Spring Break Vacation, Part 1

It's been a while since I've posted, but this is primarily due to being busy at work and also due to prepping the Airstream for our vacation last week.  So, there will be a number of new posts in the coming days as I sort through the pictures from our travels.

A great pizza place we found (thanks to online reviews!) called ZPizza in Williamsburg.  Pizza so good that we almost went back a second time during our trip.  All fresh and organic ingredients.

The kids by a tree at the Shirley Plantation 

Bike riding at the campground (Newport News City Park)

Ridin' a Tortoise (fake, of course)

He wanted to eat one of the kids.  Not really, but it's a decent caption for the pose.  This is one of two bald eagles at the Virginia Living History Museum.  I zoomed in and kept shooting until I had a bunch of great poses.

The labyrinth at the Governor's Palace gardens in Colonial Williamsburg.  The kids are in there somewhere.

Exploring a garden with mommy in the lead in Colonial Williamsburg

Review: The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping with Kids by Helen Olsson

Book link: http://www.amazon.com/Down-Dirty-Guide-Camping-Kids/dp/1590309553/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1333047931&sr=1-1-catcorr

I asked Jason to review this book in hopes of learning some tips, especially in the activities and cooking sections, from someone experience at camping with kids. We know lots of people that camp but very few do it with young children. We’ve learned from trial and error as we’ve gone along. Here is what he had to say about the book:

This book offers a lot of information that’s good for people that have perhaps never camped before, but doesn’t offer much to people who have been doing it for a few years. There are some things conveyed by the author that made me think that if the reader needs to be told or informed of such things, they shouldn’t be trying to camp. I also thought that the suggested activities chapter (games, crafts, activities, etc) was one to be glazed-over. Anyone going camping with their own kids should already know what needs to be brought along for entertainment. If they don’t then the parents need a lot more help than this book can offer.

A better title for this book would be “How to prepare your family for camping in a tent and hiking.” Camping is not exclusive to sleeping in a tent. There was nothing in this book pertaining to camping in an RV. As a parent of kids and having RV camped with the kids for a number of years now, I was rather disappointed reading this book. Very little of the content pertained to my situation and I would have been disappointed with the book had I purchased it. I hope that anyone needing a beginner guide to camping would not be going beyond camping itself, let alone hiking for multiple hours with children.

On a positive note, I liked the checklists that were provided. Being a forgetful person myself, I appreciate the organization that is suggested with the lists. Overall though I regard this as a book of common sense things that someone who is serious about getting into camping really shouldn’t need to be informed of.

Apparently Jason wasn’t as impressed with the book as I had hoped he would be. He did end up finding one thing he loved in the book. It was a reference to a website that sells ground mats. He found an orange mat which will match the Argosy. We’ve been searching for the right mat to go under the Argosy awning for over a month and hadn’t found the right one. We’ll be buying this one! http://www.cgear-sandfree.com/products/sand-free-mats/sand-free-mat.html

A Happy House

I don't know this from first hand experience since I was too young to remember but whenever my grandpa's semi-truck was parked in the driveway at my grandparents house, I always used to say it was "a happy house."  I've seen pictures of it sitting there.  It was a cab-over something or other.  Considering what a car-guy I am, it's kinda strange that I don't know the brand.  I suppose I could ask my mom to dig the pictures out.  One day I will find out.  There's pictures somewhere that show it sitting there in the driveway.  I'm not sure if it was my early love for all things mechanical and mobile or if it was because I knew it meant grandpa was home and not on the road.  I'm guessing the former since I can't remember a time that I was there and grandpa wasn't.  But, we've already established that my memory isn't great.  Anyway, this post isn't about history; it's about now.  My house is a happy house again today.  Not that it isn't normally, but today it is because of a situation similar to that of my grandparents house back in the day.  Today, the Airstream is once again parked in front of my house.  It can be there for various reasons but today it's there in anticipation of a camping trip.  It's there to cool the fridge, for Andrea to stock it with clothes and food, and in general for easy access before we head out.  This happens every time before we go on a trip.  Since this is the first trip of the year, it's there a little ahead of leaving for the trip.  It is a happy house indeed.  Because the Airstream is parked in front of it.  Even the boys are happy about it; imagine that.

