Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sunday Surf: Family Camp

Welcome to the Sunday Surf, a tour of the best blogposts I've read throughout the week.

boy in collapsed tent during setup at campsite
Mikko "helping" set up the tent

We had our second-ever family camping adventure this past week. Our first was when Mikko was around Alrik's age, and we stayed in a tipi at a youth hostel. This time, we got the proper equipment and went to an actual campsite. With dirt and bugs and all. We called it Family Camp, since Mikko and Sam had had Boy Camp when Alrik and I had gone away to Portland for a couple nights.

I loved all of it … until the sleeping part. Even with an air mattress (that, admittedly, kept gradually deflating) and a sleeping bag, I was uncomfortable and cold. Alrik has never liked being swaddled — he kept flailing himself out of the sleeping bag and whacking me in the face with his limbs. I couldn't zip up the bag since I needed to keep it on both of us, and I often had a breast out for obvious reasons, so I could not get warm. The deflating air mattress meant my hip or my butt (the lowest part of me) was always in contact with the ground. And this weird silvery light kept intruding and bugging me. I figured it was some security lamp near the outhouses. It wasn't until I went there for a visit at 5 in the morning (I'd finally admitted to myself I wasn't going to fall asleep until I peed again) that I realized: Oh. It's the moon.

There's a city slicker for you.

Before the sleeping part, I was thinking, We went to all this trouble to set up the tent — we should stay for two nights — three — a week!

And then when I wasn't sleeping at 2 a.m., and 3 a.m., and so forth, I was thinking, I think I'm coherent enough right now to drive us all home if we can pack up the tent in the dark.

But the good parts were really good. The boys got to dig on the beach. There was a burn ban, but we were allowed to bring charcoal for the grill at the campsite, so we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows (health foods for healthy outdoor living!), and it was seriously scrumptious. Mikko thought it was great fun to walk with our lantern through the dark woods to the larger bathroom for teeth brushing time, and he gathered a leaf bouquet on the same walk the next morning. I also loved that this was the first official day of back-to-school for most children around here — and here we were unschooling out in the wild!

Plus, it's just so interesting to have your house be a tent. It just is. We got a luxuriously roomy one, too, so we can have, like, four more children and still fit all right. I love little, makeshift spaces like that (and I'll ignore for this purpose the insects that were swarming all over the ceiling). Like, wouldn't it be awesome to live in a treehouse for a summer?

Ok, away to the links!




At LaurenWayne.com:

Book review: The Help — Reassuring white people
In which I pan the book all my friends and family members lurve.

Carnival news:

The launch of the second I'm a Natural Parent — BUT… carnival was, as always, a reassuring success. Read how we've let mainstream society affect our natural parenting. All the links are at the end of my post about remaining a respectful parent even when the people you're with believe in obedience over connection.

Holding onto connection when traveling

From Natural Parents Network:

Visit Natural Parents Network

Deals:

Start the fall season in style at Umi Shoes with 50% off the Borneo sneaker! This shoe, in mocha or navy, was $58 and is now $29.
      Plus, take 10% off sitewide for Back to school! Now through 9.30. Use code FALL12 at checkout. And, as always, free shipping and free returns!

Fall is in the air and Tea Collection has the most adorable new clothes to get you ready! For girls, I love the Skola Stripe Empire Dress! This comfortable dress has loose, graceful sleeves that are perfect for play or raising her hand with the right answer. The bold stripes were inspired by mid-century modern design. For babies, the Nordic Blooms Romper is a must-have item for the fall. A big shape that makes a statement in the boldest colors. A sensational staple for fall. Be sure to shop the super stylish Fall Collection. Enjoy!

MyPublisher, Inc.With summer coming to an end and the children back off to school, now is the perfect time to organize all of those spectacular summer photos. And nothing makes a more perfect home for these photos than a MyPublisher photo book. Make your summer photo books for 68% off! It's the company we use to make our biannual photo books of our kids — perfect Christmas gifts, so plan ahead for the holidays.

Two days only! Free shipping on fall favorites at LittleMissMatched! Delightfully mismatched socks and tights for girls, women, and babies — and now men, too! Code: FALLSHIP. 9.9-9.10.


Giveaways:

A new one from me, to help fund your movie night and inspire your activism:
Fighting the good fight, even when you're little: Won't Back Down movie preview — $40 Fandango GC {9.30; US}



Find lots more wonderful giveaways at my Natural parenting giveaways linky! Right now we've got giveaways for huge cloth diaper prize packages, holistic baby sleep system, Imse Vimse training pants, individual cloth diapers, a water wrap, wool dryer balls, a Lunette menstrual cup, and a wet bag. Add your own giveaways, and enter some good ones!

Surf with us:

Sunday Surf with Authentic Parenting and Hobo MamaWe love following along with fellow Sunday Surfers. If you have your own post of reading links to share, please link up your post on Hobo Mama or on Authentic Parenting. The linky will go live every Sunday, and you can link up any day that week. If Sunday doesn't work for you but you do a links list another day, feel free to play along. You only need to add your post to one of the sites, and the linky will automatically show up on both sites.

You can get the Sunday Surf button by Jenna Designs and some code to add to your post from my Sunday Surf page.

Check out previous editions for good reading, and you can find more shared items during the week at my Tumblr blog, Hobo Mama's Shared Items.





This linky list is now closed.




Disclosure: Deal links are affiliate links.
I try to seek out only products I think you would find
relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent.
See my full disclosure policy here.

3 comments:

Jenn said...

We love camping. Love it. But we have two little dirty camping secrets, because sleeping is the roughest part of camping.
1) When we can, we camp at KOA campgrounds and rent a KOA Kabin. They are inexpensive, have actual beds, and some even have heat and AC. We do a lot of off-season camping, so we've used the Kabin heaters a lot.
2) We have three army cots that we use when we tent camp. We found them at various thrift stores over the years, paying no more than $15 for each one, and we LOVE sleeping on them. On our first night of camping in July, the toddler slept 11 hours, straight through the evening, all night and well into the morning. I credit the awesome cot.

Christine Wang said...

I love the luvs commercial!! i just have one kids but it still applies to me. i remember the first time i was breastfeeding in public and how covered up i was and how uncomfortable i felt. after a few months, someone told me i could breastfeed while my baby was strapped onto me without missing a beat and it has been so easy and effortless since! we have kept it up for 2.5 years already...still going...you're an inspiration!

kelly @kellynaturally said...

And the links to being poor... are making me cry. Because it's not fair and it's not right that people live like that in THIS COUNTRY. Thanks for sharing, Lauren.

Related Posts with Thumbnails