Hello, Beatrice! {the beginnings of a vintage camper adventure}

Ladies and gentlemen, new adventures are about to begin.

Meet Beatrice.

Yes, Beatrice. Or Bea. Miss Bea is a 'vintage' travel trailer from some time in the late-ish 1970s. (Some may say she's just old. It's all in the wording, and she deserves the title vintage.) Isn't she just beautiful?!

Alright, I understand if you don't think she's particularly gorgeous, but think about all her incredible potential! It's endless, my friends. Endless.

You may be wondering why on earth we would decide to add a camper to the mix. It's a pretty simple answer, really. We want more time away together as a family. I grew up camping. Tents, pop-up campers, travel trailers. I have some really great memories playing tag in the woods with my siblings and swimming with other kids who were camping around us. I want our family to have that while we're still here in the States. I adore the idea of tossing our stuff in the camper, hitching it up to the Jeep, and heading up the shore for a weekend. No distractions like house chores or work calls. Just the fam & the camper in the great outdoors. Yes, please.

Pete & I cautiously approached a delicate topic a few months ago that eventually led to the purchase of this beauty. I'm not kidding when I say delicate, either. We started to tip toe around the idea of...deep breath...selling our motorcycles. I know, I know. It wasn't easy for us to even whisper the words.

with my beautiful bike in Bayfield on our 1 year anniversary - 2008

How many times have I ridden my bike in the last two summers? Two. Yes, two. It's just hard to make it happen with the kids. How many places do I go without them? And now that Pete is working further away, he can't ride his to the hospital. He's too tired to have the necessary focus to ride home after a shift. Thinking ahead, we'll be selling nearly everything in two or three years when we pack up for Africa. Bikes included.

After praying and talking and letting some time go by, we decided that we would be okay selling the bikes. Then we started exploring an idea. I had been dreaming of someday buying an old camper and fixing it up a bit. We asked why it had to be someday and started looking on Craigs List for a camper with a little potential.

It wasn't long before we came across an ad for our Beatrice. A couple simple pictures were included with the ad, which looked exactly like what we were looking for, so Pete called the owner for a negotiating chat.

The ad didn't list a price but mentioned he would be interested in trading for it. What did we have to trade? Our bikes. That was about it, so Pete mentioned one. The seller wasn't interested in a motorcycle but asked if we had guns for a swap. Well, no. No guns. Cash? How much cash would he want for it?

You won't believe how much he wanted. Apparently he had inherited this little camper but already had a really nice fifth wheel camper, so he just wanted to be rid of it. A thousand bucks. A thousand bucks? Done. We'll take it.

Two days later we were planning to drive to my parents' house, and the camper was on the way. We swung through to take a look, crossing our fingers and praying she would be right for us.

Just look at her! We couldn't resist her captivating beauty and incredible price. Yes, there are a few things that will need to be addressed, but we can handle that. We'll be using the money from the sale of our bikes to cover the remodeling. That's the part I can't wait to do. I have so many ideas!

Basically, we'll begin with fixing the roof and outside lights at a local camper shop. Then we'll have the ouside painted. We're thinking a powder blue with a white stripe, perhaps. Then, we'll move inside. The walls will be panted a very pale yellow (which is also the color throughout most of our house), the cushions will all be recovered in red, and we may go with new curtains in teal or a really pretty blue. We're basically going for a 1950s or 1960s feel.

I'm so looking forward to hitting up a few antique stores to decorate. I want vintage postcards around the beds, an old map or two of Lake Superior, cozy quilts, little salt and pepper shakers, and durable plates and cups. I won't go overboard and make it feel cluttered, since that's not our style anyway, but I do want to make it cute. 

Can you see my vision? It's going to be adorable! And completely campable, of course. We're already making camping plans with my parents and many friends for next summer. I plan to be in this baby as much as possible, even if it's just parked in the driveway. Ella already thinks of Beatrice as her very own playhouse. She's going to be great!

