Munstream.Adventures Smoky Mountain Adventure Part 1

We set off on our Maiden Voyage with the Airstream on Wednesday, May 26th at 7:55am (note the time as we were 5 minutes ahead of schedule, no small feat). Locked and loaded, first things first, we activated Wifi in the truck, which turned into a lifesaver move. We headed south and only required one roadside stop before lunch at a rest area and a fill up, and then off to Muscatine, Iowa where we set up show and explored Wildcat Den State Park and all of its caves. We ventured home and picked up bugels, icees, doughnuts, and finally found the firewood we were looking for at a roadside and had to phone a friend(?). We saw an incredible sunset over the Mississippi River and had dinner camp side, the kids rode bikes with new friends and we hit the road the following morning. 

After another full day of driving, we landed in Muncie, Indiana at a KOA. The set up was actually pretty good, but we had an agenda which ended up curbing good plans and our final plan turned sour. After a good meal, we had a family melt down and a lost (but eventually found) backpack and a lost wallet (which was never found). Driving through towns at all speeds late into the night, bedtime was after 1am. The morning brought another failed search attempt before we decided to just get on the road to Tennessee, which took twice as long as we had hoped. We had a late but safe arrival. 

We took a day off of driving on Saturday, stayed at Norris Dam State Park, what an incredible spot to spend 4 days. The scenery is top notch, we hiked and biked (against the rules) all day, it was great to stay out of the car. Sunday brought us to Gatlinburg for a chairlift tour and then lunch with the Zepedas. What a treat. We wandered into The Smoky Mountains just as the clouds cleared, it was more incredible than I could have ever imagine. We toured, hiked, and hit the road just in time to hit a traffic jam. We ended up getting roadside pizza at 8:30pm and finally back to the camper around 9:30, we were all so exhausted. But what an incredible day. 

Sunday was Sully's 9th birthday and what a day it was! He chose mini golf, the candy shop, and bumper boats at Pigeon Forge and the kids all had so much fun, the sun was out and spirits were high. We followed that up with a picnic in the Smoky Mountains and then a waterfall hike where we spotted 3 black bears. What a treat. I can't think of a better birthday. We came home early for a laundromat stop and then dinner at a floating restaurant on Lake Norris, then a failed campfire cookie, and finally, he got to sleep in Dave's spot that night, all in all, a great day.  

To be continued...

All ready to go! 

A lunch stop near Des Moines, IA. 

Wildcat Den State Park

The coolest caves. 

take 245

A lovely sunset. 

Unwinding at our campsite in Muncie, IN. 

Smoke (clouds) in the Smoky Mountain terrain. 

Friday morning hike in Norris Dam State Park, TN.

I couldn't get enough of the greenery everywhere. 

Learning to bike ride along Songbird Trail. 

See mom, this is where it says 'no biking allowed!'

Norris Dam 

Gatlinburg, TN

Foreshadowing

More foreshadowing...

Exploring with the Zepedas. 

Reunited after 6 years, always a pleasure, Piper loved Tyler ;). 

Greta and Daddy at Clingman's Dome. 

The visrticle hike to Clingman's Dome. 

Bumper Boats, hilariously fun. 

Sweet message we found on our hike. 

Mama bear. 

Laurel Falls Hike. 

The freedom of exploring. 

An amazing photo op.

All done! 

Reality

Look who's 9! 

A perfect birthday party, with all of the stufty 
friends in the audience.  

Last day + birthday.

Piper's final day of preschool was upon us. We would talk about it with such excitement, and she consistently fell to tears about not wanting to leave her friends and teachers and classroom, she is so tenderhearted. I would reassure her we would see them again and she would go through the whole group, tell me their names and favorite colors and favorite things. Covid made for a pretty small and tight knit group this year and the kids all benefitted. We truly love The Graham Academy and I will absolutely miss it, I feel like it finally hit me just now as I'm typing that my baby will be in kindergarten. 

We went from graduation to Sully's first baseball game. Baseball?! Who knew? Why not? He actually loves it and gets better with each game. 

