Tuesday, August 21, 2012

'Trailer-ing' - Trip #1 (July)

Jason and I had talked off and on for the last year or so about getting some sort of camping trailer, but Jason become very serious about it this past winter.  In early spring  Jason   we bought this bad boy!
Yep... that would be a 35 foot quad bunkhouse travel trailer.  You would think that by the size of this thing that we have been camping our whole lives, but oh no, neither of us know a thing about camping with a trailer.  We have always been tent campers, so when I talk about camping now, I call it 'trailor-ing'.  What a difference there is between using a tent and a trailer!  

We were gung-ho and planned three different destinations, each two weeks long.  Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking, or drinking, when I agreed to all of this! ;)

We spent our first two weeks at Hungry Horse Campground in Dorr (about 25 minutes from home).  I tried hard to pack the trailer well, and guess at all of the needs that we may have.  But, I still wanted to stay close to home and shopping so I could grab those 'oops, totally forgot items'.  

Ellery and Easton share one side of the bunk area,
and Quin and Gianna share the opposite side.
Of the three places we went, Hungry Horse was the most rustic.  There was no pavement - lots of dirt and very dry grass! (We didn't have much rain in June or July)
Easton was in heaven.  He loved playing with his trucks in the sand that surrounded the trees.  They also had three playgrounds, all with sand under them.  I despise sand (unless it is at the beach!).  I was craving a playground with woodchips!
I see a future Olympian!
Hungry Horse had a wonderful pool set up for us!  They have two pool areas - one is a regular pool, and the other is a wading pool with a coconut tree that dumps water at random times.  Up to this point, my kids have had no interest in water!  Sure, they would randomly run through the sprinkler or stand in our blow up pool, but when it comes to swimming, they would seriously run the other way.  

They loved being in the wading pool!  At the deepest, it was only 12 inches deep.  



About half way through our stay, they wanted to try out the big pool - yahoo!
Gianna took to the water right away!
Ellery is fearless!
Quin is cautiously interested.
And Easton, would still rather just stand by and watch, but will at least venture in when he doesn't think we are watching.

At times, it was too hot to be outside!  What a crazy summer we have had!  It was nice to hangout in the air conditioning every once in awhile and play some games.
It only rained one time while we were there, and it was in the evening.  We had a pedi/popcorn/movie night.  The kids were in heaven!

Twice a week, Hungry Horse offers hayrides.  This was a perfect activity for my tractor loving boy :)  All of the kids enjoyed sitting in the front of the hayride and watching the tractor!
Half way through the ride, they stopped at a neighboring home and we fed their horses.  

One of my favorite pictures from our entire summer!  I LOVE this smile :)

My sister came to visit for a day, and brought two of my favorite kids... Lincoln and Isadora!
Aren't those rolls the BEST!
Jason found this guy hanging out on the side of the trailer.  I think he looks pretty happy with this resting place!
Overall, I will be honest, I am a cottage girl!  If only I could afford one!  I like to have more space between myself and my neighbors and I don't love being in a confined space with four kids.  My kids can go from love to hate in about 30 seconds, and it is hard to quickly turn that around without space to separate them.  Jason was working during this trip, so it was a lot of work to be there alone during the days with the four kids.  We were blessed with beautiful weather, which I was so thankful for!  In the end, it is all about the memories that we were making, right?!?!?
Please tell me that they will remember this! ;)

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