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camping

Tips for Going On a Camping Trip with a Baby

July 16, 2020 by Rachel 23 Comments

What’s more exciting than taking your toddler or baby on their first camping trip? It’s a great opportunity for the whole family to enjoy, have fun, and bond over a hot campfire and roast marshmallows. Camping also so happens to be one of the few ‘safe’ ways we can travel and explore right now. Whether you’ve just started camping, or you’re an expert, there are a few ways to make sure that everything runs smoothly. Here are my tried and true tips for going on a camping trip with a toddler or baby. Let’s make that camping trip with a baby a success!

Do Weather Research

When going on a camping trip with a toddler or baby, you need to be conscious about the weather. Young children are super vulnerable to weather conditions. It wouldn’t be fun to spend the camping trip huddled inside the tent. Doing some basic research will help you in the long run!

Do a Test Run

When you feel that you’re ready and everything has been prepared, do a camping test run in the backyard. That way you’ll be able to catch if there are any snags with the camping gear. It will also be a test run for your toddler or baby to spend the night in a tent.

Bring Familiar Toys

If your toddler or baby is uncomfortable, giving them with a familiar toy will make them happy and calm them down. Only take a couple of familiar and favorite things. By giving your child their favorite toy, you’ll be keeping them busy — and it will give you more time to prep the campsite!

Do Your Research on the Location

As any parent knows, kids (especially young ones) are naturally curious. So if they see wild berries, they might try to eat them. As soon as you get to the campsite, make sure to check for any harmful plants, like wild berries. If you do find any harmful plants, make sure to warn your toddler about them. In addition to warning them, you need to check up on what your toddler eats at all times. Especially if they have the tendency to wander off!

camping trip with toddler

Choose a Campsite With Lots of Activities 

Toddlers are filled with energy, so they need to be kept busy. If you only sit around the campsite all day, they’ll surely get bored quite fast- and naughty! When there are many activities at your campsite, your toddler will have a wonderful experience and they’ll definitely want to come back again the next year. It’s best to plan these activities in advance to avoid potential disagreements with family members once at the campsite.

Take a Mat for Crawlers

If you have a young child that’s still in the crawling stage, make it a priority to take a large enough mat for them. It will stop them from crawling in the dirt and potentially hurting their tiny hands. If you have a pack and play, that works as well!

kids withs mores

Take a Headlamp

To avoid your little one getting scared at night, and to keep them calm while you move around the campsite- take a headlamp with. A fun headlamp would also be fun for them, as well as aid in reducing the anxiety that the darkness may cause. 

Take Sunscreen and Bug Spray

You may be able to stand a sunburn, or a few mosquito bites- but your toddler or baby on the other hand may not. Especially if your child hasn’t had a sunburn or been bitten before. If they experience such a thing, it may cause them distress to a certain degree where they would end up avoiding camp. Young children are quite vulnerable to the sun’s rays, so take the necessary precautions like keeping your child in the shade. When you buy sunscreen and bug spray make sure that you buy the right ones- such as ones that are made with natural oils and don’t contain DEET.

Put the Electronics Away

Once you get to the campsite, put the electronics away. If you give your toddler or baby a cell phone or tablet to keep them busy, the whole purpose of going on a camping trip would be defeated. Only bring your camera along to snap photos during outdoors family time.

camping trip with baby

Pay Attention to Children Near the Campfire

It’s easy to assume that your child knows not to go near the campfire. But the truth is they don’t. If you’re not mindful of what your toddler or baby is doing when they’re by the campfire, don’t be surprised when you see them going straight for it! If you plan on having a fire, sit and tell your child that they can sit near it, but they remain seated in a designated spot. Of course, you still need to keep an eye on your child just the same.

PIN FOR LATER:

PIN ME - TIPS FOR CAMPING WITH A BABY

Tell me — what tips would you give to parents going camping with young children?!

