Camper Update

We finally have some good news on the camper! The camper was totaled out as a result of the hailstorm in July. I am still amazed at how much glass I found inside the camper. I literaly had to vacuum everything out and it took me HOURS. The windows must have just exploded when the hail hit - as there was glass from one end of our camper to the other. Even after lots of vacuuming, we wore our shoes in the camper for several weekends before we felt it was safe to go barefoot.

The sides of the camper looks like Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer took batting practice next to it. It is just full of dents!

Our insurance company was dealing with so many damaged campers that they did not want to try to salvage our's at all. So, they sent us a check to pay us to the policy limits and told us we were free to keep the camper and do what we wanted with it.

That left us with a decision - do we hang on to it or do we trade it in for something else? Ultimately we decided to hang on to the camper. Essentially it is a totally free camper after our insurance payout. We felt like we could spend a minimal amount of money to fix the windows, vents and to patch the roof. We hope to get 3-5 years out of it. We figure in 3-5 yers we will either be ready to upgrade to something bigger or we will be so busy with kid's activities that we will need to get out of it for a few years.

So - we found or pot of gold, albeit small, at the end of the rainbow. It feels good to have decisions made and know that we will still get to enjoy our camper - for as long as that roof holds!

There you have it! A happy ending for our 2000 Fleetwood Mallard.

New words

Cameron has been a little slow to talk, at least in comparison to his big sister. She came out talking and hasn't quit yet! Lately, Cameron has been surprising us with all of the words he knows. He has been saying new words and shocking us right out of the blue!

His words:

Ball (His favorite word!)

Ootball (Football)

Oh Ack Oh (Go Pack Go!)

Shirt

Blue

Bird

Boat

Ush eeth (brush teeth)

Fishy

Ookie (cookie)

More! (his second favorite word!)

Indsor (Windsor)

Mama, mommy, Mom

Dada, Daddy, Dad

Grandma

Grandpa

Ister (sister)

No

Uh Ah

Nuk

Book

Shooz (shoes)

He is also a little parrot and will repeat words from time to time. We recently bought a new truck with Ford Sync. Mike turned on Sync and it said "Bluetooth Audio" when suddenly from the backseat we heard Cameron say "bluetooth!"

Little Diva

Madison is my girly-girl. Right now - she is really into manicures and pedicures. The most important aspect of both is most certainly the nail polish!

She loves to have her nails done - and loves to paint the nails on her dolls as well. We have to watch the nail polish carefully or it ends up spilled on the carpet. Painting nails is most certainly an outdoor activity!

The best part about our mini mani's and pedi's? It's what Madison calls the nail polish. She gets a littl confused and calls it "Paint Nailish."

Oh Bloody Hail

Is there a black cloud full of hail hovering over me?

Seems like it!

You might remember just over two years ago both of our cars, our roof, siding, and deck were all severely damaged by golf ball sized hail. Madison and I rode the storm out along Highway 14 praying that the windows of the Explorer wouldn't break. Mind you - we are STILL trying to finish the repairs to our deck after that storm.

It struck again.

This time, it was our camper, located on a permanent campsite at Cozy Corners Campground in Richmond MN. Luckily, we stayed home to stain the deck (see paragraph above!). The weather didn't cooperate and rain prevented that from happening. But it was a good thing we stayed home.

It was baseball to softball sized hail and straight line winds. The winds blew apart two large Rubbermaid sheds, tore the license plate off our camper (it was later found down the road..) and the hail destroyed our camper. It took out windows, roof vents, the air conditioning unit, the awning, and there are dents and holes in the roof. While we don't have the final numbers back from our insurance company, we are likely looking at a total loss.

Which leaves us at a crossroads. Do we:

1. cut our losses and just not have a camper/weekend getaway anymore (NOT my idea and certainly not what I want to do!)

2. Buy a new-used camper to replace what we had

3. Buy the likely-totaled camper back from the insurance company and only fix what we have to in order to keep enjoying the place until its time for a bigger/upgraded camper?