repair time

This post isn't going to have a lot to do with my kids, although Mason did help me a bit while working on the Airstream today.  I've been waiting for a nice day in order to do some work on the axles, pack the bearings, and adjust the brakes on the trailer.  Along the way, I found the wires to one brake drum broken (and therefore not working) and also that one of the bolts on one stabilizing jack was coming out.  So, all was repaired over the course of about 3 hours.  I couldn't have done it without the help of my tractor.  It's really convenient to have a hydraulically adjustable hitch on it so that I can level (or un-level depending on my needs) the trailer when it's on the ramps.  The trailer is now sitting in the front yard awaiting load-up of our goods that we took out for winter storage.  I haven't put water to the trailer yet, but it sure feels good to have it out and starting to get ready for the camping season.

The Flying Buffalo

We were out to eat last night at "the flying buffalo" as Parker calls it (Buffalo Wild Wings, or BW3 as most of us know it).  We don't go there often as it's not the greatest food, but the kids love mini corn dogs and they can be loud and obnoxious and no one minds.  Parker has been asking for it for 2 weeks now and we've overruled him many times.  Eventually we had to give in.  So we were there last night and the kids were given crayons.  Parker quickly colored his "place mat" and was then bored.  So Andrea told him to flip it over and draw his own picture.  I suggested a campsite.  Parker did an incredible campsite drawing with the limited 4 colors he was given.  Being the dedicated parents we are, naturally we put the drawing in the table's condiment / menu caddy and forgot to take it with us when we left.  So this morning I asked Parker to draw me another campsite, but this time with all of the art supplies that he has at his disposal at home.  I must say, his idea of what a campsite looks like is pretty constant because this is exactly what he drew last night at the flying buffalo, just now with correct colors.  I'm actually surprised that he didn't draw the motor home.  The kids seem to like it better.  Maybe it's because he knows that the next trip we go on will be with the trailer.

Work Day

I'm still stuck in a mode of not being able to go camping nor able to do the work on my Airstreams that I would like to thanks to the weather.  But, there are moments of greatness with the weather and last Sunday was one of them.  I took advantage and went to the barn to work on the Argosy.  I hadn't really planned on doing all of the pin-stripes, but as it turned out I did.  Parker decided to join me.  After I finished a section of the pin-striping, I was quite happy with my results so I asked Parker to go and get the camera.  I expected that he would come back with the usual family camera, but instead he came back with his camera and decided to take many, many pictures.  Many included me in them which is weird because most of the family pictures are taken by me and therefore I'm not in them.  So, a summary of last Sunday's work on the Argosy from the perspective of a 5 year old...

You know you're an Airstreamer if you're holding a rivet in your mouth while getting ready to pull another one...

Another popular Airstreamer pose with drill in hand

 Incredible that a 5 year old managed to capture this.  I'm sure many of us have had this look on our face.

The picture that I had wanted when I originally asked Parker to go and get the camera

Parker admiring my work

Camping fever

My intent with this blog is to keep posts centered around family camping.  Well, camping fever has bitten the entire family.

A small moment of my own camping fever...  I started up the motor home on Saturday and moved it out of the barn and over to the garage so that I could work on it with power tools.  I had just completed an extensive tune-up on the engine and it felt great to fire it up again.  Just driving from the barn to the garage put a huge smile on my face.  Unfortunately the biting cold of the wind while working on the exterior of the motor home did not.  The moho was returned to the barn with only minimal work done as a result of many unexpected roadblocks on the route to the planned work.  I shut the barn doors and sheepishly returned to the warmth of the house only to be hoping for warmer weather and/or less wind next weekend.

So on to the kids.  Our first trip this year will be to an often visited location by us, but to a campground that we only stayed at for the first time last October.  That being Newport News City Campground in Newport News, VA.  The kids have been begging to go camping for some time now.  They have new sleeping bags and "headlights" to try out.  We told them where we were going, which of course means nothing to them until we start describing the things that they get to do while there.  We described the park and Parker says, "You mean the place where we get to run around like idiots?"  [chuckles from Andrea and I] "Yeah, that place."  The "place" is shown below.  There's a playground among them thar' trees!  And a big one at that.  

The first trip will be with our trailer, not with our motor home.  I expect the site to be the same, so it should look much like this.

Nothin' better.  Family, campfire, grilling food, traveling.  Now, if I can just figure out a way to get cheap gas...