a crowded camper is better than an empty castle

I am still scratching my bug bites from this weekend's camping trip. 

We spent 6 days in the camper enjoying 3 days in Michigan and 3 days in Indiana. 

Although there was an infestation of mosquitos everywhere, we enjoyed every minute.

We met all of the Hubby's family in Michigan on Marble Lake. 

The kids had lots of cousins and friends to play with and spent every ounce of 

energy out on the water. 

The Hubs actually posed in a pic for me. 

We appreciate all the time getting to know our future Aunt Ashley #2 better. 

(Me between the 2 Ashleys)

We haven't quite figured out how we are going to tell the two apart yet, except for saying #1 or #2. 

But we are working on nicknames.

Gigi is pretty much love struck when her Uncle Neil is around.

The ice cream sandwiches at after every meal helps.  

AND these two.... don't let their smiles fool you.... they are trouble! 

To extend our vacation a little bit longer this year, we spent the early part of this week camping with my in-laws in the beautiful Pokagon State Park in Indiana.  

The park was loaded with trails, bike paths, playgrounds, Nature Center, and a public beach.  

It is one of the nicest campgrounds we have stayed in. 

{Lightning Bug catching}

Grandma and Grandpa and a slew of the grandkids. 

 As hard as it is to grow up as an Aunt and Uncle who live farther away the 

nieces and nephews don't know us as well... time together means so much more.  

By day 5, Nate finally had Miley warmed up to him. 

 When we drove into Pokagon we saw that they had horse stables.  Hubby knows 

my love for horseback riding (which I do as often as I can which is like once every 10 years, LOL) 

So he splurged and let the kids and I go on a trail ride.  

Lil Miss got to enjoy a small pony ride and she was smitten with Roxy the Horse.  

We are now drawing pictures for Roxy everyday and putting them in envelopes in hopes to send to her.  Let's hope the horse likes getting mail.

The kids and I rode 45 minutes on Roxy, Fred, Chauncy, and Whiskey. 

Mommy was on Whiskey, the slow horse, who liked to go off path and eat the tall grass. 

The kids found this all too funny.  

I keep telling Hubby we should sell the house and move into the camper. 

Because we could do it. 

Yes, I would desperately miss my long hot showers and my washer and dryer, 

but camping suits us. 

When I get home and have to sweep our house and clean all 4 bathrooms, I think 

the camper is soooo much easier to clean. 

But he sadly informs me of Iowa winters (Brrrrrr) and we will save the camping for 

extended weekends from Spring til Fall.   

He also informs me that if we were to move all 6 of us and 2 dogs and "our stuff" into the camper, 

I would not find it fun anymore.  Agreed. 

and so the adventure begins

It's that time of year.  

We get ready to live weekends in our second home. 

The camper. 

The first camping weekend of the year is always the most work. 

Finding all the things that we took out of the camper always requires a little digging and 

a whole lot of memory power. 

A few things are usually forgotten.  Such as: salt and pepper, butter, 

my daughter's socks, and enough blankets for the cold nights.  Ooops

  By camping trip number 2, I've usually remedied the situation and we are more prepared.

 The kids are always excited to camp. 

They see camping as playing outside, hiking, and eating smores.

 Mom sees camping as living outside (as close to my dream treehouse as I'm going to get),

hiking and exploring, and nights around the campfire with the hubby.

Sounds like a dream vacation to me. 

 Of course when we return from a camping trip we are a little dirty.

Some of us more than others...

And no camping trip is complete without smores. 

New Trick: Marshmallows between fudge stripe cookies.... mmmmm

Thanks for the tip Aunt Dini. 

So be warned the camping post will start because that is where we spend the weekends. 

In the Great Outdoors.

Let's Go Glamping

Last weekend we celebrated Rosie's birthday with her friends.  

This party was thrown together in 4 days because bad mommy, me, didn't look 

at the calender and see we had no free weekend nights for a while.  

Our daily calender is not for the faint of heart.  

A free night with no place to be is something to be celebrated.

Our girl wanted a camping party. 

I was happy to oblige.  I love party planning. 

