Am I the only one who makes a random decision at 9:47 one night and then insists that everybody fall in line? This is probably the thing that drives Josh the craziest in our relationship -- the phrase she has a bee in her bonnet is thrown around on a regular basis around here.I've been camping my entire life. Maybe you would call it something else because we summer in a travel trailer, but we always slept in tents when I was a little girl, so camping is what we call it. Josh and I are on our second travel trailer -- we had a tiny one before the girls were born and after renting one for several summers in between, we bought our current trailer. She's a 2007, but we like that she isn't a super new model. The floor plan is more open and there aren't as many cumbersome modern amenities (think ...
camping
How We Camp
Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, using the links below to shop may result in a small commission for me. Thanks for supporting the brands that make this blog possible. I feel like a get an eye roll every time I talk about “camping”. It seems there is a spectrum for camping and our summer vacations fall somewhere in the middle. Those of you who backpack or go on primitive camping adventures think that we may as well be staying in a four star hotel. And for those of you who are accustomed to condo life and a jetted tub, our idea of roughing it probably sounds detestable. No matter where you fall on the spectrum, I’m guessing it’s hard for you to imagine exactly how it all goes down. I ...
Bohemian Camping Mat Tutorial
Warning: Affiliate links appear in the following post. Although shopping the embedded links won’t cost you any additional dollars, using the links below to shop may result in a small commission for me. Thanks for supporting the brands that make this blog possible. I had no idea when I brought these nine mats home whether the finished product would look anything like it did in my head, but I had to give it a try! And based on the Instagram comments and emails, I'm guessing you might be interested in how it all came together! One of things on my "to buy for camping" list this year was a polypropylene mat for under the awning. It isn't that they're pricey, but they aren't exactly beautiful and I never love to spend $50 on something that isn't positively adorable. It's a curse! One ...
Just One More Time
Right after I left the beach {on Sunday}, I packed my bags and hit the road again for work. I drove WAY too many miles in the month of June. I worked out of town for three days and somehow managed to get my entire forty hours in before arriving home on Wednesday night. As much as I hated to leave Josh at home {again} for a few more days, he encouraged me to drive back down on Thursday morning to surprise the girls. This place was a sight for sore eyes! I was on the road shortly after 5 o'clock and pulling into their campsite by 9:30. The girls had no idea I was coming and they were so excited to see me! It was dreary and raining, but I had already decided that even 3 more days in the trailer with a good book was worth the drive. Sophie could not wait to tell me all about Bible School. ...
Beach Bums
I guess one of the biggest differences between vacationing in a condo and camping, is the long list of fun things we get to do around camp. With the exception of the water park, we don't usually do go carts, mini golf or arcades. We are homebodies and usually stay somewhere between the campground and the beach for most of the week! This is our pretty pool! It is huge and has a shallow end on both sides, along with plenty of shade under the pergolas and a huge splash pad on the other end. There is a fountain in the center and several concrete diving pads around the perimeter. Our kids favorite thing about the pool is the snack bar! Nothing beats $3 ice cream cones while dipping your toes in the water. I hate it, but I have exactly zero photos of Ella on her bike this year. We took her ...
Let’s Hangout for Breakfast
Since we've been vacationing in Gulf Shores for all of my thirty-five years, it's hard to come up with something new to do every time we visit. We have our favorite places to eat and things to do, but otherwise we stay close to camp or live on the beach. I have had several friends encourage us to visit The Hangout for breakfast, but we had never been before this year. Let me go ahead and say that The Hangout is one of our favorite dinner spots. For atmosphere. It is super family friendly {until 11 o'clock at night}, offers great bands, a beautiful view and lots of fun things for the kids to do while you are waiting the {requisite} two hours. BUT, the food is not my favorite. It isn't bad, there are just better places to eat for what you spend. We still go at least once during our stay, ...
Life’s a Beach
For almost two weeks in June, this was our home away from home. I know that camping isn't for everybody, but I am so fortunate that the other three people in my house adore it just as much as I do. I'm going to share a post next week with some detail shots inside and a few ways that we make camping work for us. This week, though, is all vacation fun and games! I edited all of the beach pictures and "narrowed" them down to only 78 that I want to share with you. Wasn't that gracious?! I'm sorry that I'll never be that minimalist blogger who edits their vacation recap to the three most beautiful, stylized photographs. I just can't do it. And because there were so many to share, I'm planning to post every day this week! Josh and I got up bright and early after the concert and were in Gulf ...
Wild at Heart
As a little girl, I always loved hiking and navigating the trails in Fort Payne with my daddy. It was one of the things I looked forward to the most and I couldn't wait to share it with my girls. We loaded up the truck on Saturday morning and made the fifteen minute drive to Little River Canyon and my girls loved every minute of it. We started off at the top of the falls on the boardwalk, but of course my girls did not enjoy being contained. We did look out over the falls and posed for a few pictures, but they were itching to get their hands and feet in the water. But not before we got a picture of Rainbow Dash in front of the falls. Sophie insisted. We found a set of rock steps that led down to the river and these wild ones were at the shore before you could blink. We joked ...