First time campers!

What a fun weekend we had -- camping!  I grew up camping. Even when we went on vacation to other states, we camped. James grew up camping as well.  We've been saying for years now that we want to get a camper.  Our excuse  problem is that we just don't think we'd get enough use out of it to bother with maintenance and upkeep on it.  Rylee has been asking to go camping since this past winter, so we finally looked into renting a camper (James and I are done with tent camping days).  It turned out to be a great idea!

At first I didn't think I would be able to get past knowing someone else used it (same feeling I get when I walk into a hotel room -- gross), but it was so much nicer and cleaner than I had expected.  We brought our own bedding of course and lots of clorox wipes for cleaning...but honestly it was so spotless and clean I really didn't freak out about cleaning when we first got inside. It didn't smell musty like campers sometimes do either.  I was impressed!

We went to Pine Lake State Park in Eldora.  That's such a beautiful park with so much to do!  We went on lots of walks/bike rides on the many concrete trails and played at the very nice playground multiple times. The playground also happened to be a giant sand box, with nice sand toys courtesy of the park.

There is a beach for swimming, but it didn't seem warm enough to swim, plus Rylee and I were a little grossed out by lake swimming.  I used to swim in lakes just fine, but now I'm pretty leary of getting into lake water. We did see some swimmers though, as well as many fisherman and some kayakers. The lake is surrounded by tall trees - it's quite pretty!

There is also a place for tubing down the river near the park...we watched hundreds of people getting onto buses to be dropped off upstream.  Our camping neighbors were a bunch of college guys -- they did the 4 hour tubing adventure and said it was a must for us next time.

Another fun thing the park offered was movie night at the campground.  Kung Fu Panda played on a large screen after dark.  We stayed up to watch it Saturday night.  The kids loved it!  We just brought our chairs to it, but saw several families bring blankets to sit on and bowls of popcorn to eat while they watched.

We cooked suppers over the fire -- hot dogs one night and chicken/veggie foil packets the next. We also did one breakfast over the fire -- scrambled eggs with veggies and ham - Yum!  James and I both loved all the delicious food smells coming from the camp sites in the mornings. For lunches we just ate lunch meat and fruit. We kept all of our meals super simple so we wouldn't need to pack too much.  Our camper had a small fridge, so we only brought what would fit in the fridge.

Another thing we loved about this trip was visiting the town the campground was located near - Eldora.  On Saturday morning, in need of some coffee (we weren't sure how to bring that), we ventured into town to check out the local coffee shop, appropriately called, Love-a-Latte.  It did NOT disappoint!!!  First of all, the shop was adorable!!  Honestly, the cutest coffee shop I've ever been to.  Second, our drinks were amazing!!  I got a turtle mocha (chocolate and caramel) and James had a Tiger-something or other, which was white chocolate and caramel.  The kids got strawberry smoothies, which were equally as good as our coffee drinks.

After visiting the coffee shop, we went inside a few of the shops on the square.  With no intentions of buying anything (we're on a budget these days, remember), we came out with these 2 lovely items.

We aren't positive yet, what we will do with them....but the ideas are generating.  The best part -- we bargained them down to $15 total for the two.  I should say James did...I wouldn't have even thought to bargain!

When we left the downtown area, headed back to the campground, we saw that the visitor center, which happens to be an old train depot, was having some sort of event with a sign that said "Kids activities".  We decided to stop.  The depot had cookies and lemonade, so it was a great stop!!  We also checked out the old train car.  The people who were hosting were incredibly nice -- they gave us some information on the old depot and train car (and recommended a movie to us while we were there -- Central Intelligence -- she said it's hilarious).  They also suggested we go visit the farm museum on the other side of town.  So of course we did.

This was another great stop!  Lots of history.  The entire second story of the barn (which was beautiful by the way), contained thousands of old farm artifacts.  The kids enjoyed writing on the chalk board while James and I looked around. The hosts of this place were equally as nice and informative as the people at the train depot.  Iowa has lots of nice folks!  

We walked over to see the one room school house after we toured the barn.  I've been inside these old schools before, but this one just felt so real...I could actually picture myself having attended class here for some reason.

We were very glad we stopped into town and checked out some of the local attractions!

