Tips, Packing List, and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

So we went on a camping trip a couple of weeks ago.  We stayed at Dreher Island State Park and took a day trip to the lovely Riverbanks Zoo. Tips, Packing List, and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip I mentioned this trip on Facebook and few folks wanted to know what we packed and what we ate.  So the following is a group of tips followed by a couple links to download the simplest packing list ever and a sample menu plan for the weekend involving minimal cooking. I promise one thing: you’re about to laugh at our bravery and our stupidity in taking 7 kids under age eight on this sort of adventure 🙂

Tip # 1

Make sure you get to the campsite before the sun sets. Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

Tip # 2

If you don’t heed the above advice make sure that you have set up your new tent in the daylight before you try to set it up in the dark.  Not all tents work like your old double.

Tip # 3

If you ignore tip # 1 & 2 make sure you have adequate light and glow sticks to entertain the kids.

Tip # 4

You can forget any number of things with little to no consequence on a camping trip. Your lighter/matches and your cooking pot are not items with little to no consequence.  Although a bowl makes a pot in a pinch. Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

Tip # 5

Two year olds don’t nap well on camping trips… even in the car.  Be prepared for this kind of crabby: Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

Tip # 6

Two year old males who napped just a little become slap happy and will do anything to get the 3 girls in his tent to laugh.  Including pulling his legs up over his head and tooting loudly while singing silly songs. Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip This too late and too short car nap was our undoing…

Tip # 7

The thought that the kids will all fall asleep and you’ll be able to enjoy nice fireside conversation with the other adults is pretty much ludicrous when camping with 7 under eight years old.  Dropping that expectation before you leave would be a very good thing. Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

Tip # 8

Being as close to water as possible is highly advisable.  Children love water.  You will get quiet adult time if there is water involved.
Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

Tip # 9

Camping with another family crazy enough to do this… makes it so much easier (and crazier in the best way).

Tip # 10

Somehow going camping in early June meant we avoided 99% of the bugs.  The other 1% were ants and spiders and a giant 2″ bug: none of which bit us.

Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

Tip # 11

Count on the kids to find something amazing.  Deer, osprey, boats, minnows, heron, killdeer (a bird), and the aforementioned 2″ bug were all found by kids.

Deer

Tip # 13

If it’s going to rain all day long: head to the zoo.  Stir crazy kiddos in tents with you all day… not likely a good thing.

Tips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping TripTips Packing list and Meal Plan for your First Family Camping Trip

Click Here to Download a Basic Car Camping Packing Checklist.

Click Here to Download a 2 Night Super Easy Meal Plan.

Classic Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer: Anna Beth

Last month I had the pleasure of being the classic Greenville SC newborn baby photographer for Anna Beth.

Anna Beth helped me and Colie Photos create videos that show what a newborn photographer does.  You can watch that  finished video below.

Interested in booking a newborn session?  Contact me today, I’d love to meet you for coffee and hear your baby’s story.

Anna Beth was a little pixie of a newborn.

She smiled and smiled every time Nicole or I rocked her.  That’s what I’m laughing at in the opening scene of my video: Anna B’s silly noises and huge grins.

Anna Beth was sweet enough to smile for my camera as well.

Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

Though at just over 5 pounds she made me work to find those beautiful back wrinkles!

Classic Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

I loved her on this purple with this gorgeous tie back from the lovely Cricket + Bean.

Classic Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

Our second model for the morning, Gideon, arrived just as I finished feeding Anna Beth a bottle.  Anna Beth was wide awake at that point, but Gideon was sound asleep.

I haven’t had the pleasure of photographing twins since I took my newborn workshop last summer, so I asked if we could pose them as twins.

And so we did!  Ironically, these two share the same birthday!

Greenville SC Newborn Twin Photographer

Here’s Anna Beth all snuggled up to Gideon falling back to sleep.

Greenville SC Twin Baby Photographer

It’s amazing how having a snuggle buddy just soothes a baby back to sleep.

Timeless Greenville SC Newborn Twin Photographer

These two sweeties were by far the best sleepers Nicole and I had ever photographed.  We could not have asked for better babies to help us make this video.

Smiling Twin Newborn Baby Photographer Simpsonville SC

This little girl just keep smiling over and over.  I think she liked Gideon 😉

Beth, thank you so much for allowing Nicole and I the privilege of photographing Anna.  I hope you enjoy the photos and the videos of her for years to come.

