Home away from Home-Our Life in a Camper

(We recently winterized our camper. Reasoning for the cover around the bottom)

Multiple times I have mentioned about our home away from home, aka Our Camper. Or is it the other way around? Anyway… Here it is. A little look into our life as we eat, sleep, work, play, and grow as a family. Our Life in a Camper.

WHY

Back in May this year, we decided it was best for us to invest in a camper. During fall 2016, my husband started working as a welder/pipe fitter for our local Union Hall in Huntington, WV after he graduated college. The union is capable of sending their members anywhere from local, out of state, and as far as they’d like. When he first started there, he worked his way up by completing weld tests and then they sent him to his first job which was fairly local. When that job finished, they called him for a second job and we jumped at the opportunity to go out of state. Without knowing me, you’d probably never guess that I have been in the Navy for almost 8 years just by looking at me, but I have. I have deployed, lived far away from home, lived at sea, traveled, and been many places folks don’t even think about visiting. Nothing scary, thankfully. So every time my husband gets the option to work out of state, I make sure he jumps on it! So we went with him to his first job site and we knew that staying at campgrounds were going to be the cheapest and best option because we never knew when they would be finished with the job. The first job site was in Carrollton, OH and we brought his family’s pop up camper. If you’re thinking about staying in a pop up camper with a child who can walk, I don’t recommend it. It was way too small to stay up there all of the time and I hated that I didn’t want to because of that. I wanted to be there with him, but it was uncomfortable and hard with our son. About a month into it, we decided we had to upgrade to a bigger camper. So we did. And by the way if you didn’t know, buying a decently priced camper is not hard and it can be pretty cheap if you look around. It was the best investment of our lives!

HOW WE CHOSE OUR CAMPER.

If you decided to invest in one, you definitely have to figure out what you will need and what kind of lifestyle you want. First thing we had to think about was the load. We just got a truck for Alex and his truck can only pull so much load. Next was about our son. He doesn’t co sleep, nor do I want him to. So it had to have at least 2 rooms. Then we thought about our second baby which is still imaginary. (We are not pregnant, yet) If we have two babies, we need room for a toddler bed and a Pac n play (when they second doesn’t co sleep anymore). Kingston will be old enough to sleep on the bunk beds with side bar. Maybe. And we also needed the kid’s room to be wide enough for toys. Next, we need a camper with a bath tube (for Kingston and future babies). And last but not least the living/kitchen area has to be wide and big enough for Kingston to play and run. Him running in a pop of camper, was a busted head waiting to happen. I had a lot of anxiety. There were more things we thought about, but I was focused more on the family part of it. I had recently became a stay at home mom, and I had to think about my sanity and comfort too. It turns out there are campers that fit my needs. I had never really knew anything about campers (I’m a tent kind of gal) so this was all very cool and surprising to me. And the price…. It’s actually affordable. These can be your homes for goodness sake. And now this one is for us.

ARE WE GOING TO SETTLE SOMEWHERE?

Besides being where my husband is, we got the camper for multiple reasons. We want to travel and see new places. Being able to take our camper is such a benefit, because I’m military and if there is a recreational military campground, they are way cheaper than staying in a hotel or any other campground. I get asked a lot, what we are going to do when my son starts school? Where are we going to settle? Are we going to move back home? Okay first off, I’m a planner. But not a planner for years to come. My son doesn’t have to go to pre-k until he’s 4. And there are learning centers for children in all states. He’s only 19 Months old and I’m not even thinking about school. So to everyone that asks me that, ask me when he turns 4. You may or may not already have the answer by then without asking. As for settling, I hope we never plan to settle. That doesn’t mean we are going to keep moving place to place. My hope is that we consistently travel and visit new places. As for moving back home that is something we can’t decide until we are in a position where we think it’s time to have that conversation. I know right now we have no thought about living in our home town the rest of our lives, but things change as you get older. It becomes more than just a place, it has sentimental value. I know I didn’t really answer any of those, but that’s the best answers I can give at the moment. Even if we are just here for my husband’s job, it’s nice to get away from a scenery that you've seen your whole life.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE HOUSE

I know when things happen at the right time, everything usually falls into place. Since I separated from Active Duty to Active Reserves, everything has happened this way. Almost, perfectly. Even when I worry that it’s not going to, it does. So we planned a year ahead of time and thought what a perfect idea it would be if my parents were able to rent this house and call it their own. Before we lived in our house, we lived right beside his families land renting a house from a neighbor. Alex was supposed to inherit the house from his grandpa and sadly that year it was given to him before he passed away. It was the same year that our lease was up and Kingston was only a few days from being due. Happily though his grandpa, got to meet baby Kingston. We knew that at the time and till now that we wanted to live out of state somewhere, even if it was just Kentucky or Ohio. (We live in a tristate, so these are super close). So we moved into the house and stayed for about a year while Alex has just started his job with the union. And then come that next year we could let my parents move in if everything worked out. There were moments where we didn’t know if it was the best decision and times where we didn’t think it would go as planned. But here we are, it all worked out. I love that my parents live there and I know they do to.

CURRENTLY…

We are in Connellsville, PA. I had been to PA three times in my life before & all three were with Alex. We went to one my military friend’s wedding, to see and for me to meet his cousins, and to help pick up a machine for his dads store. Now, we are back. And this is our home for hopefully the next year or two. We have been here since October, maybe earlier. It’s hard to keep track.

OUR DAY TO DAY

It’s simple, and our goal is the one day have the both of us home taking care of Kingston and future kids, but until then it’s like any normal day. Alex goes to work until 5:30, and then I get up with Kingston. Depending on how early he gets up, sometimes we will lay in bed together for about an hour and then I will make us breakfast. After breakfast we play until he lays down for a nap and that’s when I get myself ready for the day. Usually around 11-1. Then we have lunch and if it’s nice outside we got out for about an hour to two and play. By then it’s around 4. If we don’t get to go outside, we do activities, and depending on how we feel, sometimes we lounge around. At the moment I don’t have my car with me so I have no vehicle to take him anywhere unless Alex rides with someone. We are planning to bring my car up here after Christmas and the New Year. This will give me access to take Kingston out and about throughout the day and we are thinking of letting him go to a learning center here for a 1-2hours 1-2days a week. I recently started on this blog and I love doing it, but I would love to go back to a job where I can work a flexible schedule, and continue to do this, and also be a full time mom. My military is only part time. Which I am currently writing about in another post.

DO WE LIKE IT?

Yes, we love it. Now, yes we would like to travel more, but we just got it this year and we have yet to take it on a vacation type stay. But we have already been able to live at two different locations and it’s an opportunity we wouldn’t be able to afford if we went the hotel route or rented a house. I love that it’s small enough that we can pick up and leave any day. I have to clean every day because our dog sheds but it’s not too big where it’s a hassle. The kitchen is wonderful. I do not like clutter, we have just enough storage areas to put things. As long as we are taking out the things we don’t need or aren’t using at the moment. The important things is that we get to see our favorite person every day and when he comes home and Kingston runs straight to him yelling, “dada”, it’s the most wonderful thing. They are what make this camper a home. Wherever they are is home.

Here is a peak into our camper