I realize that financially-speaking, you may not be able to pull this off, but in case you are I'm going to throw this out there.
Take the advice of people here who have been in the situation of just starting out camping and having young kids who are going to GROW through the years as well.
Let me walk you through our "upgrades". When we started camping our 4 kids were 10, 8, 6, and 2.
Started with a 1999 Ford Expedition towing a 1995 Dutchmen PUP
Then it was the 1999 Ford Expedition towing a 1995 Dutchmen TT (26' no slides) for more room in the TT and more amenities camping. It was around 5,000 lbs.
Then it was a 2001 Ford Excursion V10 towing the Dutchmen TT for more room/power/heavier suspension in the tow vehicle..and because we were pushing the safe tow margin lines on that Expedition
Then it was the 2001 Excursion towing a 2004 Cherokee TT bunkhouse (31' with superslideout) for more room in the TT and bunk setup as the kids insisted on growing!!)...weighed around 7,000 lbs. when loaded.
Then it was a 2002 Ford Excursion with 2nd row captain's chairs (better for us than the 2nd row bench) between the front seats in the 3rd row bench and the upgrade to a diesel engine.
Then it was that 2002 Ford Excursion diesel towing a 2008 Jayco Eagle 314bhds bunkhouse with two slides (the bunkroom has a slide to for even more room for the kids) which is 35' and near 9000 lbs. when loaded.
Then because a few kids started getting too old to camp, and the fact that we were close to the margin lines for towing on the Excursion we bought a 1-ton F350 diesel (crew cab) so we're plenty safe with the numbers.
This was about 11 years of trading travel trailers or tow vehicles. So my point is IF you can afford it, and you are serious about becoming a "camping family" (which is GREAT fun BTW) then consider upgrading your tow vehicle now (lots of options out there) so you can either go with your pick of travel trailer OR potentially even go bigger there.
Trust me.....at least consider it.