Late Saturday afternoon, while I was returning to my camp site from a walk, I saw my parents drive in to the park.  They joined us for supper, a walk and s'mores!  It was great to have company!  We decided our next camping trip will definitely involve more people; it's much more fun that way.

Overall, we were all very happy with our camping trip. The kids are already asking to go again!  When we got home, we had a couple of "birds" hanging out in our rock bed..... I think Grandma and Grandpa might know where they came from...

James would like to share his "healthier s'more" idea he came up with this weekend.  He sliced apples (into thin circles) and put peanut butter on them, then placed the melted marshmallow between 2 slices of peanut buttered apples....it was really good!!  (Sorry we didn't get a photo of them).

Feelings

A while back, Rylee was having trouble sleeping.  She was scared of monsters, the dark, coyotes, every noise she heard, etc. One night we tried talking to her about happy things before she went to bed. She fell right to sleep and slept all night.  We tried it again the next night and had the same results.

About that same time, James and I were discussing how we aren't much of "feelings sharers". I never really have been. We decided to change that, and to teach our children that it's good to share our feelings.  We are hoping that they will always feel comfortable talking to us about their feelings.

Our bedtime routine for the past few months has been to share our feelings.  After just a couple of nights, the kids actually started telling us they wanted to share feelings, without being asked.  We were amazed!  They always like to start off with "happy".

"What made you happy today, Mommy?" Wyatt's sweetheart always asks me to share my feelings first. I usually say the same thing to him every night. "Buddy, it made me so happy today when you pooped in the potty!"  I figure it can't hurt telling him that every night while we are still getting him comfortable with the potty. And really, it does make me happy!!  Fingers crossed, we haven't had to clean a poop mess in awhile now.  He always follows up with, "What else made you happy?" He likes to keep things positive.

Rylee on the otherhand, always wants to share her feelings first.  She, too, always starts with happy. She shares multiple items from her day that made her happy.  We also encourage her to share other feelings and more times than not, she will do so without prompt.  She uses frustrated and sad mostly. She also will tell me, "Mom, I wasn't mad at YOU when you wouldn't let me _____, but I was mad at myself."  I'm glad she clears the air :)

One of my favorite things she shared came the night after she'd been at a friend's house.  When I picked her up, she gave her friend one of her toys from the van.  That night she told me, "Mom, it made me feel really good when I gave Feylin one of my toys today."  Awwwe.....Melt.My.Heart.  We talked about how nice it is to give to others and how it makes us feel.  I hope she continues to remember that feeling.

We also talk to her about being thankful and we share things we are thankful for each night. She is a pretty blessed child and we want to make sure she stays humble and remembers to be thankful.

I am beyond glad that we started this bedtime routine.  Not only did it help Rylee with her sleep issues, but hopefully it will be impactful as they decide whether or not to be open with us as they get older.  And I also hope it's a nice memory they will keep.  Plus, it's just a fun recap of our day.

So...what made YOU happy today??

Less is More

"Less is more" has sort of been the motto around our house this summer, in so many ways. It all started when I finished reading a book about a celebrity I like.  In the book, she talked about meditation and what it does for her life.  I thought this sounded like something I wanted to look into further...so, I did.  I joined a meditation class and it's one thing I will never regret doing. I only wish I would have done it sooner.

While I was going through the class and practicing mindfulness at home, James started to notice how much calmer I was and thus, how much calmer the whole house was.  He decided to give meditation a try as well, and he joined the class too. We have both seen some pretty big benefits to this new practice. Mostly, we have both just chosen to live a simpler, calmer life.  Here are some ways we have been doing this.

Less Clutter.
Remember when I was really into minimalism??  Well, James decided to read my favorite minimalism book, and guess what??  He started decluttering like a mad man!  He is on board with me now and we both appreciate having as few items in the house as possible (okay, we aren't that extreme...but definitely making a big dent in our unnecessary items).

Less Television.
It has been several months since James or I have watched any T.V.  In fact, we got rid of the television in our room.  I've had a t.v. in my room since I was 14 or 15.  We are down to just one tv in our house, and it's in the basement, a place James and I rarely go. I have to say, I wasn't an ounce nervous about getting rid of the bedroom tv and neither of us have missed it.  We were barely watching it before that anyway...it was more of a mindless wind down thing at the end of the day.  Now, we both read books or meditate instead.  Speaking of reading books....James hadn't read a book in YEARS, but since April, he has read 4!

