Remember how I spent two weeks (roughly) camping in a tent around the Fourth of July? Yeah. I heart air mattresses. Is it any surprise that after doing that, less than a week later, we had a 
new addition to the family? May I just say that this is not our tent.
It came in handy last week when we lost power for days because it turns out that small spaces cool down a lot faster than an entire house without the aid of fans and air conditioners.
Then last weekend we took it on its maiden voyage to Silver Lake. I think it is easier to set up and take down a camper than it is a tent. But the part I liked the best? When we arrived home, about 80 percent of the stuff that is normally taking up all of the space in my kitchen, living room and garage waiting to be put away is still in the camper because that’s where it belongs. Things like out sleeping bags (six of them), and the lanterns and lawn chairs (five of those), water guns, tarps and all that stuff. Much easier.
You can’t see it in the photo, but this camper has a slide-out where the couch and dining table are at. Plus the couch and table are longer than a lot of camper couches and tables. It sleeps six. As we packed for the trip, Steve and I were both amazed that we still had a lot of empty storage areas. It was nice.
We purchased it used from the original owners. They had bought it to place on their property up north (where I live) with the intention of building a house eventually. Shortly after they bought the camper, things happened and the house was built a lot sooner than they expected, so the camper was never really used. Once in a while a visiting relative would stay in it overnight. It still smelled new.
Funny story — we had intended to buy a small tag along camper that had been for sale for quite a while just down the road from my in-laws house. We’d called on it, but the people never answered (frustrating) or returned our calls. Still the camper sat out by the road with the sign. I’d stopped and looked at it three times. It was a 1994, slept seven and was just 22 feet long. We figured it would be a good starter camper and we’d get something else down the road, but for now this would be good. The day we went to buy it, it wasn’ t out by the road. I spotted it pulled way back, hidden in the trees, but Steve figured someone else had bought it, so we went driving around just looking. That’s when we saw the one we did buy, which wasn’t that much more money, but was one that we wouldn’t have to improve upon for years, if ever, you know? So we bought that one. The day we hauled it home to our house, we had to go by the spot where that other camper was for sale. Guess what was out by the road again? And I was so happy we didn’t settle.
The camper we bought is a 2001, and sleeps six. It has the slide-out, which is fantastic. Plus it has a real master bedroom with a closing door. OK, so it’s the accordion door, but it still closes. Plus, when the door is closed, the rest of the camper still has access to the nice large bathroom without opening that door. This is important. (Remember — I have four kids.) The kitchen area is small (not a lot of extra counter space, but it does have a drop down counter to make up for that). Plus, when we camp, we tend to do most of our cooking outside. The fridge is nice and large. The bathroom is big. I even took a shower in it last weekend, and it worked great. One of my favorite things about the camper is it has big windows. The back end is pretty much all window, and that will offer a great view backed up to a lake where we camp a lot. I’m very happy with it.
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My daughter, the blogger
My oldest daughter has a blog and I made her set it up so when someone comments, a copy of the comment is e-mailed to me. I think it’s a good thing, and she is aware of it. So, the other day, one of her friends commented on her blog, "wtf?" They are 12, and they say "wtf"? Nice. Any who, the next comment I received by e-mail was from my daughter. It said (in all caps, no less) "NAME! MY MOM GETS THE COMMENTS!!!!!" Notice the five exclamation points. Ha.
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My children, the con artists
Last night my children had a presentation for Steve and I. They’ve done it before, and it usually involves singing and things. They like to perform and I was expecting more of the same. Justin, my 7-year-old is the MC. He would be a more effective MC if he quit bouncing all around, but he did manage to introduce his sisters in the correct order. First up, Maxine. Her part started with something like, "We hope you’ll wait a half hour or an hour and really think about our presentation before you decide. The worst thing would be just to say no without thinking."
Not thinking is definitely a bad thing. I’ll save you the full spiel. Basically they want something and not just anything — they want two donkeys and two minature horses. They went this route because we’ve already said no to horses, and somehow they think donkeys would be cheaper/less work? They presented nice drawings surrounded by little clouds saying what they would do if they had a donkey — (short list is) feed it, pay for it, wash it, water it, build stall, build fence, love it, groom it, muck its stall, give it love, etc.
They had a pretty substantial list of things they would need to have two donkeys too — the materials to build its stall and fence (actually broken down), hay, straw, halter, lead rope, grain bucket, grooming kit, wtaer tub, etc. And they had a substantial list of things they could do to earn money to pay for everything: babysitting, chores, mow lawns, keep room clean, wash cars, walk dogs, clean garage, stack wood, yard sale, chop wood (maybe), from birthday, tooth fairy and work for Granny. Then in big capital letters at the bottom "DON’T SPEND!"
Do all this, and the kids assured us they would be HAPPY.
All in all a pretty good presentation, that they put some time and thought into. Although I suspect they copied (at least parts) it from a movie/TV show.
Down side — less than an hour before the presentation, I asked the kids to pick up some things at the bottom of the stairs. Maybe 5 things total including a book, a sock, a shoe and some small items. You would have thought I’d broke their arm(s). Steve asked the oldest to sweep the stairs and instead of swept stairs we got tattling (they aren’t helping), and tears (not from the parents), and very near a break down(again not parents). Plus, when I checked on it, she swept the stairs but never bothered to pick up the pile of dust bunnies from the floor at the bottom of the stairs.
Maybe the donkeys would be happy in a recently vacated tent. Thanks for playing.
