Happy Campers

You will tell from my last post that we finally had to say goodbye to the old kitchen, so all meals are now prepared in the caravan - apart from the dinners which have so kindly been donated by some lovely, lovely friends taking pity on us.  Thanks to: The Kersleys for being the first to invite us round for a lovely dinner; Kate, for both a delicious shepherd's pie and chicken curry; The Coles for having us round for a yummy roast dinner (and letting the girls use your bath!); and our neighbour Pat who popped a blackberry and apple crumble (my favourite!) over the garden fence one evening!  We really are well equipped in our lovely van, but we'll never turn down the offer of a home-cooked meal with friends.  It's the washing up that proves trickiest in our tiny sink.  But I've devised a system to accommodate shifting everything round at various points of the day, due to the fact that one work surface is used for both the draining board, the kettle & toaster, and preparing packed lunches!

 You can see that the awning now contains our old fridge/freezer, much bigger than the tiny caravan one.  This makes planning meals much easier.  Still lots of sorting out to do though.  One day at a time.

 We've also had to abandon the old bathroom after the radiators were drained and the boiler failed to continue heating the hot water tank.  But, it has to be said, the caravan shower is much more than the trickle I feared and even washing hair is not too arduous, as long as you're not too slow and the warm water supply turns tepid.  Thankfully the hot water can replenish itself in less than 10 minutes, but we generally aim for no more than two people showering per morning/evening.  A bit of planning involved.  Thank goodness we can still use the house toilet when possible, but I've become quite adept at emptying the caravan one down the house drain (about every 3-4 days).  Nice.  New rule: you must tell a grown-up when the 'toilet full' light turns on!

It's lovely how the girls are really excited to be planning the design of their own new bedrooms.  I heard Emma recently turn the page of a Homebuilding magazine and exclaim: "Ooooo - cushions!" as something pretty took her fancy!