Three Magee: Camping 101 with The Jones Family

We went camping with all the kids over Memorial Day weekend. It was fun and exhaustion all rolled in to 24 hours. Yes we camped for 24 hours. So here is our experience summed up into a few lists and some pictures. Let's start with the awesome stuff.

Awesome:

Watching the girls faces light up with delight when the butterflies would land on them.
Playing catch and soccer with Ethan.
Letting Jack change the shoreline of the lake by throwing in every rock he could get his hands on.
I skipped a rock for the first time ever. I know this is lame for some people but apparently you just need a good teacher (thanks honey!) and I had never done it!
Campfire Smores- they just taste so much better cooked over a campfire, the kids replied "Smores" to my question as to what their favorite part was.
No technology and not knowing what time it was. Being completely unplugged for a few days has been really nice.
Listening to Ellie and all of her scientific terminology, she is wicked smart and blew our minds.
Going hiking together and watching the kids explore and interact with nature.
No one getting hurt (I mean this one is pretty awesome).
Getting to see a really big snake and a tarantula, they were cool and I'm pretty sure Jack would have followed that tarantula anywhere.
My Campfire Cowboy Skillet lunch- Dale chimed in it was his favorite part. I'll give you the recipe tomorrow :).
Teaching the kids about responsibility. We had them help with set up and clean up for both the camping part and the meals.
There's no place like home! Especially hearing the kids say how much they loved camping and loved being back at the house. One of the best showers I've ever taken.

Oh Crap:

Forgetting kitchen utensils (like a spatula, can opener and paper towels). I remembered this on the way out and we borrowed a spatula from the Grandparents. Thankfully Dale is pretty handy and can open a can with a screwdriver and a mallet. He also went to town for paper towels so we could have yummy skillet potatoes for breakfast.
Forgetting to put OFF higher up our shorts. Ethan's bum, Ellie thighs and my thighs look like they have chicken pox. Yay for hydrocortisone cream!
The showers were like being in a sauna so we got clean and sweaty again all within 20 minutes and the person that showered before us left poop in there. I became a mom with the expectations that I would have to clean up my own kids poop, I get really pissed when I have to clean up other peoples! That part was just straight up nasty.
Having to say "Where's Jack" every 15 minutes at the campsite. The difference between ages 2 and 3 is listening skills, really important listening skills.

What we learned:

A portable kid potty is invaluable and the one of the best investments I ever made. You can put it in the car or in a folding chair for the big kids (or me in the middle of the night) and not have to walk to the bathrooms.
Bring your own toilet paper. So glad I did! To quote Ethan "I don't know what that stuff is but it doesn't belong anywhere near my butt!"
We are going to invest in a shower enclosure to go with our Coleman 5 gallon solar shower. It would have been a million times easier to just shower outside instead of the sauna/poop shower.
You can't have too many activities planned during the day. There was a little bit of "everyone hasn't had enough sleep/ it's really hot/ we don't really want to do anything but lounge around" between lunch and dinner.
Bring a big blanket just to lay outside on. Jack and Regan both just laid down for a nap when they were ready and it was kind of hot in the tent.
Don't bring sugary drinks. It will just make the kids hyper and kind of annoying. Just water or even a Crystal Light drink would have been enough.

Now we know we can do it. We definitely want to do it again and we know the kids can totally pass as campers. Regan listened way more than I thought she was capable of and the big kids were pretty awesome. Maybe we'll consider it again when our bug bites are gone!