! I didn't even know that was possible.
Our first night was... a little rough... when Magdalene woke up very excited to be camping and tested out all of her new words on us at 3am. Our neighbors weren't too happy with us... but what do you do with a toddler who won't be quiet in the middle of the night. At least she was cute and not crying loudly. Just talking really loud and happy. "Ahhhh Chooo!!!!!" and telling us that "doggie need water." and various other cute phrases, most of which I have forgotten, but are, needless to say, just a little bit cuter during the day that in the middle of the night.
But you know, that's how it is with the littles, right? It's always crazy and chaotic and in the moment you shake your head and wonder why you decided that driving seven hours (there) and 3 hours (back) for the sake of a sleepless night or two camping. But even in the moment, I was thinking, "This is soooo worth it." Because if you wait until your children are the perfect ages, you could either be waiting a long time, OR they will decide you aren't cool enough to go camping with. Camping is magic to toddlers. It's campfires they help build, that they'd never see otherwise, it's sleeping in nature on the ground, listening to the birds and waking with the dawn, it's roasting marshmallows and trying to cook on a camp stove.
We met ChouChou and Fizey there, who stayed in a B&B nearby. We didn't manage to tempt them to stay with us. Together we went to the beach all day, the kiddies splashing in the water and floating in the lake. Later on we celebrated the boys' (Fizey and Jordan's) birthdays--dinner out and dessert at the campsite.
I decided that just because we are camping, doesn't mean we cannot enjoy some of the better things in life--wine glasses, candles, flowers, a proper heavy quilt and lots of pillows. It was so worth the extra trunk space, I gotta tell you. If you are going to go camping, pack a few of the extras and make it a little glamorous, I say! But you have to know how to pack a trunk if you are going to bring the extras.
We had a pretty amazing weekend with the little ones. I have to admit that taking the kids camping is way more fun then just going camping as adults. Every little detail is so new and fun for them. Definitely, it was worth the driving and the (somewhat) sleepless nights. Hoping we have at least one more weekend of glamorous camping in this season!
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