Wednesday, July 31, 2013

a tour of our RV bedrooms

Today I thought I'd share some pictures of the bedrooms in our 5th wheel.  We have a Jayco Eagle 365BHS; it has a bunk room at one end with an adjoining bathroom and the master bedroom is up a few stairs at the other end with a separate bathroom.  (the living room/kitchen are in the middle...I showed you a peek of those a few days ago)

There is a boys side...


...and a girls side...


...with a wardrobe in the middle.  The top of the wardrobe has a rod for hanging clothes, the bottom has six small-ish drawers...three on each side.



Under each bottom bunk there are also three big drawers.



Between the two doors, one leads to the living room and the other to the bathroom, is a small cabinet that holds their TV, playstation w/ games, and some dvd's.  The little white drawer unit sitting beside the TV holds their lego manuals and a few toys...it's on wheels so that they can roll it where ever they want it.



When we were in southern Arizona, we stopped by Target and bought two small folding desks/tables and folding chairs.  When it is time to do school work, we set up one desk on each side of the wardrobe in the kids room for two of the kids (the other three spread out at the dining table).  These tables are so multi-functional...we also use them as TV trays to eat on in the living room and outside as "whatever you need a table for" tables :).



The kids are currently using the curtains to display their Jr. Ranger badges and patches :).





There is a small hallway after you go up the stairs towards the master bedroom, this is where I keep another one of the rolling drawer units with the kids current school work (the rest is in the storage area under the master bed).



Not as much to see up here as in the bunk room :)...there's the bed, of course...


The closet with the mirrors is surprisingly really big.  It holds all of our clothes, computer/camera stuff, gift wrapping supplies, etc.  The louvered doors are where a washer/dryer could go if we had them, now I am using it as a linen closet.


At the end of the bed is a dresser with two large drawers.  Above this is a TV and some shelves...we never use this TV nor the shelves, really...maybe we can come up with something else to change it to one day that will be more useful for us...


I keep some of my seashells and bits of coral in my old jars on the dresser.  They are from one of our favorite places, Cape San Blas, Florida.



And that, friends, is the grand tour of our RV bedrooms :)!

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Happy 9th Birthday Audrey!

Not very long after we got to Florida, our youngest daughter celebrated her 9th birthday.  Being so close to family and good friends resulted in not one, not two, but three birthday parties!

Party #1 was at Dan's parents house on her actual birthday.  Grandma made her a special dinner complete with homemade ice cream (yum)...


Party #2 was with my parents a few days later at the vacation home of a family friend.  We were given use of their beautiful home on St. Joe Bay for several nights (the sunsets from their porch were divine!)...

 
poor baby was getting over the stomach flu...thus the separate cupcake for her candles




Party #3 was delayed by about a month because we wanted to wait until Dan was home on his days off.  As soon as Dan got home and we had the house semi-unpacked, we had some of our closest friends and their children over for a birthday party/Easter egg hunt (it was the Saturday before Easter)...



We are so blessed to have Audrey in our lives and thankful for the nine years we have been given with her so far.  Love you, baby girl!


<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Saturday, July 27, 2013

simply stunning...



a little bayou not far from our house...

two sunsets...

two days in a row...

a reminder of God's power and His never ending love...

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;  but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  Isaiah 40:29-31

Friday, July 26, 2013

unique art for your RV

A long time back, I told ya'll about the kids and I going shopping at IKEA in Utah.  I had said I would tell you about what we purchased later...well, this is certainly later :)!

We got some small things not really worth mentioning, but the find of the day was a magnetic board for the RV.  (you can find it here)

SPONTAN Magnetic board IKEA Can be hung horizontally or vertically.
IKEA SPONTAN

When we first set out on our adventure, we knew we wanted some sort of memento from the places we visited.  One thing that is always available to purchase...magnets!  I had never paid them any attention before, but they are the perfect thing...small, cheap, and a mini snapshot of each place visited.  I was thinking of hanging a sheet of galvanized metal in the RV to put the magnet collage on, but when I saw this board at IKEA I decided "close enough" and went with it :).  Dan hung it for me on the end of the kitchen cabinets and I got busy filling it up...


It really is fun to pick out each new magnet and then fit it onto the board when we get home.  It's also fun to look at the board and remember each special day represented.


I love that it's a unique piece of art for our home :)...one of a kind for sure!


...annnd, since it was a rainy day when I was taking the pictures of the magnet board, I also snapped a few more around the living room/kitchen area...just for something to do :).








I'm noticing that one certain child has managed to hop all over the camper and get into as many pictures as possible, hahaha...he cracks me up :D!

***feel free to share this idea if you like it, just please link back to this post if you do :)

Thursday, July 25, 2013

You know you're in the country when...

...you stop at a store and have to dodge random chickens in the parking lot :).  These silly things weren't even afraid of the car!



Gotta love small (Florida) towns :)!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

going home

It had been a little over a year since our last visit to Florida, so you can imagine how excited the kids were to be going to their grandparents houses :).

We pulled into our campsite late, late, late on a Friday night and we were up first thing Saturday morning to have breakfast with my parents.  For some reason, I took zero photos that day...well, I do know the reason why...my mom has cancer.  She has been sick for a while now and to be honest I was way too emotional to even think of taking pictures.  My focus was entirely on getting/giving as many hugs as I could ;).  We had a great day together...eating, visiting, and watching the kids play with their dog Otis (he is the sweetest thing and he adores the kids).

The next day was spent with my husband's parents.  We got to their house a little before lunch and stayed the rest of the day.  They had also invited Dan's brothers, so that was nice.  We got to catch up with not only the grandparents, but also the uncles, an aunt, and a handful of cousins.


After a huge lunch (that was delicious), we ventured outside to see their animals.  They have a variety of farm type animals, but the focus of the day was the donkeys.  They have a Jack and a Jenny and the kids were excited to get to feed them.  Grandpa gave the kids some sliced apples and the donkeys came running :).  Of course, the whole point in feeding them was to get a chance to pet them...




The kids had fun riding bikes that their grandparents keep there for them...




fishing in their pond...



and gathering fallen limbs to make a fire...


We had an excellent weekend :).  To top it all off, we got to spend Monday with some of our very best friends, the Smiths.  They have two kids and together with our five they played, and played, and played...it was great :).  As always, the food was awesome (her chopped salad is my new favorite-so good!) but the company was even better!

There is nothing as sweet as spending time with your people :)!!!