Filed Under: #MomLife, camping, children, family, Family Travel, mommyhood, tips + tricks, travel, Travel Adventures Tagged With: #MomLife, children, Family Travel, mommyhood, tips + tricks, travel, Travel Adventures

The Perfect Summertime Grilled S’mores Recipe

June 20, 2020 by Rachel 34 Comments

With Summer plans in limbo for everyone, we’re all scrambling to find fun things to keep our families busy. What better time to get creative with Summer recipes, am I right?

All three of my kids are in this really picky ‘grilled cheese’ phase. You know the kind of phase. It’s where literally all they will eat is plain old grilled cheese and nothing else.

GRILLED S'MORES SANDWICH

The funny thing about kids is that no matter how much they refuse real food, they will never ever turn down sweets. To tell you the truth, neither will I! I mean, we all love sweets, am I right?!

GRILLED S'MORES SANDWICH

The great thing about ‘Summer recipes’ is that it doesn’t have to be Summer to create them. As much as we would like to be around the campfire, life doesn’t always work out that way. In fact, on the best of days a good backyard campfire can quickly be ruined by a quick rainstorm or a fussy toddler. So, why not bring the backyard favorite indoors?

GRILLED S'MORES SANDWICH

For instance, a fun family favorite is S’mores. Everyone loves s’mores, right? Even I, someone who doesn’t really like chocolate, LOVES a good s’more. Truthfully, I prefer a non-traditional s’more with chocolate caramels instead of a chocolate bar. But a s’more is a s’more!

Tips for getting your s’more on indoors!

My first tip is this — don’t eat the chocolate (or the marshmallows!) before you start your s’mores! This is the most important and most difficult task!

My second tip is to use real butter. Margarine just doesn’t fry up and crisp the bread the way that real butter does! And I prefer salted butter — it just gives it a little salty-sweet flavor combo that is extra delicious!

Yield: 1

Grilled S'mores

GRILLED S'MORES SANDWICH

Have this decadent and RICH Summer recipe year-round!

Cook Time 7 minutes
Total Time 7 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 slices of white bread
  • 1/4 cup of mini marshmallows
  • 1/4 cup of chocolate (dark or milk)
  • tablespoon of butter

Instructions

    1. Butter one side of each piece of bread with real butter (works better than margarine).
    2. Place 1 slice of bread onto a frying pan
    3. Set the heat to low (electric level 1 or 2). The process is slow and steady!
    4. Place chocolate chips and marshmallows on top of the slice of bread and top with second piece of bread (butter side up).
    5. Cover with lid to frying pan until chocolate starts to melt.
    6. Flip over once chocolate is melted. Fry other side until it is toasted (lid off).

Notes

This is completely addictive. I am warning you! Also, feel free to try with peanut butter cups or your favorite chocolate (like peppermint patties or ROLOs!).

As you can see, this recipe is simple and easy. I wish I could say it was also healthy, but it most definitely is NOT!

So tell me — what is your favorite chocolate for s’mores — milk or dark?

PIN ME - Perfect Indoor S'mores Recipe
PIN ME - Perfect Indoor S'mores Recipe

Filed Under: #MomLife, baking, brews + food, busy mom, camping, children, cooking, desserts, domesticity, easy recipes, family, food, Intermittent Fasting, mommyhood, parenthood, pinterest, recipe, recipes, Summer Bucket List, vacation Tagged With: baking, brews + food, children, comfort food, cooking, desserts, easy recipes, food, Intermittent Fasting, mommyhood, parenthood, pinterest, recipes, Summer Bucket List, vacation

whitewater wrap-up. a week late.

August 29, 2010 by Rachel 5 Comments

I cannot believe it’s taken me an entire week to talk about our whitewater rafting trip last weekend! But it has been a crazy week of recovering… You’ll understand in a minute.

When we arrived at the campground for River Expeditions we found out that we and 700 of our closest friends were camping that same weekend. That’s right. Seven.hundred.people. We found what appeared to be a quiet camping area. After all, it was 10PM, I’d been up since 5AM, we had just driven for 5 hours and we had a 9AM rafting time the next morning.

