Camping in a Tiny House

One of our favorite things to do as a couple was camping when we first got married. We camped in a tent, dreamed of becoming campground hosts when we retired, and loved exploring our favorite places and new places with our camping gear. When we added kids to the mix, we were excited to introduce them to one of our favorite things and spent the first several years with kids dragging them across the country camping most of the time, with an occasional hotel stay to shower and do laundry on our 2- to 3-week adventures.

As Teddy got older and bigger, it became harder and harder to camp. His ability to sleep anywhere aside from our home (and even at our home) was a challenge, often up until midnight with mornings as early as 4 ... or even one horrible 2:30 a.m. wakeup for the day. The feasibility of putting all 4 of us in a tent, which Teddy could escape, began to sound like a form of torture rather than fun. 

That's why we ended up with our land to give us a place to explore the outdoors, spent time doing things we love outside and have a consistent routine and place to sleep where Teddy could get comfortable. I couldn't tell you the last time we actually camped with the boys ... possibly 2017? 

But this week we ventured back to one of our early marriage favorites, and one of Dave's childhood favorites, to visit Porcupine Mountains State Park in Michigan. We rented a tiny house cabin right on Lake Superior in the campground for 2 nights. It's an adorable, fully accessible cabin that made it possible for us to enjoy "camping" again. 

Our tiny house had 2 full-size beds, a perfect spot for a family of 4.

Now, that's not to say it was easy because rarely are things easy with Teddy. We still had a rough bedtime the first night, and he kindly woke us up for the sunrise each day (Dave got one morning, and I got the other.) But he absolutely adored the tiny house, so much so that he yelled at us for 30 minutes when we left for the day to go exploring. He scampered into the top bunk and holed up there with AJ in blankets and pillows, giggling nonstop. 

Dave kindly helped AJ as his suspenders while AJ pushed Teddy uphill to the observation tower.

He also protested several of our planned "hikes" if you can call the less than a mile trails that, with more flops and drops than usual. But despite that, we managed to see waterfalls, play in Lake Superior and do 2 family hikes to Nonesuch Mine and to the observation tower. It's really neat to see Teddy embrace being a kid at the beach, scampering up and down the shoreline, digging in the sand and running full force into the water, not realizing Lake Superior tends to be a bit chilly. 

Lake Superior is a great lake, that's for sure!

All in all, I'm grateful for this beautiful accessible cabin. I'm grateful we got to revisit places we love. I'm grateful for the family time and the memories. And, I'm grateful for our own bed when we returned. 

Respite Camp for AJ

Last month AJ had an incredible opportunity to attend camp through WisconSibs, which is a great organization that provides resources, events and connecting activities for people who have siblings with disabilities. This group has offerings for kids age 6 and up, including for adult siblings whether things like seminars on guardianship or other topics that often are relevant for siblings. AJ has done a handful of things through the group, mostly participating in their Sibs are my Peeps contest each spring and a couple hour SibShop at the NEW Zoo this spring.

AJ in front of his yurt. So cool!

This camp was an extremely cool summer camp full of typical camp activities, plus some extra fun and just a bit of discussion about their siblings. We dropped him off Thursday and picked him up Sunday. In between, he got to be a regular kid and get a break from Teddy. Although he loves Teddy dearly, sometimes Teddy is a lot to handle. (As I type this, Teddy has been “talking” in loud screeches for the past 2 hours in the car.)

AJ got to hang out with other kids from around the state, sleeping in yurts after enjoying bonfires and s’mores every night. They did both zip lining and high ropes courses. They did a nature walk through mosquito-infested wetlands to create ecosystem jars. They got to go swimming in Lake Michigan.

AJ had such a great time and can’t wait to do camp again next year! It was such a great experience, and we’re grateful he had the chance to go!

This Land is Our Land

So last week we did a thing. We made an investment in a piece of property in Southwest Wisconsin, which happens to be right on a trout stream.

See, it sounds wise and smart when I phrase it like that, right?