With little time and wanting to keep this low budget we pulled our tent out, some 

christmas lights, and a few glitter stars turning our living room into a camping dream.

 I found another use for my gigantic chalk board.

I seriously love this thing.

We also put up a "No Boys Allowed" sign.  

 We hung the stars from the ceiling fan and waited for her friends to come. 

Oh the excitement. 

The squealing could be heard blocks away when the girls walked in the door.

 The night was filled with games, crafts, and eating. 

Instead of a cake, Rosie wanted smores.  

They ended up making smores over sterno flame in the kitchen. 

(supervised of course!)

There were a lot of burnt marshmallows because no one had the patience to 

carefully cook their smore correctly, but they were shoved in their mouths with joy anyways. 

To the end the night, they watched the best camping movie ever... Parent Trap. 

There were lots of naps the next day. 

But one little almost ten year old was full of smiles. 

Friends, sugar, and laughter will do that. 

Into the Woods

This past weekend was our last camping weekend of the year. 

It's sad, because we haven't used our camper nearly as much as we had the past two years. 

This is mainly due to mommy being gone most of the month of July.

 We went out to a park only 20 minutes from the house.  

For those of you who don't think that is really "getting away from it all", 

you haven't been out to Scott Co. Park. 

 We've camped out there before, but we stayed in a new area. 

Which means a new place to explore.... and explore we did. 

At night it got cold.  Like finger freezing, knit cap wearing, 40+ degree cold.

 The fire was not only pretty and used to roast marshmallows, it was to keep warm. 

{frost on the dandelions}

On Saturday morning, we woke up with frost on the ground. 

It was a pretty frost.  We bundled up and took off looking for some geocaches, aka "treasure".

 Bubba had a friend along so we showed him the ins and outs of geocaching.  

We were tromping through the woods and navigating through brush to find our "treasure".

 Getting muddy is fun. 

Not so pretty for the camper, though. 

 When we needed a rest, I pulled out the craft supplies and we made leaf drawings 

and play-doh popsicles. 

Mommy also had fun crafting by making long stemmed roses out of maple leaves. 

They turned out great, with a few leaves, sticks, and duct tape. 

So many things you can do with duct tape.  

We've been out to the Walnut Grove Pioneer Village a number of times, but the kids 

always find it fun to explore.  

 On Sunday the fun and games came to an end, and we packed up the camper, got it 

cleaned out for the winter and parked it in storage for the next 6 months.  

Bye Bye Camping Season. 

One week in....

We are a week into the 2014 - 2015 school year.   

The big kids are in a routine and mornings are going very smoothly... so far. 

Lil Miss misses her brothers and sisters everyday while they are away.  

After we drop them off at school, she says to me "its only us mom."  

I know baby girl.  I know. 

We spent last week getting ready for camping.  

We hadn't camped since June so I had to get a lot of things around and 

dust alot of things off after not being used for over a month. 

The weather couldn't be more perfect for an August camping trip. 

The puppies were excited to camp too. 

The two older girls got to bring friends along. 

With 6 kids, 2 dogs, and 2 adults in the camper we had a great time. 

I am so glad I stocked up on glow sticks.  They come in handy 

at the campground after dark.  Seeing all the glowing neon rings running around on the playground 

makes it easy to see which ones belong to me!  

On Saturday night we had excitement.  

Gigi lost her first tooth!  

She had been pulling at this one "loose"tooth for months wanting it 

to fall out and for the tooth fairy to come.  Mommy was not prepared.  

She was all smiles as she walked up to me in the camper and told me that it came out at 10 pm at night!

Tooth Fairy made her first appearance in the camper. 

And if that wasn't enough excitement.  

Lil Miss met her teacher and starts preschool this week. 

Since the big kids have started school she has been counting down the days til she goes to school.  

Well the time has come.  

Friday she has her first official day without me.  

She loves her classroom, her teacher, and is not shy to raise her hand (or just shout out) 

answers.   I have no doubt she will be running the classroom in a week. 

The house is getting empty though.  

I can actually hear myself think. 

Not sure what I am going to do with all this time to myself, but I have started lists.