Campin~Amy

O Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T04:43:00.000-08:00

We picked up our Christmas tree in our 1958 bus, "Rusty" again this year. This is one of our Christmas traditions.

It wasn't as old this year as it was last year. We didn't need to ride with the propane heater in the bus this time. Merry Christmas

SunShine DayDream

2011-07-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

A quick post about Sunshine Daydream with lots of pictures. Sunshine Daydream is always on or around July 4th. I love this camp out because we get to camp right up in the trees.

Jonah got to bring his bike. Can you tell he loves sharks ( Jaws shirt and shark bike helmet on) with our bus Jaws ( who he named ) in the back ground?

The American flag flies high over the camp out.

A very relaxing / fun camp out. This is Mark asleep. (teehee)

Fun in the water.

The view from my bus. Pilot Mountain in NC.

My children trying to fish. They are so sweet and cute.

Lots of frogs at Sunshine Daydream. Jonah loves to catch them and set them free.

We eat soo good when we are camping. Here Dawnn is making Philly cheese steaks. Yumm.

Enjoying friends.

They shoot off the most wonderful display of fireworks every year. They are just gorgeous in the sky. I didn't get any good pictures this year of them though.

We stopped at Dan River on the way home and played in the water.

Here are my sweet children sleeping on the way home. :o)

NaturalBus 2011

2011-06-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

We've been going to NaturalBus since 2003, my son Jonah was only a few months old at his first campout, now he is 8 years old. This is the closest campout to us so it's easy to make. It is usually very very HOT, but this year the weather was wonderful and in the 80's.

NaturalBus is held at the Yogi Bear Jellystone Park in Natural Bridge, Va. It is a Fullmoon Bus campout. And every year some of the men find a bus, fix it up and raffle it off.

We camp by the same people every very, our moonie family. Check out my sweet bus twinkle lights.

The water is a must at this campout because of the heat. There is a water slide, a lake and

a pool. I usually stay in the pool. I am scared of the lake.

Jonah got to fish! He is loving it. He wants to be Jeremy Wade when he grows up.

Here is the raffle bus being driven after being won. I didn't know the winner. The money from the raffle goes to the Ronald McDonald House in Raleigh, Va.

Here is my annual picture of my children with Yogi!! They get their picture taken here every year after the campout.

We had a fabulous time. Weather was perfect, some of our friends were missing ,but we had a lot of them there! And the food was good as usual. Oh... and I slept like a rock both nights in the bus! I love sleeping in our bus , it is sooo comfortable and cozy.

The Farm

2011-04-25T11:25:00.000-07:00

We camped again this weekend, April 22 and 23 just for a bit. This is a photo of my best friend Dawnn cooking up some hash browns for breakfast. We always have to have some hash browns. We camped in Buckingham County at 'The Farm'.

T.R.O.M.

2011-03-07T04:32:00.001-08:00

The 2011 camping season has officially started. And I am just so happy about it. I don't like the months of December, January, and February. They are dark, cold, and we don't camp. But once March hits.... it starts to warm up a bit, stay light longer and camping season for us has started. We got TROMotized this weekend at T.R.O.M. Which stands for The Rides Of March.

The camp out is in Atkinson, NC on a river swamp. The weather was beautiful and 69 degrees Saturday.

The hubs, my Babe, cooks a lot when we camp. Which is an awesome plus because I hate to cook. Here he is cooking up some breakfast Saturday morning. I think these were the hash-browns. Yummm.

I don't have the official 'bus' count yet, but there were more then 27 there. This Winter my Babe installed a big screen and mounted the DVD player into the cabinet. Little Jo, pictured here in the front seat loves to watch movies on the way there and back home. We watched "Monsters vs Aliens" Saturday night curled up the bus bed which is so cozy and warm.

They had a big game room at TROM. With air hockey, a pool table and a ping pong table. Little Jo lived on the air hockey table all weekend.

I got lots of stitching done. Doing my two favorite things.... camping and sewing.

