Family Camping 2016

Summer vacation means it's time to go camping! This past weekend we headed up to Grand Lake, CO for some outdoor family fun.

Camping with a family takes some serious planning. This isn't our first time, so we already have all the camping gear we need. That just leaves meal planning and packing up the car. This isn't exactly a "how to" post, just a glimpse of some ideas I have and some I found online that worked for me.

Our Meals:
Day 1 Dinner- Hot dogs and Brats
   When you first get to your campsite you have a lot to do with setting everything up. Any easy dinner is best, no need to add to the stress.

Dessert- S'mores!

Day 2 Breakfast- Scrambled eggs, sausage, and biscuits
    Cooked the sausage and eggs on our stove. I forgot to take a photo but this was the first time I made biscuits over a campfire! I got a tube of Pillsbury Grands, placed them in a foil baking pan and covered with foil. Set them on the grate over the fire. Worked great! The bottoms got a little burned but that easily peeled off.

Lunch- Tortilla Chip Tacos
   I prepared beef with taco seasoning ahead of time and I added in a can of black beans. After the meat was cooled, I dumped it in a ziploc bag. This is super fast to heat up over a fire or on a stove. After meat and beans are heated up, just dump on some pre-shredded cheese, pre-chopped lettuce and I brought along some sour cream for me. Everyone can gather around and scoop up with tortilla chips. You don't even need plates!

Dinner- Chicken Parm Sandwiches
   So these aren't exactly Chicken Parm since my chicken isn't breaded but close enough. Like my lunch, this meat was prepared ahead of time and just reheated. I took chicken breast and cut up into small pieces. I seasoned it and cooked on the stove top with some onions and green peppers. Allow to cool and place in a ziploc bag. For both this and the taco meat, I froze them at home. It stays cold longer and helps to keep the cooler cold longer. I reheated this over the fire in a foil baking pan. Place chicken in roll with some cheese then toast over fire! These were so good,I think I'll start making them at home too!

My daughter wasn't down with chicken so she used the pie iron to make make a spaghetti and garlic bread sandwich!

Dessert- Apple Crisp
   Prep the crumble mixture at home ahead of time and place in a ziploc. I don't measure stuff but my mixture contains butter, brown sugar, white sugar, flour, oatmeal and cinnamon. This takes some time to cook the apples so start prepping this one same time as dinner. Cut up apples and cover with sugar mixture. Word to the wise...in the past I packed this in aluminum foil and cooked over the fire, occasionally flipping it over so it would cook evenly. Worked great. This year I placed in a foil baking pan and covered...it burned on the bottom. because of the sugar and maybe our too large fire. This one failed this year. I would definitely go back to the foil packet that you flip.

Day 3 Breakfast- Cereal or whatever you an find in the cooler while I'm packing!
   It's already time to go and check out at this campsite is 11am. Some of us had cereal and others decided Chef Boyardee sounded good. Anything fast and not a lot of clean up is good for me.


The Dollar Store has some great supplies you can use for camping. Here's what I bought there before we left:

• outdoor solar lights
• plastic table cloth
• foil baking pans
• kid toys(shovel & bucket)
• plastic spoons
• hand sanitizer
• glow sticks
• playing cards
• kid flashlights
• matches

There is wildlife everywhere here so you have to pack your food back in your car at night unless you want a visit from a bear. Rubbermaid bins are a perfect way to pack your nonperishable food. We also used another bin to pack and store our camping supplies.

Entertainment is essential with kids. It takes about five minutes for them to get bored. Before we left I printed them maps to color in for the license plate game and a scavenger hunt list. I should have also printed them a real map to where we were going so they could follow along the route. I can't tell you how many times I was asked "How much longer?" We've stayed at this particular campsite before(Elk Creek Campground) and we come back because it's perfect for us. Besides the perfect location right outside of Rocky Mountain National Park, they have awesome bathrooms, a game room, playground, and small stream running through the property. My kids had a great time panning for gold and trying to catch minnows.

Going on a long car trip? Make a seat belt travel pillow!

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Outdoor Citronella Candle

Quick 10 minute summer project for those of you without yards like me, or those of you who have glass bottles with no purpose.

This St. Germain bottle is from a craft liqueur made from Elderflower blooms in France. Of course the bottle is gorgeous, it's French!

I just couldn't throw it out and since there are more mosquitoes/sq. inch in Charleston, I needed an alternative to the citronella torches that repel bugs.

I purchased some wicks and citronella oil by Tiki at Walmart for less than $10 total.

Using a funnel I poured the Tiki Torch Fuel into the bottle.

To hold the wick in place I unfolded a paperclip and threaded it through the wick about an inch from the top.

Place the wick in the bottle with the fuel oil and fold the edges of the paper clip down around the mouth of the bottle.

When you light this for the first time it will crackle and burn off smoke but the smoke is what keeps the bugs away!

Please use caution with this, treat it exactly like you would a Tiki Torch, it's flammable and if knocked over could start a fire. If you want a more secure candle, I suggest drilling a hole through the lid and threading the wick through it.

I recommend it be used as a centerpiece on an outdoor table or on a quiet porch or out of reach of small children!

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My One Year Anniversary!!

