Branding your next camping trip

This past weekend we went camping with our friends. It was a family affair, four families and 9 kids. This was my first time camping a really, really long time and I wanted to try to do something special for our friends. Initially I thought of having t-shirts made but the cost to have them printed for all of us was a bit more than I wanted to spend. I remembered that one of the Dad's on this trip loved collecting Koozies when he traveled so I thought maybe that would be a good idea. A quick google search lead me to TotallyKoozies.com and I was super happy to see that yes I could upload my own art and have two dozen printed at a really reasonable cost. I picked the single color solid koozies for this trip but love that they also offer so many other styles based on what kind of beverages you wanted to keep cool.

I made the logo in Photoshop Elements using the information that totallykoozies specified on their website regarding what size to keep the designs too. I just upload my art when I placed my order and within one business day I had a proof back from their designers. They had amazingly quick turnaround and are willing to work with your deadline date so I had them in hand by the day I needed them. This was the most easy and hassle free ordering of a custom item online that I have ever experienced. Needless to say they were a HUGE hit with our friends and everyone really loved them. Here is a shot one of our friends posted to Facebook, they totally fit in with our surroundings.

Since those were primarily for the adults I wanted to do something fun for the kids so I thought it would be fun to turn the logo into a temporary tattoo. I purchased the Silhouette Cameo Temporary Tattoo paper and just modified my initial logo design adding in a background color and making sure to flip it so when applied the text was in the right place.

I scaled the size down just a bit keeping small kids in mind and was able to get 12 on one of the sheets of paper provided. I printed these on my home printer and then cut them out on my Silhouette Cameo. I brought along a bottle of rubbing alcohol to clean the kids skin hoping it would make them last a bit longer. The kids loved them and all the moms ending up tatting up too. It was super cute and lots of fun but next time I would make sure to wait to apply them to the kids skin after they were done swimming for the day. They definitely faded and fell off but in a normal situation would last a solid day had water and swimming not been involved.

My last bit of fun and branding was to make a flag for our campsite. I decided to work with our local Fast Signs shop where I live and decided on a two foot by two foot square flag. I sent them the same logo and we picked a background color for the flag and they did a direct print onto the canvas. They added the three grommets for me and my husband built the stand for me out of PVC pipe that he spray painted and we attached the flag with some zip ties. At the campsite he secured into the ground with a piece of rebar that he hammered in. The flag was at our site the whole trip and I made sure to get lots of pictures around it of the whole group and each family.

These were all really simple easy and quick things that just added that finishing touch to the trip and made it that much more special for everyone. I will definitely try all of these things again and hope that this inspires you to brand your next group outing.

Note: all links provided are for informational purposes only and no affiliate benefits are coming to me for sharing these vendors with you. All opinions/reviews expressed are my own.

Happy Labor Day!

We spent the later part of yesterday afternoon doing this

and we plan on doing the same thing today.

I can't believe today is the official end of summer, thankfully for us here in California summer will carry on for a bit longer.

I hope your summer has been amazing! Ours sure has been.

Yosemite

Warning: Photo Heavy Post

It's always nice when your kid has a day off from school and you can take impromptu trips to amazing places like Yosemite.  We are lucky to have such and amazing place so very close to home and no school this past Tuesday.

The morning started off like most do; coffee and emails for us and cartoons for Simone.  Thankfully Larry was feeling antsy that day and decided to look up a place he has been dying for us to visit.  The Evergreen Lodge is located just outside of Yosemite and he has been lucky enough to stay on two separate occasions while on his annual motorcycle trip.  He has raved about this place for two years and on a lark they happened to be offering a discount on rooms.  Having secured a room we kicked it into high gear; ate, showered, packed, packed a picnic lunch and were on our way by 10:00am.

I had no idea what to expect, other than this place had indoor plumbing so I knew I would be okay.  I'm not the "lets rough it" type like he is, this lady requires indoor plumbing!

This lady on the other hand requires on board entertainment and thankfully our ride comes equipped with a DVD player.

We got the the lodge early around 1:00pm and our room wasn't ready yet so we drove down a few miles to the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, had our picnic and checked out the scenery.  It was my first time seeing it and I loved it.  Simone loved it too, especially when she and Larry walked through the tunnel you can see in the photo below.  She saw a frog so to her that was awesome!

We drove back to the lodge when we were done but it still wasn't check in time (3:30pm) and our room wasn't ready so we walked around and hung out for awhile.  This place was AMAZING!  Larry was right when he said we would love it.  It's a large resort, all individual sleeping cabins and they even have a camping area all set up with tents and cots if you want to go that route.

This is the back side of the Activity Center and the fireplace was amazing.  At night they do s'mores for anyone that wants to help themselves.

We enjoyed some libations on the patio while Simone played in one of the near by play areas.

There are also ping pong tables set up and a complete rec center with even more activities.