Here is a photo of our bus at night. For Christmas my in laws gave me some twinkle lights shaped like little buses. Perfect. They were so cute hanging up. TROM had a band there Saturday night too, but I didn't get pictures of them. I stayed back at the bus while my Babe went to listen to them by the camp fire. He said they were great!

TROM had some cool little boats available to take a ride in.

Dinner and door prizes Saturday night. We won a cool wooden VW sign. Little Jo wants to put it in his room. And those are cooked oysters on the table to the right. I didn't eat any.

Jaws ran great to the camp out and going home. A great way to start the camping season! And on the way home we stopped by to see family, my Babe's family. Here he is with his granny. We were so happy to see her up and out.

High Country Bus Festival 2010

2010-07-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

We made it to High Country Bus Festival this year. It is in Crumpler, NC on the New River. And is the BIGGEST campout of the year. This year there were 181 buses camped along a one mile stretch of river bank.

The weather was good, but hot. I believe it was around 104 degrees. But we stayed in the water. Tubing down the river and playing in the water. That's me down there tubing down river.

Here is a photo of the teens. My daughter in the middle who has a brake on her knee. She has torn her cartilage in her right knee this time, but the ortho dr said we could still go camping if she kept her knee up and on ice. :o) Which she did, but still got to have fun and tube.

A view only going one way looking up the river. It goes the other way too , full of buses camped out. It was a wonderful campout.

I didn't know my husband could hula hoop so good. There were hula hooping contest.

Jonah stayed on the rope swing the whole weekend. Our bus was right there so it was the prefect spot for him.

A shot of our bus, the blue one in the middle.

It took 7 1/2 hours to get there, we took the long scenic route. And about 6 hours to get home. Not having a/c on the way home was the only bad part of the trip. Everything else was fabulous. Dawnn, who camps right beside us made a roast in the Dutch Oven one night. Oh it was so good. And another night we had Philly cheese steaks for dinner. The food was awesome. We got to see a lot of our 'moonie' family that I miss. Can't wait until next year's High Country.

Sunshine Daydream 2010

2010-07-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

The weekend of the 4th of July. Our Independence Day. We went camping in Pinnacle, NC at Sunshine Daydream.

Me and my hubby with our bus in the background. You can be jealous.
Here's Jeremy making breakfast, I had started it but he took over. I love eating breakfast outside in nature.
Shelby enjoying her pancakes. Thanks dad.

Our American flag flies high....

We took a walk down to the lake.... I just love walking in the woods. You see all sorts of critters and plant life.

There were all sorts of different frogs at the lake. Green ones, black ones, and red ones. I am a frog/toad lover.

My sweet boy playing on a tree near the lake. He also loves to be outside. I can't not keep him in doors. :o)

our view....

Jonah shows Sandra his boo boo. She is the master DS player and shows all the kids at camp the tricks to playing. By the way Gary ( not pictured) won the pie eating contest.

This weekend was all about fireworks. And boys/men love fire and fireworks. LOL

Sparklers.

The fireworks were fabulously awesome!!!

Another wonderful camping trip with my sweet little family and our awesome bus Jaws.

NaturalBus 2010

2010-06-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

We arrived at NaturalBus which is in Natural Bridge , Va on Thursday evening. This is an annual Full Moon Bus Club campout that is pretty big , hot and crowded every year. It's one of the favorites to most.
I had been working on Chris's quilt since Oct of 2009. It's a reproduction of an old quilt he has had since college. I finally got to give it to him. :o)

Here are some of the girls ( really just a few). This was at the end of camping Sunday. Everyone was packing up and leaving.

This is the heart of it. Very packed and crowded. It was a maze to get to your own bus and I am not kidding. If you took a wrong turn you would end up at a dead end and had to turn around again and find your way out. By Saturday evening you pretty much had the maze memorized and could get in and out pretty good.

This is Jonah in his cot. He sleeps in a cot over the front seats...

Here is "Tent City". A lot of us put our 'pop up' tents together and make a huge area that is under them. It helps with shade , because it's about 1000 degrees there. And if it rains we all have lots of rooms to move.

