Our camper's maiden voyage

We found a weekend in July and decided to take our trailer out for a spin. We wanted to go camping for two nights (for the first time). We hoped to go to somewhere like Estes Park or Breckenridge, but were naive and thought we could just find a camp site in one of those places without making a reservation. Luckily, we decided to just check right as we were about to walk out the door and came to find out that almost EVERY camp site in the whole state was full. I don't exactly understand why, it wasn't a holiday weekend or anything. Regardless, I'm glad we checked before we drove 2+ hours just to find out later . We figured we'd go to Woodland Park (just 1/2 hr. away) instead and drive around and hope we could eventually find one spot. We did and it ended up being quite nice, right next to a little lake we didn't know existed. Here was our little set up.

Nate got the kids each a headlight (flashlight you wear on your head) and they were thrilled!

Our camper sleeps 6 snuggly, but we weren't sure where we'd put the baby since I was nervous sleeping with her with all the sleeping bags etc. So Nate with all his ingenuity whipped up a little cradle that could be attached to the little counter (as you see above). Despite it looking precariously perched there, it is actually quite stable because it's bolted with big brackets to the side and back. Nate also made it collapsable with hinges so we could lay it flat when the camper is collapsed. I was really quite impressed, then he painted it white no less so it would be prettier. We just put the mattress from her cradle in it and it worked lovely.

Here's Nate and Kinners enjoying the tin foil dinners we made on the first night. We had a few more "hiccups" the first night as we discovered that the battery in the trailer was dead and that our lantern batteries were dead as well, but with a couple trips back and forth into town, things worked out.

Tyler and (a tired) Colton hanging out by the fire waiting for daddy to come back.

The next day we took a little hike to the nearby lake. This is Colton towards the end of the hike, pouting and "putting his foot down" that he was DONE!

We also drove to the Rampart Resevoir and while the kids and Nate played a bit in the water, McKinley had other plans.......

The resevoir isn't really for swimming, but there were a lot of other people playing in the water so the older kids were anxious to join the fun as well.

Tyler with the lake we discovered in the background

I love Colorado, always such lovely scenery every where you look, like this beautiful meadow...and a cute girl :)

There was this little hut type thing with fire places in it by the lake

McKinley's face summarizes how the whole trip went overall. Everyone had fun and she was an angel! We're crossing our fingers that our next two camping trips go as well. I'll let you know....