Merman-Shelby State Park- Tennessee

Merman-Shelby State Park is just north of Memphis and its pretty close to the Mississippi River. arrived at about 5pm Thursday night and got set up and ate dinner. Friday we slept in a little bit, then got ready and went for a walk to check out a playground for the kids. After that, we went back to the RV to pack a picnic lunch and head to see the Mississippi River up close and personal! Below are a few pictures! We had lots of fun. We expected there to be easier access to the river, but we found this little area and the kids had fun and were entertained for nearly 2 hours.  

The kids were a little confused when we told them it was a river. It looked like a lake to them because of the size and they couldn't see how fast it was moving until a tree branch went floating by.

After checking out the river, we headed back to the RV for Baby Boy to take a nap. We had dinner, met some people who had a 4 year old boy for the kids to play with. Then started packing up to head for Indiana the next morning. We didn't have sewage hook ups at this state park. It was our first experience without it.

We did experienced a little more attitude from Sweetie Girl. She's getting excited to see Grandpa and Grandma. She is having a little harder time controlling her emotions than we ever expected and it has caught us all by surprise.

On the Road Again!

Our first day of traveling consisted of driving out of Texas, through Arkansas and into Tennessee! We had a good drive. I had planned several activities for them kids and they were pretty content in the truck. Here we are, all happy travelers! Snacks were my friend! 

 Playing hide and seek with their blankets! Baby Boy passed out for his nap shortly after this picture. Look at that adorable face! I just can't get enough!

 Mini Pooch was hot, so she sprawled out on the arm rest to get cool. It looked extremely uncomfortable!

 I bought 3 of the Melissa and Doug sticker books and at first it seemed like it was a flop especially for the boys. Later that day though, they realized they could put the stickers on the windows and it opened a whole new world. They aren't really stickers, they're more like window clings. Notice the only area Little Man can reach! He was having fun though and that's all that I cared about! 

More RV Fun

We've been having lots of fun! This post will be about the last week or so that we were in Texas.

When Little Man was 10 months old we found out we were pregnant with Baby Boy and I was nervous. They would be 18 months apart and I wasn't sure how I felt about them being so close together in age. Then Baby Boy was born 3 weeks early and they ended up being less than 18 months apart. They are the best of friends and love to play together. Below is a picture of them hugging and saying they love each other. I love it so much! It was a lot of work when they were little, but I love that they are close enough in age to be attracted to the same things! 

We read to the kids every night before bed. Sometimes we're each reading stories at the same time! Here's The Hubs reading to Little Man and Little Man petting Mini Pooch. One thing that I've noticed since being in the RV is that all the kids like to play with and snuggle the dogs more. They were always so distracted by everything else in the house. They pretty much ignored the dogs.

                         

I went to Family Dollar one day and picked up a package of squirt guns and we have had some great afternoons filled with squirt gun fights. This one below happened while Daddy was working, so he wasn't involved. We had a blast though and can't wait for Daddy to be able to join in next time!

Someone missed their name and ended up falling asleep on the couch and it was too cute to miss snapping a picture!

We've been attended Soma Church. It's a Saturday night church, so we were able to get up one morning and go for a walk at a near by park! We had lots for fun and The Hubs and I got a chance to each go for a run!

Before the recall on Blue Bell Ice Cream, they carried it at a few of the grocery stores in Colorado, but they never brought it back, so we were sad. We came back to E. Texas and were worried we wouldn't be able to get it in the larger containers, but luckily they sell it in smaller containers that we can fit in our tiny RV freezer! I am now in my happy place!

We went to the Brookshires Wildlife Museum and saw an incredible collection of taxidermy animals, and an old country store. They also had a gift shop and an amazing play area with a fire truck, tractor and train that the kids could climb on. The best part was that all the play structures were under big permanent tents so we were in the shade the whole time!

Afterward, we made a stop at Chick-fil-a for lunch and the kids got to play some more! We all slept well that night! Everyone was worn out!

Sweetie Girl LOVES America Ninja Warrior! She looks forward too it all year and literally spends the entire show this enthralled! She hopes that it is still on when she grows up so she can go on the show! She's been trying for the last few years to get Daddy to go on the show. He's talked about it, but hasn't done it yet.

We enjoy cooking and I was a little nervous how well things would turn out in our itty bitty oven. Besides needing to adjust the level of the rack, we've had pretty good success! Here are some garlic knots that I made for the kids! They were a big hit!

Some of the full timers here at the RV park started a community garden and it was right behind our site. The kids loved to go out and help. Below are a couple of pictures of them helping pick potatoes! They almost filled a 5 gallon bucket and got to keep some of the spoils! Seriously, my kids have never been so exited to eat potatoes! Can't wait to help more or plant our own garden! 

