My Top 6 Must Haves For Camping With Kids - Part 1 of 2

My hubby and I both grew up loving camping, and have been camping together since we started dating 10 years ago. We have now successfully completed canoe trips while 34 weeks pregnant with a toddler in tow, and recently this July with our 2 little ones, ages 4 years and 21 months. I recognize that camping is not for everyone, but for those of us who love it, there is nothing better than introducing your kids to the great outdoors through a fun family camping trip.

Camping is always a messy adventure, but one we would never trade. Heading into the backcountry gives us a much needed break from technology and work. Time to slow down, enjoy nature, and spend a few days connecting with our kids & the simple pleasures of life. Some of our best family memories have been made camping, and it's amazing to hear our little guy already counting down the days to next summer's trip. He's a camper at heart and it makes his daddy and I so proud.

In order to enjoy camping it's important to prepare in advance and pack well. There are lots of camping packing lists available online (I promise to share mine one day soon), but I want to focus instead on a few key pieces of equipment that I believe can make your family camping experience a great one.

My Top 6 Must Haves for Camping with Kids:

1. Family Size Mattress - Sleep is central to having fun with kids, no matter where you are, so don't forget this key piece of equipment. Last summer we upgraded and purchased the MEC Super Reactor Double Size Mattress and we LOVE it! No more rolling off of our single sized mattresses onto the floor of the tent and no more cold drafts. Plus it rolls up and stores relatively small for a family size mattress (red cylindrical bag in photo) and offers excellent comfort. So worth it!

2. Baby Carrier - Tossing your kiddo up onto your front or back (depending on age, carrier, skill etc) can be a great way to keep them safe while walking a portage, around water or to keep them away from fire or sharps at mealtime prep. If your little one is used to being rocked to sleep at night, walking along the water with the sounds of the waves is a great way to lull them to sleep before transferring them into your tent. *Please make sure to wear supportive shoes while babywearing, especially on uneven ground, to avoid falls.

3. Bug Shelter - Ontario summers are pretty buggy and little ones can have a terrible reaction to bug bites (as we found out this summer with our little Lucy). In order to enjoy our meals and have a place to escape the bugs we always bring our MEC Hootenanny Bug Shelter. It was a big purchase initially, but one that has definitely been worth it on our recent trips. I can't even imagine how many bites Lucy would have had without it!

4. Headlamps - It's freaking dark in the wilderness at night (unless you happen to go camping during a full moon), so be prepared with some good lighting. Headlamps make everything easier, especially when you're dealing with messy kids. Having handsfree while changing a dirty diaper in the dark, or trekking out to the bathroom with a little one at night is so essential. Plus kids LOVE them! *Make sure to check your batteries before each trip and pack a few extras just in case.

5. Booster Seat - Feeding little ones can be a difficult task while camping, so to make it easier bring along a collapsable booster seat. They clip easily onto picnic tables found at most camp sites and mean you can keep baby off your lap while eating so you can enjoy your meal too! Lucy loved it on last years trip.

6. Rainy Day Activities - Although you hope to get perfect weather while camping it can't be guaranteed, so make sure to pack some fun rainy day activities. MEC has some amazing resources on their Camp Big site for families, including some great colouring & activity pages you can print and bring along. Some other great activities that we like to pack include travel board games, cards, board books, play doh and a few toy cars packed in the car caddy I made Ben years ago. You don't need to go overboard but definitely want to be prepared.

I hope my Top 6 Must Haves for Camping With Kids help you in your camping adventures this summer! 

Check out Part 2 of this series My 7 Tips & Tricks For Camping With Kids, plus get my Complete Family Camping List & my Downloadable Family 1st Aid Kit List

- Care

Family Photo Session GIVEAWAY!!

Want a chance to WIN a Professional Family Photo Session? Check it out!

Last fall our family had a lovely photo session in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood with Sara Elisabeth Photography. Our session was quick and fun (so ESSENTIAL with 2 young kids!) and produced some absolutely incredible memories. I've been meaning to share the photos for months, but what better time than with a GIVEAWAY!

Sara has generously offered my readers a chance to WIN a Complimentary Family Photo Session & 8x10 Print *$345 value!!

To Enter: Simply follow Fifty-Seven & Sara Elisabeth Photography on Facebook and comment on the contest Facebook Post with your name, and tag up to 2 other local Toronto families that you think deserve a photo session. If you're chosen, all 3 families will receive a Complimentary Session & Print! Winners will be announced Saturday July 25th.