Less Food.
Guys.....James has lost over SIXTY lbs since January!!!  Yes, 60!  Since the beginning of this year!  It started with an unfortunate health issue.  He was having some intestinal issues and was put on a liquid diet for several weeks.  This jump started his weight loss.  Once the weight started falling off and he was feeling better, he decided to stay away from all the unhealthy foods. I'd been pushing for us to eliminate processed foods and sugar anyway, so now that he is on board too, our house is eating much healthier (well, the adults are anyway). We have been enjoying meal planning and James shares in the grocery shopping...I think he even does a better job of it actually.....and I used to HATE when he went to the store.  We have found so many new delicious foods we didn't even know existed! Not only is it easier to eat healthy, it's fun too!  We buy less food than we did before and grocery shopping is a breeze. We basically only hit a couple areas of the store. We are filling our fridge now, and not our cupboards. We also don't have to do much cooking as we eat a lot of salads and other foods that don't take much prep time.

Less Spending.
This has been a big thing for us this month. We've tried budgeting in the past, with little success.  We have been fortunate to be able to buy what we want, so we never felt much of a need to budget. However, one or both of us really likes to spend money and always has and we decided it was time to rein it in :)  After decluttering so many items from our house, we just don't need to bring more in. Last month, for fun, we tracked all of our spending. We had a ridiculous amount of receipts. 19 days into this month, with a budget and a goal, we have WAY less of them. I cannot believe how much money we will save at the end of this month....and why the heck did we not do this sooner?? I have always enjoyed Dave Ramsey's books and following his Facebook page.  James finally read 2 of his books and we have had fun discussing them together, as well as ways we can save money. We also have friends in their early 30's who followed Dave's plan and are DEBT FREE, including their mortgage!!  That's motivating....  

Less Activities.
Neither James nor I enjoy being busy.  Especially now that we have a new found joy of calmness. We have been keeping a shared calendar on our phones where we keep EVERYTHING going on in our lives.  We are trying to keep it as empty as possible.  If there is one thing on the calendar for a morning, we try not to plan anything for the afternoon or evening, even though we have time for them.  Keeping our time open has allowed us the freedom to do what we want when we feel like it, as well as keep us from getting that stressful busy feeling and our house getting out of order because we weren't home enough to tend to it. We don't like to make plans for the weekend if we can help it.  We prefer to let the weekend come and then we can decide what we feel like doing.  It's so much more relaxing for us and makes the things we do feel more enjoyable rather than like a chore.  That being said, many things we plan, we really do enjoy and look forward to.

Less Judging.
This one may sound odd.  One of the biggest things we've been learning in our meditation class (as well as the Yoga classes I've been taking), is not to judge.  This doesn't just mean judging others, as most of us tend to do, but judging ourselves as well. Whether it's judging our body or our thoughts, we spend a lot of time deciding if something is good or bad.  The reality is, if we just let it be what it is and be content with it, we feel a lot more calm. This is a hard thing to control, but we are both working on just accepting.  We also notice now more than ever when others are being judgy (either of themselves or others). It's such a new concept for us to be so in tune with our feelings and feelings of others, but it's helped us in many ways.

Less Parenting.
Don't worry, I'm not saying we let our kids go crazy.  Through our meditation practice, we've learned the value of letting the kids be their own people.  I have a tendency to try to control everything my kids do....make sure their clothes match, make sure their room is always clean, etc.  Rylee, my super messy child, has been trying to tell me "it doesn't matter" for a long time now.  I finally decided to roll with that attitude, and guess what??  She might be right.  I fought her for 5 minutes last weekend over a swimsuit issue....she wanted to wear mismatched swimsuit pieces to the pool and I kept telling her "no".  She said, "But it's MY swimsuit".....I let down my guard and let her wear it the way she wanted to .....and you know what happened???  Nothing. I didn't even notice she didn't match while we were swimming :)  Letting them have more independence, while definitely testing my patience, has actually been a good thing.  In fact, just a second ago, Ry asked if she could "not wear a shirt to bed".....whatever.

So, there's my brief little summary of what's been going on since the last time I wrote. Trying out some positive life changes. It's fun :)

Hope you're having a great summer too!