wordless wednesday

i ♥ tent camping

ever since i can remember, our family has always been tent campers. it's in our blood. my grandparents first took my mom camping when she was six, i remember throwing up in the tent camping when i was 3, and now my children have FINALLY experienced the joys of camping!

i even remember family vacations where we would drive states and states away, and instead of overnighting in a motel somewhere, we'd find a campground and set up camp for the night, just to pack up in the morning and continue on our journey.

back in the day we'd each have a sleeping bag and one mat to sleep on, one tarp over the [itty bitty] tent, and one screen tent for a reprieve from the mosquitos.

however, over the years we've evolved a bit. some of the first ammenities we added to our camping gear was a welcome mat in front of the tent and tv tables for inside the tent. and so was the start of our comfortable camping. since then we've conjured up some brilliant little things to bring that make our multiple days of camping so much more enjoyable.

as of last week, here are some of non-essential items we can't go camping without:

a ladder

about 6 tarps

a shovel

foam pads for the picnic table

2x3 boards

nails

air mattresses

2.5ft tall rubbermaid 3-drawer storage thingy (sorry, can't think of what it's really called!)

folding tables

propane grills

radio


this was also the first year we've camped at an electrical site. so we TOTALLY took advantage of the electricity. we brought:

extension cords

power strips

trouble light

laptop for the kids to watch dvds on

crockpot

nightlights

christmas icicle lights


we also like to bring silly stuff camping. although i guess you could argue that some of the aformentioned items are silly, this will probably take the cake.

years ago when we went camping, i decided to sneak in our bronzed baby shoes. after mom and dad had their tent all set up i went and stuck our baby shoes on their tv table. it got a good laugh and we still reminisce about that every now and then. so since this was the first time i went camping with my family in seven years, i decided that the baby shoes needed to make an appearance again. my sisters were in on the fun and becky brought a nice tablecloth and a framed picture of us girls when we were little. we snuck in mom and dad's tent, set everything up, and got another good laugh. it was presumably the highlight of mom and dad's vacation...


so there you have it. no matter what your camping preference may be, we like to rough it--christmas lights, baby shoes, and all!

i ♥ camping

in honor of our glorious 6 day camping vacation, i have a question for today.

what kind of a camper are you? tent? pop up camper? rv? hotel?!

and what is your best (or worst!) camping memory/experience?


i'll be back with my answer next week!

Spring Fling – What I can not live without…

so remember how i told you that sara was having a spring fling blog swap kinda thing? well it's here!! and today on my blog i'm hosting cass from the rowan four. so here's her post with her favorite girly product:

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Hi Everyone! I am a guest blogger participating in Domestically Challenged’s Blogspot Spring Fling Event You can check out her blog here…

So back to the title of this post. What I can not live without…

…body mist. It is so very wonderful AND it has so many personalities’ uses too!

I have a story! So let’s flash back to the sixth grade – that would have been 19XX, ahhhh you didn’t think I has actually going to tell you did you??? There was a girl, we will call her Karen for this exercise, that always smelled ‘flowery’ and all the boys LOVED Karen! I have to admit she smelled good…for competition that is. Now I was a bit of a tomboy so smell had never really mattered to me until THAT year. So began my many years of searching for a smell that worked for me…I tried soap, shampoo, hairspray, perfume, lotion, you name it- I tried it! This one was too heavy, that one to musky, THIS one you could smell from across the room…oh the frustration. It wasn’t until the late 90’s that I discovered body mist. It was perfect, it was light, and I loved it.

So I have a love for things that smell good, but are light.

Now back to the many personalities’ uses of body spray. I use it for lots of things, not just my body. Let’s see- I spray my clothes to freshen them up, any room in the house OR furniture for that matter that needs a lift, great for hot days in the sun for a quick spritz to cool you off, and finally- ummm it’s great for those shoes that I refuse to wear sock with…My mom is shaking her head right now…

Now I have tried all brands, but my favorite right now is the New DOVE mists. Good news is they are inexpensive at a whopping $3.89 at target. I dare you to try them- what do you have to lose??? It’s not like shelling out a crisp Benjamin for a perfume you may end-up disliking after 2-3 weeks. Soooo-go for it!

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thanks, cass! it was a pleasure to blog host you! and don't forget to visit sara at domestically challenged to see everyone else's favorite girly item.

so what's your fav? what can you not live without?!