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Camping 2015

    Natasha holding her baby daughter

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    Camping was a little rough this year. Everyone in our family has either a baby or a toddler that just learned to walk or one who refused to eat anything. There were babies everywhere and it was definitely a challenge to “rough it” in the woods.

    But, it was still good to get a drastic change in scenery. I’m always so caught up in the demands of this little ‘ol blog of ours that I don’t allow myself to rest. It’s weird when you blog full time, it doesn’t feel like work, but I figured between my hubby and I, we probably plow at least 60 hours a week into our website.

    It’s fun for sure and our dream job, but we sometimes always get carried away. Last night I stayed up untill 2:00am on my laptop because I’m ridiculous.

    So, yeah. Camping…This baby dear got plenty of Sunshine Vitamin – D and some sweet rosy cheeks.

    Camping 2015-15

    The baby and I slept in my parents camper while my hubby was in a tent. This year we purchased an adapter hose that connected a large propane tank to our tent heater so he didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night to change a mini propane tank. It’s a niiiice thing to have. You ottsta get one (sorry, my slang is terribly rusty lately and possibly out of date). Here’s the tent we’ve used for the past 11 years, but alas we’ve outgrown it.

    If you have a crazy awesome tent that you want to tell me about, let me know in a comment below. We’ll be shopping for a bigger family tent next year.

    Camping 2015-12

    We start with the Babies! My mom made swings for the babies that hung from the trees (like this one) for daytime napping. The babies loved them – I would have crawled into one if it were adult sized; mosquito protection cover, forest shade and a gentle breeze…

    Camping 2015-18

    Camping 2015

    Evenings were the most stressful for me because of the mosquitos, but thankfully they didn’t bite the babies.

    Camping 2015-8

    I think washing this cutie outdoors was my favorite part of camp. She’s so fluffy :).

    Camping 2015-2

    Camping 2015-4

    The kids always love camp. Fun, sun, friends everywhere all the time, frogs, docks, sand, canoes, fishing, atv’s, deer at the campsite…I’m pretty sure I missed 100 more things.

    Camping 2015-3

    Camping 2015-14

    Goofballs.

    Camping 2015-11

    Camping 2015-1

    The guys went biking, but ended up doing more bike carrying than biking :-O.

    Camping 2015-9

    And ofcourse the night life! Campfires and s’mores with giant marshmallow goodness.

    Camping 2015-5

    Sorry I didn’t take many pictures of food. I just forgot. Completely. Ofcourse we packed lots of organic mac & cheese for the littles. On the right are Mom’s buttermilk pancakes with freshly picked huckleberries from the forest. That was my favorite camping meal. Oh and the freshly caught trout!

    Camping 2015-10

    I found wifi at the far corner of our camp site. From the comfort of the curb, my popsicle and my iphone, I answered your pressing cooking questions ;). Thanks Vadim for the picture!

    Camping 2015-17

    Camping from Tuesday to Sunday – I’ve never loved my pillow and shower more than the day we got home.

    Camping 2015-16

    Are you the camping type?

    Natasha Kravchuk

    Welcome to my kitchen! I am Natasha, the blogger behind Natasha's Kitchen (since 2009). My husband and I run this blog together and share only our best, family approved and tested recipes with YOU. Thanks for stopping by! We are so happy you're here.

    Read more posts by Natasha

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    Comments

    • Alana
      June 17, 2017

      What is your favorite camping spot?

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        June 19, 2017

        Hi Alana, I’m not sure we go camping enough to have a favorite spot. We have our annual church camp and we need a spot that’s big enough for the entire group, but that’s not necessarily the best spot with the prettiest trees, etc. The spot we have is actually pretty dry looking and I wish it had more trees, but it’s hard when you have such a huge group. Do you have a favorite spot? We haven’t been camping much at all outside of church camp because it’s not easy with a toddler 🙂

        Reply

    • Maryana
      April 28, 2016

      Natasha, you are so sweet beautiful lady ! May God bless your wonderful family

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        April 29, 2016

        You’re so nice. Thank you so much and God bless you also! 🙂

        Reply

    • Halya
      August 24, 2015

      Natasha,
      What a beautiful family you have, your children are adorable, and I love your recipes being Ukrainian and growing up in a Ukrainian home I really cook a lot of your recipes but I do enjoy learning some new ones. Thanks for posting.
      Halya

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 24, 2015

        Thank you so much Halya for your sweet comment 🙂

        Reply

    • Anu
      August 14, 2015

      Your baby girl is adorable Natasha! I love your blog and enjoy making your recipes. Take care.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 14, 2015

        Thank you so much Anu! I’m happy you are enjoying the blog and recipes 🙂

        Reply

    • Olena@iFOODreal
      August 7, 2015

      Looks super fun family time!!! I like camping for 2 – 3 days, after that not so much LOL

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 7, 2015

        I have to agree with you! It was getting to be a little much on day 4 ;).

        Reply

    • Natasha
      August 5, 2015

      It’s sad that you missed the food part, I was looking for some ideas for camp menu, can you share your menu that you guys had for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We go every year tent camping and its awesome, lots of fluffy babies with us too 🙂
      Your daughter is so so ADORABLE!