The youngest kid at the RV park besides our 3 is 10 years old. They were given this little pool filled with clothes and since their youngest is 10 and a boy, they passed it on to us! The kids had a blast playing in it and it helped them stay cool on a hot day! 

Attitudes have gotten better and I think we're settling in a little better. We're anticipating our trip to Michigan to visit family! Sweetie Girl was in Michigan during the summer when she was 1 but every other time we've been has been when it's cold and snowy. They boys have never been in the summer, so I'm really excited for them the experience Michigan in the summer! It truly is an amazing place to visit in the summer! You should all consider planning a vacation there! Will keep you updated on our travels! 

RV Living

Here I am, over a month in our RV and just now sharing pictures of the rest of the space. I already shared pictures of the kids room. Check it out here if you haven't read it. We've made some changes to the kids room. We took their beanbags to storage, at least for the summer. In their place, we put our homeschool file box there. I thought I had a picture of it, but I'm not seeing one now. We got ours from Walmart. You can find it here. We also put a fabric bin for hats and will be storing their backpacks there. 

Below is a picture of our table. We use it for eating, school and extra seating when watching a show. The Hubs also works from this table most days. Under the bench seats, I'm storing my sewing machine, serger and a small amount of my sewing notions. We keep pul-ups and wipes under there as well and could probably fit a few more things. Under the other bench is more homeschool stuff, crafts, coloring books, and a few other misc. things. The table can also fold down into a bed if needed.

*Note: The lighting isn't great because we are under a tin roof. We haven't had as much sun as we usually would. The roof has seriously been a life saver since it's been monsoon season here in TX.

Here is the door to the kids room. On the wall beside their door we'll eventually be hanging our dry erase calendar above the ugly wallpaper strip. Below the wallpaper, we'll hang the kids chalkboard. Our now Shark vacuum is stored back there and The Hubs fan is living there for now. I may try to re-organize this area, but it's working for now.

Below is the couch area. This folds out to a bed. Doesn't seem very comfortable, but we probably won't ever use it anyway. There is also a picture of our entertainment center. Our homeschool stuff originally got put on the floor, then we moved it into the top cabinets and now we have relocated some of it to the kids room and some under the table benches. Now, we're storing printer paper, cords and some blankets up there. 

We had a larger TV in this space, but swapped it out for a smaller TV and extra storage. Our DVD player and Roku live under the TV and the TV is mounted from the top of its cubbie. If you look closely, you can see one small family picture. It's currently hiding some cords. We'll work a little more on that space. On the shelf below the TV we have the printer and space for computers and tablets. The Hubs is building a shelf to set in there, so that everything has its own home. We're thinking about taking the stereo out and maybe adding more storage in that space. We have DVD's on the right and random items on the left. The left cabinet is only half a cabinet with the space cut off at a diagonal, so it isn't super useful.

Here's our kitchen area. We have lots of storage and we can also attach a table to the counter for extra storage. There is actually more storage than in our tiny kitchen in the house. I've successfully made cupcakes, and garlic knots in the oven! The fridge space has probably the biggest thing to adjust to, but we've fit a surprising amount of stuff. The fridge keeps everything cold and the freezer does an awesome job of keeping everything frozen.

                                   

Here's our tiny little bathroom. The towel shelf was there when we bought the RV and it's helped with storage. We have a folding stool for the boys to use when they need to use the potty and we brought our potty seat from the house. We'd like to get a different potty seat though. One that is easier to clean. I thought I would hate the tiny bathroom, but since only one person can fit at a time, I've actually had more privacy than in the house! 

                               

Here's our bedroom area. We're still working to get this all organized. For me as a mom, my personal space is the last area that gets tackled. We have most of our clothes under our bed and then we each have a small closet on our side of the bed. Mini Pooch has her bed on my side of the bed.

 Here are some pictures of the shower  and sink area. As you can see, it's really close to our bed. I was concerned that our bed would get gross from the sink and didn't want to use it, but the kids have been really careful not to make a mess and we only really use it for brushing in the morning and evening and an occasional hand washing. Otherwise we use the kitchen sink. There is a closet beside the shower where we can hang other clothes and jackets.

It doesn't all look pretty, but we've survived for over a month in our RV. We've constantly working to make everything more usable. We'd like to hang more pictures and decorate a little more. We've considered painting, but haven't decided one way or the other.

We're currently gearing up for our summer of travel, so we're trying to downsize a little bit more so we have extra space if we get things from Grandparents and Great Grandparents. Baby Boy will have a birthday while we're gone, so we'll be getting some presents for him. 

I'm working on another post that will include pictures and information about some of the things we've been up to recently. Stay tuned for that post.