Check out our family photos and Sara's beautiful work. I know you won't be able to resist entering. 

Don't forget to enter for a chance to WIN! 

Good luck!

- Care

*There will be another draw held via Instagram so feel free to enter both. 

Garlic Scape Basil Pesto

It's Garlic Scape season, so I thought I would share a yummy scape recipe with all of you. It's our first year with homegrown scapes, so after harvesting them, I busily researched all of the great things you can make with these delicious garlic greens. I decided to make pesto, so that the scapes could be preserved and savoured later in the year when they're long gone. 

Although I found several versions of garlic scape pesto online, none were exactly what I wanted, so I combined a few to create this recipe. It's hands down one of the most delicious things I've ever made. I'm extra proud since we grew the scapes & basil ourselves. If you have some scapes lying around in your garden, or find some at you local farmers market I highly recommend making this. You won't regret it! Best part, it uses 7 simple ingredients and takes only minutes to mix up. 

*Note: Freeze your pesto in an ice cube tray and then pop out cubes and store in an airtight freezer safe container or freezer bag. Ideal for single use on sandwiches, salads or pasta. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh clean basil leaves
• 10 garlic scapes, cleaned, bud removed, and cut into 1" pieces
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 of a lemon juiced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan

Instructions:

1. Add basil, garlic scapes & salt to food processor and blend until almost smooth, scrape down sides with spatula.
2. Add lemon juice, olive oil, pine nuts & parmesan and blend until smooth scraping sides with spatula.
3. Pour pesto into ice cube trays, freezer bags or mason jars and freeze for several months, or keep pesto in the fridge if you plan to use it within a week or so. The flavours will meld together and mellow over time when frozen. 

Excellent on pastas, sandwiches, or salads. Enjoy!

- Care

3 Must Haves for Veggie Garden Success!

Spring is here and it's officially gardening season. Yay! My hubby and I are avid gardeners and have been busy at work over the last few weeks preparing and planting our annual fruit, veggie and herb garden. As I've been posting pics to Instagram I've been getting lots of requests for details about our garden accessories, so I thought I would share my must haves with everyone. These 3 items are a big investment up front, however all of them will serve your garden well for many years to come, and impact the survival, growth and yield of your garden each year. 

Here's a glimpse of our garden in July 2014. Needless to say we hope to have another year just like it.

Care's 3 Must Haves for Veggie Garden Success!

1. Rain Barrel

All gardens need water, so this one is a no brainer. A rain barrel is simple to set up under any eavestrough and collects rain water to use for your garden. Not only does this save money and water, but it's actually better for your plants. Rain water doesn't have the chemicals used to treat our drinking water such as chlorine and fluoride, which can impact the growth and yield of your plants.

You can get rain barrels from stores like Home Depot or Costco for $100-$350, depending on the size and material used. Craigstlist & Kijiji are also great places to check for gently used rain barrels. A word to the wise, we got ours via a community project last year for $50, so I encourage you to look online and check sales around the GTA. There are lots of special water events throughout the year, where they discount barrels to encourage people to use them. Always worth checking. 

Note: If you don't have a rain barrel or space for one, consider filling a bucket or bin with hose water and allow it to sit in the sun for a few hours to help burn off the chemicals before using it to water your garden. 

2. Garden Covers

There is nothing worse than going to all the work of planning and planting a beautiful garden, only to find the whole thing pillaged by pests. Garden covers allow your plants to get the sunlight, rain and fresh air they need, while preventing rodents and neighbourhood pets from using your garden as a litter box or buffet. This is especially important in the early days of planting seeds or seedlings, because these young plants are tender and sweet and animals love to snack on them. I find they're also essential in keeping plants safe from curious toddlers and clumsy preschoolers. 

I love these Pop Up Plant Covers from Lee Valley that we got last year. (**Updated to note that Lee Valley is no longer selling this product. They can be found online at www.gardenguard.net) They are adjustable with zip in panels, so you can tailor the size of the cover for your specific garden, plus they fold up nice and small for winter storage. We love the way they cover our raised beds and make our garden look way more hardcore than it actually is ;) An 8 foot section costs $39.50 and additional 2.5 foot zip in sections can be purchased for $19.50. 