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 5, 2015

        I know it! I was trying not to think about food (which is really really difficult for me) 🙂 Most breakfasts were English muffin sandwiches or eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, cucumbers, tomatoes. We also had burgers, hot dogs, lots of freshly caught fish. My favorite meal though was Mom’s meatball soup. It was so nice to have something light after all the heavy stuff.

        Reply

    • Ann
      August 5, 2015

      Awesome photos! Where did you camp?

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 5, 2015

        we were at warm lake in Idaho 🙂

        Reply

    • Angie
      August 2, 2015

      Camping is one of my favorite things to do during summer .. we’re going camping in two weeks I’m hoping the baby (2 month old)will like it. We have eureka tent and we love it lots of room to move around. http://m.rei.com/product/831231/eureka-copper-canyon-8-tent?cm_mmc=cse_PLA-_-pla-_-8312310001&mr:trackingCode=FF78E4DC-4057-E111-BC1B-001B21631C34&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=m&mr:adType=plaonline&mr:ad=86749094200&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=117703534600&msid=jRn9gpuk_dm%7Cpcrid%7C86749094200%7C&lsft=cm_mmc:cse_PLA&gclid=CIzTsuHoi8cCFQZbfgodfy0G_A

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 2, 2015

        Awesome!! Thanks so much for sharing. I’ll pass the link along to the purchasing department (my hubby) 😉

        Reply

    • liuda
      August 2, 2015

      Beautiful pictures , we do camping evry year with our 8,3,and six month old baby we had a blast at cope code where do u guys go camping and of course the kids love camping is different then home we love it we do tenting too and is fun !!!!

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 3, 2015

        I’m actually excited about being in a tent together next year. It sounds like more fun that being split up 🙂

        Reply

    • Alena
      August 1, 2015

      Why did you guys need a heater? It’s the middle of summer. Sorry, you can tell I’ve never gone camping:)

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 1, 2015

        It gets very cold there at night. It wasn’t too bad this year, about 45° at night, but if you think about it that is pretty cold to sleep without a heater. You’ve never gone camping? Ever?

        Reply

    • Irina
      August 1, 2015

      Definitely love to camp!!!.
      .. BUT…. having said, camping with a baby is very rough. Recently came back from several day camp .I’ll just say that hotels are a better choice for me until the baby starts to walk confidently 🙂 hoping for a better experience next year! But my older kids loved it, so in the end it was worth it. In no time at all we will be sitting in our camping chairs UNDISTURBED remembering the fluffy babies were everywhere… Probably crying because the time went by too quickly 🙂 got to TREAUAURE this time no matter how overwhelminging it might feel at the moment. Oh wait… We will be running after our grandbabies then!!! Nevermind!:) thank u for all the work you guys put into the blog, it really shows. My fav food blog theses day. Bless u guys.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 1, 2015

        Thank you so much for your sweet comment. And thanks for the encouragement! The time does pass by way too quickly. And then the circle of life starts all over again with grandbabies! I’m so happy you enjoy the blog 🙂

        Reply

    • Valentina @Valentina's Corner
      August 1, 2015

      Oh the pictures of her bathing are SOO SOOOOO CUTE!!. We went on a mission trip with the Mr. a few years back and that is the size “bathtub” we were given at one of our stops. Let’s just say your baby had a more successful time at bathing than I :)…

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 1, 2015

        Wow that would be quite an experience! We definitely take our showers and bathtubs for granted!

        Reply

    • Karl
      August 1, 2015

      Very nice pictures, you got a nice Family, Thank you for the pancake recipe Too,
      we used to live in Canada in the 50this,before we moved to California, and did a lot of camping too.now we,re to old (88),
      Thank you so much for the nice Pictures
      Sincerely, Karl& Helga

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 1, 2015

        Hi Karl And Helga! Thank you so much for writing in and I’m glad that you enjoy the pancake recipe. 🙂 did you do tent camping or did you sleep in a camper?

        Reply

    • Jan Murphy
      August 1, 2015

      Beautiful camping blog and photos brought wide smiles and wonderful memories. Thank you for sharing your adventure with me!

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        August 1, 2015

        Hi Jan! I’m guessing you’re the camping type too! 🙂 Thank you for your sweet comment.

        Reply

    • Olviya@servingsisters.com
      July 31, 2015

      Thank you for putting in so much hard work into this website! It shows. <3

      As a child, my family would go camping every summer. My mom had 9 kids, and until I had my own a few months ago, I didn't understand how 'vacations' weren't really vacations for her. 😉 I now know (and appreciate!), my parent's packing/setting up/unpacking/cooking/washing loads and loads of laundry upon arrival, just so that we could make some wonderful memories. So yeah, you guys are doing it right!

      Also, Diana is SO precious! I love her rosy cheeks, and big blue eyes!

