Family camping trips are truly the stuff memories are made of. I regret not wanting to go camping when my kids were younger, but regretting the past isn’t a good way to live. So even though our kids were pretty much ready to move out of the house when we started camping we still invited them to go with us and have been creating family memories for the last 7 years.

Better late than never, right? Sadly, all of our children can never make it on the same camping trip but they all go on at least one every year which makes for some pretty entertaining stories during the holidays because silly and funny stuff always happens.

For example, even though we have a checklist, essential items are often forgotten such as when my husband went on a tent trip with my son and took all the plates, cups, and silverware out of out popup and forgot to put them back in even though he assured me he had. When it came to eat our first meal on the next camping trip in the popup we definitely had to improvise! There was also a memorable trip when raccoons stole our bread from right under our noses and another time when the squirrels figured out how to open a can of nuts (the foil seal and all) and ate all our cashews.

If you want to start making some great memories with your family and are looking for some tips and guidance on taking a family camping trip, click here to find out about a great e-book and audio book called “The Family Camping Guide.

Some of topics covered in the guide:
The Five Best Reasons to Go Camping As A Family
Ten Great Family Camping Vacation Ideas
Five Tips for Choosing a Great Campsite
Ten Signs fo a Family Friendly Campground
Essential Family Camping Gear
Five Ways to Get Great Deals on Camping Gear
Five Easy Tasks Around the Campsite Kids Can Help With
Five Tips for Hiking With Kids
Five Ways to Keep Kids Busy if the Weather Turns Bad
……Plus much more

To order your copy of the Family Camping Guide for only $27 (limited time 50% off offer) and to get your free bonuses of 101 Camping and Outdoor Recipes ($24 value), Camping: Prepare and Enjoy the Great Outdoors ($19 value), and Budget Travel ($24 value) Click Here. It’s a total value of over $100 for only $27! That’s an awesome value! Plus the package also includes the Family Camping Guide book in audio form which is a great option for busy families. Just copy the audio files onto your mp3 player or on to a cd and listen to the book while commuting to work or while shuttling the kids to activities or school.

To me cooking outside is half the fun of camping. For some reason, everything tastes better when it is cooked and eaten outside whether it is cooked over a fire, on a charcoal grill or on a gas grill. And yes, I always have all three methods available on every camping trip along with the outdoor cookstove on my popup camper.

I like having the choice of how to cook food but my husband thinks it is crazy to take a portable gas grill, a tripod for over the campfire, and a small charcoal grill on every camping trip. But, to his credit, he just packs them all for me and doesn’t complain too much. He probably thinks I won’t cook for him if he grumbles a lot, which is probably true!

Today I read about the Volcano II Cook Stove which is one stove that folds down for easy and compact storage, plus a person can cook with it using wood, charcoal or propane. That means this one product will do the same thing as my tripod, smoky joe charcoal grill, and Weber portable gas grill.

Plus the price is reasonable considering how versatile it is. The Volanco II with the propane attachment kit is $139.95. That may seem like a lot of money, but it’s a deal compared to the nearly $300 I paid for my gas grill, tripod and charcoal grill. Plus it’s only 1 item to store instead of three and most campers are well aware of how precious storage space is!

The Volcano II with Propane Attachment Kit comes with a top and bottom grill, storage bag, propane attachment kit, wrench for adjustments, deflector plate (lowers heat and allows stove to act as a warmer to keep things like soups and stews warm), and a user’s manual. Plus it has a full one year warranty.

For more information watch the video below or visit the the company’s official website.

Signs of the tough economic times are everywhere. There are stories every day of companies cutting jobs and we all probably know at least one person who has lost their job recently.

In the last week the only reports of increased sales I heard about were those at WalMart, McDonalds and for several distilleries. I guess some people are taking the phrase “drowning your sorrows in a glass of beer” literally.

Even the “smaller camping unit” segment of the RV industry is feeling the pinch. Jayco announced Monday that it is closing it Topeka, Indiana plant where Starcraft products were manufactured, resulting in a loss of over 200 jobs even though the manufacturing of the Starcraft products is going to be transferred to a plant less than 20 miles away.

Sid Johnson, the director of marketing for Jayco said “We plan to move as many people from Topkea to Middlebury as possible…..But right now, I think that would be very few.”

If you are not familiar with Starcraft, they manufactured popups, truck campers, travel trailers and fifth wheels.

For more information about the plant closure, click here.