After spending the day in Ottumwa shopping with Eric for college we made a spur of the moment decision to pick up supper in town and head out to Belva Deer and go for a hike. Drew had a free pizza from Casey’s he earned at school and we decided to use it tonight. It was a beautiful evening – cool and calm – perfect hiking weather!
A Sweet Surprise
We camped over the weekend with great friends we met through Joe’s work. Joe and Steve work for the same company and they cover the Midwest territory together. Joe in southern Iowa and Steve in the northern part. Joe and Steve are such good friends and since both families camp they thought we should all camp together a few years ago and we’ve been camping together ever since! They came to Abby and Jeremy’s wedding and we went to Whitney’s graduation. We have visited each other at various times for various reasons throughout the years. This year at our annual camping trip to Clear Lake we got such a sweet surprise. We met Whitney’s boyfriend Matt last year and he just fit right in with our little camping group. They are now engaged and they asked Drew to be their ring bearer at their wedding! Drew absolutely loves “the girls” as he calls them, Whitney and Kelsey, and he and Whitney have a special bond. Joe and I feel blessed that she asked Drew to be a part of her special day and Drew is beyond excited! Plus, he got a new dinosaur from Whitney so he’s doubly excited!
Photo #8
National Night Out
National Night Out was a huge success again! Our City Police Department puts this on the first Tuesday in August every year and they do such a wonderful job. The kids have a blast – they come home with a bag full of stuff – pens, balloons, tattoos, koozies, t-shirts, balls, juice boxes, candy, etc. And the community donates prizes galore. This year they had six bicycles to give away! It’s such a wonderful way for the kids to interact with our City Police and our Sheriff’s Department and to make them feel comfortable talking to them and being around them. It’s just a great evening for all involved and we’re happy to be asked to be there and participate with our shave ice!
I don’t get to wander around and really see all the fun things going on. I only get to see a very small piece of the action as I can’t leave our stand. We stay busy the whole night! Our square is blocked off and the stands are set up on the street. We set up in the courtyard. There were water fights on the south side of the square and bouncy houses were set up on the east side. And so much free entertainment provided by our very talented locals in the community. There was a petting zoo set up too. And pizza and kettle corn. A fun night held just for the kids in the community!
Yesterday we slept in after having been up late selling. Then we made our grocery list for the weekend and off to Osky we went to Fareway. Today I’ll be making salads and packing up the camper for our fun yearly camping trip to Clear Lake. We’re planning on leaving tomorrow morning around 10:00. No rush just enjoying the trip there. It should be a fun weekend for sure!
August Is Here
Wow, July went fast. It always seems to me that once we hit the 4th of July the summer just flies by. We are getting closer and closer to fall – yeah! Although August means school starts back up too which this year means watching Eric leave the nest. He’s ready and we’re ready too. The only one not ready for this big change is Drew. He’s going to miss having big brother around.
Yesterday was a beautiful day. I turned off the air and opened up all the windows. I love having the windows open! If we could just get some rain now. I spent the day getting ready to sell shave ice and washing up the bedding and tablecloths in the camper and then took Drew school shopping. We picked a good time to go – the stores were nice and quiet and Drew was no nonsense about it. He had no trouble picking things out – he just wanted to get it done so he could get home and spend the evening outside with Daddy!
Today looks like another nice summer day. I’ll finish getting everything together to sell tonight. It’s National Night Out and there will be kids galore up on the square with games for them to play, handouts and freebies, free entertainment and I think even a bouncy house or two. It’s a great way to celebrate our City Police and Sheriff’s Department and for kids to get to know them. Our Police Department does such a good job putting this on every year for the kids in the community and we are thankful they ask us to participate.
There’s No Place Like Home – Except The Camper!
And again, we had an unplanned camping weekend out to Belva Deer! Dad and Mom pulled out last Monday and Eric and Drew and I ran out there for supper on Tuesday night. They mentioned they would like to have us come out and join them so when Joe got home Thursday off we went! Eric came out Friday night for supper and a game or two of Bocce ball. It ended up being a little bit of a reunion of sorts then on Saturday as Mom’s two brothers and their wives and Dad’s twin sister and her husband came out for lunch and to visit through the afternoon. It’s always fun to visit with my wonderful and fun aunts and uncles and we don’t get to see them often enough. Drew made friends with the neighbor kids and had the best time. The weather was absolutely beautiful all weekend. Beautiful temps all day and perfect cool campfire weather at night. The only thing that could have made it better would have been rain. Fun times camping – again!
When we got the camper home today I spent the afternoon cleaning it, with a little “help” from Drew! We scrubbed down counters and sinks and toilet, dusted every surface, vacuumed the carpets and scrubbed the floors. I still have to wash the bedding and make the bed back up and we’ll be all ready for next weekend as we’re off on our annual Clear Lake trip. Fun times with friends and a car show to beat all car shows. 1,000 cars or more in a parade around beautiful Clear Lake on Friday night and then the show on Saturday in the middle of the town of Clear Lake which sits right on the water. We look forward to this every year – the car show is fun but camping with great friends we see rarely is such a treat! And this year Joe’s sister and brother-in-law are going to visit us and check out the car show on Saturday. We are really excited for the weekend!
Recipe Wall
I finished a project today that I have been working on for awhile. I gathered up recipe cards handwritten by family members and framed them in little vintage frames. After getting my cupboards painted I decided it was time to put everything together and hang them. So far I have a card from my mom, my mother-in-law, my Grandma Houseal and my Step-Grandma Houseal. My aunt is looking to see if she has one from Grandma Ward and I’ve asked her if I could get one with her handwriting too. I love decorating with anything family and what’s more family than handwritten recipe cards from your loved ones. I’m afraid recipe cards are becoming a thing of the past. The same with cookbooks. It’s so much easier to get on Pinterest, find a recipe and print it off. I find myself doing this all the time. But they just aren’t the same as a handwritten card. Now I have something to look at when I’m doing dishes that reminds me of the many wonderful meals I’ve had, cooked by the wonderful women that have been and/or still are in my life. Cherished memories for sure!
