Beachin' It 2016

Last year we took the first of what we decided would be an annual beach weekend.  The beach was actually what started our interest in getting a camper.  We were really wanting to go to the beach, but couldn't flake on medical bills to pay the astronomical price of staying at the beach, so enter our little camper.  Among our camper's many uses, it allows us an affordable way to treat Clayton to a beach weekend.  That kid LOVES the water.  Unfortunately when we went last year, the surf was too rough for him to play much on the gulf side, but this year was a different story.  Lucky for Clayton because the loves not just the water, but the surf.  Anyhow, here are some pics from our stay at our little spot in Perdido.

The view out our camper door.

I love this look I see on Clayton's face from time to time.

Spying the waves...

Getting ready...

And go!

And when Dad tries to get me out of the water...go limp.

And of course our girl waited for us to return after each visit to the beach.

While we enjoyed this place the last couple of years, I think next year we will move to a campground a couple hours further east.

Craziness, Campers and Carly

Cancer scans. Dog breeding. Camper renovation. One month summer semester coming to a close. DIY landscaping and house projects.

That's just from the last two weeks. We will be doing more scans to investigate liver lesions in coming weeks and George's summer session wrapped up so we have the rest of the summer free.  Been working on painting lattice under house last week and trying to landscape the backyard...by myself...because George doesn't care about a nice looking yard...not even little bit.  And this heat has been miserable so my progress has been sloowww.  But I've made some...

It isn't just about having a nice looking yard though.  It's about having a Clayton proof yard.  Clayton doesn't understand things like dog poop is gross; so he doesn't watch to avoid it on the ground and if he steps in it he doesn't associate it with gross and will wipe it off with his hands or rub the bottom of his foot on his other leg, etc.  You can see how that can get really not fun for me.  So it's 30% about working towards a well groomed yard and 70% about designing designated dog-poop free Clayton play areas and paths.  It's taken two years to get as far as I have, but I'll keep chipping away a little at a time.

Macy came in heat so we've been spending a lot of time at her boyfriend's house.  So.Excited.For.Puppies.

Aside from making puppies the most exciting thing has been our camper renovation.  I'm almost done stripping factory decals, then a good cleaning and roughing up and then PAINT!  Already got my paint and waiting on good weather next week.  Here's my color scheme (paint chips and our new awning):

I like classic so that's what I'm going with.  Going for this pattern with my colors.  

As you can see the old awning was shot...

The new awning is such better quality and more appealing aesthetically too.  Some local folks helped us find an affordable option since our finances are super strict.  It was actually a Sunbrella camper awning on clearance from a past season. So it ended up costing less than ordering the fabric alone would have.  Then when the size wasn't just right, they altered it in no time. 

I have also been reading Carly's Voice and it is great.  Carly and Clayton are nothing alike, yet with so much in common.  I read her dad's words and I hear my own thoughts as a parent to a child with autism.  I know there are plenty of families with Autism around, but I don't personally know them, so thus far our autism journey has been as lonely for me as our cancer journey once was.  Reading this book is such a comfort.  Here are a few moments from the book that spoke to our life in so many ways:

It was irritating, destructive and unstoppable. "Ssshhhhh," I would say, but it came out more like, "Stop, God damn it."

What simple solution could there be to stop a thirty-pound child from hurtling her body full force against a wall?

Carly couldn't engage in many of the diagnostic tests they tried.  She didn't follow multistep instructions or tasks nor could she speak to explain what was going on inside her body.

Rather than enjoying Carly's childhood, we were consumed by the tedious task of pushing her from one doctor to the next.

I was beginning to feel like Haiti. Or Sri Lanka. A place where natural disasters just start coming and don't have the good sense to stop.

We rejoiced at small wins such as her learning how to hold a sippy cup, sit still on a chair for ten minutes during music time and sort blocks by color.

It felt like a humiliating medical procedure with our private parts exposed in the chilled air of the examination room as he pored over our tax returns and reviewed the expenses for raising Carly.

But over time, even these simple words disappeared.  I was thoroughly disheartened when meaningful words where mastered one week, then lost the next.

There was some relief in the delusion that she didn't understand the sights and sounds swirling around her.  But Tammy and I always felt as if we were being shunned by a clique.

Mothers are suppose to have limitless patience, but I know all too well that this isn't true.  Tammy was drained.

Though my life often felt like I was bailing water from a foundering vessel with a teacup, I believed that if I was determined enough, consistent enough, patient enough---I could bring order to the chaos.

It was like living with a raccoon in the house and there were no signs of her growing out of it.

There was so much I wanted for her, simple things, impossible things.

It seemed like there was always potential for a little more bad news, a few more challenges.

Autism was a thief...It stole energy and money and patience.

We are not part of the autistic child's domain, nor are we fully part of society.

This sense of self-imposed isolation was often a topic of conversation between Tammy and me.

I'm not even halfway yet and this book just speaks to my heart.

I only know how this books reads for me with the challenges in my life, but I would think it would be a good read for anyone hoping to better understand the world of Autism.  If you do read the book I will disclose now that one of the biggest differences between Carly and Clayton is that Clayton has always been happy and always laughed (of course he has grumpy days and can have extreme tantrums but generally speaking, happy).  I guess that was our gift for his always being sick too.

