Happy Campers

Over Mother's Day weekend, we took our first camping trip in our new camper.  We went over to Tyler State Park, where we have tent-camped before and set up our camper before anyone else arrived.  Guess what campsite we were assigned?   Yep, our lucky number!

Carmelle, Chad and the kids came over after everyone got of school and Callie, Jordan and baby D came over just after dark.  The weather didn't cooperate with us at all Friday night and Chad and Carmelle realized they'd forgotten their rain cover, so Adellelyn and Michael were thrilled to discover that they would get to stay in the camper with us while their parents made a trip into town to buy a tarp.   Adellelyn was particularly excited by the fact that the trailer had its own potty, despite the fact that we were parked directly across from the campground bathrooms.   Baby D did not enjoy camping at all Friday night and kept his mommy and daddy awake most of the night, but they treated us all to beignets for breakfast Saturday morning.

It was the first time the Texas group had tasted beignets, but they quickly discovered that it doesn't get much better than fried batter and powdered sugar!  ;-)

The rain cleared up long enough for us all to go down to the lake, stopping to splash in a few puddles along the way.

The big guys fished in canoes and kayaks

while the younger guys and Adellelyn enjoyed their first swim of the year.

Adellelyn scooted around like a little water bug, as she looked for fish and other critters.

Until she saw some ducks, that is.

It was baby D's first experience with a beach and he was quite fascinated by the sand.

Each scoop of sand slowly made its way up to his mouth,

but his mama kept a close watch, splashing his hands before they reached his face.

After a lightening break under the pavilion, Callie and I decided to take a hike around the lake.  She loaded baby D into the Ergo and off we went, while Jordan went back to the camp to take a nap in his hammock.

With more storms on the way overnight, Callie and Jordan opted not to risk another sleepless night in a tent and packed up and headed home.   Before leaving, the grandkids presented me with a wonderful Mother's Day gift---a pillow with the hand prints of each grandchild.   I LOVE it!!!!

The rest of us cooked burgers for dinner and later enjoyed s'mores.

Did I mention that we ended up having to bring both dogs with us since we had no one to care for them at home?  Well, Joy did great---Emmi, not so much.  She was a bit anxious about the whole experience and barked anytime I was out of her reach.   In addition, the red dirt, made for a very dirty dog.

Sunday brought more scattered showers, but also more swimming (this time with Papaw),





more bird-watching,

and more bug hunting.  

And, while I'm not really afraid of spiders, this creeps me out!!!!

When it was time to pack up, everything seemed to take much longer than we expected.

We used the dump station for the first time, as well.  That, too, took longer than we planned because the hose broke as we were getting things hooked up.   Carmelle, Chad and the kids met us there to say goodbye.  Both of the kids were pretty curious about the dump process, but it also gave us time to eat a little watermelon while we waited.

The weekend included 6 adults, 2 children, 1 baby, 5 dogs, 2 tents and 1 camper.  And while there was lots of rain and lots of dirt, there were also:
card games inside the camper and conversations outside,

good food,

a little fishing,

swimming in the lake,

bonding with family,

and with nature,

and beauty in unexpected places.

All in all, it was a great weekend!

A Camper Mini-Makeover

When we bought out travel trailer a few weeks ago, it was in pretty great shape.  While not new, it certainly isn't vintage and the previous owners kept it very clean. (Thank you, Juliet).  Yet, there were some things that we needed to take care of in order to get it ready for our first camping trip.

The most important order of business was a small leak that had developed around the AC unit.  Armed with MANY cans of Leak Sealant, Ron was able to fix it and do some preventive maintenance around the other rooftop appliances.   While he was busy with that, I set to work with a mini-makeover inside.  The upholstery on the cushions was still in very good shape, but I didn't care for the fabric much and decided to do a little sewing to spruce things up (to which Ron rolled his eyes---numerous times).

I wanted a durable fabric that looked nice and was not too girly, so I picked out a dark denim along with navy polka-dot and paisley fabrics for curtains.

I made slipcovers with velcro closures that can be removed for washing.  The trailer also has a privacy curtain that hangs by the queen-size bed.  I took it down and removed the plastic header tape before stitching up a new one.

I didn't have quite enough denim, so I used a navy polka dot on top and trimmed it with red pom-poms.  I really like how this area turned out.