In the kids play area they had these super cute tee-pees.

This cabin comes with a lovely hammock to enjoy.

Our cabin was a family cabin (the one on the left, L13).  It had a queen size bed, bunkbeds, a nice sitting area, satelitte radio (no TV's at this joint) and a Keurig coffee pot.  Oh and yes the beloved indoor plumbing.

I bet you'll never guess who loved the buckbeds...



I love that there were no TV's in the rooms I just wish I had planned better and brought a book or some magazines for the evening.  I did bring my ipad so Simone happily watched a movie up in her bunkbed that night.  There were also a few games in the room which was nice.  There is also no cell service at the resort but they have phones for you to use as needed and there is Wifi in the Activity Center so I was able to get connected that way.

There is a restaurant on site and we ate dinner and breakfast there.  The food is top notch and the service is fantastic.  They also just added a pool and hot tub which was amazing as well.  I'm bummed we didn't know about this the weather was perfect for swimming.  It had just opened the week before we arrived so it wasn't there the last time Larry stayed.  I definately want to go back for a longer visit very soon.  This girl was very impressed!  Indoor plumbing and all!

Wednesday morning after breakfast we packed up the car and drove into Yosemite.  We stopped at a vista point to take in the view and say hi to Half Dome.

I tried my best not to have a heart-attack watching her climb.  Momma has a mean fear of heights and this just about sent me into a full blown panic.

She is just like Dad.

We stopped again by a stream, if you look really closely you can see gold.  Man o man, it was just begging to be panned!

Oh and the smells....so good.

Our first stop in the Valley was at Bridalveil Falls.  The best pictures were found in the parking lot. The viewing area at the base was way to misty to get a good shot.

Yep, a climber just like Dad!

As we drove on we got to see El Capitan.  The weather was perfect, so blue and clear.  We didn't see any climbers though.

Yosemite Falls

I snapped most of the shots but Ansel Larry wanted to try this angle, he was right, it's amazing!

Yosemite Falls through the trees.

We drove over to the Ahwahnee Hotel for a look around.  I hadn't been there in years so it was nice to see it again.  I want to come back some day and stay in that room right there with the green awning.  Instead of staying, we had a lovely over-priced beverage on the patio and enjoyed the sun and the amazing view.

I just love how they have kept it so homey without being too pretentious.

We did stop on our way out of the park, Simone as hungry so we sat on a bench and had a little picnic.  She cried the whole way out of the park, she wanted to stay, and by stay I mean at the Ahwahnee Hotel.  Sister's no dummy, she likes indoor plumbing too, especially the fancy kind.

Hello warm weather

It hit the 90's this past weekend.  It was awesome, it was sunny and it was hot!  It's amazing how it can go from being Winter to being Summer overnight.  That's one thing about living in California, we pretty much have two seasons, Winter and Summer.  Spring and Fall blend into the others and we don't have the same changes that others in the country have. 

We got the backyard prepped and spent most of Saturday and Sunday outside. 

 We even turned the AC on. 

The Swackett app told me what I already knew, it was a hot one!

We busted out the tropical cocktails, Mai Tai's for everyone (except Simone)

Larry broke in his new smoker, yummy dinner for everyone.

After dinner cigars

and turns looking at Venus.

The pool lights look so awesome at dusk.

Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, Simone and I spent the whole day poolside and I loved soaking up the sun, with SPF 30 or course.

Were supposed to get some rain this week and the breeze has picked up but this early taste of summer sure has me wanting more!

Dinosaur Bones

The weather is quickly improving in our neck of the wood allowing for lots of time outside in the backyard planting veggies, herbs and flower seeds as well as weeding, installing lights on the BBQ island and getting the pool ready for the quickly approaching summer. 

Simone has taken to digging in the area around our fire pit and informed us that she was digging for dinosaur bones and for gold.  I guess watching Gold Rush Alaska has rubbed off on the girl. 

She spent quite a few hours out there playing the other day so Larry decided to set out for some bones to bury for her since gold is not in our budget.  After a trip down the $1.00 section at Target he came home with a shovel, a rake, a sand castle bucket and some dog treats.  Hey she's only 4 she'll believe it right?

While I was out running errands Larry buried the 7 bones around the fire pit while she was occupied. He took her outside with his stud finder because he told her it would tell him if there was something buried. He made it beep at the appropriate spots and marked an arrow with chalk along the edge of the fire pit and let her go.

She had the best time and loved every minute.

Of course when I got home and she told me what she had done and was super excited about her day digging for bones.  When she got to the part of the story and showed me the bones she said, "Mommy I don't think these are dinosaur bones, these look like dog bones."  She may be 4 but she's no push over.

Oh and one last photo of Larry's handy work installing lights around our BBQ island.  Can't wait for the first night outside. 

Have a great weekend!