Howard Trio Plus One: Camping at the Great Sand Dunes

My parents have been traveling in their RV for several weeks visiting numerous national parks, but this past week they took a break from the parks and spent time with us in Albuquerque. When they were planning their trip we decided that we should camp at the Great Sand Dunes National Park at the end of our week together as they have never been there and it is about 4 hours from our house. Unfortunately, my 4Runner was rear ended the Thursday before my parents arrived, and my car was at the shop for an entire week getting a new tailgate and rear bumper. Because our only vehicle that holds three car seats was in the shop, and we weren't sure when it would be finished, we didn't know if we would be able to camp until the last minute. Thankfully, our car was finished on Friday at 5:30 p.m., so we left Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. for the Sand Dunes.

We gave the kids sleeping bags for their birthday so they have wanted to camp all summer, but for various reasons a camping trip hasn't happened for us. The kids were really excited to camp, but we weren't sure if they truly understood what camping was since they haven't been since they were 16 months old (we went once when they were 13 months and once when they were 16 months). Luckily, they were still excited once they saw our tent set up with their sleeping bags inside! After spending some time setting up our campsite and eating lunch, we headed over to the dunes.

Alexis

The rock wall around the campsite made a perfect road for their cars

Faith and Jack outside of our tent

Alexis testing out her sleeping bag

No camping trip is complete without a ukulele

Micah's parents joined us for the dunes and dinner as they live less than an hour from the park. The kids were ecstatic to have both sets of grandparents in one place as that has only happened a handful of times. They enjoyed running around and playing in the sand, and we went on a short walk up the dunes (they go on for miles so going to the top would take about five hours).

Alexis left, Faith right

Walking towards the dunes. In the past we've been to the park when the water was flowing down from the mountains so the kids didn't want to leave the stream, but the ground was dry this weekend so we explored further into the park for the first time.

Sitting on top of a small dune

Trying to make sand angels (it was impossible to keep their heads out of the sand so I finally gave in)

Everyone enjoyed a simple dinner followed by s'mores on the campfire, before the Howard grandparents left for the night and we got the kids ready for bed. We tried to put the kids in the tent by themselves, but they were much too excited to settle down and sleep. So Micah and I went to bed fairly early and once we were in the tent the kids fell asleep within minutes.

Dinner at our campsite

A campfire is slightly more enjoyable with 3-year-olds than 2-year-olds, but they still have a lot to learn about the dangers

The view of the sunset over the sand dunes from our campsite

The kids enjoyed the elements of s'mores one at a time instead of in sandwich form (less mess that way!)

Faith and Alexis tucked in for the night

Jack was excited to sleep in his sleeping bag!

The nighttime low was in the upper 30's, so we were prepared with layers and warm sleeping bags. Although I was worried about the kids during the night, they seemed to be warm enough and I was the one that was cold. Next time I need to dress myself warmer!

Overall, everyone slept well in the tent and we woke up around 6:45 in the morning. A major perk of sharing a campsite with my parents was that we could hop into their warmer RV in the morning instead of trying to eat breakfast outside in the cold. We were also able to use their bathroom instead of walking to the public one, which is a huge advantage when camping with three 3-year-olds.

Breakfast in the RV with a view of our tent

After a morning walk around the campsite and taking down our tent, we headed over to Micah's parents' house for a late breakfast (and a shower for me!). In a way it feels like we "cheated" at camping since we took advantage of the luxuries of my parents' RV and we had a hot breakfast waiting for us at Micah's parents' house, but we DID successfully spend a cold night in a tent with our 3-year-olds so I think we can say we camped for the first time with the kids in two years. We look forward to more camping trips with our camping loving kids in the future.