Oh, you're probably wondering how we came up with the name Beatrice. Pete thought of it! Ella & I agreed that it sounded just right. We plan to have her name scrawled across the back, like you see on the back of sail boats. 

Beatrice

Duluth, Minnesota

How grand.

Oh Ella, I feel the same way, my love. So many camping (and redecorating!) adventures await.

Did you go camping growing up? Did you use a tent or a camper? Do you have any memories that really stand out? I'd love to hear in the comment section below!

Apartment #7

After attempting to post this tour of our cozy abode for days, I think it might finally work! Ella is playing outside with our neighbor and Sam is taking his afternoon nap. A perfect time to write.

Welcome to Apartment #7. You can find us on the ground level right in the middle of our building. We are surrounded by families from all over the world who are working here at Tenwek. Two of the families have small kids, and there are more kids in the houses just down the grassy hill. It's a perfect set up for Ella and for this mama. I can sit in the house or on the porch while Ella plays and Sam naps and still see Ella as she runs laps around our building with the kids. I also spend a lot of time sitting in the grass with a couple of the other parents in the morning. We talk about all kinds of things, including what it's like to live here for years and years while raising kids. Obviously, that's very helpful information for me. Someday I hope to do the same.

On to the tour. We start in our bedroom. Here you can see our double bed with a mosquito net. We tie it up first thing in the morning so the little bugs can't get inside, and then we pull it down over us as we crawl into bed. It gets pleasantly cool at night, so the heavier blanket is just right.

Ella and Sam share the other bedroom, which is actually working very well. Sam sleeps in his little tent that we've bought just after he was born. We wanted him to get used to sleeping in it before getting to Kenya. It's far, far easier to travel with than a Pack n Play. And we can completely close it to keep the bugs out.

Miss Ella wanted to show off her room. There are her "Acita" dresses that she loves to wear. 

 

We are fortunate and have a very nice size bathroom. The pitcher next to the sink is for brushing our teeth since we can't use the water in the faucet. It would likely make us sick.

I'm so happy to have a bathtub! Giving baths in it is a little funny, since the water comes out a little muddy. Dirt remains in the bottom of the tub when we drain the water. Ella goes in so dirty that even having dirty water is an improvement for her, so it's not a big deal. I'm thankful it gives us nice hot water!

 

And this is our great big kitchen. Isn't it lovely?! I was quite pleased when I saw it for the first time. 

 

This is another view of the kitchen.

 

And here is our living room. This is the only room I've decorated since we're here such a short time. I wanted to make this a comfortable room, though, since we do spend a decent amount of time in it. I'll describe my simple decorations in another post.

 

Here you can see our table. We've had some great meals there. The door on the left leads to the kitchen while the door on the right leads to a hallway where the bathroom and bedrooms are.

  

And that is that! I do have photos of the outside, but I'm just hoping these will post for now. We are very happy with our apartment. It's much larger and more comfortable than we had imagined. That may not be in the case as we travel in February, so we're greatly enjoying the space we have.

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Do you have questions about what it's like or what we're doing in Kenya? I would love to hear them! I can either include the answers in future posts or write a post just with answers to your questions. Any question is great. You can either post them in the comments section at the bottom of this post or post them to me on Facebook. We do have a Little Olsen page that is dedicated to this trip. I'll put a spot there for your questions.

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And now it's starting to rain, so I'm off to play a few inside games with Ella.

Kwaheri!

goodbye

yup, bug bites on my face. oh well!

Photo Friday: Christmasy

I surprised Ella this week by setting up the Christmas tree one night while she was sleeping. We've decided to keep the decorating light to stay in line with the simplicity we're trying to incorporate into life. It works well since we really don't have a lot of decorations anyway!

our tree in front of the window so we can see the lights from the street at night

the mantle

the upstairs railing by the bedrooms - garland from Target last year

mesmerized by the tree

Miss Ella was delighted. And so was I.

