I've been feeling a lot better lately so I took my son (9), nephew (8) and niece (6) for an overnight car camp this weekend. We kept it really simple - went to an in the city campground with tents, bags and blankets, can to boil water in, fire kit, weiners, instant KD, marshmallows, hot chocolate, koolaid jammers and water. We also brought a hobo stove just in case a fire ban was re-established. We didn't need it but we did use it just to show them how it's done.

They hunted for crawfish, (didn't catch a single one in almost three hous but they sure had fun!), foraged for fire sticks, worked on their firecraft and practiced their knife, axe and cooking skills, all under the eye of this watchful mama. 2 of them slept in tents for the first time and my nephew even spent the entire night in a one-man tent by himself. Very brave!

We forgot our thermarests (Duh!) and it got pretty chilly in the wee hours. Thankkfully we had lots of wool blankets. This preggo could not get comfortable so I stayed up all night in my chair by the fire, watching the stars and the racoons. Got to see a beautiful sunrise too, so it wasn't so bad.

Despite being REALLY tired, it was a great trip. (Photos are on pages one and two here if you're interested:
http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h351/backpackjac

ps - When it comes to camping while pregnant, sleeping on the ground sucks (even with a mattress) and I'm just about done carrying bags of wood. Things to consider when prepping the family BOB and GHB.

PPS - The kids love the LED glow sticks. Thanks for the tip, Izzy!