a first

This weekend held a first for our family. 

Remember when we went camping at Apache Lake earlier this year? 

Let me jog your memory....

This was our lavish set up then.

AND

Now...

 This is the new set up.

We decided it was time for us to step up and make this investment for the boys.   

My parents had a travel trailer when I was growing up and although it wasn't used a great deal I do hold many great memories from each trip we took. 

My sister and her family invested in a travel trailer a few years ago and since then they have taken regular annual camping trips.  Our first trip with them, of what I hope will be many more to come, took place this past Labor Day weekend at Woods Canyon Lake. 

Let me back up first and start from the beginning.

My sister planned this trip back in July.  My dad has been bugging me since then to go.  I was apprehensive to say the least to take the boys on a four and a half hour drive.  I kind of forgot about the whole trip until it was brought up again last weekend.  As in August 27th last weekend.  I mentioned the trip again to my husband but since we were he was still in the middle of the office/craft room remodel I didn't expect for him to say yes. 

Now the ol' hubsters and I have talked about getting a travel trailer for some time now.  It seems though when I want to get one he doesn't and vise-verse and last I knew we were still "off" on buying one so I was a bit shocked when I saw that Daddy was looking at them last Sunday.

I wasn't against getting a trailer but I figured we would take our time. 

Here's a breakdown of the timeline...

Saturday August 27th:  Invited to the lake. 

Sunday August 28th:  Looking at Trailers.

Wednesday August 31st:  Put deposit on trailer.

Thursday September 1st: Buy trailer and bring it home.

Saturday September 3: Leave for camping trip. 

How's that for taking our time?! 

And of course we bought the trailer off of craigslist.

The joke around here is that daddy works best under pressure and we ain't kidding.

Back to the trip...

Woods Canyon is AWESOME.

We stayed in the Aspen camp ground.  There was enough pavement for you to drive on and park on but in between was a whole lot of forest and fun.  I can't wait to come back here again.

Bug loved all the big rocks to climb on.  In fact I think we were there less than ten minutes before he climbed up on one.

 So after we arrived and settled in we walked down to the lake.

 This picture cracks me up.  Bug and Grammy seem to have the same look on their faces.

 Squish of course was here...

 Bug petting his first fish.

 I had to use the ol' Ergo to lull Bug to sleep for his afternoon naps.

 Our evening camp fires.

 Scenes from our Sunday morning walk

This photo never fails to show up on your camera when it's handed to my sister.

 GOOF BALL!

These photos never seem to fail showing up in our family either...

We are all a tad immature in this group

  This is a fairly common look for me.

Squish in the Ergo and Bug on my hip.

This poor kid....

My Mr. Two Left Feet....

My exact cut out of his father....

Crashed and burned more times then what I can count.

On the first day....

1) He fell down our trailer steps and bit his lip

2) He fell down my sister's trailer steps and hurt his ear lobe

3)  He fell and scratched his elbow

Day two...

1) He tripped and smashed his chin into a piece of wood

2)  Tripped over the same rock four times in 3 minutes

 Our view.

 It sprinkled just a little bit on Sunday so Bug's cousin took the opportunity to teach him how to catch the rain with his tongue.

Here are some random cute photos taken during the trip.

I have to give some love to my sister and her kids for being so awesome and wonderful to my kids.

 They very patiently put up with my extremely bossy and demanding child

and...

they all did it with a smile on their faces. 

Thank you very much! 

I love you all!

I think the best part about this trip for Bug was the real life

Tinker Toy set. 

He loved to collect and stack all the wood. 

This first trip in our trailer and our first trip camping with my sister and her family was a great success.  I look forward to sharing many more blog posts with you on our camping adventures.

Lots of Love-SL

P.S.  Okay Dad...it's time you step up and buy mom a travel trailer now :-)

growing up too quickly....

Can anyone tell me where the last two and a half years have gone??

Bug is now 2 1/2!

sniff...sniff....

Bug driving his "tractor"

And my Mister Squish is 5 1/2 months.

Where has that time gone?!

At night when the house is quiet

and the chaos of two little boys

is tucked away in bed

I think of how lucky I am to be a mother to two boys! 

Pardon our dust...

There has been a lot of construction going on around here.

Some you'll see below...

AND

Some going on behind the scenes of the blog

 (more on that later)

Here is some of the beginning of the 

construction even though it looks like the end.

I can't explain how the sight of this makes me sooo happy! 

 

Hmmm....I wonder what the colors will be?

The ol' Daddy-o had a wild idea last week

that lead into the photos you see above. 

Usually, when we decide to tackle

a project like this

we'll hem-and-haw

and then we'll

hem-and-haw.

Not this time!

You see--I didn't even

know that remodeling not

one BUT two

rooms were on the

agenda.

And like I said...

Daddy-O had a wild idea!

The two rooms in question were the collect all rooms.

One room belonged to the dog and the other to my husband and his crap office. 

The first room in question is a tiny bedroom that has never received much love since we bought the place in 2003.  This room has since received even less love when my husband moved his office and shop home. 

We have always talked about the potential of this room but given the crazy dog situation that we have going on we decided we wouldn't do anything to these two rooms until the dog situation was resolved.

Well, the dog situation isn't solved but with the addition of this little beauty....

and with the need to do something about this...

Daddy decided something had to be done and he could no longer wait.

So....this has been happening.....

We were a few sheets of drywall away from gutting both rooms. 

I wish I had before pictures.  Although, I am pretty sure I wouldn't have posted them because I am far too embarrassed about how the one room looked before.  The after is all that will matter.

Daddy's office is becoming the "Hunter's Lodge" as I like to call it

AND

That small poorly neglected dog room will become my new crap crafting room!

I cannot wait to share the after photos with you all!

Thank you daddy for all the hard work, sweat, and blood you are putting into these rooms.

Only a kitchen, dining room, master bedroom, hallway, guest bath and master bath to go!

A quicky....

I spent too much time on the Internet tonight

drooling over the Bernina 350 sewing machine.

I think an upgrade is in my future.  

Dear Hubby has been threatening me with

a new machine but it seems

my price point didn't line

up with his.

Then the conversation turned to the

rifle he bought last Thanksgiving

or the truck that he just bought

that now needs wheels to go

with the new tires.

I know my price point didn't line

up with his on those items

and he still bought them.

To give him credit though....

He made up for buying the rifle

by buying me "Fancy"

my Canon Camera

AND

I did encourage him to buy the truck....

but not the wheels.

You see he needs a fancy rifle, and a

fancy scope, and fancy wheels

to get him to the deer and elk

AND

I need a fancy machine to get

me my quilts. 

Now...do I splurge and get the

Bernina 350

OR

do I save a bit and get the

Brother NX 450Q???

Oops, I guess I just

"Dear Diary-ed"

you all.

I know you are here for the

kids and not my

ramblings so here

they are....

This was the Zoo last week.

 We specifically came here in hopes that

Bug would play in the mini

water park but no such luck.

 All he wanted to do was play with

the pump until the kids showed up

and then he went all shy on me. 

 In my family it's almost always

impossible to get a good

family shoot.

 We were only at the

zoo for an hour before

it became too hot. 

Ice cream would be the

cure for the heat.

Sorry for the semi-boring post.

I am tired!

Off to bed I go.