Family, Fun & Camping

This is my mom in the van we camped in during my childhood. I absolutely love this picture. It feels like a picture right out of a late 60’s magazine. Mom getting the camper ready for lunch with the family. Is it not the cutest??

When I bought Effie I had all of these little day dreams of what camping with Effie would look like. Me getting the camper ready for lunch with the family. Cool fall mornings with lots of coffee. Watching the leaves fall while sitting around the campfire. Cool evenings eating chili around the campfire. Camping with family and making memories. I love my alone time in her but I was imagining all of the memories Effie had to offer.

Several months ago I started planning an October family camping trip. I wanted to see how many family members I could get together at a campground and wondered, would they all love it as much as me? My brother was driving in from Florida and I really wanted to make this happen. I had so much fun last year camping with my brother, dad and stepmom in our vintage campers, I was anxious to do it again.

I pulled Effie out of the driveway at my dads house on Friday, October 9th with my dad and stepmom following me pulling their vintage trailer and headed to my favorite spot, site 323, Big Bear, Pamona State Park. I was so looking forward to sharing my spot with my family. My brother met us at the campsite later in the afternoon in his 1966 vintage pickup and camper after four long days on the road from Ft. Lauderdale. Shortly after he got camp set up, Mike arrived. Yay! Mike camped with me! This was his first camping trip. I was so excited he was coming and really hoped that he would love it as much as me, or at least almost as much as me. Really I was going to be ecstatic if he only liked it just a little bit.

Kate and Shelby and their kiddos arrived shortly after dark pulling their pop up camper they bought a little over a year ago. I was seriously in heaven that we filled up four campsites with family!

I made chili at home for everyone for our Friday night dinner and brought my crockpot so dinner was simple. All we needed to do was roast hot dogs for a yummy fall dinner around the campfire, just like I imagined.

I was in camper/mom/gigi/wife/sister/daughter/camper heaven.

Saturday was filled with all the outdoor activities. Coffee around the fire in the morning, then by the water, fishing, looking for bugs and creepy crawly things (the kids LOVE that!), frisbee, kite flying, fish feeding at the marina, campfire ALLL day long, pumpkin carving, kayaking, Dutch oven campfire lasagna (I’m still learning), s’mores, relaxing in the hammock, an attempt at roasted pumpkin seeds over the fire, and maybe my favorite part of Saturday, ghost stories around the campfire after dark. No wait, my favorite part of the weekend was how much Mike loved camping. No…..wait, the fact that so many of us were together. That was my favorite part. Or maybe the perfect fall camping weather we had. That made everything so pretty! No…..back to the ghost stories. Mike told hilarious ghost stories that night around the campfire and the grandkids were cracking up and scared all at the same time. Okay, Mike enjoying the whole weekend was my favorite part. I think. So many favorite parts to choose from.

My brother had an old kite in his old camper and after lots of applying lots of likely old tape, they went to work on flying it.

So much grassy space for playing and kite flying, or at least trying.

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I was having fun using all the camp toys. I provided an outdoor bathroom. Giggle if you must but there is no bathroom within walking distance and Kate and Shelby don’t have a potty in the pop up, so my potty tent was put to good use! Several of us also enjoyed my hammock.

One of the afternoon activities……pumpkin carving.

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Behind Char and the glow of the jack-o-lanterns, you can see the tail end of my brothers camper and Kate and Shelbys pop up.

I think these three would be happy if you told them they were going to live outdoors…..forever.

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I’d never put the kayak on the water right by my campsite until this trip. I really wanted Kate to be able to give it a try if she was interested. She’s on the right. She is down almost 80 lbs now and this was one of her goals. She now wants a kayak for her birthday later this month. I knew she’d love it! She also laid in the hammock, something she had never done before. I was watching her start to do some of the things she’s been dreaming of.

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I could have stayed for dayssssss.

The tailgate of my truck makes for a great workspace when cooking outside! I assembled the lasagna and then while it cooked in the fire, Kate attempted roasting pumpkin seeds over it. They really needed time to dry completely before roasting, but it was a fun experiment. The top and the bottom the lasagna was burnt to a crisp, but the middle was plenty to feed our big crowd and I didn’t hear one complaint! I mean, like the top was black but we scooped it off and dug in!

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Ghost stories and giggles.

Sunday I wanted everyone to stay forever and never go home. The chiefs played at noon and between my brothers small TV, an antenna my dad had, a picnic table with a TV tray on top of it and a stool on top of that, Kate was determined to get a signal by putting all of those together with bungee cords and foil on the antenna. She did it!! I was cracking up. I guess this is how you watch a football game at a campsite, vintage style.

So we all watched the game on a tiny screen while sitting outside on a beautiful fall day at the campsite.

After a Chiefs loss, they all trickled out until it was just me and my brother. He agreed, my camping spot was perfect.

