Kennebunkport, Maine.

When we drove cross country last summer we saw a whole bunch of RVs and kept saying — one day, that’ll be us! ha! I don’t know if that’s true, but this past weekend we got a little taste of the RV life and it was actually pretty enjoyable!

We toured RVs for the first time a few months ago and discovered you can rent them for a pretty reasonable price (like the same price as you can rent a house for a weekend) and so we thought we should probably try it before we buy it! We knew nothing about them… and still, I’d say — we have a lot to learn.

We chose one that seemed to fit our family (plus my aunt because she so kindly agreed to test out the RV with us!), chose a date, found a campground (Sandy Pines in Kennebunkport, Maine!) and waited… anxiously for the weekend to arrive. To be honest, for two weeks before we left I was STRESSED. I was nervous about renting it, driving it, being in it, sleeping in it, camping… you name it, I was worried about it. Once the day came, my stress levels were through the roof! But when we got it home and started packing it up, I started to get excited! Still worried… but also excited.

The kids were most excited about sitting at the table while we were driving, the bunk beds and the bed over the cab. Plus the thing had like five TVs… they thought that was amazing! We got a late start on Friday afternoon but once we were on the road (actually the highway, because the side streets were stressful) it started being fun!

We landed in Kennebunkport, Maine. It was a really cute campground with a general store, a pool, multiple playgrounds, and an ice cream place we could walk to. It was perfect for the kids (and me). Once we arrived, Sean got the fire pit going and we ate some dinner (pasta salad and s’mores!) The kids were amazed by the bright stars, the no-such-thing-as-a-bedtime thing, and just running around… anywhere they wanted.

When it was time for bed, Eva chose the bottom bunk and Javi and Lola slept together in the bed over the cab. All was going well until Eva fell out of her bed in the middle of the night. The amount of movement that happened when she fell… I thought the entire RV was coming down! It felt like we fell off the levels. But once we figured out it was Eva (and that she was fine) we were all back to sleep again!

In the morning, we ate chocolate chip pancakes, eggs and bacon. We went for a walk, and stopped at the playgrounds along the way. The kids really wanted to see the pool so they got on their bathing suits and went for a swim. It was chilly outside and the water was freezing but they only cared about that a little bit. It didn’t really stop them! The campground also had a little game area that had giant lawn games like connect four and tic tac toe. My aunt was with us and offered to get each of the kids a little gift from the gift shop.

This was the first trip, maybe ever (?) that we didn’t go out to eat. As a family, we do that a lot and especially on vacation, we eat out! But since we didn’t have a car, just the RV, we had to plan ahead for our meals! I will admit, I’m not used to that and I do think for a long-term trip, there’s definitely something attractive about having a car and driving to get lunch or dinner! But on this trip… for lunch, we had sandwiches which were good!

The kids played inside and out until we went for another walk to get ice cream! They played with rocks, played catch and soccer, tried to do a puzzle (but didn’t have the stamina for one), and suddenly it was time for dinner! We had burgers, garlic bread, more s’mores, and jiffy pop. Remember, jiffy pop??

They were exhausted from a long day of basically doing nothing so they fell asleep a bit quicker than the night before. There were some arguments over sleeping arrangements because Javi wanted to try out a different bed for the second night! I don’t blame him for wanting to check out his options but man… we got through it… barely! ha! The funny thing is that people at the campground kept saying things like “you’re so brave bringing a baby camping!” and I thought… he’s the easiest part of this whole thing! It’s the KIDS who are hard!

I guess that’s a benefit to a baby not being in a routine… you can’t ruin it. 🙂

In the morning we had more pancakes and hot cocoa (Eva’s idea!) We had some time to relax and do nothing before checking out of the campground at 11AM. The nice thing about the RV was that we didn’t have to pack suitcases or anything like that! Everything was just ready to go when we were! It was a bit of a learning curve to do all the RV things like “level it” and empty the tanks (and drive it, park it, etc.) but truthfully… Sean did it all!

We got home safely (!) and had to return the RV the following day so we took the chance to look at a few more models. There were a few things we would like to be different in the RV (more counter space (ha!), a second table (one for food and one for activities), more beds (if this is a long-term investment our kids will only get bigger and need more space… so we’re trying to think about now and later) — but I think we found a different model that we’d like to try out next. It has a better layout, most of the things we’re looking for and we think it might be a possibility if we decide to buy at some point!

For now, we’re eyeing a weekend in September for our second (rental) RV trip!