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Wordless Wednesday- Camping for Halloween
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Category Archives: Camping
Camping for Fun
As you have probably noticed I have been missing most of the month of October. It has been crazy busy, full of broken things and sickness but this past weekend we escaped it all for a couple of days.
This was a trip we decided we needed in September and the only available weekend or chance for a reality break was based on the football schedule. I am so glad we made it happen! Lesson of the month, if a teenager suggesting getting away as just a family you need to do it.
We left Friday around 11:30 and arrived back in the driveway Sunday around 4pm. But we managed to squeeze lots of fun into a short time. We did not know when we first started planning that Ocean Lakes campground does a “Halloween experience” each weekend in October. We decide immediately to join in. We decorated out campsite and Easton enjoyed trick or treating with probably at least a thousand other kids. I got to spend at least 3 hours sitting on a beach with the sand on my feet and wind in my hair. I needed that refresher, even the need for a blanket in the sun did not damp my enjoyment but it did shorten the length we sat there. We enjoyed a food truck festival and bounce houses on Saturday. A fire pit and smores along with an outdoor movie added to the fun. The cost for this quick getaway was $1106 and I consider it well spent money!
Here is a cost breakdown if you care
Campsite $175
Golf cart $108
Water hose and snacks at campground $82.30
One tank of gas $82.30, this was our fill up at the beach we also had a tank before we left and another just as we got home.
Laundry $25 this was for our beds and towels so that less sand came home with us
Food Truck and bounce house $60
Pizza Lunch on Friday and we enjoyed left-overs all weekend $37.40
Buffet Dinner on Friday $275
Breakfast on Saturday $120
Sunday Breakfast $26
Christmas Mouse $112
As you can see we did ALOT of eating out and we enjoy this as it truly is a treat for us that we enjoy!
Wordless Wednesday- Fall Decorations
This year I have had time and energy to decorate! And it has made me happy!
Three Day Weekend- Labor Day
Today is what most people would say the last day of summer. Some years it feels like fall already but not this year. The temperature was around 83 *however since this is 10-15 degrees cooler than last week, it was a pleasant day to work outside. I spent alot of time trying to battle back the weeds. I got all of the blueberry bed cleared and about half of the bed on the side of the house. I also spent some time pulling weeds in the garden, removing dead things and trying to make it look a little bit better. I am actually very happy with it now. I harvested a gallon of tomatoes and we have 14 zucchini plants that have sprouted along with two bean plants. I also found a couple of loofa sponges that are big enough to use effectively! I am holding out hope that we get a load of zucchini and a couple more nice batches of tomatoes in the next couple of weeks.
Matt and I ended up installing a new rain barrel for the bed in the front of the house. I had also decided to remove the back barrier. I am planning to make this bed a pepper bed next year so it will not be needed and it was actually really ugly. We also placed some additional pieces of wood under the legs to help it look straighter. I also worked on some general clean up around the outside of the house and we changed the front sign from flowers to fall!
The other area that was a focus was continuing to add to the stockpile. I made a batch of salsa on Saturday and canned up four additional pints. I also made both pizza sauce and a couple of extra pizza crust today! The canning closet is looking really full and I am thankful that even though I did not officially participate in the Every bit counts challenge. I only have less than 20 empty jars at this point. I am very hopefully that we will be able to fill these remaining jars up with tomato products in the next month as well as start to empty some of the jars out so that we can significantly reduce the grocery budget.
I am disappointed in the fact that we are almost eight days in September and I have yet to have a no spend day. On the bright side, we decided and scheduled a short weekend trip to Myrtle Beach in October as a time to just get away and enjoy some time together without a lot of outside demands.
Why?
Why is everything breaking especially in the middle of summer when I don’t get a paycheck and especially right around vacation.
Here are more of the details… first up the insta pot. This was actually not a big deal for me. This was actually a hand me down from my daughter. I just have not had good success with using these. I did enjoy making boiled eggs and rice in the pot but the last straw was the second batch of rice that burned for no reason and the eggs that were cooked dry before it ended. I threw it away with no thought. This actually happened three days before our vacation.
The second hit was much harder and I will admit made me cry! Zach was mowing the yard in a rush and called to tell me the lawn mower was smoking. I told him to let it sit in dry grass as this was not the first time it has acted this way. Unfortunately, when he went to crank it again, it would not even start. I told him to push it to the end of the year. We were fortunate enough to borrow the neighbor. Based on history and the age of the mower (more than 10 years) we decided to find and order a new lawn mower during our vacation. It arrived on Monday! And the bright spot is I sold the broken one for $100 on Facebook.
We actually made it to vacation before the next thing broke. We own our camper and there is a true statement that says something breaks every single time you take it out. Fortunately it was only the clasp of the screen door for this trip but $15 is still an expense.
We arrived home on Sunday to discover that our oldest freezer had reached a temperature of 41*. This meant that it had actually stopped working. It was a mad dash to try an save as much as possible. We ended up losing about 1/4 of what was in the freezer as it was completely unthaw. A great benefit was that it was not full! So the loss was minimal but still is a huge loss. We are still in the process of deciding if we want to replace this freezer. It is a third freezer so I am not sure that is an necessary expense right now or even in the future.
Last but certainly not least on Monday, after the first batch of spaghetti sauce, my large crockpot died. It just literally stopped heating! I had purchased one several years ago and just was using the liner from the new one so I was able to go out to the building and get the new crockpot to use.
This all are definitely first world problems but in reality it is frustrating and combined with all the changes we are going through with Lily moving and the tragic loss of two friends this past week. It feels like we just cant get a break!
