It's My Life

An unseasonably warm weekend has kicked my cabin fever into overdrive. Normally, I spend the winter months hibernating from the cold and snow under blankets and dreaming of camping trips to come. It was so warm this weekend, that I actually begged my husband to take me camping. A man of logic, he said no, because it was winterized.  To add to my desire to be out roaming, we went to visit our camper in storage this weekend. It was a routine check to make sure no unwanted critters had found their way inside. The Bullet and The Rockwood are stored next to each other and both were in great shape. Fourteen short weeks until their first scheduled trip of 2016. Even though we have not been able to camp, not a day goes by when we are not thinking about camping or The Bullet. During our downtime we took the RV in for routine maintenance. We have purchased new step covers as well as LED flexible lighting. I am shopping around for a new outdoor patio rug as a critter chewed a hole in...

This week has been a super crazy one. The Boy has been gone this week. He is on vacation in Michigan.  We had severe weather hit our area Monday night. Before we could recover from that, Tuesday morning we had another threat in our neighborhoods. An armed gunman entered two homes in our area and shot a mother and daughter. Our entire community went into lock-down mode as the police searched for the escaped gunman for hours. Thankfully, The Short Chic and her Summer Activity Director (aka: The Babysitter) were not in our neighborhood during the lock-down. The entire community has remained pins and needles as no arrest has been made. We continue to pray for the health and recovery for the victims. We also try to balance our need for information with the families privacy and the police's ability to do their job.  With all of the craziness in our lives I have not taken a moment to reflect on our Independence Day weekend camping trip.  Once again we visited Wat...

It has become somewhat of a tradition to go camping over Father's Day Weekend. This year we traveled but stayed close to home. We visited Crowder State Park in Trenton, Missouri about one and half hours north of Kansas City. On Father's Day Weekend, the men folk get to decide our menu and get to sit around like kings. We also look the other way when they make questionable fashion choices. The Husband decided it was okay to wear three different types of camo at the same time!  Crowder State Park is a short ten minutes east of Jamesport, Missouri which is home to an Amish community. After breakfast on Saturday, we drove over and enjoyed shopping in the Amish stores: giant cinnamon rolls, horse drawn carriages, preserved fruits and vegetables, and who can resist sleeping kittens. In addition to the Amish stores, we also visited many local antique stores. I have been looking for a vintage fly fishing rod for a while and I am happy to say I found one.I have not done any...

As winter starts to settle into our Midwest home we received great news this week that reminds us of all of our summer fun.  Hopefully you read about our goal of earning a  Missouri Camper Award  as I shared our Tour of Missouri travels this past summer.   In order to obtain the award, campers have to visit five different state parks in a year.  I learned about the award doing one of the things that I do best. Reading. My friend Angie and I were sitting together at a picnic table on one of our early camping trips to a state park. I was reading the brochure the camp host handed us at check-in and found a tiny paragraph about earning the camper award. It looked simple, camp in five different state parks in one year and earn a patch. Our geek-ness took over and Angie and I decided we wanted the award!  The Missouri Camper Award was actually started in 1971 with only 13 recipients. Each year the program has grown to reach nearly 600 recipien...

Every September for the past three years we have gathered our friends and embarked on a camping trip at a local county park, Smithville Lake. We started off with 8 families, 14 children, and a total of 30 people spending one night under the stars.  This year we had 12 families, 16 kids, and a total of 36 people and for the first time ever we had more people spend two nights and not one. The weather this year resembled the first camping trip three years ago. Our first night was pretty brutal. The wind was strong up till about nine p.m. and then the clouds blew away and the temperature dropped.  Those of us who have been to every camping trip had a jolly time of reminiscing about the similarities!  Each year we have some type of "organized" activity. I based this year's theme on games from my childhood. My mother always took us to small town celebrations where we played the funniest games. This year's theme was Family Competition.  Luckily for us the cold,...

I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i...

It does seem as if we make an annual trip to Bennett Spring State Park. We love the camping there and the fishing! This year we also planned a float trip down the Niangua River as we also try to take at least one float trip per year.  Bennett Spring State Park is only a few hours from our home; making this a really reasonable drive. There are six total campgrounds and we prefer campground Number 2. The bathrooms/shower facilities are a little dated but the space the park gives you per camp-sight is worth it! As we drove in we encountered a female deer and two fawns. I was happy to find that we encountered them several times during our stay. They even made an appearance during dinner on our first night.  I wonder...does anyone else have to take American Girls along on their camping trips? The Niangua River is a spring fed river so it is might chilly. It is rocky. And it is traditionally known as a party river because it is so close and accessible. ...

One of our beloved family activities is camping.  Most campsites feature a picnic table for outdoor dining.  I  love bringing a piece of me to my camping space and a bright cheerful tablecloth is an easy way to do that. However, all too often the wind has other plans for my tablecloth! I know they make devises to hold a tablecloth in place but I have never had good luck with them. They break. The pop off. They lose their shape. Even the cute little weighted clips fall off or have no power over the Missouri win.  Out of pure frustration, I have found a way of securing a tablecloth that the wind can not blow around. The solution was pretty easy: Grommets and Bungee Cords.                                          I selected an inexpensive (less than $5) vinyl tablecloth that I found at the dollar store. It is a bit "thin" but I think it will work f...