We went camping this weekend. In a tent. In the woods. In another state. In the mountains. Everyone told me I was crazy for taking my almost-3-year-old triplets on a real camping trip. I told them it’d be fine. It’d be fun. They’d do great.

They were wrong. I was right. It was fun. They did great. It was an AWESOME weekend.

True, camping with three little kids isn’t anything like camping with just adults. They tested my patience. They made their daddy nervous. There was scolding, tears, boo-boos, triplet fights and more than a few repeats of “No!” and “Be careful, please,” and “Don’t touch the itchy leaves!” and “That’s not safe,” but there were no real injuries – not even a scrape requiring a bandage – and there was only one time-out.

At one point, I was fretting to Rob about missing out on one thing or the other simply because of time or logistics or probably just having too many things on my want-to-do list. He stopped me and pointed out all the things we were doing. And all the things we have done.

I’m a dreamer, which is a blessing and a curse. I’m also clearly a do-er, but I have a hard time turning the dream machine off even when I’m in action. I’m always planning my next big conquest, and I tend to get carried away with what I think should be happening next rather than what’s happening now.

One of my biggest fears in becoming a mother of triplets was that our family wouldn’t experience things like singleton families. I made it my goal to keep as many of the the “OMGTRIPLETS?!” hangups from negatively affecting their lives.

Comparing the trips, excursions and outings of my only-child childhood with that of my triplets who aren’t quite three … well, let’s just say I’m fairly sure that if the scales haven’t already tipped in their favor, they’re pretty close to tipping.

Naysayers, fear mongers and my own worries have no chance against my hopes and dreams.

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6 Responses to Only crazy people camp with 2-year-old triplets

  1. Pattie says:

    yay!!!

  2. camping with children is so not the same but it is fun! I feel like ive never been a more organized camper. 😉

  3. Meegs says:

    Aw, that’s great. My 3.5 year old LOVES camping. Anyone who says children shouldn’t camp is crazy. :-)

    On another note, I’ve been having trouble with your blog lately (for a week or two now). Everything is offset to the right (with a HUGE grey space on the left), and I can’t view titles or read all of your posts without highlighting, then clicking on the comments link to take me to the post page. Its weird and I’m not sure what happened.

  4. Melissa Ripka says:

    Funny (for me), I follow you on IG and google lead me here as I’m looking for articles on camping with multiples. We have 18mo twins and a 3yo toddler, exploring camping this summer. Curious to hear if you attempted to keep naps whie camping, and how – were you in the tent too? We are more worried if our twins will be ready yet. Three years old feels much more stable and ready, than 18mos. Love your articles, you are a super role model parent!

    • Jenny says:

      Yay, google! Nice to see you here!

      My trio were almost 3 when we camped, so that’s definitely a huge age difference. We attempted a nap one day, but they need a dark, quiet room to sleep, not a nature-noisy, bright tent. Plus, it was really hot in there. I couldn’t even hack it. I just sat outside and kept suggesting they rest. Haha!

      Do your twins sleep in the car or stroller? Could you plan a drive or quiet walk on a smooth path while they catch a short nap to recharge?

      We did Disney with ETC at 2y3m, and they were cool to go without naps the two days we were there. They just had really early bedtimes to make up for it.

      • Melissa Ripka says:

        Great ideas on the non-tent naps, ways to get down time. Of course, they are different from each other so we’ll just see if camping is in the books this year or if we wait for next summer when they are 2.5.

        It’s so easy for me to get trapped in the mindset of “routine must be as exact as possible”. Thank you for your response! Camping will be fun and rewarding, it’s the whole tired kids part that I like avoiding :)

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