I later found myself outside at 1:30 am in a crazy wind gathering up everything from chairs to lanterns to standing on a later to take down my hanging lights then throwing it all in my truck. Let’s say I didn’t get much sleep the rest of the night. The next day we packed up camp to head to our next campsite, one of my brothers favorite spots. I wanted to spend some time at my favorite spot and his so we split up our trip. Also, we wanted to include our mom. Dave and I spent Monday moving camps, restocking groceries and getting ready for Mom the following day. The two of us hadn’t really thought about the extra time we would have together and it was really nice to have that unexpected time catching up.

I still like my spot best being surrounded by trees, but this spot has a beautiful view of the lake, and I’ll take that as well.

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Tuesday he took the drive in to town to get Mom. I knew I had a couple of hours to clean house. By the time he got back I’d cleaned up Effie good and made up the guest room. That’s what I’m calling the back bed when I have a guest. That’s right, my 11’x7′ space has a guest room and its perfect. I’ve created a little spot in the back for an overnight bag and a pair of shoes and its working. I’m pleasantly surprised at how it really doesn’t feel crowded with an extra person.

It was another great day spent by the fire sipping coffee with a view of a lake. A few clouds rolled in and the temp dropped. Dave made a Taco Dinner buffet and we enjoyed the evening with mom.

The following morning I woke up just in time to realize there was going to be a beautiful sunrise. While mom was sleeping peacefully in the guest room, I made coffee and put on some cozy warm clothes. I headed outside to catch the sunrise on the lake. As I walked towards the lake the sky changed minute to minute and it was one of the most beautiful sunrises I had seen in a long time.

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I’ve never been so happy to wake up early!

It was a little chilly that morning so we spent our time in his camper, Stella, watching him make cinnamon rolls. I’m always surprised at how much space he has in there! He lives in Stella full time, so she is pretty packed but he’s super organized.

Yep, he lives here full-time!

Mom was ready to head home after cinnamon rolls so he took her home while I enjoyed the state park and the pelicans. Did you know we have pelicans in Kansas? I found an interesting 2017 newspaper article about the Pelicans of Kansas. I couldn’t get close enough for clear pictures, but they spent most of the time hanging out here at an area of the lake that has been named Pelican Point.

They were huge!

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Dave and I had all sorts of fun together catching up in between camping with family. We played by the water, kept the fire going and cooked together. Brussels Sprouts even taste great at the campsite!

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He made coffee in his new (old) perculator. I made scrambled eggs (and threw in some applegate deli turkey) in the cast iron skillet on our last morning together.

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We both are so much alike and yet so different. He likes to piddle like I do and I know we get that from our dad. My 80 year old dad who is on dialysis three days a week, is currently building himself a shower in his basement so he won’t have to go up and down two flights of stairs daily in his 100+ year old house. Even at 80, he can’t sit still. After watching my brother at the campsite, I’m even much more aware of how much alike we are and where that comes from. Neither of us sit for very long before we’re finding something to do.

That last day was hard as the entire week was even better than I was expecting and it was suddenly over. I have a lot more camping to do in Effie, but getting so much family together, having the perfect weather and enjoying so many activities together might be hard to make happen again. Forever grateful for an amazing week spent with Effie and enjoying the outdoors.

I came home on Thursday and Dave is still on the road back home to Florida. He should be home by Tuesday.

Over the course of the week camping I had a few meals where I did have just a few of the foods that I eliminated as of September 1st, but not many. I knew it would be short term. While camping, I realized how much easier moving was. Getting in and out of the kayak, bending down and standing up to unhook Effie from the truck and all that is involved in leveling the trailer and setting up camp. My hands even feel a little less swollen.

So, 48 days in of eliminating several foods, I’ll keep at it!

Tomorrow I’m having minor surgery on my thumb. After four cortisone shots for trigger thumb, the doc says it’s time. Basically, the tendon in your thumb (or finger) has a sheath around it that the tendon slides back and forth in when you bend your thumb (or finger). When the tendon is inflamed, the sheath around it is tight and than can cause it to lock. The surgeon simply (or thats how I understand it) snips the sheath to release the pressure on the tendon. I had the exact same surgery (kinda) on my wrist November 2018 and it was a success, so this should be simple and successful.

Since March when the world went cuckoo cuckoo, I’ve been up and down about the same 5-7 pounds. September 1st I was on the highest side of that and now I’m down 9 pounds from September 1, so that feels good although weight had nothing to do with me switching up the foods that I was eating. It’s certainly a nice bonus though.

My screen time on my phone has diminished significantly since stepping away from Facebook and Instagram on October 1st, and I realize now how often I was picking my phone up for no reason other than habit! I now will grab for my phone and realize that I have no reason to pick it up so I put it back down, or keep it in the other room. I’m curious what my screen time was before, but it may be something I don’t want to know. I do not miss Instagram or Facebook for now. I may later, but for now it’s working for me.

Mike and I are going camping alone in November! Can you even believe it? Me neither!

What have you been up to these first few weeks of Fall? Are the leaves changing where you live? My brother said that he loves the hot weather and will never miss our Kansas winters. Me on the other hand, I absolutely love the four seasons and the variety they offer and I don’t love hot weather.

How about you? Are you a fan of all hot, all cold, do you like a variety?

Do you camp? Love the outdoors? Tell me your best outdoor or camping memory.

“love the life you live, live the life you love”