Next up, I asked Ron to help me remove the "wooden" valances that hung over a couple of the windows.  This request was met with another roll of eyes and a few days of stalling---probably hoping that I would change my mind.   In the meantime, I whipped up some fabric valances to take their place.  In the end, I think that even Ron thinks the changes are an improvement.

Our bed got a major overhaul.

I purchased a new mattress cover, new sheets and made new curtains, trimmed with red rick-rack. Last week, I even had time to stitch up a few throw pillows for our bed.  A couple of years ago, I started collecting the reproduction state/National Park dish towels, but they have mostly been sitting in my kitchen linen drawer.  I pulled them out, folded them in half and made three new pillows.

I found a cute vintage embroidery pattern online and stitched it onto a piece of muslin that I already had to make this little pillow.

Sure beats camping on the ground!

Lastly, while making the vinyl decals for our camping glasses, I cut out this quote and added it to a small metal chalkboard that I found at Joann Fabrics.  I dry-brushed a big of navy paint onto the rope edge before hanging it above our bed.

There are still a few more things to be done.  I still have one more curtain to complete for the bunk bed area and I want to re-cover the boards surrounding the top bunk with denim, and there is still one more "wooden" valance about the door that needs to come down.

But, I am enjoying it's new, fresh look and love that it fits my personality a bit more now.

I'm thinking this little camper of ours needs a name.  Any ideas?!?!?!

18/52 - Clean

18/52 - M4H Project 52

Knowing that we would be camping this weekend, and that I would have lots of opportunities to snap pictures, I waited until the weekend to try to capture this week/s theme.  Unfortunately, I had not counted on the weekend being rainy and anything EXCEPT clean.   Here are my two favorite shots for this theme:

1.  Adellelyn is half "girly-girl" and half "tom-boy."  She is just as enchanted with pristine, CLEAN ruffles and anything sparkly as she is with wading through the mud catch a bug or a frog.

2.  Baby D had his first encounter with swimming and the beach this weekend.  He liked wading (with lots of help) in the shallow water, and was fascinated by the sand.  He would finger it, then scoop up a little and try to get it into his mouth.  Callie had to continually splash water on his hands to CLEAN the sand off before it reached his mouth.

17/52 A Bird's Eye View

I had a little fun with this prompt and in the end submitted two photos.
1.  For the first, once again, I was able to shoot some pictures of baby D while babysitting last week.  The weather outside was absolutely beautiful and we went outside to sit on a blanket and play.  It was really sunny, so I put a hat on him that I'd just purchased.  He had such a great time watching the dogs.  There was a ladder out on the deck, so I dragged it over and climbed up to get a "bird's eye view" of him.

2.  Saturday afternoon, I took my camera outside again, hoping to get a few pictures of the Blue Angels as they performed for the Defenders of Liberty Air Show at nearby Barksdale Air Force Base.   While waiting for them to fly by my front yard, I noticed this hawk soaring overhead and snapped a picture.  I like the way he is silhouetted against the blue sky.  He literally has a bird's eye view! ;-)

It was also pretty exciting to realize that this photo was picked as "Eye Candy" for this week.  The pictures of the other photographers are just amazing, so you may enjoy scrolling through the ones that were highlighted this week.

A Silhouette Project - Summer Glasses Makeover

I love cold weather and snow, but once the weather begins to get warmer and the flowers begin blooming, I am ready for Spring.  One of my favorite things about the warmer weather is eating out on the deck.  Spring is the perfect time for that, since it is usually warm enough to be outside without a jacket, and not yet hot enough to sweat.  There are so many cute melamine dishes on the market now and they are just right for eating outdoors.  This year, I decided to get some cute acrylic glasses as well.  I was unable to find what I had in mind, so I made my own.

A few weeks ago, at Big Lots, I found plain acrylic glasses with straight sides.  I purchased some permanent vinyl and pulled out my Silhouette machine made these using the 3x4 Summer Life card sets: (in case you didn't know--I didn't--glossy vinyl is permanent, while matte finish is removable)

Ever since we bought the RV, I've been gathering supplies to stock it.  Rather than buying everything new, I'm trying to use things that we already have as much as possible.  I've moved a set of gingham melamine dishes to the camper, along with a small set of flatware and place mats.  Since I now had new glasses to use here at the house, I could transfer my old ones to the trailer. But, first they needed a makeover. (the colors seem to be a bit distorted on here, but I used the same vinyl as the other glasses)

I took care of that.

There are still many odds and ends to take care of before we head out of town, but meals will be a lot more fun with cute glasses to drink from!