Camping… nothing new to the Sanford family!
Our family has enjoyed camping from the start of its existence. One of Mark and I’s first dates was camping… in December in Northport, Alabama… we thought it was fun. We were silly and in love. You’ll do anything when you’re in love. Like tent camp when its near freezing outside!
Then after our first child (Emma) was almost 3 months old, we sold everything we could and moved to Oklahoma. We lived in a travel trailer and called it home for 2 months while we worked my parent’s seasonal Greenhouse business in Tahlequah, OK. Those 2 months were some of our happiest times and began our love for a camper of our very own. We had plans to relocate to Northwest Arkansas that spring/summer and once we moved to Springdale, AR that ended our short but fun camper living.
For 4th of July we went back to Tahlequah to visit my folks and camp at Lake Tenkiller. Emma was 6 months old and we were tent camping. She wouldn’t go to sleep that night and I got the bright idea to put her in our suitcase. I took all of the clothes out and placed a pillow inside it for a cushion and she loved it. It was like a bed her size!
Our first real family vacation with Olivia added to the family was when Mark took us camping for Mother’s Day in 2011. He had just bought a little boat and we wanted to take it out on the water. We tent camped that weekend and many memories we will never forget from that trip, good and bad! That trip confirmed tent camping wasn’t for the faint of heart and I needed a camper!
Later that summer we bought a popup camper. It was cute and fun for the first night, but wasn’t my dream camper I had been hoping for. We went to the Illinois River this time and stayed at Diamondhead Resort. It was right after Labor Day weekend and no one was there. It was nice and quite. We had a great time with my parents who came to have dinner with us and fish in the river. The next night we had some other friends come visit and we played lots of games and had a great time. I LOVE how the outdoors fosters fun, play, adventure and togetherness!
We soon sold that little popup camper and not too long after that we sold the boat. There was a weight off our shoulders that both were gone but there was also a void in our hearts as well.
Almost 3 years later that void is filled to the brim and running over! About a month ago we purchased our very own camper! We had planned to get an old one and flip it, (I’ve been watching way too much Flipping Rv on cable) but I was set on getting a bunk bed room for the kiddos. Just so happens we found one, it was new, a good price tag, and we GOT IT!
This weekend we plan to set out on our first adventure in the camper…
I’ll let you know what memories we make.
And of course it is already stocked with oils and bamboo diffuser
Happy Camper
– Ashley