5 Things Friday
- This is the first week in the entire school year that I feel like I am finally able to balance work and life. Work is still super busy and next week is going to be wrong and even today I have more to do than i am able but I feel like I can handle it or rather God is going to provide peace and security for me.
- The Central Davidson varsity football team are the conference champions, first time since 1946. Zach has started on JV most of the season. And he was pulled up to varsity for the play offs. There is a slim chance that he will actually get to play but we are all going to the game just in case it happens. Kendall is likely going to watch another player but so is life.
- My snow village and the new “Disney” village have both been completed this week. I am planning to make a full blog post on them for next week
- We are headed to Florida for Thanksgiving! I am not responsible for any cooking! On black Friday, we are all headed to Disney. David and Haley and the kids are coming up with us. Lily and Braxton are flying in as well! The kids and I will miss an extra week of school. I am super excited!
- I am going to assume that probably 2 of the 4 new chickens we purchased at the end of the summer have started laying. We went the entire month of October without a single egg. I actually purchased 6 dozen eggs from a coworker. This past week we started getting 1 and 2 large brown eggs! Even more exciting is the fact that we also got 1 green egg this week which means at least one of the older chickens probably the white one is laying as well.
Wordless Wednesday -Myrtle Beach 2025
Tuesday Thoughts- Camping at the Beach!
The one rule I stated when we first purchased the camper several years ago was “no beach camping” I stuck to that for at least three years. But the convivence of taking everything I want together with the cheaper rates that camping offers along with lots of discussion with my kids. We decided to give it a try.
I am a convert, we will be camping at the beach for many trips to come. I wanted to make sure I had a record of things that worked and things I might do in the future.
I bought a small plastic pool for $10 in April. This worked well as a extra place to wash feet and shoes. We dumped it each day and clean totally at least 3 times. I am going to just use as a shoe catching spot on future non beach trips.
We used the outside shower to rinse several times that just our feet were dirty. We also bought a water hose sprinkler to use to wash off all the beach toys. It was so nice to be able to wash all the beach toys by the camper on the last day. Everything air dried and was put away!
We always keep our bath baskets outside. But each day before going to the beach we packed our baskets so that no one went inside the camper after going to the beach instead we grab our baskets and headed to the bath house. Even swim suits were washed at the shower and hung to dry! No extra sand inside! A huge bonus was that I did not clean any sand from a shower! The pressure at the bathhouse was high but it did remove the sand.
We placed a “screen room” around the picnic table which was a good spot to keep out bath baskets during the day! It was also nice to play cards with a few less bugs outside.
Everyone took a turn for vacuuming the camper each night at bedtime. This also made a huge sand difference.
The rain was a big problem with a sand parking spot. Next time we are going to get a concrete pad so that should make things a tad bit easier.
We ended up eating at the camper the most we ever had and we even ate more at the camper than when we stayed at a house. Ice cream for desert was a treat at least 3 nights but the cost was worth it and much less than meals out.
5 Things Friday!
Bonus this is my 4th BLOG post this week! Maybe I can continue!
1. The list of home renovations/updates is shrinking but it feels like we will never finish! Left to finish
1. paint master bathroom
2.. build shelves in the master bathroom, move items to shelves and relocate metal shelves from the bedroom.
3..Electrical wiring for both front and back
4. After the deck is rebuilt, purchase a new grill.
5. built a covered area to run the generator from.
2. I really enjoyed getting the extra help with the cleaning last week. I am planning to hire another cleaner once the master bathroom is complete. My goal is that this will put me back on a level field and I will be able to maintain the house. This is likely going to become a treat for me maybe every 3 or 6 months depending on my own schedule.
3. The weather is absolutely gorgeous! I will likely be opening the window probably during the next week or so.
4. We are heavily into football season. Zach is currently playing JV, his games are on Thursday night. Matt, Kendall and Zach are all enjoying attending home varsity games as well.
5. Next week is full of new adventures, the plan is for Kendall to take her driving test and get her provisional license. Zach to get his driving permit! We also will be traveling to Alabama to attend our niece’s wedding.
5 Things Friday Catch up Edition!
- Our Disney trip was AWESOME! We enjoyed Easter Sunday with David and Haley at the Beach. David and Haley also joined us and Braxton for a couple of days of Disney fun! We were able to enjoy the campground and have discovered that Hoop De Doo Review is our favorite show! We are also learning that sticking with what we know we like is maybe better than trying all the things. This was our first and last trip to Steakhouse 71, burnt steak is not acceptable on any level. Although it was suggested that we go for breakfast so maybe!
- I came home on Sunday feeling absolutely miserable! I walked inside, took a shower and went to bed. I had a cough that lasted for 10 days. I still have a cough, but it is much better. I was discussing with Matt that I have been sick more and worse this year than I can ever remember.
- I still LOVE the camper. Side note, it took us a full week to actually get it cleaned out this time. However, I can say it is definitely our money pit. Each time we take it out we end up needing to replace some items. This trip, the toilet has to be replaced. It is leaking water both in the bowl and on the floor. Matt has already replaced the seal, so the full thing is replaced this time. We also have to replace a taillight that cracked and the latch on the screen door. Sunday morning before leaving we discovered that a light bulb needed to be replaced! Next up will likely be the door!
- Because of being so sick on the way home, it has taken almost a full two weeks for me to catch up on everything including blogging! Now I can begin my count down to summer. Technically, we have 8 weeks left in the school year with 5 of actual treatment.
- I have been super busy this week, working on getting the garden planted. We or I should say Matt worked hard before we left, and the greenhouse worked like a charm! I will be planting out all the tomatoes and green peppers in the next week depending on the weather.