Repurposed Tarp

Last year, I made a terrible mistake of not checking where our canopy was in relation to our hot grill.  I usually don't have to worry about their distance because the canopy is propped up most of the time.  But this night was a windy one so I dropped the poles and tarp and laid it flat against the bus.  Sadly, I didn't tie the tarp down well enough and I didn't account for the distance when the hot lid of the grill is fully open.

After cooking perfectly medium rare steaks, I could not rejoice in my culinary skills because my depth perception was not turned on.  I lowered the lid and saw that I had burned a giant hole in the tarp!

We survived with the hole throughout winter, but Michael was itching to change the frame.  Notice how the beam is sagging so low between poles.  So since he was doing that, we replaced the tarp with a brand new, non-burnt one.  Coincidentally, Michael's motorcycle cover was in such poor shape that he had the idea to reuse the old tarp as his new motorcycle cover!  

Michael drapes and cuts ...

I pinned and sewed ...

Voila!

Wet no more.

Legos on a Bus

I used to think there was no way we could play with Legos on a bus.

But last fall, I succumbed and let them bring the legos into the bus.  It hasn't been too crazy because of the stackable boxes they can store their pieces in, but it required a lot of maneuvering when I was cooking and they were right in the middle of the galley creating.  Luckily, with this warmer weather, I can now just send them outside! 

Battle of the Wheels!

Now that warmer weather sometimes graces us, we're slowly rolling out our wheels!  Max sure does love to photobomb ... every picture.

Important Questions

Max to Simone:  "Who do you think poops more: Anna or Elsa?"

Children of the Forest!

Last night, I had some errands to do and I wanted to let the kids know their daddy was home if they needed an adult.   I got in the car to ride to wherever they were in the campground, but I couldn't see them.  I tried to listen for them and heard voices of tiny humans farther up the hill.  Sure enough I found the kids having an adventure amongst the trees.

(Simone is in the aqua leggings.  Max is the dark blue blur in the bottom left of the picture)

As in ...

Max has been learning to read! 

I finally found a good curriculum that matches his temperament.  But there are some days that he has just woken up on the wrong side of the bed and is grumpy.  Today was such a day.

When we did his reading practice, we came to the word "quit" and this is how he read it:

"Kwa ...i ...t.  Quit!  As in ,'I quit!'". 😠

Simone Films

Simone has been watching these videos via YouTube that feature her favorite toys.  It started with Shopkins and that led her to links for the Frozen cast which occasionally mingles with the Barbie crew.  She was inspired to make her own videos.  Here is her first compilation.  It's a bit shaky, so take a Dramamine before you view it if you're sensitive to motion sickness.