Another view of "Tent City".....

Shelby had WiFi there. :o) Happy girl. But she does have friends there too that she has been hanging out with and growing up with for 7 years now.

The pool to cool off. The pool was a life saver and so fun.

Our annual Yogi Bear picture. I have gotten a picture of my children with Yogi Bear every year we've come. Aren't they cute!

Hoo Rah 2010

2010-06-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

We camped at the Hoo Rah last weekend. It's a family campout that has been happening for over 30 years. In Buckingham County, Va. Here is Jeremy relaxing...
Shelby, (my daughter) and I playing 'chicken foot'.

I got some new twinkle lights I just had to show off. Shelby is brushing her teeth here and not happy that I am taking a picture of her. :o)

Jonah stayed in the water most of the trip.... my little shark boy.

We went canoeing and had the best time. I loved being on the water.

Here we are leaving.. we had to pass through the creek to get there and back. What fun.

We had a blast.

To Washington, DC for the day.

2010-03-29T05:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Washington, DC for the day yesterday. I love DC this time of year. The Cherry Bossoms are in full bloom. They are just the most beautiful.

My kids played in the tress. There was a sign that said "do not climb on the rail fence". But no sign saying they couldn't climb the tress. :o)

Both of my children have always be tree climbers. My beautiful daughter and my Indiana Jonah.

We went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Here is my husband's favorite airplane....

This one is the type that his Uncle Harvey flew in the war.....

Here is Amelia Earhart's plane. I think this is so cool.

My kiddos in the tress again. :o)

We got to spend lots of quality family time together.

Jonah in the Cherry Blossoms....

Until our next Adventure!!!

T.R.O.M. March 5, 2010

2010-03-06T14:50:00.000-08:00

TROM stands for The Rides Of March. It's a campout in Atkinson, NC. We didn't make it there. We started off around 10 am , but 2 1/2 hours into the trip our bus broke down for the 2nd time and the engine locked up. Poor Jaws had to be flat bed towed to Jeremy's grandparents house.

So no camping in March. I am pretty bummed. Tomorrow we are going to go for a bike ride here at home and have a picnic just to get out of the house and feel like we are sort of camping. We'll be out in nature.

Jeremy has already started to pull the engine out of Jaws. He needs to get a new one in her by April. That is when Everybus is. The 2nd biggest campout. :o)

Camp Sweet Camp

2010-01-25T04:55:00.000-08:00

I am just so ready for 'Camping Season' to start.

EveryBus 2oo9

2009-10-27T13:15:00.003-07:00

Camping in Oct. At EveryBus , 2oo9. Greensboro , NC. Here is our campsite. We're in the blue bus.
Chris Slaymaker played our song. So we got up and danced.

Emme and Shelby have grown up together camping.

Jonah in his bed. Morning.
Shelby in her bed, still asleep.

2009-10-27T13:15:00.001-07:00

Pocahontas State Park, Va

2009-09-29T12:55:00.000-07:00

It has seemed like forever since we've camped. Our sweet bus has had a few problems so we had to miss 2 campouts. But 'Jaws' is on the road again. We decided to just do a quick overnight near home campout with friends of ours. Here is Dawnn pulling in. Their bus is named "Beach Bus". Can you tell she is so happy to be coming to camp?!!
Here we are together. " Jaws" and " Beach Bus". Setting up camp.

It's so good to be outside in the beautiful weather having 'special' lemonade. LOL

After dark, it started drizzling a bit , but we had the canopies. Lots of food / snacks / and drinks.

The boys roasting marshmallows. Yummy.

We pulled the teardrop so Jonah could have a friend come camp with him. We slept in the bus, they slept in the teardrop. Nice and snug, like bugs in a rug.

It rained, poured all night, which actually helps us sleep so good. But the next morning the camp was flooded. I let the boys play around in the water before we packed up and went to Dawnn and Scott's to make breakfast there.

I had to get a picture of my baby girl brushing her teeth. :o) Love you, Shel.

