Yeah, all these ads telling you your truck can pull 10,000# (lol... or even the space shuttle) are certainly misleading. Basically, you can tow a trailer and hang out alone or you can bring your family without a trailer.
I echo the post that congratulated you on doing your research ahead of time. These forums are FULL of people in your position who just bought an 8000# trailer and can't understand what is wrong.
I agree with the tent trailer idea. I really miss mine in a lot of ways. I could pull that thing anywhere (the current 35' 5th wheel is a bit of a hassle sometimes). I actually found the biggest leap in my camping enjoyment with the tent trailer. Just having all my camping gear in a trailer that I could hookup and leave with was a HUGE improvement over having to load up all the bins.
