I was the insane one who pushed for the annual camping weekend with two small kids under four. My husband was reluctant to go along because, like me, he knew that we were in for a world of work, stress, and lots of muttered F words to attempt a camping trip with a crazy four-year-old and a crawling one-year-old. 

Still, for the sake of the mEmOriEs and all of that, we pushed through and this is how we did. 

I tried to be as organized as possible by anticipating our future needs for that weekend in advance. I planned simple meals, precut my veggies (which actually was a HUGE timesaver) and made sure that me and the kids packed lightly. One box for all of our clothes, shoes, and sweaters. One milk crate for all of their toys and one milk crate for all of the books we wanted to read {but knew we never would}.

It's a proven fact that ordinary food tastes better while camping than at home. So for our meals I kept it simple. I pre-chopped the potatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, divided them into two large Ziploc bags and cooked them with bratwursts one night and ground hamburger the next night. Delicious! We also made "campfire donuts" which is biscuit dough, cut into shapes {with a Mega Blok!}, deep fried in a dutch oven, and covered in cinnamon-sugar. They were awesome!! I saved some for the next morning to go with our bacon, eggs, and French-pressed coffee.

Our campsite also had a water source which was seriously awesome! I loved taking my small aluminum pots to the pump with my little boy, making him pump, and then making him help carry it back. We both became one with nature. We boiled the water either over the campfire or inside the camper over the stove which is how we cleaned our dishes after each meal. I soaped up all of the dishes first, rinsed them with the small pump then dipped them in really hot water. It was fun in a weird way. But I am weird so it makes sense. 

As always, bedtime is chaos. The kids are whiny and tired and you still have to set up the bed on the one end and transfer bedding from the other end. BUT once you have everyone tucked in, it's quite peaceful. Me and my one-year-old slept on the main bed while my husband and four-year-old slept on the converted bed. 

To keep my kids occupied I brought Dollar Store paints to paint rocks (he really liked that). We also brought Pictionary Junior but forgot paper so we subbed it for some Play-doh and it made it even funner. There was plenty of dirt to drive Matchbox trucks through and me and the kids went on some really pretty hikes to burn off energy. We also foraged for berries and leaves and, for the last project, which should have been the first because my little boy liked it so much, I brought out a bag of marshmallow minis and toothpicks to build towers with.

One major downside to our camping adventure was having a baby that could only scoot to get around. She also hated being inside of the play pen but was fine if we took the mat and placed it directly on the ground. Because then she could get into everything and scoot across the forest floor! The biggest lifesaver for me was my Lillebaby baby carrier. Yes, she's getting big at this point and yes it gets pretty awkward walking her in and out of the camper but I was able to carry her in it when we went on our hikes and that's pretty much how she got her naps in.

Of course the whole camping experience was even more memorable because of my rush to the hospital. The first morning I woke with sharp pain in my right side that got pretty intense, pretty fast. Almost bordering deep labor pains, my husband drove us all down the mountain really quick. Once we got down though they suddenly and completely stopped. We drove to the ER anyway and waited in triage for four hours. One CT scan later, I found that I had passed a kidney stone with another still to go. Damn. Life happens. 

Once we were done at the hospital we decided to drive back to the campsite and finish our last two days because the kids were having so much fun. All in all camping with two small kids is really, really hard. But since we have a very impressionable four-year-old who has a very impressive memory, I feel kind of obliged fill his little head with as many good memories as possible. There is always so much effort that goes into camping and once you get up there it's never really too comfortable. But I don't think that's the point. Our camper was tiny; we could really use an upgrade. But it is an upgrade from a tent. Be glad for the little things. Find the silver lining. Live in the moment and enjoy what we have now.

That awkward moment when you're trying to guide your husband to hook up the trailer and you don't know what in the hell you are doing.