What’s For Breakfast?
I haven’t always been good at eating breakfast. Or if I did eat breakfast, it probably wasn’t going to be healthy. For the past few months I’ve been following the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating. I haven’t stayed on plan 100% but I’m working on it! One thing I have done is start eating a healhty breakfast on a daily basis. Some days it’s Greek yogurt with berries and little sweetener. Once in awhile I’ve tried a muffin in a mug recipe but haven’t found a recipe I really like. But one thing I’ve found that I really like is this Cran-Apple Oat Cake. Minus the cran simply because they don’t carry fresh cranberries right now at my little local grocery store.
It’s so easy to make. The night before I soak the oats and mix the rest of the dry ingredients together. Then all I have to do in the morning is dump the dry ingredients in the oats, add the wet ingredients and the apple, stir it up and bake. One thing I did discover the other day though was not to forget to add the dry ingredients. I mixed everything up, baked it, sat down to eat and what a surprise! It was edible but just barely. I didn’t even realize what I had done wrong until I went back to the kitchen with my empty plate and discovered my little bowl containing the baking powder, sweetener and cinnamon. I doubt I make that mistake again! Another tip – when I warm up the leftovers in the microwave I only warm for about thirty seconds otherwise it gets rubbery. A great filling breakfast and it will perfect in the winter – a nice warm filling breakfast! You can find the recipe at www.briana-thomas.com/cran-apple-oat-cake/. I have found lots of great recipes on her site and she also has a great cookbook full of recipes I can’t wait to try.
The Countdown Has Begun
I’ve spent the past two days getting Eric’s linens all washed up and ready to go for college. A friend of mine recommended checking out the Resident Hall Linens emails I had been getting and brochures I’d been getting. She had ordered from them for her son and another mother she talked to had too. I had been ignoring them thinking they were probably something of a scam. I’m glad I talked to her though because after checking into them I decided they were the way to go.
There are different packages to choose from which worked out great. This package came with two sets of twin XL sheets, a blanket, mattress pad, pillow, two sets of towels, reversible comforter, and foam cover and the sheets and comforter came in the color he requested – black! All at a great price and all in one shot. No running around the stores trying to find everything in the color he wanted and in the right size. That’s one thing to cross off the list anyway. His computer has been ordered and we’re waiting on it to be delivered. Next we do need to go shopping for a “few” more things. We have a TV, microwave and coffee pot he can take but there’s a few more things we’ll have to look for. Thrift stores here we come!
Why Do We Camp?
We have been camping for years. At least 25 I would say. Our camping friends have changed throughout the years. Our campers have changed throughout the years. But still we camp. We got our first camper after Joe roofed a house for a friend. In payment, they gave him a camper. An old, dilapidated little camper actually. All the water lines were ruined and the refrigerator didn’t work. It was pretty much falling apart. But, we were young and thought we had hit the mother load! And we had so much fun in that little falling apart camper. We had friends who also had a little old camper, although it was in much better shape than ours, and we spent the weekends at one campground or another with them and their daughters. Their two girls and our two kids were so close in age and had so much fun together. They were from a neighboring community and the kids would never had gotten to be friends if we hadn’t spent so much time camping together.
That’s why we camp. We have made friends throughout the years with people we probably would have known as acquaintances but that would be it. Instead, when you spend weekends camping together you really get to know each other. In a whole different way! We have developed lifelong connections with these people and our kids have developed connections with others that they wouldn’t have in any other way.
It’s different now that we only have one little to take along. And times have changed too. At one time there would no less than four kids and usually many more and those kids would take off in a “pack” and hit the playground or go hiking or ride their bikes all over the campground. They had to check in so we knew they were okay but otherwise were free to roam. They would inevitably make new friends from around the campground. Friends they probably would never see again but they still touched each other’s lives for a day or two. They also spent most nights in a tent and not in the camper. They had way more fun together in the tent away from parents! Camping was a whole different world for them and they loved it. Even as they got older they would want to come with us and camp.
Today is not quite the same. All of our camping friends are our age and so their kids are either teenagers or are gone and so Drew doesn’t get the same experience as our older kids did. And times have changed. You don’t just let kids roam today and check in once in awhile. It Drew wants to play at the playground or ride his bike, an adult goes along. There is no letting him take off on his own and explore. But he still makes new friends. The last time we camped he met the little girl who was staying next door with her grandparents. They would ride their bikes and play with chalk and had a great time. Over the weekend we visited my sister who was camping and Drew spent the evening playing on the play equipment set up where we could sit and watch. He loved playing with a group of kids he’d never met before. Kids don’t get to do that much anymore. We have to be too much on guard at all times to let them make friends with strangers.
But the best part of camping is being together. When it’s just you and your kids at a campground for the weekend there is nothing else to do but spend time together. There is no house to clean or yard to mow or any other day to day chores. It’s just family and sitting around the campfire or playing a game of cards or riding bikes together or going on a hike. For us, camping has been the best activity we could have ever done together as a family. We didn’t go on big vacations, instead we spent our weekends together camping. And I wouldn’t change that for anything. I asked my daughter why her and her husband decided to buy a camper and she said some of her best memories of growing up are of us camping and she wants that for her children too. That’s why we camp.