We camped in Opal — post renovation — for the first time in 2017. I had spent all spring tearing things apart and getting her ready for summer. I painted the walls, installed wallpaper, bought all new bedding and accessories — you name it, I transformed it. My plan was for us to take our annual family photos inside the camper that year. I wanted to do something different and to mark the end of such a fun project. My sister and I always joke that we avoid our photos for as long as possible and then try to cram them in the last few days. Thanks to a tropical storm and lots of rain, our session never happened that summer. Thanks to pregnancy, a new baby, and a pandemic — they didn’t happen the next few summers either!
Just before we left for vacation, Josh decided we should go ahead and sell Opal this summer. The pandemic created a huge need for campers in the market and he thought we should sell while camping was considered cool. We’ll be looking for a fifth wheel camper later this year, but really enjoyed camping in her one last time this summer. To mark the occasion, my sister came over near the end of our trip and did a very casual session in and around our camper. The kids all wore t-shirts and I didn’t even clean up around camp (see the sidewalk chalk, box fan, and bags everywhere?).
While I wish I’d had her take the after photos all those years ago, I will treasure this peek into our summer tradition for as long as I’m alive. My grandmother told me this summer that she regretted not having photos of all the campers she’s owned in her life and encouraged me to do this each time we upgrade (hopefully, that won’t happen again for a long time!). I can’t wait to see how different that looks as our girls grow up and we welcome grandchildren (hopefully!).
While most of the photos are of our people and not the camper, I’m so glad she snapped this photo of our shelf in the living space. I bought a few new prints at a local restaurant and while my plan is to frame them for our new camper, I couldn’t help but put this one up for the few days we got to enjoy it!
The girls’ bunkhouse was a hot mess by this point in our trip, so we pulled the curtain and took a photo nearby instead. This might be my favorite trio photo to date!
Polly is very much into a posing stage of life, so we get lots of weird looks over shoulders these days. I wish we had taken some video while we were at it, because she was a handful while trying to capture her on camera!
We went to Wind Creek for spring break the spring after Polly was born and snapped a random shot of us standing in the street. It is one of my favorite family photos to date, so I always try to recreate it when we’re camping.
And while I had no plans to take individual photos of the girls this time around, I did want my sister to get a few shots of Polly on her balance bike. We bought this for her second birthday and she largely ignored it until spring. My mom has been taking the girls next door to practice since early April and Polly is getting so good at balancing! We told her that she had to wear a helmet (which she pronounced “hell mutt,” like it’s two separate words.) on the campground streets, but that did not deter her. Seeing her blaze by in a diaper might be one of my favorite summer memories this year.