We raced home to prep for our next Muncestream Adventure, we were packing the Airstream and moving at lightening speed when the DeBoers came over to share a bottle of wine and some muffins for Dave's 59th birthday. Yikes...how could we forget? All of the day's festivities took a front seat to Dave's day, but he prefers it that way. Another year around the sun, life continues to move at warp speed while we look forward to a bit of freedom with all three of the kids in school full time this fall. There is no doubt, the kids and I are so fortunate to have Dave as our's. He is an excellent provider, tender heart, great father, and a loving partner, we're looking forward to many years to come. 

An odd spot for this photo, but evidence we
occasionally get to work together. 

First Day. 

Last Day.

Piper with Miss Ashlyn and Miss Tiffany. 

The graduate and the birthday boy. 

Piper's fan club. 

Fam photo. 

Baseball, Sully plays first base at his first ever game. :)

An Airstream celebration with the DeBoers. 

Spring Soccer

Sully and Piper both played spring soccer, I was lucky enough to co-coach Piper's team with my friend Amy, which is really comical considering I never played soccer. It was really fun, we had some neighbor kids on the team and met lots of new people. We were the Laffy Taffys. We were very interested in dandelions, wishers, ring around the rosie, breaks, and treats and only mildly interested in actually playing soccer. The highlight of the season was the excitement when the kids scored their goals and when Piper scored at the very last game. 

Because of the schedules, I was only able to see Sully play his last soccer game which was really fun, his team has been together this entire year and they are getting so grown up and really getting the hang of it. His coach mentioned how well Sully had played on his final game and I'm convinced it was because I was in the crowd. 

Strictly business, Piper. 

Go Laffy Taffy! 

Coach Amy and Coach Suzie

Go Fury!

Mothers Day.

Mother's Day weekend was a call weekend which forced us to be home, which was nice. There is definitely something to be said about slowing down and finding fun right in Sioux Falls.  On Saturday, the kids and I went a graduation party and then found a new spot downtown for treats before Anna came over to hang for the evening, we went out for Mexican and played Uno (fitting ;)). Dave had to go from one hospital to the next early Sunday morning. The kids let me sleep in and Greta made me breakfast in bed, she FaceTimed Anna and Anna instructed her on how to make scrambled eggs in the microwave. She made them as soon a she woke up and delivered them to me when I woke up, at about 9, they were cold but delicious. We hiked at Good Earth State Park and then biked the Arboretum. We had dinner to Bread and Circus and then came home for a quiet evening. The kids keep life busy and interesting and I'm so thankful for them and how they fulfill our lives.  

A lovely day for a hike. 

Buddies

We're famous! 

Oakwood Lakes State Park Adventure

The kids were so excited to take their own mini maiden voyage with us. We chose Oakwood Lakes State Park for a few reasons. The number one reason was probably because they have pull through campsites so we didn't have to maneuver the trailer a ton with the kids. Much to our delight, our campsite was perfectly situated, no nearby neighbors and a lovely view of one of the lakes. Oakwood Lakes was also the campground we went to in the thick of COVID quarantine last year as a last minute get away while the kids were elearning. We had the best time. The kids rode bikes and played on the nearby playground and we just had the fondest memories, the park is also small and very manageable with great hiking trails and a charming little beach. We knew we wanted to come back.

We hit the road after a Saturday morning full of activities and arrived around 4. The weather was stellar, 80, sunny, and still. We hopped on our bikes and went directly to the lake where the kids braved the ice cold water and we watched the sun come down. Their giggles and squeals were perfect. We took the scenic route back, made a fire, had dinner and cocktails before getting the kids to bed (and falling asleep myself) around 10pm. Dave came in some time later and golldarnit if my phone didn't start txting and ringing at 11:15pm because our FIRE ALARM in Sioux Falls was going off. What a terrible feeling. I called my surrounding neighbors and was able to get ahold of Brett who walked around and meet the firemen (yes, they had been called by our alarm company) to let them in, at the same time, Maggie arrived because the alarm company also called her. To make a long story short, it was a false alarm, which is such a relief, but its also stressful. After a few hours of stewing, I eventually fell back to sleep and I woke up to the sweet sound of rain agains the Airstream, maybe one of the most soothing noises I've heard in a long time. The rain didn't last long and by the time we had breakfast and got moving for the day, everything was dry. We had lovely bike ride adventure before packing up to come home. It was a lot of work for 24 hours, but it was fun and provided us with some much needed information in anticipation of our mega maiden voyage later this month... stay tuned. 

