While we head to the beach for a two week stay every summer, we don’t travel in our camper as often as I’d like. We’ve made grand statements about doing it more, we’ve taken a few fall trips to North Alabama and a random beach weekend here and there, but we haven’t really taken advantage of our travel trailer the way I wished we did. When our favorite campground was booked for Spring Break, we decided to book a week’s stay at a lakeside state park less than an hour away, and try something new for a change. Josh and I both had to work while the kids were out of school, but we managed to tag team both the computer and the kids, and had a really great family getaway before we wrap up this school year. Here’s a quick peek at how we spent our week away.
Baby camper naps are my favorite. I have a similar photo of Sophie from her very first camping trip to Gulf Shores, in this post. Polly did really well, despite all of the interruptions in her schedule. She and I took the bed and (we let Josh sleep on the couch) that meant way too many middle of the night feedings. We’re all glad she’s back in her own bed and we’re all sleeping a lot a little more.
We had a good mix of sun and shade and the temperatures varied from high seventies to low fifties. The wind off of Lake Martin made it feel significantly cooler, so we opted for sweatshirts most days. We spent a lot of time pulling the little kids in the wagon, following the big kids on bicycles, and walking around the park.
This tandem swing was my very favorite thing. Polly had never tried a swing before, so she was a little apprehensive at first, but we mastered it by the end of the week. I told Josh I wanted one at home, but he vetoed the $1600 purchase. Imagine that?!
We were a short bike ride away from a great fishing pier, so we took the kids there almost every afternoon. There may or may not have been ice cream and pizza involved.
Polly loved the wagon, the bike trailer, and her camp chair, but we still spent plenty of time taking walks in the sling. It’s a sure fire way to get her to nap in an unfamiliar environment.
I didn’t get a ton of reading done, since I had to work some part of each day, but I did manage to tackle two books cover to cover (reviews coming later this week!).
There were several complaints early in the week about us working and the kids wanting us to join them for cards or board games. After an evening Solitaire tutorial, the girls spent the rest of the week like this! It was funny to see them splitting the table in half, for two games at once.
Baby led weaning was a little different during our trip, because not all of our meals were baby friendly. I packed lots of fruit, cheese, and soft potatoes and this girl never skipped a beat.
This, obviously, led to many sink baths in the camper!
I bought us all hammocks for Christmas a few years ago, but besides trying them out at home, we haven’t gotten much use out of them. We hung them in the trees next to our campsite and the kids fought over them all week. We are definitely going to need to figure out how to make them work at the beach with not as many places to hang them.
My sister lent us this pop up baby seat and it was a life saver. We could strap all of Polly’s toys to the top and the arms have elastic, making it feel similar to a bouncer. She was in heaven.
It was the most relaxing week of work ever and a great way to introduce Polly to camping. We are looking forward to our annual beach trip in EIGHT WEEKS, but we will definitely be back to Wind Creek.