      -the first time mom who was too chicken to take her 8 month old camping this summer. 😉

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        July 31, 2015

        Lol yeah that’s so true; vacations aren’t the same for the parents as they are for the kids ;). We came home to 4 loads of camp laundry! But I know how much my son and husband enjoyed their camping adventure and it makes it all worthwhile 🙂

        Reply

      • Olena@iFOODreal
        August 7, 2015

        Don’t feel bad. I took my first born 10 month old camping and it was a nightmare with him crawling everywhere and no family to help LOL. We never went camping with kids until they were like 3 years old after that. Not my thing, sorry. I like comforts of my home with little kids. Now when they are older camping is so much fun and they can remember it. At 2 the could care less.

        Reply

        • Natasha
          natashaskitchen
          August 7, 2015

          My sisters little guy was just learning to walk and they sure had their hands full!

          Reply

    • Patty K
      July 31, 2015

      How fun it must have been to have babies everywhere! I love fluffy babies! I call them butterballs 🙂

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        July 31, 2015

        Ha ha yeah butterballs for sure. 🙂

        Reply

    • Natasha
      July 31, 2015

      We go camping every year with our family too, so much fun! What kind of heater did you guys use for the tent, and was it on the whole night? No problem with the gas smell from propane? We’re going camping in 2 weeks, so need to take heater too.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        July 31, 2015

        The tent is vented well enough that there is no smell. The only time there is a smell is with the initial ignition. With the conversion tubing to the large propane tank, there was actually less stink because we didn’t have to re-connect and re-light the heater in the middle of the night. We use Mr. Heater which is an actual tent heater.

        Reply

    • Maya
      July 31, 2015

      We love camping too. Every year we go 2 or 3 times. Your pictures are beautiful! May I ask what camera and lense are you using?

      Reply

    • veta
      July 31, 2015

      Hi, Natasha!
      Looove your pictures. Your daughter is ADORABLE!!!
      We are definetly camping people. My husband has everything for camping starts with different kind of flashlights, lamps, stoves different sizes, heaters, etc. Haha. He likes to get a really good quality stuff, doesn’t matter of price haha. I agree on this one with him because it matters when you go camping like 4-5 times during summer lol
      We have this tent
      http://www.cabelas.com/product/Cabelas-Alaskan-Guide174-Geodesic-Tent-with-Fiberglass-Poles-150-6-Person/1546762.uts?No=0&destination=%2Fcategory%2FView-All-Tents%2F105517980.uts

      It is expensive but a very good quality. The only thing is not so exciting to set up this tent haha. Especially, for the first time. A lot of poles. But after 2-3 trips, my hubby has no problem to set it up but with my help. U need two people to set it up. For our family of 5 it is PERFECT . a lot of space inside for us and our stuff and I love little “hall” infront. We can keep some stuff over there including shoes. It passed test for rain and hail as well 😉
      P.s. not sure if tent is for 6 or 8 people lol. Gotta ask hubby 🙂

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        July 31, 2015

        We’ll definitely take a look at it. A hall sounds nice especially if it rains which it has nearly every year we go 🙂 This year there was a crazy serious downpour one evening!

        Reply

        • veta
          July 31, 2015

          Our tent is for 6 people 🙂

          Reply

          • veta
            July 31, 2015

            Natasha, it is me again lol. I just read maybe first 20 reviews about our tent ,and I just want you to know that I absolutely agree with everything people say there: about strong winds, heavy rain and hails. 🙂 мы пережили это всё тоже когда были в кемпе. 🙂 Был сильный ветер и палатка даже и не шаталась. 😉 и капли дождя так и стекают с палатки. Главное та клеенка что ложите под палатку что б воду не накапливала 😉

            Reply

            • Natasha
              natashaskitchen
              July 31, 2015

              It sounds like the perfect tent!

      • Olviya@servingsisters.com
        July 31, 2015

        My husband is ‘into’ only buying quality products whereas I’m like ‘but we can get three of the not-so-good-quality!’ lol..As his products stand through much more tear/wear than mine, I’m learning that he’s right. guess those husband’s are onto something. 😉

        Reply

    • nasly
      July 31, 2015

      Camping is one of my favorite summer things to do. But yeah… when i get back i get to appreciate my bed ten times more.
      We upgraded to a coleman easy up 8-person tent this year. It took about five minutes to set it up and we need to get a fly for it but it stood the test as it rained heavily on one of the nights and not a drop made it inside (this without the fly)
      I definitely need to get us a tent heater. Thanks for the hose tip.

      Reply

      • Natasha
        natashaskitchen
        July 31, 2015

        You’re welcome and thanks for sharing about the tent! I’ll have my hubby look into that one. Sounds dreamy! 🙂

        Reply

      • Tom ~ Raise Your Garden
        July 31, 2015

        You are really brave camping with a baby, my wife and I never tried that! Now our girls are 3 and 5 and every time we pass an RV camper, they get so excited. They cannot believe you actually can sleep in a vehicle. So obviously, they need to go camping. But I’m bringing my tempur-pedic pillow, I don’t care it’s a 100 bucks!

        Reply

        • Natasha
          natashaskitchen
          July 31, 2015

          Before the baby came along, we had a tempurpedic mattress topper that we took to camp. It was amazing; just like home! Hows that for ridiculous? 😉

          Reply

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