Skipping ahead to almost the present...
This year over Memorial Day Weekend, as a family we attended Lightning In a Bottle (LIB). Every time Ben and I go to a music festival, Adelyn and Odin lament the fact that they are not old enough to come with us. And for a few months they started asking when we can go camping. LIB was a perfect solution! LIB is a music festival crossed with art crossed with workshops crossed with camping... and they have a very family friendly attitude about everything too. They even have a special camping area for families. We thought this would be a great intro to camping (free water and food trucks available). And we had a blast!
The event started on Thursday and it was about 6 hours away. We had heard from others that the family camp filled up fast. With this in mind we headed to Bakersfield, CA on Wednesday so we would be closer on Thursday. We did manage to get everything in the car, but it was a tight fit! Thursday we got to the festival around 9:30. After slowly making our way through the gates, we got in about an hour later. First complaint (there aren't many): the guy directing traffic made us go down a road that did not lead to Family Camp. We knew we were going the wrong way, but he insisted. We ended up having to turn around and get on the correct road. Finally we made it to family camp. We were surprised at how many people we already set up. We found a spot that we thought would be good at got to work. We set up our tent, shade structure, and inflatable couch and then took a break to look around and grab some lunch.
The first food truck we came to was a chicken and waffles place. They had a low table and cushions set up under a shade. We went no further. And man! Am I glad we stopped! I haven't had that many c & w's, but this was by far the best I have ever had! The chicken was fried to perfection... not too much breading, a bit of zip, and juicy and delicious. And the waffle. So. Good. It just melted in your mouth. So good. We had nice conversations with the other people eating at the table.
After getting beds and everything set in the tent, we went exploring. We quizzed Adelyn and Odin about where we were and where our camp was as we went. We came to a stage with music. We stayed on the outside and had a family dance party. When the sun set everyone cheered. The kids thought this was great. We headed back to camp shortly after this because it was getting cool fast! We got back to Family Camp and were shocked... so many other tents appeared while we were out. They were crammed in every possible space. That left finding a path to accommodate our wagon a little tricky. We got the kids all tucked inside their sleeping bags. They were asleep pretty quickly.
The next few days were a blur of activity. We would wake up and eat breakfast at camp (breakfast bars for the win!). And then set off. There was a Family Love Village with a lot of kid activities, and lots of other things to see and do. When we got too hot or hungry, we made it back to camp for a lunch of crackers, cheese, nuts and summer sausage. Then we hung around, played and talked with our neighbors, took naps or whatever else we wanted to do. We would head out for a early dinner at the food trucks. After that depending on the kids we would try to stay out late or head back to camp.
Highlights for the kids were the Ferris wheel, the Woogie stage (they liked the bright colors and name, we didn't actually spend much time there), face painting, watermelon and sleeping in sleeping bags. (Doesn't take much!).
The second complaint is a huge one - leaving. We left camp around 11:30 and made it to Bakersfield (2 hours away) at 9 pm. The logistics leaving the camp ground were terrible!
All in all we had a great time. The kids are already talking about next year.
Pictures in a different post. Stay tuned!
This year over Memorial Day Weekend, as a family we attended Lightning In a Bottle (LIB). Every time Ben and I go to a music festival, Adelyn and Odin lament the fact that they are not old enough to come with us. And for a few months they started asking when we can go camping. LIB was a perfect solution! LIB is a music festival crossed with art crossed with workshops crossed with camping... and they have a very family friendly attitude about everything too. They even have a special camping area for families. We thought this would be a great intro to camping (free water and food trucks available). And we had a blast!
The event started on Thursday and it was about 6 hours away. We had heard from others that the family camp filled up fast. With this in mind we headed to Bakersfield, CA on Wednesday so we would be closer on Thursday. We did manage to get everything in the car, but it was a tight fit! Thursday we got to the festival around 9:30. After slowly making our way through the gates, we got in about an hour later. First complaint (there aren't many): the guy directing traffic made us go down a road that did not lead to Family Camp. We knew we were going the wrong way, but he insisted. We ended up having to turn around and get on the correct road. Finally we made it to family camp. We were surprised at how many people we already set up. We found a spot that we thought would be good at got to work. We set up our tent, shade structure, and inflatable couch and then took a break to look around and grab some lunch.
The first food truck we came to was a chicken and waffles place. They had a low table and cushions set up under a shade. We went no further. And man! Am I glad we stopped! I haven't had that many c & w's, but this was by far the best I have ever had! The chicken was fried to perfection... not too much breading, a bit of zip, and juicy and delicious. And the waffle. So. Good. It just melted in your mouth. So good. We had nice conversations with the other people eating at the table.
After getting beds and everything set in the tent, we went exploring. We quizzed Adelyn and Odin about where we were and where our camp was as we went. We came to a stage with music. We stayed on the outside and had a family dance party. When the sun set everyone cheered. The kids thought this was great. We headed back to camp shortly after this because it was getting cool fast! We got back to Family Camp and were shocked... so many other tents appeared while we were out. They were crammed in every possible space. That left finding a path to accommodate our wagon a little tricky. We got the kids all tucked inside their sleeping bags. They were asleep pretty quickly.
The next few days were a blur of activity. We would wake up and eat breakfast at camp (breakfast bars for the win!). And then set off. There was a Family Love Village with a lot of kid activities, and lots of other things to see and do. When we got too hot or hungry, we made it back to camp for a lunch of crackers, cheese, nuts and summer sausage. Then we hung around, played and talked with our neighbors, took naps or whatever else we wanted to do. We would head out for a early dinner at the food trucks. After that depending on the kids we would try to stay out late or head back to camp.
Highlights for the kids were the Ferris wheel, the Woogie stage (they liked the bright colors and name, we didn't actually spend much time there), face painting, watermelon and sleeping in sleeping bags. (Doesn't take much!).
The second complaint is a huge one - leaving. We left camp around 11:30 and made it to Bakersfield (2 hours away) at 9 pm. The logistics leaving the camp ground were terrible!
All in all we had a great time. The kids are already talking about next year.
Pictures in a different post. Stay tuned!
