Thank You All for Coming to This Site, But...

we have our own domain now at http://www.picturecamping.com/, and we'd love to see you there! There's so much new stuff over there, and if I've recently asked to feature your blog post, that's where it will be. Please visit!

The RotiSir portable rotisserie and hibachi grill– perfect for camping trips!– is going to be marketed at $100.00 plus $15.00 S&H, but if you buy right now, before the first shipment of them hits the U.S., you’ll get it for only $59.95 plus $15.00 S&H.

That’s right– prepaid preorders amount to only $74.95 versus $115.00, a savings of $40.05! The manufacturer gave me plenty of leeway to mark these up so I could profit from them, but I’m not going to make a dime– my goal is to sell twenty, because at that point I’ll be given one for free which I’ll raffle off to benefit KOA’s Care Camps for children with cancer.

There’s a video and more information about these rotisseries here.

I’m really excited about this, Dear Reader! I’ve known since I started this website that I wanted to arrange some way to give to a camping-related charity, and this is it (hopefully the first campaign of many). You’ll wind up with the coolest new addition to your camping kitchen out there, and you’ll be participating in a great cause in the process.

I can already smell the roast I’m going to cook when I get mine… smell it? Isn’t that delicious? Yum…

We Have Our Own Domain!

I'd like to let everyone know that we have our own domain now, www.picturecamping.com. I have copied all the blog posts from here over to there, and am now making new posts there. This site will be inactive now.

Hope to see you there, at www.picturecamping.com!

Thanks for reading this,

Jean B. in SC

"Cozy Camp" by Snutur

This spectacular photo is from a hiking and camping trip in Valley of Fire State
Park, Nevada. I can certainly picture camping here. You can see more of Snutur's photography at her Flickr photostream.

"3 for Momma: Camping"

In her blog 3 for Momma, Kristin tells of her first family camping trip-- which she took reluctantly, I might add! But, in the end, I think we have ourselves a camping convert. Will she take another stab at it? "I'll do it because my boys need to just be outside, in the air, with the toads, " she writes. "One day we'll even take Ella with us. And she'll likely wander around collecting leaves and rocks and putting them in her purse alongside pretend lipstick. Now that I think about it - I'll definitely go back. I wouldn't miss it.

But not without an air mattress."

I'm with you on the toads and the air mattress, Kristin! (Preferably not in one fell swoop--the last time we went camping with the Boy Scouts, my son wound up with about 50 toads in his tent, and they were none too easy to corral and release back into the wild, either!)

Enjoying the blogosphere,

Jean B. in SC

"Camping in the Great Outdoors" with the Dafoe Family

In a recent post on the Dafoe Family Adventures, Becky Dafoe blogs about returning home from work to find her three guys (husband and two adorable sons) camping in the backyard. Truly, that is family tent camping at its best sometimes! It's so easy to accomplish, and fosters such great memories in our children. Why not follow their lead and participate in the National Wildlife Federation's Great American Campout this June 27th? Pitch your tent in the backyard, spend some quality time with your family and maybe some friends, and make lasting memories like the Dafoes did!

Acclimating Little Ones to Camping

We first camped with our little guy when he was a little older than eighteen months, and I know many of you also have very young ones you're considering taking on a family camping trip. Here's some advice to help make the process smooth.

First of all, give your young children a chance to play in the tent at home, before you go, even possibly to sleep in it. Just set it up in the backyard, or even inside if you want. We had a small tent we set up in the living room for "sleepovers," and Nathaniel loved it. Setting up the tent your family will actually use on your camping trip in your yard somewhere a day or two before the trip is a great idea for three reasons-- it gives you a chance to inspect it and use a seam sealer or whatever it might need, and it gives your youngest children a chance to get used to it, and it will give you a chance to show older children how to help you set it up. Maybe even sleep together in the tent once or twice before your camping trip, all in an effort to take the "newness" out of the tent itself.

Another great idea, if your child is still in a crib, is to bring the mattress. We never bought a child's sleeping bag; we had quite a collection of adult bags and just used one of them, folded under so the part that needed to be zipped and unzipped was on top. Nathaniel loved his "big boy" sleeping bag, especially the zipper, which he fiddled with each night until he fell asleep. Even if you don't have a lot of sleeping bags and need to buy one, I would suggest an adult sized bag your child can grow into.

Do you use an exersaucer or bounce-baby-bounce type stationary entertainer at home, or do you have one, even if your child doesn't particularly like being in it? They are invaluable at a camp site-- it's always good to know exactly where the littlest family member is at any given moment. Of course, you won't keep the child cooped up all the time; but when you're cooking or actively dealing with older children, something like an exersaucer will lighten your worry-load considerably. In my experience, even children who don't tolerate them well at home are fine with time spent in stationary entertainers during a family camping trip, because there's so much to look at. Just make sure to place it far enough away from low-hanging branches or other things easily grabbed, because you don't want your child eating plants, etc.

Does your child have a blankie or stuffed animal or something he or she can't live without? Don't forget to bring that!

The final consideration is what I like to call the goop-- sun screen and insect repellent. Don't forget to lay in a supply of infant-grade goop, so your child can enjoy nature safely, and reapply it according to the directions for your child's continued comfort and safety.

Okay, Readers, are there other considerations your experience brings to mind? Please feel free to comment!