How to camp with children

Our family loves to be outside. Jeremy and I spent our honeymoon in a cabin by a river in Colorado. But, we have never been camping. Jeremy wants to really go camping, meaning pack everything and backpack in, camp, then carry everything back out.  So, the idea of carrying children and everything in seems a little too much. Plus, who wants to carry out dirty diapers?I keep trying to convince him to go car camping, but it hasn't worked yet. Last Christmas, we bought a tent as our gift to each other. We set it up once by the front pond on the farm, but didn't sleep in it.  So, after we came home from Phoenix after Christmas, we decided to go camping during Jeremy's last few days of vacation. The boys helped set up the tent. They especially liked going in and out through the little doggy door. Jeremy cooked for us with his new camping pot set on the propane burner. We had hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows for  s'mores. Most of which Jeremy  and I ate, Andrew and Jacob didn't like how sticky they were. And for some reason, Michael just wasn't into trying new things. :) The boys loved it. Our tent was big enough for them to run around in.

Did I mention we did all this in our living room? We had to move our couch to set up the set. But, it was great. Michael slept in his crib and the rest of us slept in the tent. We 'camped' for two days and when we took the tent down, Andrew almost cried.  We had to set up the tepee they got for Christmas in their bedroom. I took a couple of pictures, Jeremy asleep and Michael hanging out with Andrew's bunny and Jacob with the tent. One day we will actually use our tent outdoors, but for now I am glad we were able to get a little taste of camping.