Tough decisions! None of the options are really any good. The first option is not really an option in my book. Sorry - we make too many memories there and I want that for my kids. (Plus, Madison has already cried about the camper and we promised it would be made right again!) The second option would be great if we could find something similar to what we have - but it is tough to find a 38 foot camper with a queen and a bunkhouse. They just don't make them that big anymore. The third option seems great but it could get expensive to fix the roof. We could be dealing with leaks for a long time and Mike is not a fix-it guy (although, he doesn't give himself enough credit!)

My choice, would be to rewind the clock to last Saturday morning and build a pole shed over the camper to protect it!

One can dream right?

Our camper is only a material object. It is wood and steel and can be replaced. I am ever thankful that we were not there. That we did not have to rush for safety or worse, ride out the storm huddled in a tiny camper bathroom while praying that the camper didn't blow away. God was watching out for us on Friday night when we decided to stay home to accomplish a few projects.

Despite how grateful I am, I am very bummed about the whole thing and that makes me feel guilty for a number of reasons:

1. My neighbor girl Hanna just had her entire leg amputated - now there is a kid that should have a bitch fest with God...but she hasn't.

2. My co-worker's husband just had surgery and found out he has to have more surgery. Yep - that guy has something to bitch about.

3. People all across the country don't have jobs and are losing their homes. Yea - they have something to bitch about too.

Here I sit whining about a camper - a camper that we have had for two weeks shy of one year. A camper where we have worked hard to make it our place to escape from the worries of the world, where we kick back, watch the kiddos play and shoot the breeze with all of our camper friends. It's a place where we have made a lot of memories and something we have grown to love. So - It isn't the wood and steel that I'm upset about, its what the wood and steel represent. It's the possibility that we won't get to make more memories there. Knowing that maybe we have the last photograph from that place with sticky roasted marshmallow grins. The possible loss of the stories told around a campfire, no doubt embellished a bit with the help of a few cold ones. The possible loss of the kids telling us their happiest memories of childhood were made right there on campsite #35 in a 38 foot Fleetwood Mallard.

Indeed. It is not the wood and steel. It's what it represents.

Going Green

Sort of. We're taking baby steps here to lessen our impact.

This is our new rain barrel. It is attached to the gutters and collects the rain water that rolls off our roof. The barrel holds the water until we need it for watering our plants.

We're hoping to add a simple hose system to the spout that goes directly to our plants so all we have to do is turn on the valve to release the water. For now though, we can just open the valve and fill our watering cans.

How does this lessen our impact? Well, it saves the water that isn't absorbed into the ground during a rainstorm. This prevents it from entering the sewer system and reduces the need for water treatment. When we use this water instead of turning on our faucet, we are using less water. Simple.

We bought this barrel system from homedepot.com for about $70, but we quickly learned that you can create your own for far less. However, if you don't have a place to "hide" the barrel, you might want to spend a little more on one that looks a little nicer. Our barrel is fairly hidden, so we did not need something that blends with the house.

All you need to build your own is a barrel with a cover (a 30 gallon rubber maid trash can would work great!). Then you need a plastic piece that you attach to your downspout with a hose running to the barrel. Finally, a simple valve for releasing the water. The barrel needs to sit higher than the areas that you are watering and needs to be level. So you may also need some cynder blocks and a tube of sand.

Since we installed our rain barrel, it has rained so much that I haven't been able to go out and get a picture of the completed project! We (meaning Mike) completed the installation on Saturday night and it has been raining ever since. By Monday morning, the barrel was already full!

Is there anything cuter...

...than a beach-blonde, suntanned little boy in bright yellow Crocs?

I want to remember...

The sweet fat rolls around your wrists and ankles.

The way your shoulders, neck, face and eyes scrunch up when you laugh.

Your wax-on, Wax-off wave.

The way you run to me when I pick you up from daycare.

The way you say "Banananananana"

Your deep, throaty laugh.

Your cute little footprints in the sand.

The way you shake your booty!

The way you thoughtfully watch everything around you, absorbing it in and surprising us later with everything that you know.