Our new investment

If you didn't see my announcement the other day, we decided to make an investment this week. This fall, I have a lot of shows that are out of the area. Most tif the shows are 3 days long, plus setting up,the day before it starts. We started discussing purchasing a toy hauler camper so I could have room to load all of my products and displays and be able to find a campground to stay at once I made it to our location. Most campgrounds run around $20-$30 per night where a decent hotel room is usually $100 or more per night. We decided it was in our best interest to go with the camper because between rooms and trailer rental, we could pay 6 months camper notes from what we would save renting a hotel in the month of October alone! I have to say, the size of this thing behind my suv is a little intimidating. I've pulled cattle trailers with livestock, regular trailers, u-haul trailers, boats, and even our big hay baler, but having this behind my vehicle is a new adventure! It's definitely longer and heavier than most things I've pulled, but it's not too bad.
I picked the camper up on Tuesday, by myself, since my husband was out of town for work. I made it home after taking the long way home along the interstate to get a feel for pulling it. Once I made it home, I then had to get this 26+ foot beast parked. The area where my husband wanted me to park it is a little precarious to get to because of different objects in the yard. While I can back up a trailer, it takes me a bit. I sometimes have a hard time judging distance. I am not as smooth with backing up as my husband is. He has had much more experience doing it than I have! Needless to say, after about 20 minutes of maneuvering, I finally got her in place without taking out the barn.😊
After I got her in place and unhooked from my truck (which turned out to be another adventure), I went to go pick the boys up from my mother-in-law's house where they stayed while I went for the walk through and pick up. You have never seen 4 boys more excited. It was like Christmas morning!

They couldn't wait to get in and explore. We got in and started adding some of the things that will stay in the camper like towels, toiletries, etc. By Thursday night, my husband had finally made it back and he immediately hooked up a receptacle in the barn so we could plug her in and get the a/c going. My oldest son came outside and met us in the camper as we were turning everything on, lowering the bunks, and putting the canopy out. To say he was giddy with excitement is an understatement! He is usually the level-headed calm one but he couldn't contain his excitement. He helped make beds and put stuff up. He wanted to sleep in the camper that night, but we told him he and his brothers could sleep in it the following night.
Friday came and all of the boys were in and out of the camper all day long. They explored, hid under the beds, watched tv, and just hung out. Jon Paul told them that we would all sleep in the camper Friday night. We all loaded into the camper and went to bed. It was a bit of a rough first night with Tristan waking up in he middle of the night in a panic thinking he was by himself in the camper. He came and wedged himself between me and Jon Paul and fell back asleep. A couple of hours later, Ethan-the youngest, came and wedged himself between me and Tristan. Trying to wedge 4 people in a short queen bed is not the most comfortable sleeping conditions.
Last night, the boys asked if we could sleep in the camper again, to which we agreed. Sleeping went much more smoothly last night. Today, we are headed to a local campground to try out