Camping with Twins, the Saga continues..

So, I have followed a couple blogs in the past that were about families of twins, little ones, that continued to camp, family additions and all... The biggest downfall of those previous blogs was that they never really discussed how to contain them for sleeping, or how to keep them occupied 100% of the time. I am going to start a weekly/monthly discussion of what I do to keep my twin toddlers at bay, and happy, and ultimately, us, happy for the length of our stay.

Here's some things we've done, and our success stories..

We have a small twin/twin popup. It's very small, from 1986, and a delight to have. We got it in 2008, and have used it about 6+ times so far.

The sleeping arrangements to date, have been somewhat successful, due to my DH's ability to build a custom containment system for the kids' bunk. We sleep in one of the end beds, and the kids sleep together, in the other end bunk.

The containment system is made of PVC, is secured down the the decking of the bunk and is about 12-14 inches high, last year it was taller, but it has since been altered to adjust for the kids' ability to listen to directions.. It's a custom built bed rail, if you will, that easily attaches, and detaches, by way of an adapter, and is secure enough for them to climb on to enter and exit the bunk themselves. I will post pictures later..

He made this because we didn't want them to fall out while they were sleeping, and or jump out when not wanting to go to bed. A regular store-bought bed rail was not long enough, nor secure enough as the foam pad of a mattress, was not heavy enough to keep the bed rail down.. So, hence, his creative juices flowed...

I contribute a successful nights sleep, and naps, to his genius creation.. Without it, we'd be home more often..

To keep them occupied for the length of our stay we bring their fold able table, and lots of Playdoh, and Playdoh accessories. They will stand at that table for quite some time creating "baby snakes" out of their mashed together colors.. If it's raining the table can go under our awning, or even inside on the table, whatever fits the weather situation best.

We also bring bubbles, balls of all sizes, buckets for rock collecting, and shovels for digging.. They love to collect rocks! We will also have them collect twigs for the fire pit, which they take seriously. It also gives them a job in which they take great pride in when they find a large stick or a tree limb... lol

Food situations.. Well, we have gotten VERY frugal since we had these guys.. We eat simple and quick meals, and spend very little doing so.. Breakfast consists of cereal and milk (coffee for us adults), lunch is PB&J's with crackers or pretzels and fruit, snacks are crackers and fruits, and dinner is usually grilled cheese with ketchup and beans or chips or crackers..

We bring whatever we can from our current on-hand groceries, and we enjoy how simple and less time consuming it is to eat a meal together..

People ask us how we do it with twin toddlers, well... The above short cuts have helped immensely and a good anti-anxiety medication also helps.. lol

Places we have stayed with our twins include:

Letchworth State Park (stayed twice so far, has a pool, hiking, playground, and gift shop on premise)

Westcott Beach State Park (stayed twice as well, has a nice beach, playgrounds, clean family bathrooms, hiking, the Plateau spots has a sandpit and small-child swings within the loop, highly recommend this park

Darien Center State Park this was also very kid friendly, has a playground, a lake for swimming, clean bathrooms, and is near Darien Lake Water park, but it's not the one attached to it.

Faihaven We dislike Fairhaven.. I don't want to waste my time with this one..

Selkirk this is the worst campground I have ever been to.. The camping sites are on top of each other, there's no room on your site to park, let alone extend an awning from your camper, the fire pits are out to the road, because there's no room on the site, and it's worse than a trailer park, highly recommend you stay away from this one.. We felt we wouldn't be able to keep our kids from entering the neighboring sites, and or keep them safe from the road or fire pits.. Simply horrible!

We have an upcoming trip planned for Whetstone Gulf in August.. I will let you know how that one rates for family camping with twins..

Until then, remember... Their little minds crave experiences.. give them the experience of the great outdoors! Go Camping!! (bring wine!)