Camping with kids.

[Dinner]

So my family is having an extended "camping" trip in the gold country of northern California this extended weekend. Basically, my father, my aunt & uncle, and my sister's three kids are taking an RV and my dad's SUV along with his pop up trailer to a remote location which is supposedly well off the beaten track tomorrow morning while I will be driving up with my sister and her husband on Friday night.

I personally like to backpack and hike to a camp sight where we'd then set up a tent but the old folks (meaning my father along with my aunt and uncle) want to use an RV and a trailer while my sister and her husband don't want to do any hiking due to the kids (or so they say; I suspect they just don't want to actually hike. ). Any way we plan on hiking, fishing, and doing some gold panning while we're up there but I'm wondering if anyone has any good ideas about entertaining kids while camping.

My friends and I normally just fish, have a big camp fire, and get drunk off of our asses while camping but this clearly will not work with kids and older family members. The kids are ages 4.5, 9, and 11 while the older folks are now in their 50's and my aunt & uncle will be bringing their 1 year old granddaughter. Normally my cousins, who are my age (meaning late 20's to 30; I'm the old bastard at 30), would be coming but they both have to work this weekend so in my age group it will only be my sister and her husband (32 and 36). So what are your ideas? What fun games or ideas do you have given the composition of this group?

I'm mainly looking for things to entertain the kids and get them to like the outdoors. Suggestions?

[Mrs. Tuberski]

Fishing and swimming if you can for the older kids with lfe vests of course, maybe a rubber raft to float if there is a lake for the younger ones
roast marshmellos at night
then put the kids to sleep ealry hit the alochol

[Dinner]

Spoken like a true mother.

[:) Smiley]

I'm mainly looking for things to entertain the kids and get them to like the outdoors. Suggestions?

Magic Mushrooms.

My friend took some before hiking and called a fly his homie.

[Dinner]

:evil stare: We will not be consuming drugs or alcohol in front of the children. (We may put them to bed early so we can have a nip of whiskey though as Mrs. Tuberski suggested.)

[Jon Miller]

you don't need to have drink to have a good time sitting by the fire, poking it, and having camp food

I have done it both with drink, and without, and not much is gained..

JM

[Ben Kenobi]

then put the kids to sleep ealry hit the alochol

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

Fah. In two weeks I'll be camping with a 15-month old toddler who has just become mobile and dangerous.

[Stuie]

My suggestion: Nintendo DS.

[SpencerH]

Re: Camping with kids.

Originally posted by Oerdin

I'm mainly looking for things to entertain the kids and get them to like the outdoors. Suggestions?

Guns and explosives. There's nothin more fun than shootin and blowin up stuff in the wilderness.

[Lorizael]

Well if my Boy Scout training was accurate, this is a sure fire way to entertain the kids.

First, instruct them to put every conceivable object in the campfire. This includes rocks, spiders, bugspray, urine, feces, and even other children's hair.

Second, bring along lots of porno magazines. There's nothing kids love better than huddling together in their tent and staring at the flashlight illuminated pages of a Playboy.

Third, give the children knives, axes, saws, .22 rifles, and bows and arrows. Let them loose. Nothing bad could possibly come as a reuslt of this.

Finally, six back and relax, get drunk and watch.

[Ecthy]

By the sounds of it, Lori was never allowed to have all the fun with the other kids. He was always sitting next to them watching and on the next day reported them to the instructors.

[Lorizael]

While it's certainly true that all the other Boy Scouts never let poor Lori join in any Boy Scout games, I never reported them or any such thing; I was never one to make noise.

I much preferred to hide inside my sleeping bag and twitch every time I felt something bug like touch me.

[Kontiki]

Something like a bug or your scout master's hand?

[Ecthy]

Kontiki, a valid point. He probably WAS someone special in that group.