The girls with their MayDay baskets. 

Adventure begins! 

Boynton Beach

Scenic Overlook

Dinner

Pajama Party 

Morning hike. 

Slow and steady into the storage garage. 

All cleaned up and ready for next time. 

Munstream Adventures

We did it! We signed the papers and completed loads of reading and video watching (all Dave) in anticipation of the arrival of very own Airstream. The Munstream Adventures begin. 

Dave and I left the kids home with Allie for the weekend so we could go up to Ramsey, Minnesota to pick it up. We had lots of nerves going into the weekend as we knew we had loads of learning curves ahead of us. We arrived right on time and listened to a 3 hour tutorial before pulling out of the parking lot. We had lots of excitement and energy as we pulled onto the highway for the first time hauling our 27 foot trailer in our new truck. We were pleasantly surprised as we made our way to Lake Cochrane, SD for our mini maiden voyage. As if our spirits couldn't get higher, Dave was able to maneuver and park it with minimal drama. We couldn't wait to get it unhitched and to cheers with a stiff drink after full day...and then our train sort of went off the tracks...

Dave was carefully unhitching the trailer while I was on the other side of the truck taking photos and unpacking some things when I heard a crash and a yell. I immediately asked if he was ok and ran around the truck when I saw him running away from the campsite. As he made his way back, he had his hand over his head and blood was running down his face. I immediately told him to get on the ground while I went for the first aid kit, but then decided a wad of paper towels might be more sufficient. He never lost consciousness, but we did consider calling an ambulance because we weren't sure of the extent of his injuries and the truck was half connected to the trailer so we couldn't immediately pull away. After a few minutes and Dave remaining stable, he talked me through, from the ground, the instructions necessary to completely unhitch the truck. This is when he realized what had gone wrong, the jack should have been raised to the absolute top, and in the flurry of things, that didn't happen. When the hitch was released, the tension from he truck caused the wrench to swing around and caught him in the head. Absolutely so scary, we are thankful the injury wasn't any worse than it was. 

I finished unhitching the truck and we made our way to the nearest ER, which fortunately was only 11 miles away in Canby, MN. We called ahead of time,so the PA on call only arrived a few minutes after we did. The providers were great and within about an hour, Dave received 8 stitches and we were on our way. We had some time to reflect on everything and recognized how lucky we were. Once we were back, we finished setting up and then went for dinner and a stiff drink at the State Line Bar and Grill. We slept hard that night and woke up on Sunday morning for coffee while light snow fell around the camper. It was so cozy. We enjoyed the few moments of peace before packing up and heading to Sioux Falls to the three most excited kids in South Dakota.

Let the fun begin! After that bump in the road, we are so excited to get out there and make the best family memories. If you would like to follow along with us on instagram, our account is munstream.advenutres.

The new pick up. 

The initial walk through. 

Step one... place your wheel chok.

Quick photo op at Lake Cochrane, SD,
before the accident. 

The aftermath. 

State Line Bar and Grille. 

Ice and elevate. 

Lining up the hitch. 

All ready to go. 

Easter Sunday

What a weekend. Unfortunately duty called and Dave had to work weekend call over Easter, but we still enjoyed the holiday. We had the most amazing weather on Easter Sunday, such a gift after the ups and downs of winter weather and COVID. We upheld our favorite tradition and spent the day at the Willard's farm near Colton. We enjoyed fabulous food and good company on a gorgeous day. Photo overload to catch up (I've fallen embarrassingly behind on the blot, but am committed to catching up :)). 

Quick egg hunt at home to start the day. 

Sweet Pip. 

Sully, so grown up. 

My darling GG. 

The annual photo in front of the J. Coop. 

He slays, we play. ;)