Our 1st Camping Trip

[Total Joker ... TJ 203]

What a FACE!!!

[momofmany...Christina 17]

I am making a list of comments as I read through.

1) What a lovely family! You all look like you love having fun together - my favortie thing about large families. :)

2) Love Tim Hawkins! Saw him love last year and am still giggling.

3) Excellent proof that camping with a baby is possible and fun!

4) Did the kids race bikes, golf carts, or foot races?

5) Glad you had a great time!

Thank you! we did have a great time. Baby was no problem at all.

Tim Hawkins will be here next Nov. Guess where we will be?? At The Fort! LOL Hopefully we can catch him another time.

It was just foot races. No bikes or golf carts. ^-^

[momofmany...Christina 17]

A coulpe of tips, try to get a set of wheel chocks that expand and use them between the tires that might take out some rocking.

You can leave the gray tank opened as long as you are hooked up to sewer less dumping that way, just close it the night before you leave to help wash down the stuff from the black tank :barf: this is what we do.

Thanks! We will leave the gray open next time. MY husband said that our whell base is too wide for the wheel chocks that go between the tires. Unless anyone knows of some that are wider?

:jumpforjoy :jumpforjoy

Glad you finally were able to use the RV!!!!!

Looks like yall had a great time!!!!

Thank! We did!

Great start. The first trip is always a learning experience, by July you will be pro's! It looks like you all had a great time!!

We learned so much from everyone here before we went that it wasn't too much of a learning curve. Hopefully it will stay fairly easy!

VERY NICE!!! Looks like ya'll had a blast!!

Thanks!

My goodness. How do you get such a BIG smile from such a cute little girl.

That TT is sweet! You guys decided to jump big. Congrats. :)

Thanks! She isn't always smiling. LOL Did you see the cheese rat picture?

[momofmany...Christina 17]

Looks fun! You a have a great looking family.

Thank you!! :heartsmiley:

Great TR! Looks like you had a blast. Our family loves Frankenmuth. We go every October. Talk of the cheese haus and bakery has my mouth watering!

I LOVE the bakery! Are you in MI?

Great report...Love your new TT. As dblr said next time as long as your hooked up to sewer you can just leave the tanks opened to drain. When will you guys be going to the fort with your new TT?

Thank you! We will be at the fort this October. :jumpforjoy

I love this picture! :heart:

Looks and sounds like you guys had a good trip! I hear ya on the trailer moving. It used to bother me when we first bought ours, and even for a couple of days after we got home, I had "sea legs" :)

The kids are adorable and that baby is growing so fast!

Thank you! I love this picture too. Breckyn is growing too fast, I don't like it.

[momofmany...Christina 17]

Glad to hear you had a great time!

Thanks!

every trip you will learn something new about your camper. We use those X-Chocks and they do help.

We haven't been able to find the x chocks to fit ours. Hopefully we can.

The first time camping and using a new RV is always the hardest.

It will get easier as you come up with shortcuts and ways to do things more efficiently.

I am thinking of making everyone their own separate checklist of things to do when we arrive and depart.

I am so glad your first went well. I know you were worried.

I can still tell when someone in the part of the trailer moves and I'm in bed trying to sleep. We have the X-chocks and I still get sea sick. ROFL

I thought I slept pretty well, but I came home super tired. It is probably becasue like you said, everytime someone moved, I would wake up.

Congrats on a great first trip! I know there will be many more. And just think, this was the first, so you know they'll keep getting better.

Thank you! I hope so!

[momofmany...Christina 17]

The only thing I can add to your story...Get a Camping Journal of some sort...and take some time to write in it your camping experiences, funny stories, things the kids did that you'll want to remember later...with all your children, it would be fun to sit around the came fire or picnic table (or on a rainy day inside) and let one of the kids read a page from the book "Remember that time "X" fell in that little creek.." or "LOL! (reading the page) Now I remember when we went to that cool campground in Gladwin and the hail was coming down so hard....) It's the little things we need to remember... Glad your kids enjoy camping...best memories are made camping!!

That's a great idea! I will do that!

Looks like a GREAT first weekend! So I assume you are pulling the TT with a full size van? We pull ours with a big Ford van...from what I saw in one pic looks like you have a GM van? How does it pull? You have a couple more kids than us, but I wouldn't want to travel any other way right now than a van. Spread 'em out! LOL>

Yep, it's a !5 passenger Chevy Express 3500. I think it towed really well, but I wasn't driving. LOL I'll have my husband post and let you know. I do love our van, it's tight with car setas though.

Looks like SO much fun! I can't believe how empty the campground was! Hope it's the first trip of many, many great adventures for your family.

Thank you!

[momofmany...Christina 17]

Those side slides will really take a trailer out of level. After a while you will realize how far off it needs to be at set up to compensate for the open slides. Not sure if you will ever be able to stabilize it enough to prevent the swaying with that many kids moving around. Keep an eye on the supports on the outdoor kitchen door. There have been some situations where the brackets have come loose. If your husband is handy, he may want to reinforce them before a problem developes. Re the trailer level, not sure how you measure it, but if you get some little stick on bubble levels at the campstore and put them in two directions on the trailer tongue it speeds up set up, and also helps measure how far off you need to be to keep the trailer level with the slides.

Great ideas, thanks!!!

Nice TR! Awesome looking family. We love the weekend getaways.

Thank you!

What a FACE!!!

LOL! A messy face!