Packing up in the wetness. Not fun, but we did have so much fun camping.

Three Lakes Park ( photo heavy )

2009-07-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

The kids and I went to the park for a picnic the other day. At Three Lakes Park. They are a little aquarium there. So Jonah was in Heaven.

Check out this guys toe nails......

Here we have turtles spooning.....

Our picnic on our ant picnic quilt.....

Jonah watching out for the turtles....

An ant on the ant quilt, we didn't plant him there, he really crawled across the quilt.

Nature walk thru the trails. I think this is a really good picture of the kids. They are just so cute.

We came to a bridge so I had to get their picture on it.

Me acting silly with my girl..... that is Jonah's huge magnifying glass he brought on then trip.

Me and my boy..... in the woods...... having fun looking at nature.

one of the many turtles in the lake.

And Jonah found a frog in a hole. We laughed and thought it was so great because the kids GrandMolly makes us "frogs in a hole" every time we go visit her. And we actually saw a frog in a hole. LOL

no camping again.

2009-07-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

We had planned to go camping this weekend in NC @ a campout called " Sunshine Daydream". I had the bus all packed with blankets, clothes and food. We all got in the the bus so excited, but once we hit the interstate we heard a very loud pop and the bus started sounding very funny. Jeremy said " no camping this weekend." and he started back home. I was so bummed , it took me a good few hours to get over it. But we ended up having a good weekend anyway.

Jeremy and Jonah ended up playing with the climbing gear. My husband was a rock climber way back when, well.... before we had kids.

This is Jonah looking up at his dad who is way up a tree.

Jonah playing in the garage. Jeremy rigged the ropes up so he could go up and down on the rafters in the garage.
See my Yoda May ( beetle) in the back ground? Still having lots of work done to her.

Here is Jeremy repelling from a tree,

And Jonah wanting to repel so bad.

Family Summer Camp @ Bass Pro

2009-06-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

So we ended up not going camping this weekend. The Bus needs some work and it's above 90 degress out there with no lake to jump in. So I took my little guy, Jonah to Bass Pro Saturday and we spend the day there. Bass Pro is having a Family Summer Camp till June 5th. Mostly on weekends, but some of the things are happening during the week too. Check out their web site and click on the link for the Summer Camp.
Jonah wants a 4 wheeler real bad, but we just don't have the yard for him to ride around in with it, not to mention the money to buy one. :o)

The camp has classes on the half hour where you can earn pins. Went we to the "plants and Bugs" one and learned about ticks and poison ivy and more. Then we went to the " camping" one. Next weekend I want to take him to the "fishing" one and the " animal identification" one. They also are cooking S'mores at night for the kids, what fun. but we didn't stay that long.

He tested out some boats, he wants one of those too.

And did some casting in a fake little pond, he earn a little certificate for the Casting Pond Challenge, even though he didn't do very good. He had the BEST time.

The shooting range is free too!!! All the shooting you can handle, Jonah lasted about 3 minutes. Then he wanted to move on.

They have a photo station there too. They took the kids photo in front of the screen, then you go to the web site and download a free photo of you child on the front cover of 'Field and Stream'.

They had crafts for the kids, I am telling you it felt like we spent all day there. He painted a plaster of a animal track.

So had to the Bass Pro web site and check it out for the times!! It was so fun. Also check out www.bassprokidscamp.com.

telescoping marshmallow stick

2009-06-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Kristal , I have some cool retractable marshmallow sticks. She told me that Target had them in their $1.00 section. So I ran right over and sure enough... they are the coolest.

Bad photo but, here is one telescoped out.

Can't wait to try them out on our next trip. And they were only a $1.00 a piece. Thank you Kristal.

Natural Brigde, Va ( Natural Bus 2oo9)

2009-06-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Home from camping this weekend, ( sorry , these pictures are so out of order.) We camped at The Yogi campground in Natural Bridge , Va. The event is called " Natural Bus". Here are the kiddies on Yogi Bear. The one in the orange is my nephew. We have a picture of the kids every year with this Yogi Bear. The first one in Jonah when he was about 4 months old and we had him sitting up in Yogi's hand.