Our last vacation was a bit rough, which prompted Dave to think about other options for us to enjoy the outdoors as a family. He wanted to find land where we can build a Teddy-proof cabin, make memories as a family and spend time enjoying the outdoors fishing, hiking and riding around on some cool UTV/ATV because that's Teddy's jam. So he started looking for land in the fly fishing mecca of Wisconsin because where else would you buy land?
 

We're blessed to call this ours.

We closed on our land last week and had a fantastically memorable first night there. Teddy stole our beer that we shared to celebrate the land and took a swig before we could stop him. AJ swallowed his tooth eating chex mix. (Honestly, I didn't even know he had a lose tooth prior to that.) We couldn't quite set up our tent because we didn't have the tent poles in the bag. On the bright side, we have a spare tent now, and Dave and AJ got to fish while Teddy and I went tent shopping.

Our first family meal included penny hot dogs and champagne.

We set up our picnic table and benches that we built in the week between Disney and closing on our land, along with our screen tent and new tent. Dave caught more trout in two hours than I can remember him catching in a long time. The boys were excited to run and drive around our land (as we took the Tahoe around to create some trails. We were mesmerized by the fire flies when we stepped outside our tent at night, and I was equally awed when I stepped outside again in the morning to realize this slice of paradise is ours.

This is one of my favorite recent pics of me and the boys.

It will take time to build the cabin that is Teddy proof. But the memories we'll make as we discover the treasures of the land and the nearby communities don't need a cabin to happen. We've already started by discovering the Amish bakery with amazing donuts that's just a couple miles away. And Dave's cousin happens to be our neighbor, so we have someone to help us safely forage and to inspire AJ to the world of fly fishing.

This is going to be fun, folks.

Camping

One of our favorite things to do before children used to be camping. It's still one of our favorite family activities, but we've made a few tweaks along the way to accommodate two children. For example, we now plan easy meals like penny hot dogs rather than time-consuming ones like shish kabobs. We also expect to get kicked, punched and boot stomped through the course of the night as we have one, sometimes two, young ninja warriors sharing our air bed with us. But it's worth it for the family memories.

Hammock time with Teddy is fun, just not relaxing.

We headed to Porcupine Mountains State Park in upper Michigan last weekend. This was the first place we ever took AJ camping, but Teddy's never been, which means we haven't made it there in more than years. Huge storms had ravaged the area twice in the past week or so, so roads and trails were closed along the way and there was no power when we arrived. Since we camp in a tent, that didn't impact us too much beyond walking a bit further to use the pit toilet for the first couple hours until power was restored.

Friday was nearly 90 degrees, which is rather toasty for the shores of Lake Superior. We made the most of that by enjoying Lake Superior when it's usually frigid waters felt slightly warmer. Both boys loved the water, although Teddy kept trying to drink the waves as they came in. I'm pretty sure he wasn't thirsty ... just having fun.

Check out Captain AJ's sand beard ... and forehead ... and chest ... and legs.

We spent time at the beach both Friday and Saturday, playing in the water (Dave rudely tackled me in one day because I "accidently" splashed him a little bit.), collecting rocks (AJ), trying to escape up the wooden stairs (Teddy) and having plenty of fun (all of us).

Teddy thought this was pretty funny.

Despite the heat, we did a bit of hiking around the Presque Isle area, which is a gorgeous place with waterfalls, wild blueberries and trails to explore. It's fun to watch AJ learn to forage for wild berries and teach him which ones are which. He's a huge fan of thimbleberries, as is Teddy. They're a delicious berry that we've only found in abundance in the UP. My best description of them is they taste like a fruit rollup, and I mean that as a good thing. We were lucky they were starting to ripen while we were there, so we at least got to sample them.

Last time we were here, there was water covering this crossing.

AJ's favorite type of hiking is rambling scrambling on rocks. He liked checking out Lake of the Clouds between the storm damage on the board walk with the caution tape around the openings, the views of the lake with the magnifying viewer and scrambling up the rocks. Teddy had been up early that morning, so he was a bit tired but made it until we started heading home to snooze.

AJ showed me the path around the water.

It reminded us of how much we enjoy camping, so we're going to squeeze in as much as we can yet this late summer. In two weeks, we'll head to Pictured Rocks, which is one of our favorite places.