The McGrath Family is EXPANDING!!!!

I can't believe Ryan and I have kept it a secret this long; mum's the word around our house lately!  But, we want to officially announce to the world (and Facebook) that our small little family is officially expanding. 

We couldn't wait one second longer to introduce you all to the newest member of our family.  Sorry Mom, we aren't expecting a small little baby right now, instead, we've added a CAMPER!!  I know, I know, a mean little trick right?  I've got to use some sort of hook line to get you guys interested and reading after posting like 80 million times during Ironman. 

Are you pumped?  We are!!!

We'd like to take you on a little tour of our new little house:

See, Ryan and Staley can't wait to show you around!  So come on in ya'll, the weather's fine!  Ok, that's a total lie.  It's hot and sticky outside but we are super excited about our purchase so I'm blogging from inside the camper and dang it, if I'm out here in the heat, then you are too!

So, first I'd like to start by showing you the kitchen.  Isn't she cute?  Check out that little baby fridge down there.  For the most part we don't know that we will use the fridge much (since it is in fact still camping right?) but we will probably use it to keep the important things cold like meat, milk and of course CHEESE!  If you don't know that cheese is a daily staple for us then well, you just don't know Ryan very well.

After the kitchen I'd like to direct your attention to the far left of the above picture.  That is the guest bedroom.  Can't you just picture yourself there?  Lauren, Brian, Betsy, Pat, Lindsay, Nate, Sue and anyone else I'm forgetting, we will be starting a guest sign up sheet so come early and come often to make sure you've got the best bed around!!

Up next on the official tour is the Master bedroom.  Ohhh....ahhh!  Feel free to wipe the slobber off your chin ladies and gents because we are moving up in the world.  No more 1 inch sleeping pads, we've got a queen sized bed!  Not that we will completely give up the "real" camping (Jamie and Zach, we need to plan that backpacking trip for next spring ASAP) but for the weekends that we feel like being "car campers" we've upgraded ourselves big time.  Really, to be honest, we finally decided on a camper because of all of Ryan's races.  Now, instead of renting hotel rooms all over the Midwest we can pull this puppy along with us and enjoy all of the comforts of a real bed at the low low rate of a campground.

Finally, I'd like to direct your attention to the living room/entertaining space:

Actually, that bench doubles as a bed too!!  So, I guess we will have 3 short straws and the rest long when we are camping with friends and we can't decide who gets the deeelux accommodations. 

We do already have a few changes/mods we want to do to it so let me give you the run down on those:

1. Add a hitch to the backside of the camper so we can add a bike rack/cooler rack etc to it thereby adding additional storage and functionality.
2. Scrape off the old logo/stripes and repaint the outside.  It's looking a little shabby on the outside but I've been all about DIY lately (I blame my favorite blog), so I'm sure I can google a paint/primer situation that will do the trick
3. Remove the porta-potty because well, it's just gross.  There is no drainage system hooked up in the camper so its sort of like peeing in a can (sorry for that mental picture) so we are going to remove the potty.  We are both grown adults that can walk to the bathroom if we need to go (or help water nature if we are feeling lazy). 
4. Add storage drawers where the potty was.  This will allow us some extra space to store things like silverware, plates and all those things that our wussie friends(yep, I replaced a letter there) won't camp without.  I suppose those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.  We did just buy a camper.
5. Fix a few of the exterior things like light blubs, caulk etc.
6. I'm sure there are more mods rolling around in Ryan's head that he hasn't figured out a sales pitch for but for now, that's all (I think!)

So yeah, she ain't huge and she ain't new, but she is OURS!!  We will probably upgrade someday as our family really does grow but for now this little pop-up is perfect for us and we can't wait to give her a whirl.  Which, we are thinking will be on our 1 year anniversary.  Red neck right?  But hey, it was my idea and you know what, I'm excited about it!!