Newbies

About 3 months ago I decided I wanted a camper. I've posted about this before and the end result is a 1995 Fleetwood Jamboree Searcher. It's a class C RV and that was a must for me because I wanted to have the cubby over the passenger and driver seats that the kids could have as their own. There is a TV up there and their pillows and blankets and I don't have to convert/make beds everyday. They can pull the curtain and it's their own little world. It's perfect.
Have we used it? You betcha! We took our maiden voyage to First Landing State Park. It was just on the other side of town so if there were any major problems we could just go home. For less than we would spend on dinner we were able to spend the night on the beach. We took food from our fridge, grabbed a change of clothes and off we went. Samantha Sue came along too so we didn't have to trouble anyone with watching the dog and she still got to keep my feet warm. It was way to cold for swimming but my kids didn't care. They were happy just being on the ocean- playing sand soccer, trying to catch a fish, watching for dolphins and collecting sea shells. They made friends with other campers and had fun digging in the sand together.
Kevin and I had fun just setting everything up and playing house in our new camper. We pulled out the awning, laid down the mat, lit the fire and sat around very proud of ourselves. Around 2:30 in the morning we discovered our error. We had left the awning extended and although there was no wind the night before, it had picked up and was flapping our awning around and banging the pole into the camper. I woke Kevin and we hustled outside to save the awning from being permanently ripped away. We were new at this so I had a flashlight held firmly in my teeth while holding the flapping awning and Kevin was trying to remember which mechanism to unlock first to get the thing down. The end result? We learned a valuable lesson and gained a 2 inch tear in our awning.
The next morning we looked out at the class A beside us. They had the USA map on the side with most states filled in and were obviously not new to RV travel. They had pulled their awning in and their chairs were folded neatly and stacked underneath. I continued picking up our blown over chairs wishing I had payed more attention to those experienced travelers.

The second trip we took was up to Ocean City to Whaley Town Campground. It was their St. Patty's weekend celebration so even though it wasn't quite camping season they had lots of activities. We all made charm key chains, played nightly bingo, searched for pots of gold and hunted for shamrocks.
Our campsite was right on the lake and Kev and the kids had a blast fishing. It was catch and release so when Tara caught the first fish the antics began. Daddy ripped the hook out of it's mouth and handed it to Tara who immediately dropped it shrieking "Ooohhhh!! Gross!" Daddy then gave it to Tyler trying to convince him that he really could put his finger in it's mouth because the fish had no teeth. Tyler put his little finger in it's mouth and tried to hold on like a bull rider at a rodeo. That flopping flipping fish won but it should have just hung limply. Once it hit the ground the boys began to kick it toward the lakes edge. The water was only an inch deep, so then they grabbed sticks and began to try and flip it out to deeper water. The poor fish eventually swam away. I just hope it lived longer than the 5 min I was giving it's life expectancy.
On that trip we had no wind so we pulled our awning out and even attached the clever little lights, broke out our chairs and kept the fire lit. Along with the usual marsh mellow cooking the kids also cooked their hot dogs on a stick. What did we learn? The kids definitely needed to bring their bikes. Both weekends the camping kids all had bikes and this campground was large so the walk back and forth to the activities was a good distance.

This weekend we went south to the Outer Banks. Grandma Judy was very excited to hear we stayed in Rodanthe since she had just watched the movie. We stayed at Camp Hatteras. This and the KOA are both pricey in season but we were also able to scout out other smaller campgrounds that are right on the beach, smaller, with a pool and 1/2 the price.
The kids were out of school today so we stayed Saturday night and Sunday night. I love the nights when we go camping because we sit around and play games like Uno, Rummy and Bingo. Having cable is also a nice feature cause the kids can watch Disney till they drift off to sleep. (Nobody said the Fureys are roughin' it when they camp!!)
Sunday I really wanted to take the kids up the coast, past Corolla and drive the beach in search of the famous mustangs that have roamed the beaches there for 400 hundred years. My DH was a little leery of taking the kids out to 4 wheel drive the beach when we have had so much rain. I finally bugged him until he relented and off we went.
The kids were very excited at the prospect of seeing the wild horses. Kev and I were a little nervous. Nervous enough that as we went through Corolla I added a new number to my phones contact list. A-1 Towing. Call me if you ever get stuck and need the number.
As we headed down the beach we stopped and collected a few shells and played by the lapping waves. We ventured a little further inland and began going up and down all the little side "streets". The kids were screaming and yelling like they were on a roller coaster as we climbed sand hills and splashed through watered out roads we didn't know if would make it through. The Jeep did great and we powered through the deepest of waterholes. It was fantastic!! As we were laughing through yet another huge puddle we saw them. Four ponies, wild and free the way nature intended, were nibbling on grass outside of someones fence. We pulled the Jeep over and wandered up close. I snapped pictures and the kids watched in awe. The ponies didn't mind us and just kept munching away. We hopped back in the Jeep very excited we had seen what we had been searching for.
We headed back beach side and drove until the fence blocked us from going further and headed back driving along the surf. We stopped at on point to see what was washed up and discovered many dead sting rays, star fish and even conch shells. I was amazed. These were the largest shells I have ever collected on the Outer Banks and conch shells were everywhere. I've seen starfish in Florida but never here. The kids were again fascinated and very excited. I was beginning to wonder where in the Jeep we were going to have room to keep all their treasures. We kept driving and just ahead saw 2 more ponies. One was standing at the crest of a dune almost like it was posing. The other was on the beach. My camera was again taking lots of pictures. (Baby Trey is fascinated with his wiener so he took it as his duty to inform everyone that the ponies were boys because they had wieners!!!) We drove away very pleased and excited to come back again in the summer to play by the water's edge and watch for the beautiful ponies. I'll post pictures when I get home.
There were no lessons learned this trip except maybe the realization that even if it's windy, raining or even a tornado watch, it's worth every minute and precious memories are always made!