Camper Chronicles: Part I

A few months back, I mentioned we got a small camper off of craigslist January 2015.  We did this for two reasons: we wanted to be able to travel and have fun for cheap; and if Clayton and I were going to have to spend a prolonged period of time somewhere due to his kidney issues, then we wanted our own space to serve as our temporary home.  We've spent plenty of time living out of hospital rooms and Ronald McDonald rooms, so a camper all our own would be a huge step up!

The back story:  So we entered into the world of RVs/campers knowing we knew nothing about them.  So when we found our craigslist gem, we paid a local RV repair company to come inspect it for us.  They did and they told us of the few issues that needed attention and told us as long as we took care of those now we wouldn't have any problems.  So we were satisfied that our gem of a (old) camper was indeed a gem of a find and we purchased it.  We then paid the repair shop to do the repairs they said needed to be done based on their inspection.  Again, not yet knowing anything about RVs we felt more confident in their ability to inspect and do the work than our own.  Well they kept it for WEEKS never even starting on it.  When they finally did start, the total $ was way more than they originally said.  As in double without a real good explanation as to why.  But they came recommend by many many people and we didn't want to make a stink.  I should point out here that we were not dealing with the chain store repair shop, but rather the local guy.  You know...trying to support local business and all.  Eventually we got our little camper back and went on our merry way.

The day we brought it home.

We noticed almost immediately, that one of the windows had a leak despite the fact that everything was suppose to have just been resealed/repaired, etc.  But it appeared to be a small leak.  Well, George didn't want to break into that project before our trip to Disney last October so we waited.  Then it was the holidays and then hunting season and George's school.  So fast forward to May when we finally got into it.  Well, well, well.  We were in for a nasty surprise when we went to remove and reseal the window.  The whole freaking wall was wet and rotting underneath the vinyl wallpaper and luan.  George and I know that we put off the window repair, but not only was one of the leaks coming from somewhere other than the window, but it was obvious from the extent of damage, that the repair shop had seriously missed and/or neglected something important.  Needless to say, we were furious with the repair shop, but didn't turn to them, because after what we discovered and our previous experience with them, how could we trust them to do it right?

So much to George's dismay, we opted for the DIY route.  George would have loved to patched it and sell it as a hunting camp camper to someone and get a new camper.  Alas, a new camper is not in our budget.  So in addition to the immediate area around the damage we had found, I twisted his arm convinced George it was in our best interest to remove all of the wall paneling we could that was easily accessible (not behind floor to ceiling cabinetry) to check for leaks elsewhere and put things back together right.  Anyone who has owned a camper that didn't cost an arm and a leg can tell you that they aren't always well put together and wallpaper can be wrinkled, bunks not secured properly and other random things. So with a wife forcing his hand by doing demo herself some coaxing, we proceeded to essentially gut our camper with the exception of the kitchenette area and the bathroom.

The front corner is where we found a leak that caused additional rot near the window.

See the black stuff? That use to be a wooden support.

I maintain that we still found a gem of a camper though.  It was clean, from a good home, a stellar price, no smells and at the time of purchase had minimal water damage, that had it been resealed properly would not have turned into the problem it became.  I think the wall damage only became as bad as it did because the repair shop did not reseal the camper properly.  And note to future RV owners and RV owners who haven't learned this lesson, vinyl wallpaper covered luan hides problems very well.  Very well.

So anyhow, that was the back story, which brought us to our DIY repairs and our yet to be completed Glamper.  We removed rot, sprayed/killed mold (on damp framing), replaced wooden framing, let things air out for a while, replaced insulation, put up new luan and are painting, caulking, trim work etc.  The inside is finally almost done!  I was going to glamp it up with beadboard, but in an effort to stay true to the lightweight character of the camper went with the lighter thinner luan instead.  

Last framing to replace!

Luan going up.

New insulation and new framing where needed.

Gutted bunkhouse area, being put back together.

Priming.

More priming.

And now that we are getting the pieces put back together, the little bug is ecstatic.

I'm telling you this kid loves his camper like nothing else.  He loves that when we go camping and he has mom and dad all to himself; no TV or chores to distract us from our #1.  I think he also loves the "clubhouse" feel.  With our camper only being 16 ft, it is very much like a clubhouse.  George and I love it too though.  The day we discovered how bad the damage was we literally spent the rest of the day depressed.  It sucked the wind right out of our sails.  So we are all excited it is almost done.

Right now we are replacing all the outside trim, scraping and resealing the front and back seams on the roof, reinstalling and resealing the window we had to remove, resealing all the other windows, look for anywhere else that needs to be sealed and we are going to replace the awning (got an awesome deal on a new one).  Oh, yeah...and after all this DIY, I told George I am going to repaint it too.  I'm sure I just made a few folks cringe at the idea of painting my own camper, but I got this and it will be wonderful when its done.  It'll be like a brand new camper and once all is said and done we will have spent no more than $600 at the very very most.  Everything we are doing would have costed thousands if we paid someone else to do it.  At $90 - $125 hr for labor, we are saving oodles and oodles of money.  And none of what we are doing is really hard.  It just takes a little time and we have been working on it little by little as we have time.  Learning the structure of how a camper is built in my opinion is a valuable takeaway too.

Anyway, just something we've been working on.  When the inside is completely finished, I will take before and afters and give everyone a peek at our glamper. :)