Camping in Michigan City with Our 1 Year Old
Dave and I love camping. It’s been a big part of our travel experiences growing up. We, of course, want to share that with our son Jensen and provide him with fun camping experiences as he grows up. So back in July we took Jensen on his first camping trip! We decided to camp relatively nearby in Michigan City in case we had to return home early.
The first night was a little rough…We arrived at the campsite around 7pm, which is Jensen’s bedtime. By the time we set up camp and made dinner (campfire nachos!) it was after 8pm. At this point Jensen was doing really well. He liked running around the tent, sitting in his camp chair and watching the fire. One tip we highly recommend to parents with small kids is to always tell them the fire pit is hot and to stay away even if it is not lit. That way they always keep a safe distance and avoid getting a burn.
After we ate dinner and roasted some marshmallows, we were all tired and ready for bed. We had Jensen’s pack n’ play set up in the tent with his blanket and stuffed animal Wolfie. One thing we had not planned on was the weather. In Indianapolis it had been in the 60-80’s (Fahrenheit), but in northern Indiana it was getting down to the low 50’s at night! We clearly did not pack accordingly with only having shorts and tank tops. For this reason, we tried to have Jensen sleep in a sleeping bag in his crib. We all laid down to try to sleep. Jensen however, thought it was still play time because he could see us. He started crying so we decided to have him sleep in between us in his sleeping bag. Nope. Instead he took this as an opportunity to play hop on pop and started crawling all over us while laughing. We tried switching back and forth from the crib to the floor until 11:30pm he FINALLY fell asleep on my chest while I rubbed his back. I put him back in the crib and threw a blanket on him knowing he would wake up if he was cold.
The next morning was pretty uneventful. We made breakfast, brushed our teeth and headed to Indiana Dunes State Park. My oh my we had a blast! Jensen’s face when he first saw all the sand was priceless. His reaction was even better when he walked in it. He gave one of his cute Ooooooo’s and smiled ear to ear. The three of us filled buckets with sand, dug holes and buried our feet. Jensen’s favorite part was taking handfuls of sand and dumping them on Dave’s bare belly. He also enjoyed having the waves from Lake Michigan lap up against his toes. The squeals he made were the sounds of pure enjoyment.
Later that day we were able to keep more of a normal schedule. We ate around 6pm, got ready for bed and put Jensen in his crib at 7:30pm. After 5 minutes he was sound asleep. This gave Dave and I some time to ourselves where we ate snacks and talked around the campfire. Dave enjoyed some beer we purchased at Burn Em’ Brewery. We highly recommend the Hipster Juice Bag. Around 10pm or so we snuck into the tent and went to bed. The boys slept the entire night even though a thunderstorm with lightning and thunder.
On our final morning Jensen woke up promptly at 6:30am. We ate the rest of our breakfast burritos I had prepped and packed up camp. After checking out of the campground we decided to head to Washington Park for a morning stroll. It was very peaceful and honestly my favorite part of the trip. Together we walked along the water to an old bridge. Many fisherman/women were underneath enjoying their mornings as well. There were some small sand dunes along the path, so we decided to take the opportunity to get some pictures.
After we headed back towards the parking lot. There were a ton of seagulls down by the lake. Jensen loves birds and pointed to them eagerly. We set him down on the sand and he took off running as fast as he could towards the birds. Once they established Jensen had no food the seagulls took flight and Jensen stopped to watch.
We then headed back to the car and drove home. We aren’t going to lie, we were very exhausted after this trip. After the first night we almost went home, not wanting another sleepless night trying to get Jensen to bed. I’m glad we stayed. With this in mind we wanted to share some tips for parents camping with small children.
First, try to keep their schedule as much as possible. I cannot stress to you how big of a difference it made the second day. If we had not attempted keeping Jensen’s schedule we probably would not have gone camping again until he was older. We also recommend bringing familiar items for sleeping. Jensen always sleeps with his stuffed wolf and blanket, so we made sure to have those with us. Don’t skimp out on the little things that will keep your kiddo comfy.
Plan ahead and pre-make meals if possible. The first night we would have gone to bed much later if I hadn’t premade campfire nachos. Everything was prepped and all we had to do was heat up the nachos on our camp stove. This allows you to spend more time enjoying the day’s activities rather than coming back early to cook or rely on junk food to fill your belly. Two other meals I made ahead of time were breakfast burritos and one-pan sausage, rice, and veggies. There are tons of other meal ideas/campfire cookbooks on Pinterest and Google. If you don’t have time to pre-make meals at least have an easy dinner idea for the first night.
In general, ensure that there is play time whenever you travel with your children. Toddlers especially do not do well in long car rides, walking around museums or sitting in a baby carrier all day. Make sure they have time to run around, stretch their legs or do an activity that is interesting for their age group. This may mean you need to plan time during long car rides to stop for an hour at a park on the way or balance out adult activities with kid activities. For example, we enjoy getting lunch at family friendly breweries to try some craft beer and get Jensen some food. Or we will go on a hike where Jensen is in the carrier and then a playground so he can run around.
Lastly, have patience and go with the flow. Some days the activities you planned aren’t going to agree with your kiddo. Think of some back up plans and go with it. Ultimately everyone wants to have memories of having fun with their family, not getting frustrated and angry with each other. We hope these tips help you on your next camping trip! If you have any tips/tricks leave a comment below. We love hearing what works best for others while traveling.
