I finished up Grade 3 this week and Elites gymnastics! I am excited for summer and camping!

He said

This week I—hesitantly, so—dove head first into some repairs on the trailer – ones that had to be done in order for us to get out for the next trip this coming week. The trepidation from these came from the fact that it involved wiring and electricity. The biggest thing I have found in my research about trailer and RV reno projects is that the wiring can be a headache because it’s always in hard to access areas, and you’re at the mercy of whatever wiring the previous owners did, and whether they were done correctly. The added level of difficulty to this repair was that I would need to learn how to remove and install rivets – the preferred method for attaching things in fibreglass RV’s.

The good news is that here I sit on the finished side of the repair this week having being able to master both wiring and riveting! The riveting especially opens up the ability for me to tackle some more wants in the trailer – most namely the shelves that sit above the dining table that converts into our bed. Two years ago the Mactac that someone had stuck to the wood ply shelves began peeling off in the heat. Danielle, Emelia and I—all pickers—had been working away at the loose pieces to the point now where we have to actually pull the shelves down in order to get them completely Mactac-free and ready for a coat of paint. Now that I am a regular rivet pro, I can easily (and excitedly) tackle this task. And even better is that riveting skill will come in handy when we want to install the press-tin backsplash in the kitchenette!

But, back to the taillights… Having Monday and then Friday (Canada Day) off this week, I had two days to make sure we could get the tail lights fixed. Monday became focused on removing the old fixtures and lights and then picking up the new submersible LED replacement lights from my new repair supply haunt in Princess Auto. I was able to find the exact parts I need and how to fit it into our light housing using my other favourite resource in the forums at Fiberglass RV. During this I became acutely aware that I was going to need to figure out how to remove and install using rivets. Thanks to some quick YouTube-ry I was also able to quickly resolve how to do that task and before I knew it I had the fancy new submersible LED lights into the old housings and  mounted back on Wolfie. I was very happy (as Danielle will tell you) with my new learned skill of riveting, basically had plans to rivet anything and everything… thankfully wisdom won out.

That left wiring. Having already used up all of my Monday off, that would have to wait until Friday. I was able to get up and take the day at a slow pace and enjoy a mild sleep-in. But, after Danielle was up, breakfasted and Emelia was down the street to play with friends, it was time to dig in to the task I was regretting most. It took a crap-ton of trial and error, and just under three thousand and eight swears, but four hours after beginning, we had fully functioning tail LED tail lights on Wolfie and we were repacking her with all the camping stuff. It was a colossal weight off my mind as I feared that we were going to have to try and rush-find someone with electrical expertise on RV’s and pay them to help get it sorted out so we could in fact go camping. We were able to dodge that bullet.

With all that out of the way, all that was left was to start planning for our next trip out in Wolfie where we will be headed back to Presqu’ile Provincial Park and to meet up with the Jornitz family to camp for a week together. That meant that this week we had to go reap the rewards of some forward thinking we did three weeks ago that would give me some beer for camping much more economically and equally fun way: brewing our own. Three weeks ago Danielle and Emelia started the process and this week was the time to go can the beer we made. Thursday night, the three of us headed over to Brewhaven for a good, ole night of beer canning. We all had a lot of fun, and Emelia especially took it very seriously and was our lead can top installer. And good news she loved it so much because she and I have a date to go do the same this Friday to pick up the cider Danielle made for herself.

So, here I sit—on the front porch, no less—on a beautiful summer night, knowing that this past week I accomplished more than I thought I would, and we’re in a perfect place for the upcoming trip out in Wolfie again. Just three days of work and a little bit of planning and packing is all that sits in our way. This time next week, there will be campfires, laughter, and S’mores in my week ahead. That’s a perfect place to be, really!

She said

What an incredible weekend. The weather was perfect and it was filled with lots of time with friends.

With Emelia now officially done grade three we have our girl home for the summer. To officially kick off summer vacation we had Canada Day which meant we and the day off together to celebrate the holiday. As John has mentioned the big task we had to take on was the daunting task of rewiring the external lights on the trailers. It took much of our afternoon to finish it. Both John & I (mostly John) worked together to get the job done so we were very grateful that Emelia was able to spend the afternoon with friends so she could enjoy her afternoon while we focused on the work. Once the trailer work was done and it was repacked we could shift gears.

A few weeks ago we were invited by one of my client’s home for a fun Canada Day celebration. I adore their children and the parents have become an extension of our family so we were thrilled to celebrate with them. We arrived around 7 and the children were off playing instantly while the adults all chatted away. The night was so much fun, Emelia loved playing with Presley and Reece and the other children there and we had a lot of laughs and a couple drinks around the fire. As the sky’s darkened we were ready for the big event, the fireworks. Tom and Norma have the perfect vantage point to see the downtown fireworks, without the crowds. After the fireworks it took a fair bit of convincing but we said our good-bye’s and got a very tired little girl to bed.

Saturday morning came and it meant we had to give John back to work world while Emelia and I took care of some things around the house. Once we had our errands done it wasn’t long before her friends were at the door and she was off playing with the kids down the street. Before our one neighbour (who happens to be one of my clients) knew it she seemed to have half of the kids on the street happily playing in her yard. The kids had an amazing time for sure. The day flew by and it was a great day for sure.

Then we come to today, possibly the biggest highlight of the weekend for Emelia. Today we were invited out to Ipperwash Beach to spend the day with her best friends, Anna and Grace. They bought a cottage out there 3 years ago and this is their second summer spending much of the summer up there. We always have a great time when we go there. The cottage is a short 3 block walk to the beach so we spend most of our days swimming in Lake Huron. The girls just love having Emelia up there, because in spite loving having a cottage they really miss seeing their friends. We have already hatched plans for their next visit up later this month and this one will include a sleepover so Emelia and the girls are super excited!

Well that was the weekend, it was so much fun, productive and filled with time with friends and family. Summer perfection! Now to plan next weekend which is the start of our first full week of camping, I am sooooooo excited for this trip, this is our week with our camping friends and a full week together as a family! The countdown is ON!