Note: When we're out in the garden we open the ends to allow bees and other insects access to help with pollination. Especially when plants like strawberries are flowering. 

3. Spiral Stakes

If you like to grow vine plants like Tomatoes or Cucumbers, spiral stakes are a must have. Using a stake for each plant drastically reduces the amount of space each plant takes up and allows for the fruit to hang off the vine avoiding the rot that happens when they sit along the ground.

Once again, these Tomato Spirals were a Lee Valley purchase and cost $24.50 for a set of 5 steel stakes. I have seen similar stakes for $2 at Dollaramma, but would hesitate to buy these, as you never know what type of metal was used. Since these stakes will be in your garden with rain water running over them into your soil, it's important that they don't have any harmful toxins, like lead, used in the production of them.

Note: We tried these for squash last year and found that the weight of the squash was too much and they didn't grow well. Best to allows these heavier veggies to be ground crawlers. 

Hope you enjoy these must haves as much as I do. I'll be sure to share some other gardening tips and tricks over the next few weeks.

Good luck with your garden!

- Care

*This is not a sponsored post. 

Special Event at Movies for Mommies - Milk

Check out this exciting Special Event at The Humber Cinema!

Doors open at 10am for photos & 10:30 am for ticket sales. Space is Limited! 

*Tickets to this Special Event can be purchased online. Buy Tickets.

See you at the Movies!

- Care

The Bump To Baby Show - FREE Community Event

There's a NEW Baby Show in town! Check out The Bump to Baby Show, a FREE Community Event happening next Tuesday May 26th from 4pm-9pm at the beautiful Wychwood Barns. 

This show is perfect for expecting parents, new parents and young families who are looking for a little help going natural. The lineup includes incredible wellness practitioners, services & products all geared toward helping young families live healthy lives. I am so honoured to be part of this event and am looking forward to meeting lots of new people and seeing some familiar faces. 

Check out The Bump to Baby Event Page for a full list of vendors and to see some of the amazing swag & prizes that will be featured at the event. Plus, did we forget to mention it's FREE! 

See you on Tuesday!

- Care

Delicious Honey Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Today is feeling like a perfect day for baking. This gloomy grey weather calls for the oven to be on and the sweet smell of cinnamon to be wafting through the house, so I decided to whip up some banana bread while the kids were content colouring and playing. 

I went straight to my go-to banana bread recipe that I adapted from Cookie and Kate. This recipe isn't vegan, but it uses whole grain flour, coconut oil, full fat dairy & honey, which works for our family. If you're looking for a vegan recipe I highly suggest checking out Rachel Schwartzman's Best Vegan Banana Bread Recipe. 

Hope you have a great long weekend and enjoy this recipe as much as we do. 

- Carolyn 

Honey Whole Wheat Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• ⅓ cup melted coconut oil (or butter or any other mild tasting oil)
• ½ cup honey
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1¾ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Tbsp of whole milk
• 2 Tbsp of full fat plain or greek yogurt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius)
2. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan
3. In a large bowl whisk your dry ingredients together and set aside - flour, baking soda, salt & cinnamon
4. In a medium bowl beat oil and honey together. Add eggs and beat well
5. Stir in mashed bananas, milk, yogur & vanilla
6. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
7. Fold in dark chocolate chips, nuts, dried fruit or any other addition you like
8. Spread batter into the greased loaf pan
9. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes. Be sure to check that the bread is done baking by inserting a toothpick in the centre. It should come out clean.
10. Let the bread cool in the loaf pan on wire rack for 5 minutes, then transfer out of pan to wire rack to cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Fifty-Seven Comes to Parkdale! - This Little Piggy

I'm very excited to announce a new collaboration with This Little Piggy. 

Starting in June we will be offering our very popular Infant CPR & Family Safety Workshop to the parents of Parkdale! 

This Little Piggy is one of my favourite shops in the city for expectant and young families because they focus on selling tons of amazing local brands. Check it out if you haven't already! They have a great online shop that's easy to use. Plus you can follow their beautiful Instagram feed to see their adorable products and stay up to date on in-store events.  

*Don't wait to register! Space is very limited and these workshops always sell out fast. Register Online Here or contact info@fifty-seven.ca or 416.972.9367 for any questions or assistance registering. 

Looking forward to meeting lots of local Parkdale families.

Warmly,

- Care