First Camping Trip - A New Type of Education

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Our family had a blast this weekend. My wife and I introduced our kiddos to camping. For our first time camping as a family, with 6 kiddos in tow, we crushed it.

But Little Man has been a bit grumpy since coming home. He (well, all of us) was tuckered out.

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Boss Mare Ranch and Horse Park


We stayed at Boss Mare Ranch and Horse Park, a camping site we found on HipCamp.com. HipCamp connects campers with private land owners who offer their land for camping trips. I definitely plan to use this site again for future camping trips. If you want to check out some great sites, click here and earn $10 credit towards your next camping trip with HipCamp.

If you are interested in hosting campers on your land click here for more details.

Our site was open, but still secluded. We were walking distance from the horse barn that had the single toilet and sink.

Setting Up The Tent
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Final Result
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So Many Learning Opportunities

  • setting up shelter
  • properly packing and unpacking the van
  • gathering firewood
  • how to start a fire
  • how to reignite the fire - blowing on embers
  • fire safety
  • how to pee in the woods
  • science of staying warm on a cool night
  • how to disconnect from electronics and devices
  • how to fish
  • how to avoid thorns (don't follow Dad's example)

Stepping Away


One of my daughters was particularly appreciative of being able to get away from "COVID" for the duration of our trip. Our outing was just time to enjoy life and let the burdens of life fall way for a moment.

As parents, we have to take advantage of every moment to both protect our kids from and prepare our kids for the adversities of life. I am glad my daughter was able to feel relief during our camping trip.

Camping Food


I enjoyed providing fire for the family. Stove top ovens and microwave are convenient, but there was something nice about going back to something more primitive.

Gathered Around The Camp Fire
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Cooking Some Eggs
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Boiling Water
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Work Hard. Play Hard


It was challenging to get everything set up and keep the camping going. But we played (and relaxed) as hard as we worked. A proper balance of work and play should be both taught and modeled.

We enjoyed some games, fishing, and restful time in the hammock.

Card Games
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Another First - First Time Fishing
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Sister Love
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Final Thoughts


Life should be lived to the fullest. I want to live every moment is if it were an opportunity to grow (because it is). And I want to guide my family to do the same.

My wife is incredible. She is the glue that keeps our family together (whether we are camping or at home). I love how she sees "everyday opportunities" as learning opportunities.

It was fun to "do some learning" outside of the home in nature.

I want to hear from you.

  1. Have you ever been camping with you family?
  2. Do you go often? How often?
  3. Do you have any tent suggestions that would accommodate 8 people? We borrowed a tent from a friend, but are looking into making an investment in one of our own.

If you want to join our Camping Adventure on Instagram, check out BigFamCamping.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

@SumatraNate

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Your current Rank (64) in the battle Arena of Holybread has granted you an Upvote of 100%

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Glad you all had fun camping :D (even though the expressions of the two little ones seem to indicate otherwise XD)

We've only been camping twice and both times it was fine during the day but at night when we had to sleep in the tent, middle child wouldn't stop crying and we haven't been since.

Those giant tents are great XD Our family isn't nearly as big as yours and we still got one. We had adults and small child in one "room", the eldest and middle child in the middle "room" and the third was storage space and for if we ever took the dogs with us (which never ended up happening).

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(Edited)

Those faces are "we did not sleep as long as we should have faces." I took the first picture while packing up the van. I should have shown all of the smiling faces when we first arrived. Fortunately, we all slept for several hours but there were interruptions throughout the night - crying kids and potty breaks.

We fill up a tent pretty fast. Hoping to find something that can let us all comfortable sleep and provide some extra space for storage.

Thanks for leaving a comment. Much appreciated.

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Oh my! Lovely Bonding with the fam and with nature. I guess with camping we should just be open to anything that could happen. Hehe. Some kids will love it, some kids would be, meh. 😅 We've only been to camping once almost two years ago. It was an adventure! We went to the desert next to the beach. It was so chilly in the evening, we could barely sleep.

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We had a great time together and look forward to our next adventure. I agree with your statement that "Some kids will love it, some kids would be, meh."

I once camped with some friends on the beach. It was amazing how much cooler it felt around midnight and the wind started blowing.

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