We set up camp, walked to the only wash house {700 people, half of which I’m assuming were female, and about 8 bathroom stalls and ten showers? Gross.}, and decided to get some sleep to prepare for a physically tough next day.

Sleep never happened. The whole campground was loud, but we had a group of hillbillies next to us who were screaming all night. Screaming instead of talking. When they were only feet from each other. Screaming about Natty Light.

Not even our Tylenol PM we had taken could keep us asleep. And I’m pretty sure in a drugged-up haze, I told BF I wanted to throw a brick at the hillbillies heads. He asked me where I’d get the brick. I ignored him.

At around 2AM we made an executive decision to sleep in our car. Our itty-bitty, two-door, Honda Civic. So we did.

The next morning we checked in for rafting and went directly to the 20-minute breakfast line. Surely they must have something delicious if all of those people were waiting for a continental breakfast, right?

Wrong. Oh so wrong. But I’m not even going to complain about the food. I had fruit that we brought instead. What I’m going to complain about is mine, and quite a few others, request for water.

There were two options: from-concentrate OJ or coffee. Here’s the deal. Recent stomach issues and coffee or juice before going out on a 6 or 7 hour long trip in the great outdoors? Not gonna happen. So hence my question about why the water from the soda machine wasn’t working. Her response: We are putting more water in the juice. Um, ok, but what about just water? Didn’t happen.

The rafting trip itself was incredible. We were in a boat with a great group of people. There’s something about being put in a situation where you really have to rely on people around you to instantly make a group of strangers close. I loved it.

Post-rafting we ran into one of my favorite bloggers, Analiese from Tulips and Tea, and her husband Jason! This was by far, my favorite part of the trip. We hung out, fireside, for a few hours and had a lot of laughs! I hope to meet up with her again and hope our paths cross in the future!

So all-in-all, the trip was a success. But we are now recovering. BF has bronchitis and I am just trying to stay healthy.


However, we will never, ever go back to River Expeditions. The outfitter we used last year, ACE Resort, was awesome and the only place I would truly recommend to anyone. You can see my old post here to see the differences in trips.

Filed Under: 101 in 1001, adventure, bloggers, camping, friends, travel, weekend, whitewater rafting

Whitewater Adventure 2009 = success!

June 4, 2009 by Rachel 2 Comments

I’m finally back and able to pay a little attention to my poor blog! As a heads up, this is a LONG (BUT TOTALLY WORTH IT) post with a TON of pictures!! If you have the patience to make it all the way through, I hope you’ll leave me a nice little comment!

Saturday:
woke up. ran to starbucks (of course) to pick up some vivanno‘s (If you have never had them, I suggest you go out and get one ASAP!). We left the house around 10:00 am. We had every intention of leaving at 9… yeah, that didn’t happen. We set the GPS, and off we went! Projected time = 4.5 hours. However, add three (yes, THREE) restroom stops (I can’t help it, I pee a lot), and we made it in about 5 hours. Not too shabby!

Our first stop was the Whipple Company Store. I have to say, that while I had done a great deal of planning for this trip, I wasn’t 100% sure what I was getting us into. BF and I are both big into museums and other nerdy stuff, so I figured, why not, right? Well we arrived and I looked at BF and said “if it sucks, I’m sorry.” It was in the middle of nowhere. Not just saying that, I mean, it literally was. We thought we were lost and I looked up and said… “Oh.”

It was incredible. We learned so much about coal mining and the history of West Virginia. The couple who run the store bought it 2 years ago. At the time it was a condemned building and it was going to be torn down. The couple couldn’t bear to see this happen so they bought the place and started renovating it with their own funds! Their plan is to have the store/museum operating as a non-profit organization in three years. The only problem is that they are no longer able to use their own money to restore the building. They are having a benefit this weekend and we were very sad that we will not be able to make it.

