campversary 2009

we bought our first home! ok. not really, but we did buy a 1979 VW kombi camper!!!
and, we lived in it this weekend. that's right, i, KIRSTEN, went camping. more surprising, i loved every second.

this trip was to celebrate our second year of wedded bliss. It was perfect. nic is perfect. daphne is too. we had a great trip and plan on making many, many more family memories together in our bus! Now, there is lots of pictures and this is a long post- i'm warning you. but read on, you can do it.



daphne did great on the trip. the drive to lava hot springs was about 2.5 hours. but, we can only go like 60 mph so that may be why. but, she was great on the drive and while were camping too. The first night, we all slept up in the pop-top bed. Yes, the three of us. It was a bit tight and when i woke up at 5am i was feeling super clostrophobic and weird. so, we made daphne a bottle and ourselves some hot chocolate and then we went back to bed. daphne and i on the bottom bed and nic up top. getting up at 9 felt great.



Then, we were off to the hot springs. well, not the actual hot springs (because they are hot tubs- no babies allowed) but to the lava hot springs pool and slides. not a great day for the pool. not a great day to be outdoors actually. but, we pressed on, road our bikes the 1/2 mile to the pool, paid $16.50 and enjoyed about 20 minutes splashing around with daph in the indoor pool. then we spent another couple of hours there at the pool, in the grassy area as it sprinkled and we ate lunch. we decided it wasn't looking like the rain would pass and if it did, we had our hands stamped and could get back in so we headed back to the campsite.


daphne took a nap and nic and i played 5 crowns, uno and speed on our little table. the camper is equipped with a stove (where we made each of daphne's bottles all weekend, it worked great!) a refridgerater (which we think we need a new part for... it didn't work) a table, 2 beds (sleeps 4) an extrenal shower, a sink and lots of storage. we keep on discovering new, awesome things.






I feel like this is the perfect father's day/anniversary trip for the binghams. when nic and i had been married for maybe 2 weeks we got in a fight (gasp!) about camping. He mentioned casually that he would like to have a truck at some point. For some reason i kind of lost it and was like: oh my gosh, we're going to be like a camp-y outsdoor family! THIS IS NOT WHAT I WANT!!! but, to show that i had kind of gotten over that- i gave nic a tent last father's day. but, we've yet to use it. the bus really takes away most of the things i hate about camping. sleeping on the uncomfortable ground, rocks, getting the tent all dirty, rain/leaks, feeling damp in the morning ect. the bus is just divine- that and the pretty decent bathrooms at our campsite made this a great trip.

5 am on day one. nic took some awesome
shots of the bus.



On Saturday Nic saw something outside and ventured into the rain to find a baby beaver! it was all sad and whiny and lost. it found a little solace with nic's shoes. i was pretty afraid of it and thought it was creepy. kind of cute, kind of creepy.

daphne is brave and apparently, a beaver lover.

It was a great trip. happy anniversary nic, i loved this weekend but most of all- i love you. i love that we have every weekend {and weekday too for that matter} to spend together. it's always so fun when it's me and you. (oh and you too daphne)