Looking forward to the Summer

This is a totally un-baby post. I was just thinking about the fact that the kids have about a month and a half left of school before they are home the summer.  I want the kids to have some enriching experiences and a lot of fun.  I've been looking into unschooling and it sounds like a great way to help them learn and explore without making things so structured that they have no summer. My good friend R is such an inspiration to me in this area. She is a like minded mama of 3 who unschools her handsome boys.

I think that I'd like to explore two themes this summer and have the kids interact with them in a variety of ways.  The first theme would be dinosaurs and I haven't determined the second theme yet. I have all these ideas for how we can learn about dinosaurs in a cross curricular way.  Here are a couple of my current ideas:

• Pangaea maps
• Making fossils
• Zoo trips to learn about the descendants of and modern day relatives of dinosaurs
• Maybe a dinosaur skeleton puzzle, if I could find one
• Museum trips to touch dino stuff
• Music and whatnot
• Dinosaur life cycle tableau replete with dramatic music [I can see my kids doing this with mock seriousness]
• All culminating with a journal of a cavekid. Yes, I know that humans and dinos didn't coexist, but think of the creative writing combined with the practical knowledge. Even Side Salad could do it, albeit a pictorial journal.

Maybe we could even do a joint theme.......hmmmm.....

Any suggestions for the second theme?

Camping

I want to take the kids camping this summer.

It's one of those things I've never done before. I didn't grow up in a family where people went camping and few of my friends ever did it. But it seems like a cool experience. It would give us an opportunity to just spend time together away from the TVs and computers and Kindles and video games.

I think it'd even be cool, baby in tow. I mean we could use prefolds or gDipes to make it easy. Or we could temporarily switch to sposies.

The problem is, I don't know how to plan a trip. How do I know where to go? Should we get a tent or look for places with cabins? What do we need to take? How will we cook?  Can we fish (by we I mean everyone but me)?  I need like a "Camping for Dummies" which I am absolutely certain exists.  Also, I have to somehow get the hubby on board.  The fishing should take care of that.

Have you ever been camping?  Got any advice for me?

Here's who'd be going:

• Me, the mama
• Lettuce, the papa
• Astronaut, 11 year old boy
• Princess, 9 year old girl
• Squirrel, 6 year old girl
• Side Salad, 4 year old boy
• Popcorn, tiny bundle of joy

Help us out-how do we plan our first family camping trip?