BF and I were very happy to have stopped by and to have met such wonderful people. I KNOW that we will be visiting again (and keeping in touch!).

Above: Me in our tent.

After we left the WCS, we went to “check-in” at the adventure resort. We set up camp and headed to get some grub! The drive really exhausted us so we went to bed pretty early. It thunderstormed ALL night. Literally. All. Night. Kept us awake because the storms were so severe. Minimal flooding in the tent, but zero sleep due to the horrific weather.


Above: Our campsite.

Sunday:
We set an alarm to wake up rather early to get some breakfast before our whitewater trip departed, but I want to send a big, sarcastic, thank you to the chick with the annoying laugh that woke up at 5 (thunderstorms stopped at 4am) with talking. Thank you annoying chick.

Post-annoying girl, we dragged ourselves down to get some morning grub (knowing full well we would need it for the LONG rafting trip ahead). It was delish. We headed up to meet our guide, sign our paper work (aka-sign our lives away) and head out on a bus to the launch point.

Above: BF and I before our big whitewater trip.


I jumped off of a giant rock (known as Jump Off Rock — where they get these names, I just don’t know… 😛 ).

Above: Picture of Jump off Rock from the river.
Above: Me getting ready to leap off the rock (yes, dude named Austin taking video of my tattoos).

There were class 3 thru class 5 rapids (eek! scary) on the new river from all of the storms they had the previous week.

Above: Me (thanks BF for taking pictures).

Above: Our raft. I’m in it. BF is not. He’s taking the pic.


Above: Lunch break. AKA picture time!

Above: BF & I on a mini-hike, mid-rafting trip.


Above: BF and I.


Above: Us in the raft. BF is such a good little picture-taker. 🙂

After the rafting trip we headed back onto the bus. I know this may not shock all of you, but they gave us beer on the way back (like, on the bus). I guess I was just surprised, because they could have just given us waters or sodas or whatever, but they actually want their guests to have tons-o-fun. For sure! Once we got back, we grabbed some dinner. Exhaustion began to set in, but s’mores were to be had! So we headed back to camp to start a fire! Woo hoo! I love campfires! We played some Scrabble Apple and drank a couple of Mike’s Hard Lemonades and at our delicious S’mores!

Above: Me toasting my marshmallow.

Above: Me eating my delicious s’more!


Above: Me & BF sitting by the fire… kicking his butt in ScrabbleApple.

After the s’mores, we pretty much passed out (like at 830…. seriously). We were exhausted and we knew we had a big day ahead of us.

Monday:
Woke up. Packed up. Played some ping-pong. Ate lunch. Tried to sell back some un-used firewood (a no-go, btw). Went to check in to our climb & rappel trip. Before I begin,… I am afraid of heights. This has never stopped me from doing things. I have this theory that if I JUST do this ONE thing, I won’t be afraid anymore. So I go hang gliding, hiking, etc. Nothing ever makes me overcome it, but I get to do a lot of cool things in the meantime. First came the rappel.

Above: BF getting his gear on.


Above: BF rappelling first time.


Above: BF rappelling down 80 feet!

Above: Me, terrified. Rappelling.



Above: Me again.


Above: Me, getting lower. You can see (a little bit) BF in the background.


Above: One last shot of me hanging…

I didn’t do that awesome at the rock climbing, but BF made it all the way to the top!

Above: BF Climbing to the top!


Above: Me climbing (somewhat).

