Mini Camping Trip

I really want to write more… I do.  I miss having those, "OMG I have to write about this in OD right now!"  Or writing entries in my head.  I think it’s because either because things are just going well these days, or that at the same time, I just never seem to carve out the time for it.  After the kids are in bed, I want to spend time with Nathan, because he’s really not here for much longer–leaving for harvest very soon.  During the day at my computer, I’m really trying to keep up with WORK, because that time is when my kids are at daycare and the mommy guilt is at its worst.  I want to get done what I need to get done so when they are home I can focus on THEM. 

On Thursday, he’s going to be leaving for harvest for the summer.  It sucks because now I’ll be home alone with two kids and I’ve really come to realize how much it helps having him around.  We each take a kid, bedtimes are so much easier when we’re working as a team, etc.   I will truly be a ‘single mom’ for at least a month until we can go out and visit him.  I know people are apart much longer, and this is and always has been a part of our lives, and what makes our beautiful home possible, but it’s still a bummer to not have him around when he travels. 

So this past week, we decided to take a mini camping trip to the State Park in the city about an hour away to take our new camper for a "test drive"… we recently traded campers (I promise to do a full camper tour soon!  Check out the past years here:  2009 Camper Tour and 2010 Camper Tour).  We recently had to get rid of our beloved travel trailer and move into a 5th wheel.  (If you think trading off a car is emotional/hard, just imagine saying goodbye to one that is like a 2nd home–and one you practically raised one baby in during the summers!  Sniff, sniff!)  As you can see in the previous year’s campers they were VERY spacious and filled with natural light and had nice livingroom areas.  Of course, that was before we had kid(S)…. when Wesley was a baby he could just sleep in our room.  Now that we’ve got two and sleep in their own rooms and we know they are going to continue to grow, we knew we had to get something more practical.  Nathan was also tired of hauling a giant travel trailer… they are much more bulkier and difficult to move around the country.  They are more meant to be hauled to one spot and set up, like at a lake lot.  We knew we needed something that was lighter and more efficient, and also something with a 2nd bedroom.  With a 2nd bedroom, though, you lose a lot of that awesome living room space, and it was hard to get used to the "smaller quarters" but I guess when you see the pictures you won’t feel too sorry for me.  😉

It was gorgeous weather!  Not hot, just a little bit cool– sweatshirts and shorts weather.

We camped with our friends the Gunnarsons, my brother and his family stopped by, and it was fun for our kids to play together!

Here is just a glimpse inside… you can see the kids bedroom in the back straight ahead.  Our bedroom is behind me,  in the upper part that
goes above the pickup.  There are also two bathrooms aboard!  Kids have their own half bath in the back, which will work great for Wesley having to go potty in the middle of the night!
 

Here’s a pic of it in action the night it rained during our cookout… the sun came out after we were done eating though!

 
 

Best part of the bathrooms is that the full has a bathTUB in it–perfect for the kiddos… Jasper agrees!

The lighting was AWESOME after the rain… even caught the rain droplets coming off the leaves of the trees.
 

The kids…  (Jasper was already in bed!)
 

Love this serious pose of Jasper… I think he looks nothing like Wesley… am I the only one? 
Sometimes I don’t even think he looks like Nathan OR me… he just has his "own" look…  but totally Cute as a BUTTON!



 

Of course the only photo of me from the whole trip was on someone elses phone… oh well I’ll take what I can get.
 Snuggling my biggest boy at the campfire!

My bro and my nephew Brody… he is going to be a Big Brother in December!

Anyways… the trip was overall pretty good.  Obviously it was a change getting the kids to sleep in the new bedroom, but it went much better than I anticipated.  We ended up putting Jasper to bed first since they normally don’t share a room.  Wesley got to stay up later anyways with the other kids around and the campfire excitement we just let it slide, but I could tell his eyes were drooping when it was close to 9 o’clock.  I brought him back to his bunk in the low light, whispered to him that he had to keep an eye on his little brother, and made sure he had his Pillow Pet andhis John Deere blanket.  He snuggled in and I told him I would be back in 5 minutes to check on him.  I didn’t even have to because the moment I walked out of the room he was fast asleep!  

Both kids still woke up once or twice out of confusion in the middle of the night… and even I was confused when I first woke up.  I literally had NO idea where I was for a moment, no idea where the door was and I forgot about the steps so I totally stumbled down them into the livingroom, tripping on shoes and a barstool along the way.  It was quite a sight, lol!  Once I comforted them and reminded them we were in the camper (Jasper not so much, but nursing him seemed to do the trick!) they were back out for the night. 

I made a long list of things we still needed to get and it was nice to still be camping near the city so we could run out and get things.  Once we are "truly" camping out in the middle of nowhere Kansas we won’t have such a luxury.  This was the main reason for the camping trip, to see what we all needed before Nathan left and we go out to join him in a few weeks!

It will definitely be a new adventure going to visit harvest with two kids now, but at least we know our new home away from home fits us perfectly!