Camper upgrade

We have loved our older camper "Carlos" well... However two kids later we were looking to upgrade to a larger camper for our outdoor adventures! About a year ago we find our new gem; a 2001 Mallard bumper pull camper with a queen bed in the front and bunk beds in the back with one slide. I'm also loving having a functioning bathroom and central heating/air-conditioning.

Slowly I have been working on doing some improvements to make it more personalized to our fun family! So far it has gotten recovered cushions, new memory foam queen bed with headboard, back splash, fresh paint over the ugly wallpaper border, new curtains and artwork on the walls. What do you think?

Baby Girl's Nursery!

Here are some pictures of the pretty much finished nursery of our future baby girl. I love the teal, green and pink combo. In case anyone is wondering, the paint color I used was Sherwin Williams "tantalizing teal." (fun name right?). Enjoy!

Changes on the Horizon

Well, I have been failing at keeping this up to date for sure! However, we have some exciting news that a cute little bundle of joy will be joining us in only 6 (+/-) weeks short weeks. We have been working hard to get the nursery completed and the basement finished so that most of our big projects are done and out of the way so we can devote all our time to our baby girl!

I wanted to update a few photos to show a little bit of the progression. I am just glad that although my baby bump is getting rather large and she is trying to kick her way out... that I am done with that whole morning sickness thing. That was the pits and I had it up about 20-22 weeks.

8 weeks

18 weeks

20 weeks (trio of pregnant friends!)

20 week sono (baby girl giving us a thumbs up to let us know she is "a-okay")

28 weeks

30 weeks

Second wedding anniversary pictures

Next up: I will post some photos of the adorable nursery that is all ready for baby girl's arrival! :)

Festively Ugly!

My co-workers had an Christmas party this weekend and we had a blast. I am proud to announce, I was the winner of the Ugly Sweater Competition, this lovely Goodwill find from 4-5 years ago has not let me down yet! 

Merry Christmas!!

Camping Adventure!

We took a short trip to Loveland/Estes Park and surrounding areas at the end of September and it was a wonderful,  relaxed escape from our daily life. We had no itinerary, no plan, only that we wanted some alone time and test out the newly finished Jaywren travel trailer... aka "Carlos the Camper." 

Here are a few snap shots of our adventure, ENJOY!

First night in the camper = success!

Yum, pancakes and coffee!

I will admit, the outside really needs some work to match the inside. :/

relaxing.

As you can see we had a great time, we can't wait for our next camping adventure. Maybe by then we will have the outside of the camper spritzed up a little bit so we don't look like the young couple with the "crappy" camper!  :)

Maiden Voyage is Upon Us

Ta Da! It is finally here... we have been working hard and I can finally see the light at the end of the "Carlos" tunnel. We are leaving this afternoon to take Carlos on our maiden voyage camping trip to Loveland, CO. I am so excited!


Now I can't say that the 1972 Jayco Jay Wren travel trailer is completely finished, but it is about 95% done and totally liveable at the moment (we are still sans drawers and front cabinets to the counter top--Ryan has been procrastinating from doing this part of the project as I am not sure he knows how to make a drawer fit properly! lol)

Nevertheless, take a peek at the "almost" finished project and let me know what you think!

Finished Dinette Area

Finished back corner where the bench folds out for a full bed.

HAPPY CAMPER!

I love my rooster!

No drawers yet... but we will get to that!

Chevron is my favorite. And I love the personal touch of our dinette table.

Kitchen Counter/Prep area

The back corner is the bathroom turned closet!

Thanks for looking! Now we need to start working on painting the exterior. Happy camping. I will post some pics of our camping trip when we get back!

Slower than a Snail's Pace.

I wish I could say that the 1972 Jayco Jaywren (aka Carlos) is finished and ready to make its way out the back yard (where it has sat for the past 10 months), but our "little project" seems to be taking its own sweet time with getting finished. However, now that it has actually cooled down a bit here in Kansas (no longer 105+ degrees every day of the week--for weeks on end), there might be hope in sight.

We actually got some rain yesterday (desperately needed as we are in severe drought conditions), which provided us with some interesting information that our camper still is NOT leak proof. We found some water leakage near the back of the trailer by where we installed the new window, so we are quickly trying to remedy that situation with some clear sealant around all the of the possible entry points. We will let you know how that turns out if we ever get any rain again!

Otherwise, here is just a little update/photos on a few of the finishing touches of the camper...

 Our new dinette table. The updating process included cutting thick MDF board to the correct size and spray painting it blue to give it some color. To add a personal touch to the space, added a Kansas map and some photos of me and Ryan from our previous camping expeditions.  To seal off the top of the table to protect the map and pictures, we added plexiglass screwed down with washers. We though about sealing it with an epoxy, however I wasn't thrilled about attempting it because I have heard it can be a big project/mess. Plus, the added flexibility of the plexiglass is that we can change map/photos as we please.

If you notice our little "late night" mess up with screwing the hardware to the bead board IN THE WRONG SPOT... I am currently trying to think of a little fix for that. Any ideas?

MEET GEOFFREY THE GIRAFFE... the newest and quirkiest addition to the camper. Found him at World Market for under $15 bucks. I am in love.

Now we have somewhere for Ryan to hang his hat!

Cute print that will be going on the way courtesy of Elisabeth on Etsy. Visit her shop here: Poppy and Pinecone.

I guess I am going to have to screw all the decorations/artwork on the walls. I originally used 3M sticky tabs, however I have found with the extreme heat/change in temperatures of Kansas, THEY DO NOT WORK to keep things on the walls of the camper.  Anyone have ideas to keep things up on the wall through the heat and bumping down the road when the camper is in commission?

I gave the awning a fresh coat of white paint and painted the Jayco logo by hand in a fun shade of blue!