A whole year has gone by already! I remember the first week I was trying to set up this blog, I was ready to throw up my hands and walk away. I didn't even know what HTML was and I could not for the life of me make this thing do what I wanted it to do or look the way I wanted it to look. I didn't regularly read other's blogs, and didn't really have and idea of the possibilities. The blogging community is full of creative, smart and talented people who (thankfully for me) will even share some of their knowledge with you. My modest little set-up here is nothing compared to some other's that I've seen, but I'm OK with that. I'll get there eventually and in the mean time, I'm have fun creating and sharing new things.

As of today: 

71  Total Posts

49,363 Total Pageviews

I've compiled my top 10 posts from the last year for your viewing pleasure. Just what you were waiting for right?

# 1 Pasta Fagioli

#2 DIY Barbie House

#3 Kitchen Table Makeover

#4 Hobbit Hole Birthday Cake

#5 DIY Kid's Shoe Repair

#6 Diaper Cake Tutorial

#7 Upcycle Hand-Me-Downs

#8 Grown An Apple Tree From Seeds

#9 DIY Memo Board

#10 Start 2014 On A Clean Note

Without followers, I'm just a crazy person talking to myself! Thanks so much for joining me here, for all the lovely comments, and for liking & pinning my content!

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Simple driftwood wind chimes

I decided how to show off my beach souvenirs from various vacations with this easy project and add some decor to my outdoor space.

First I gathered my supplies and the remnants of the beach I brought home from my last beach day. Of course being in Charleston, SC I am spoiled and have access to the beach all the time. The good thing about this project is that you could literally use any type of rocks, shells, sticks, beads, or even interesting coins. Just be creative and think of how you can use it to display those little things you or your child collect on hikes or vacation. 

I purchased a small candle holder ($1 from Goodwill) to use for the top portion to hang the chimes, a pendant charm to dangle at the end, and some hemp string to tie it all together. The wind chimes themselves were cheap plain chimes I found for $5 at World Market.

I disassembled the chimes first. Then I started by taking each chime and tying on the decorative items. I used sea glass from the beaches of Italy, driftwood from the beaches of Charleston, and shells from the beaches of Belize. After I tied on each item to a chime I hung the longest chime the lowest onto the  "hanger" fashioned from the candle holder. After this I hung each chime higher than the next forming a spiral around the circle. 

When I finished I took the metal pieces from the original chimes that create the noise and tied those on a long piece of string with the weighted pendant on the end. This string hangs in the middle and is what clinks against the chimes to make the noise. 

Now my beach treasures aren't sitting in a box forgotten anymore!

Project contributed by Tara

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Have you thought of getting away to the beach? I know the owner of this great rental property who still has dates still available! Visit Florida West Coast Rentals to get more info and check out all the amenities.

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Family Love Carved Tree

Carved Names Into Tree...

...makes a unique wall hanging

I saw an idea where someone had carved a heart into a tabletop and the idea for this project evolved from there. I've been wondering what to do with some huge logs we had left in the back yard from an old cut down tree. They've just been sitting there forever and I'm so glad I was finally able to recycle it into something fun.

Figure out the size and shape of wood you want.

After we got the cut of wood we liked, time to smooth out all those marks from the chainsaw. This is the hardest, but most important part. Remember, if you stain, it's going to creep into the parts you miss. The bark fell off the sides so I brushed off anything that was loose and just left it.

Mark where you want names with a pencil. Since I wanted the heart to be more prominent and also look like it had been there longer, I used a wood burning tool to go over that part. Then, using a knife, I carved out my kid's names. I wanted it to look like the heart was there first and then we added the kids names later.

When you have it the way you want, stain and polyurethane the whole thing(even the sides). I also added a saw-tooth hanger. Since the wood was a little soft, the tiny nails that came with the hanger to attach it were just sliding out. I had to use longer nails and then bend them up.

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UPDATE: Grow An Apple Tree from Seeds

Apple Tree Update

This is an update to my post from April about how to grow an apple tree from seeds. You can read that post here. I started with about seven strong plants and after giving away a couple, I have three left. One of the three(not pictured) is not as happy as the other two. I'm trying to figure out what to do with that one.

Let me start off by saying that I kill all plants. The fact that there are three still alive is an actual miracle! I can't really say for sure why some of these just wouldn't grow, but I have a theory. The seeds that I used came from two different apples. One was a Granny Smith and one was either a Fuji or Braeburn. I'm thinking one of these types was not good for this project or may have needed a different environment. I have no idea which was which because we had them mixed together.

My trees are different sizes because I was moving them around into different size pots. In my tutorial I said that the trees could be planted outside when they reach 1.5-2 feet tall, but I think I'm going to place them in large pots and keep indoors until next spring. I live in a dry climate and want to make sure they are very strong before I exposed them to the elements.

My family and I have really enjoyed this gardening project and are continuing experimentation with
more seeds we find.

Grow An Apple Tree From Seeds

Grow An Apple Tree From Seeds

Save your seeds next time you eat an apple to grow your own apple tree!

My kids want to plant every seed they find, so when my daughter dug the seeds out of her apple, I figured we could give it a try. 

Steps for success:

1. Allow your seeds to dry out for a few days
2. Place seeds in a Ziploc baggie with a wet paper towel. Place in refrigerator for about a month or until they start to sprout.
3. Plant seeds in small cup with soil and wait for some growth. Make sure soil stays moist.
4. Replant seedling into larger pot, one seed per pot recommended so they don't have to compete for nutrients.
5. When plant reaches 1.5-2 ft tall, carefully transplant outdoors in full sunlight, making sure there is enough room around for growth.

UPDATE: 3 Months Later...

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