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I almost forgot to share something that happened in all our sorting & boxing! A couple weekends ago we were packing the Jeep to be gone for the weekend and decided to donate a load of stuff at Goodwill on the way out of town. We dropped Ella off with friends in town, left the donations at Goodwill, and drove to the Cities where Sam was staying with another friend, Shauna. I had made cupcakes for Shauna and for the Christmas party we were attending that night but couldn't for the life of me find them when we were at her house. I looked and looked and looked. I was still baffled when we got to the Christmas party until I remembered what we had put the cupcakes in. A grocery bag. We had another grocery bag along with two boxes of stuff to donate. I asked Pete, "Love, how many bags did we donate at Goodwill today?" He responded, without question, that we had left two bags and two boxes.

I hope you enjoyed the cupcakes, Goodwill. They were my little Christmas treat to you. :)

A Very Berry 3rd Birthday!

It's hard to believe that our lovely Miss Ella turned three last Monday. Three years? Really?! I'm not necessarily one who truly buys into the "where did that time go?" concept, just because I love thinking back over all the amazing adventures and memories we've had together. These three years have been very, very good.

To celebrate our Ella, we sent out Strawberry Shortcake invitations to a fairly short list of family and close friends. I love planning parties, but we've had a few other things going on lately. (Hello, Sammy!) Anyway, Ella chose Strawberry Shortcake when given the option of a few possible themes. I was thrilled that she made the choice because when I turned three nearly three decades ago, I also had a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party. (I promise I didn't influence her decision...much.)

The party was on Saturday morning, so Friday evening Ella helped me do a little decorating and baking. Before the big event, I had a few people ask what her cake would be, thinking it would be something elaborate and theme-based. Well, it aligned perfectly with the theme, but elaborate it was not. Ella and I made a simple shortcake recipe that was eventually paired with fresh whipped cream and strawberries. Delish.

Ella helping make her birthday cake

I found the shortcake recipe on allrecipes.com. I picked it based on its simplicity and the high number of positive reviews. So glad I did! It turned out perfectly.

After Ella was in bed, I sliced strawberries and made strawberry/marshmallow kabobs while watching the delightful French movie Romantics Anonymous. Yes, it was subtitled. I usually only try to watch subtitled movies when I can provide my full attention, but this one was so light and fun that I managed just fine. I really only like to watch movies while simultaneously working on other projects. (Except when watching with Pete. He insists on full attention. I've gotten used to that, but only with him.)

We made a really big deal of Ella's birthday on Saturday, even though her birthday was actually Monday. We got her out of bed, plopped her in ours, and sang Happy Birthday while presenting her with a pink-frosted donut. She absolutely loves donuts.

Then it was time for the party! I prepared nearly everything the night before, so there wasn't a whole lot to do on Saturday morning besides getting everything set out. We were blessed with gorgeous weather and plenty of shade in the front yard, so we spent the entire party outside.

After baking the shortcake on Friday night, I came across these cute, plastic containers in the storage room and thought they would be a fun way to eat cake. My Grandma Scott found them at a sale sometime last year. I cubed the cake the night before and then put a dallop of fresh whipped cream and strawberries on top immediately before serving it.

paper lanterns in the tree

the bunting I made for Ella's party last year

bubbles, chalk, sunscreen (usually on the counter by our back door)

Lila - Ella's little garden girl

the giant horse my mom found at a sale. a huge party hit

Caleb & Sammy

Miss Ella's cake

Cousin Maira liked the whipped cream

Papa Scott (my dad) & Pete

Nana Scott & Sammy

Mama Bex & Sammy

By the end of the party, Miss Ella had changed into her ladybug dance outfit (from a garage sale, worn for Halloween last year) and was performing in the front yard. Should I have expected anything else? She loves being on stage!

My dear, sweet Ella. I'm so in love with her. Even in the moments when she is asserting her incredibly strong will, I couldn't possibly love her more. That will is going to get her places someday. So will her sincerity and compassion. Three years old. Amazing.

I love you, My Ella.