Camper Renos and Our First Camping Trip

Camping is definitely a favourite family activity for us and the older the kids get the more we want to go even just for short trips. We bought our 1974 Vanguard camper off a friends brother a couple years ago for $300 and made it work. The 3 kids would sleep in the same bed and it worked great, we were quickly outgrowing this camper though now that we have 4 kids and decided to make some major renovations! Jordan basically gutted the whole camper (and unfortunately took no pictures before) but he got rid of the bathroom, stove/oven, furnace and old pull out bed, he dropped the floor and we put in a new one, he redid all the electrical and put new lights in, I was out helping as much as I could and redid the sealant on the entire camper, put new insulation in the walls  as well as helping with other odd jobs. He now built double bunk beds, put in 2 propane fridges instead of one and still has to finish all the cupboards and storage. We spent a crazy amount of hours working on this project and is wasn't even complete when we went for our first camping trip of the summer- but it was complete enough to work for the weekend.
Without the help of Grace- watching the kids or doing work on the camper itself we wouldn't have been able to make this trip happen. Here are some pictures of the crew hard at work...

The week leading up to our trip we were out working until midnight most nights, Jordan stayed out even later sometimes...

We packed up on Thursday morning and made the drive to Otter Lake Provincial Park which is just 30 minutes from Princeton. The kids all napped a good part of the way which always makes the drive easier. We arrived at out site and set up a bit before heading down to check out the lake.

Jaxon was getting pretty daring on his bike and riding down a big hill, he did it a few times before he had a bad wipe out. Blood running down his leg and a huge scrape put a damper on his riding. But only until the next morning when he got back on his bike again.

Friday morning we woke up to rain, it was just starting but we hadn't put up the canopy the day before so Jordan and I quickly got it set up and just in time as it started to pour seconds later. There was some major thunder and lighting going on along with torrential down pour. Thankfully it only lasted an hour and passed by so the kids were off and out playing again.

By the afternoon it was hot and sunny again so back down to the beach we went. The kids made some new friends who were just a couple campsites over from us too. After dinner they invited us over for a campfire and to roast some marshmallows.

Saturday was a bit of a bust. It rained... all day! There were breaks where it would just sprinkle and the kids would go off riding their bikes or playing with their friends. We somehow managed to get everyone down for a nap in the afternoon! We forced everyone to stay in the camper and without much to do everyone eventually fell asleep- including me and Jordan! We were hoping the rain would pass but no such luck. We spent more time under the canopy and played some games. It finally cleared up after dinner so we headed down to the beach for some play time.

Sunday we were ready to pack up, the kids played with their friends while we got everything loaded up and before we knew it we were already back home!

Zoey got a cold the day before we left so she was a bit of a mess, it made her pretty sleepy and lethargic which was good in a way as she couldn't crawl around in the rain and mud and was quite happy to sit in her stroller!
It was a pretty great first camping trip with 4 kids, they love it and so do we! Less than a month until we go camping again!

Adventures in June

I made up a list, a summer bucket list of sorts of places to go and explore over the next couple months. Some are new places we've never been before and some are favourites that we visit every year.

The first place we went was a new park in Coquitlam called Queenston Park. Our best buddies came along on this adventure and aside from the lack of shade it was a great park.

Our next adventure took us to Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge. We asked Auntie Cori to come along and spent more than 2 hours hiking the trails around the suspension bridge.

The next week we went to Redwood Park in South Surrey. There was a few trails to 'hike' a fairy city in the forest and a pretty great playground. Another great place for an adventure.

The following week we went to the coolest park I have ever seen! Terra Nova Play Environment in Richmond. It was a long drive just for a park but we made it worth it, brought cold drinks to Daddy and vistited him at work on the way home! The park itself was awesome, a zipline, swings, and a huge tower to climb up.