Camping...with Diabetes

We went camping this weekend - in a tent, with sleeping bags and every blanket we own, over night, in the cold, camping.  And we had a GREAT time!  Savanna, C & I went with friends - my girlfriend Ginger, her husband, Mickey and their boys, and Chris's good friend, Greg and his son Gabe.  It was great to have friends who like to camp and the kids had fun running around playing together.  

C & I have gone camping lots of times and have prep down to a science.  This year though, was different - this was Savanna's first camping trip and we had a whole other factor to think about...yes, the ever present Diabetes.  I wanted Savanna to have a fun time, without having to stop too often to count carbs, check blood sugars, and feel like she was missing out on what everyone else was doing...

Generally, when we go camping, we plan for meals and then have snacks to get us through the days.  In all honesty, we probably eat more snacks while camping than we do if we were home - but, it's all part of the fun.  To make it easy for Savanna (and C & I), I tried to buy snacks that were under 10 grams of carbs...Smart Food popcorn is PERFECT (9 grams) and Savanna loves it.  Anything that was over 10 grams, I portioned into individual snack backs and clearly marked how many carbs per serving.  That way, Savanna can pick a snack and would know if she needed insulin, or if she could just eat it.  I also figured out how many carbs were in 1 s'more (a camping MUST HAVE) and the pancakes we were having to breakfast.  This made insulin dosing quick and easy.  Here's a picture of all the snacks, portioned and labeled:

We had Smartfood popcorn, celery sticks with peanut butter, trail mix, beef jerky, strawberries, and homemade applesauce

.

I love my little snack bags so much, I'm thinking of doing this for daily use as well!  Once all the snacks, cooler, bags, and bins were packed, we were on our way!

Savanna was a trooper with her Diabetes while camping!  Yes, we had our moments where she didn't want to stop for insulin, but her numbers were great all weekend - and she chose snacks that were lower in carb counts if she didn't want to take the time to get insulin.  Of course, we still had to check sugars and get insulin for our big meals.  My girlfriend, Ginger, took some pictures of Savanna being a trooper and doing her check and shots before her pancake breakfast the first morning:

There's an actual picture of Savanna getting her shots, but she asked me to "delete" it when she saw it, so I figured I wouldn't post it here either :)

The best part about this weekend (well, in regards to her Diabetes) was that Savanna's numbers were almost perfect!  Even after our 3-hour scavenger hunt/hike/fishing expedition in the woods on Saturday afternoon, her numbers were great.  It makes me feel good about taking the extra time to pre-portion snacks, count carbs before we left, and having her stop what she was doing to check her numbers.  We now know that camping (for our family) with Diabetes is possible - and we look forward to many more camping trips in the future (when it's warmer out - did I mention it dropped before freezing our first night?!).

When it comes to new experience, I say Aker Family - 1, Diabetes - 0!  And, I can't wait to go again!  (yes, partially because I like the way all my portioned snack bags looked on the counter!)