Camping season 2008

The Official newsletter

from www.family-fun-camping.com

Issue # 8

July 2008

In this issue

1. Introduction
2. Section: 1 Our camping story
3. Section: 2 Adventure at every turn
4. Section: 3 Preparing for success
5. Bonus features

Welcome to our Summer issue,I have been busy creating the ideas for this issue for the last month and several subjects came to mind. I though giving you a little background on why we like camping so much would be helpful. So please relax and have some fun reading.

Please feel free to visit the site and use the contact us forms located on many pages to make a suggestion or comment.

Section I: Our family camping story

Our story began when both my wife and I were kids ourselves, she camped often with her family and I camped a lot with the Boy Scouts, naturally when we started a family we wanted to include camping since we had enjoyed it so much ourselves. My daughter was only a couple of months old when we took her on her first camping trip and she did very well considering her age, we simply brought her pack and play and set it up in our tent.

The fact we took our daughter camping so young I am sure puzzled and even frightened some people however we feel this is why she is so comfortable with it. Our son was a little older but we got him camping at a real young age as well, the point here is when you start your kids off young with an activity like camping most times they will really take to it and enjoy it.

You will find there is a certain satisfaction with getting away from the fast pace of your day to day life, leaving behind the ringing phone, mail and even your neighbor(s) in some cases can really allow everyone to relax.

My family looks to camping to provide the most simple however powerful experience your family can enjoy, true quality time together. We do not get to spend a lot of time together throughout the year due to jobs, activities and life in general so it’s a great chance to slow done our hectic lives and reconnect with one another. We are usually stay at state parks when we camp to save money and because we are familiar with them, research will prove your best asset when planning a trip so a good bit of advice is plan early and do not rush it. This year we stayed at Wompatuck state park and campground in Hingham, MA this is a prime example of an inexpensive place to get away to. The kids enjoyed bike riding, walking, hiking and even a day trip to the beach.

When you desire a little more refinement try a private campground, last year we stayed at Crawford Notch campground in Crawford notch, New Hampshire they really kicked it up a notch with groomed sites, exceptional rest rooms and some of the most breathe taking scenery you will ever see. We were able to tube in the Saco River, hike on their nature trails and enjoy the peace and quiet of the mountains.This picture was taken behind our campsite in New Hampshire, my kids loved just walking up and down it looking for frogs,fish and what ever they could find!

Our family intends to keep writing our camping story for a long time, your families story still remains unwritten so we invite you to read through the rest of this issue of “Around the campfire” so you can start filling the pages of your families camping story.
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Section II: Adventure at every turn

Bike rides are a close second for our most popular activity when camping, this last trip we did over five miles of riding in just one day (this was several trips). I was able to ride to a pond on the campground which was close by and explore some paved trails beyond that and let me tell you they had a blast. My best suggestion here is bring plenty of water and break when needed it’s real easy for people to get dehydrated during the summer.

Section III: Preparing for success

The most common mistake new campers make is rushing through both planning and set up, on our last trip we met a family who started to set up and realized they forgot the elbow connections for their tent. This is really a common problem if you do not check your gear before leaving; we usually set up our tent and screen house to ensure we won’t have any surprises when we start setting up. A good checklist will always make sure you do not forget anything; We have gotten into the habit of cataloging our gear in the winter when we can take our time and make sure we have everything we will need.

The thing to remember here is you do not have to invest a lot of time preparing you just need to make sure everything is ready to go, we have specific totes that hold only one type of gear like kitchen, games, tent accessories so when we start to set up the essential’s are right at hand without any guess work because this saves us a lot of hassle.

This was our kitchen away from home for this summers camping trip, since we had everything sorted we were able to set this up in a matter of minutes and be ready for lunch! Notice we have a stove and grill(both propane) this allows us some choice in what we can prepare, not to mention it speeds up cooking a meal. This is a small section since I have spent enough time in previous issues,I just wanted to mention it as a quick refresher.

Bonus

I would like to provide some useful links for you to use :

Our free campground directory (New England)

Amazon store

National Parks

Website hosting - Site build it!

A final Word

There is still plenty of time left this summer to enjoy some camping, maybe its time to try a local state park or rent a cabin what ever suites your families needs. Money is tight and camping is one of the most affordable options you have. Well thats all I have see you in August.