After the climb, we left West Virginia and headed home! The drive took longer than expected (I made BF stop for TCBY and Starbucks!) but we eventually made it. I held my own little mini-concert in the car, hairbrush mic and all! Overall the trip was a HUGE success! BF enjoyed his birthday present! (Yay!) and so did I! 🙂 We took Tuesday off of work and spent the day going out to lunch (and dinner) and going to see the movie UP (totally recommend this movie!). Hope everyone enjoyed! Let me know 🙂

Filed Under: adventure, camping, trip, whitewater rafting

Getting away…

May 5, 2009 by Rachel 1 Comment

So I’m ironing out the final details… but I was so excited to share this! Some of you may have heard that I am planning a trip for BF for his birthday. He’s actually going to Denver the day of his birthday and he’ll be gone for a week (which I am super bummed about, but oh well). But after he gets back, we’re going away for the weekend — our FIRST weekend getaway, by the way. 🙂

This is what we’ll be doing:

Friday morning we will leave for West Virginia. We will be staying at ACE Adventure Resort. When we arrive, we’ll set up our campsite! I’m so excited to camp! It has been ages since anyone has agreed to go with me. After our arrival we’ll be going to the Whipple Company Store and Museum, which is this old coal mine museum. Yes, we are starting the weekend out very mellow! But this is about as mellow as it gets! Hopefully the weather will be beautiful for the weekend, because throughout the weekend I hope to get some sun and be able to swim at the camp resort.

The plan is to take a Canopy (zip line) Tour Friday evening (at dusk). Which I am SO excited about! I’m hoping to get a beautiful view from the treetops while attempting to conquer my fear of heights!

Saturday morning we’ll wake up bright and early and head out on an 8-hour whitewater rafting trip. The last time I went whitewater rafting was a few years ago, so I’m definitely due for an adventure! I plan on being pretty exhausted come 6-ish Saturday night, so I’m prepared to lounge near the fire, s’mores in hand, of course! Sunday will not fall short of excitement either. Sunday we are going for a 1/2 day trip of Rock Climbing.

I haven’t decided if we’ll be staying Sunday night or not… He knows about the trip already because I had to get him to take some time off work, but I’m JUST as excited either way! Only problem is… what do I GIVE him on his birthday?? I. need. suggestions. HELP!

Filed Under: birthday, camping, hike, trip

So much going on

April 24, 2009 by Rachel 2 Comments

There is so much going on within the next few weeks, it’s ridiculous.


-tomorrow BF and I are going to the Indians versus the Twins game. I love going to live sporting events… the energy, the outdoors, the hotdogs, the beer! All make for a wonderful experience! Plus it’s “fireworks” night. BF seemed very excited about this part. And, in theory, I’m excited about this part. There is something cute and slightly romantic about fireworks, I suppose. The only problem is that I am slightly frightened of fireworks. Oh well. I’ll deal with it and just make him ‘keep me safe.’ 😉

-I’m also supposed to hear about the job tomorrow… EEEK. Could make or break me.

-Saturday I am volunteering at the Akron Zoo for their Party For The Planet in celebration of Earth Day. I am handing out information on Earthwatch Ohio, which is a non-profit group focused on sustainable living. I’ve (somehow?) convinced BF to join me. We are supposed to have BEAUTIFUL weather this weekend, so, if nothing else, I will get some sun. 🙂

-Next Friday May 1st, I have Girls Nite with two of my favorites. It’s Margarita Nite at All Fired Up! in Akron. It’s BYOT (Bring Your Own Tequila)! They provide the snacks. We are going to spend the evening drinking margaritas, painting pottery, snacking, and chatting. Sounds pretty fantastic to me! 🙂 I’m very excited.

-Shortly there after (the 13th) is BF’s birthday. I’m not quite sure what I”ll be doing that day, mostly because it’s a weekday and both of our schedules may be pretty hectic.

-Then I will be dropping him and his mother off at the airport. They are going to Denver to visit family. I don’t really want to talk about this. I’m not really happy about it, for many reasons.

-When he gets back, we will (or at least should be, if all goes as planned) going on our big camping/whitewater trip! I’m pretty pumped.

But most of this depends on the “big news” I will hear tomorrow. Sooo doing my fair share of praying for this.


Filed Under: airport, Akron, All Fired Up, baseball, camping, Ecowatch Ohio, fireworks, Indians, job, margarita, pottery, whitewater rafting, Zoo

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