Spartanburg SC Cloth Diaper Service: The Diaper Queen

Each Friday I interview a local business owner who caters to new moms and their little ones.  My goal is to expose you to some great people you would otherwise not know about.  I want you to meet and grow to love these brave local men and women who enjoy serving you.


Spartanburg SC Cloth Diaper Service: The Diaper Queen

Spartanburg SC Cloth Diaper Service

Kristin Harling, The Diaper Queen, provides a traditional cloth diaper service in both Greenville and Spartanburg SC.  She’s a mother of 4 amazing kids, ages 15, 12, 2 and 6 months . She loves her man, the rare quiet moment, and the opportunity to play in the remaining loud moments!

The Diaper Queen’s website can be found here: http://www.thediaperqueen.com

Hop over here to give her Facebook Page a like! 

Tell me a little about your family.

My partner, Nathan, is my rock and favorite cuddle bunny. I’m pretty sure my kids are the coolest ever, and I love spending time with them. They’re smart and interesting and funny and genuinely kind.

What advice do you wish someone had given you as a new mom? What advice would you give to a new mom?

You don’t need to be a perfect mom. Relax.

All those people telling you how to raise your child don’t actually have a say. That’s why it’s called mother’s instinct and not nosy in-law’s instinct or bossy neighbor’s instinct.

What have been your favorite moments of motherhood?

I love watching my kids together. I love watching them play with and nurture each other. The way they love one another helps me remember I did some things right as a mom.

What has been your most challenging moments of motherhood?

This business of 2 under 2 is pretty wild. It’s really hard to get a moment of peace to think or clean or spend time with my man. I’m looking forward to being bored again someday.

This is one of the things that’s awesome about the diaper service. I feel like it makes it a little easier for moms to use cloth, and that benefits them, their babies, and all the rest of us by keeping disposables out of the landfill.

What inspired you to start your business?

I was living in Asheville and pregnant with my 3rd child. I had already decided to use a diaper service this time. I cloth diapered my older 2 kids and just wanted it to be a little easier.

When I moved back to Spartanburg, I was horrified to find out there was no service for me! So I started a Spartanburg SC cloth diaper service, which is a little crazy since I now wash for a lot more than just my two.

What services & products do your provide for new moms?

Spartanburg SC Cloth Diaper Service

We provide old fashioned diaper service with modern cloth diapers. We use 100% organic, Unbleached cotton prefolds.

I also sell Thirsties and Sweet Peas covers, diaper liners, pail liners, and a cool pail deodorizer called Fairy Dust.

What are some things that you offer that make the transition to cloth diapering a little easier?

I sit with each of my clients before their due date for at least an hour explaining how cloth works. I try to provide helpful info, as well. Most importantly, I pick up and drop off at their door. They only have to put the dirties on the porch. It’s one less thing to do!

Special Discount for Quiet Graces Fans!

I cloth diapered all three of my kids (including my twins!) and let me tell you, wash day can sneak up on you and have your reaching for the disposables!  A cloth diaper service would have made this a bit easier.  And I love that Kristin’s pre-folds are organic!

Are you interested in a Greenville or Spartanburg SC diaper service?

As a special discount for Quiet Graces readers The Diaper Queen is offering 10% off Thirsties Duo Wrap. Use the code “Quiet Graces” at checkout.

Interested in photography of your new little love?  Check me out!

Safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

Today I want to lift the veil for you a little.  Here’s a big secret:

Most Posed Images of Newborns that Look Impossible Are Impossible

Greenville SC Newborn Photography

Those Images are Photoshop trickery of the eye.

Safe Greenville, SC Newborn Baby Potographer

A Safe Photoshop Composite of a Popular Newborn Pose

Quiet Graces Photography, as a safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer, I care more about your little one than the any image I want to create.

If you’re uncomfortable with pose or if your baby expresses discomfort in a pose,  I will never push for that pose.  Your baby is worth more than “getting the shot”.

I have been in the photography industry long enough to have seen some scary things.

There are crazy YouTube videos about how to get the pose above (called the “Frog Pose”) without the the parent’s hands on the baby.  The baby “balances” there for an awful moment and my heart sinks to the floor watching.  A baby’s head is 1/3 of it’s birth weight.  There are no muscles on a newborn strong enough to hold a head up: not in the arms or the neck.

Safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

 

There are images circulated every year at Easter of babies lying in glass vases full of jelly beans or Easter eggs.  I’ve seen images of babies lying on piles of glass Christmas ornaments.  Glass!  Glass can break.  Glass can cut.

Safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

I’ve seen babies lifted 2-3 feet in the air on tree branch for beautiful hanging images in wraps or crocheted stork pouches.  Or a baby placed precariously on a stool with an over enthusiastic 2 year old sibling “loving” on him.  Or on bicycles or motorcycles or wooden swings.  Falls could happen.  It’s always better to do these images as a Photoshop composite.  And if you a see a photographer advertising these types of images, it’s always best to ask if they are composites before hiring them.  Most of these things can be done well in Photoshop, but the inexperienced newborn photographer may or may not know the ccorrect process.

Safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

Picking a Safe Greenville SC Newborn Baby Photographer

Please ask any newborn photographer who has these unsafe/impossible looking images  on her website if they were performed as Photoshop Composites.  

If they hesitate in their answer, choose a different photographer.

As an artist: we have visions in our heads about where we would like to be and there is a learning curve before our images and posing reach our visions.  But a photographer who is claiming to be a professional and doesn’t know how to safely learn while keeping your little love comfortable should be avoided.

Interested in hiring a Safe Newborn Baby Photographer?  I’d love to speak with you further about your little one’s session. 

Are you a photographer or parent who wants to learn more about Newborn Safety?  Check out Learn Shoot Inspires Newborn Safety Week Posts.

Greenville SC Cloth Diaper Store: Babybottoms Boutique

Each Friday I interview a local business owner who caters to new moms and their little ones.  My goal is to expose you to some great people you would otherwise not know about.  I want you to meet and grow to love these brave local men and women who enjoy serving you.


 

Greenville SC Cloth Diaper Store: Babybottoms Boutique

Greenville SC Cloth Diaper Store Babybottoms BoutiqueFerris is a wife and mother of 4 who began her cloth diapering journey back in 2011 to save money. Her business is her passion and Ferris loves spreading the word about this cost effective, environmental friendly option to disposable diapers.

The Babybottoms Boutque Store: www.shopbabybottoms.com
Give them a Like on Facebook by clicking here!

Interview with Babybottoms Boutique

 

Tell me a little about your family.

Having 4 children makes for a hectic everyday adventure. No one day is alike. But they sure are precious, and they are certainly a joy and they bring smiles to our faces everyday.

What advice do you wish someone had given you as a new mom? What advice would you give to a new mom?

That half the things you register for your baby, you don’t really need and won’t use.

What have been your favorite moments of motherhood?

Greenville SC Cloth Diaper Store I love reading to them. And of course kissing all those boo boos. Mommy (and a band-aid) can always make them feel better.

What has been your most challenging moments of motherhood?

In the beginning of my motherhood, balancing work and home was my most challenging issue. I could balance it, but my main focus was on work, when it shouldn’t have been. I have since been a part time employee. And since our family has grown, I have more of a respect now for those that stay at home. We are some busy moms!! It has helped me to see how we should all respect each other and our decisions and our roles in life.

What inspired you to start your business?

Upstate SC Cloth Diaper Boutique I believe everyone needs to know that there are other options than disposable diapers.  I would not have known about cloth diapers had not my husband’s cousin told me about them. She encouraged me, and I want to encourage others!  I started using cloth diapers to save money, and I want others to be able to do the same.

What products do your provide for new moms?

Greenville SC Cloth Training Pants

  • Cloth diapers
  • Safe Cloth Diaper Detergent & Diaper Rash Cream
  • Potty Training Supplies
  • Reusable Nursing Pads and Covers
  • Natural skin care products
  • Action Baby Carries
  • Natural and non-toxic toys

What makes you stand out from some of the larger cloth diaper suppliers?

I provide knowledge of my products. I use my products on my own children, so that I can give reviews of the products. If a customer has a question about a product, I can answer right away!

Special Discount for Quiet Graces Fans!

Maple Landmark Rattle If you’ve ever thought about trying cloth diapers or are looking for more natural skin care products and toys, please check out BabyBottoms Boutique!

As a gift for Quiet Graces readers, Ferris is offering 5% off all orders. Use code “save5”!

Interested in timeless newborn photography?  Watch my video showing you a newborn session over here.