My best friend, Dawnn and I with the whole gang. You can see some buses in the background.

Here is Shelby, the bus is a mess inside at this point. It usually starts looking like a train wreack by day 2. With dirty clothes, towels, food containers, cans everywhere.

We ended up being packed in good , with I don't know how many buses, they stopped counting them after 50. The blue/gray one here is ours.... Jaws. Shelby sleeps in the pop top you see there.

Basil got a new tye dye shirt. The size is 0-4lbs and it was still too big for him, LOL. But he'll grow into it.

It rain the first night and and half of the next day so we were stuck in the bus just a bit. Jonah gets in his bed which is a cot above Jemery and I's seat. We had electric on the this trip so he is watching ' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and waiting for the rain to stop.

The campground put in a new waterslide that was a hit with all. Here is Jonah coming out of the red tube. I hear that the red tube is faster then the yellow one.

We had a great time camping and spending time with friends. After the campout we headed to a waterfall that we know of. About 3 miles from the campground. Here is a family photo next to the water fall.

And my nephew... playing on the rocks.

TN, Loyston Point with family

2009-06-01T17:13:00.000-07:00

We camped by a big river. It was beautiful and the weather was gorgeous every day. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Here is the whole family, this is my husband's side. All my in-laws. We have such a great time together. It helps that my in-laws are the sweetest people on Earth.

We didn't take the Bus this time, the trip was just too long. 9 hours there and 9 hours home. So we took the teardrop instead. It sleeps like a dream.

My daugther , Shelby got to drive a jet ski which 'made' her trip. She wants one now, hahaha.

Here is the littlest guy. He did great camping. He slept a lot and got held a lot.

I hadn't played "Clue" since high school or longer. And I won. Only because my sister in law, Becca got her 'rooms' mixed up. hahaha.

It was such a great trip. We celebrated my husband birthday with a cake. Roasted marshmellows , and ate a lot. Such a great time spent with the family.

Granny Grose's Buses 5

2009-05-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

We just got back today from camping....so fun. We camped up in Breavertown, PA. At Grose's Campground. There ended up being 72 VW Buses there. :o) And around 5 or 6 VW beetles. Two bands played, one Friday night and the other Saturday night.

Here is a picture of 4 buses. ( none is ours.) We just park where ever we can find a spot. We usually try to park next to the same people we always park next too because we have all become such great friends.

My hubby found a little friend. ( no harm was done to the snake) Jeremy let a bunch of the kids touch him then took him back in the woods and let him go. You should have seen him trying to catch it, it was so funny. That snake was MAD and Jeremy looked like the Crocodile Hunter jumping around it.

Here is the youngs that camped with us this weekend, Ashley. She is 5 months old. Not a big deal .... BOTH my children have been camping since they were 3 months old.

There was a cool little spring and pond in the woods. Jonah and his best camping buddy in the world caught tadpoles.

Here they are again in our bus wait for me to cook them up some hotdogs for lunch. Notice the back of my curtains?? The front of my curtains is the Heather Ross 'VW bus' fabric. :o)

It rained a bit Saturday night, but other than that, the weather was wonderful. It took us 6 hours to get there and 8 hrs to come home. Only because we took the scenic route back. We stopped in a flea market on the way home and I found myself an antique pincushion. I collect them.

Next Year will be Granny Grose's 6.

first post

2009-05-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Since we camp a lot I figured I would start blogging about our camping trips. We will be camping this weekend in PA @ Granny Gross's. More to come about that later.

Here is a photo from our last camping trip. We camped at Picture Lake in Va. This was the 1st time we had camped there and probably the last. The race track was right beside the campground so we had to listen to engines revving all day and night. But we had a great time anyway.
Here is our bus we camp in. Her name is 'Jaws'. She is the gray/blue one.

Very excited about my new camping blog, can't wait to post about our trip this weekend. :o)