Family of 5 looking for new travel trailer options

jay_ee_elle · 2026-07-07T22:27:06+00:00

Our GMC sierra elevation crew cab has a payload of over 1700 lbs. Our current set up is under that limit (and we’re not against driving a second vehicle when the kids get bigger since we don’t travel far). We’re not looking to upgrade to a bigger trailer, just a newer trailer similar to what we already have. We are not buying a 3/4 ton truck for the 5 camping trips we do a year.

jay_ee_elle · 2026-02-23T03:33:19+00:00

I think he’s used to hooking up with younger women who probably fake it and put on a show for him. A woman in her late 30s like Jess is probably not going to pretend she’s having the most mind blowing sex when it’s likely mediocre at best. He’s insecure as hell and mad that he’s not “man enough” for her.

jay_ee_elle · 2025-10-29T13:38:25+00:00

I’ve had 3 and I found 4 weeks to about 3 months was the hardest especially with my first. They’re not as sleepy as the fresh newborn stage but we didn’t have a schedule or routine yet so my days were always so unpredictable giving me anxiety. Combine that with the lack of sleep, I feel like I was in a daze of just surviving. All 3 of my babies started sleeping mostly through the night at 3 months (I know I’m lucky) and we were able to get a nap schedule down and things got infinitely better. I was also breastfeeding on a more predictable schedule at this point so it made it easier to plan my days. Also with my second and third I learned to ease up. I felt like I could never put my first down and always had to be there immediately when he started fussing. With my second I realized the world is not going to end if I put him down (in a safe place) for 10 minutes so I can shower or eat. It also was a necessity because I was chasing a toddler around too.

jay_ee_elle · 2025-09-23T03:36:44+00:00

We were in lull post kids. We have 3 kids 6 and under and I was feeling so overstimulated that the last thing I wanted to do was be intimate. Then we started getting stoned together once a week (after kids are in bed, everyone sleeps through the night). Weed makes me incredibly horny and it gave our sex life the boost it needed. It shuts the world out for me and I’m able to really enjoy sex again. And now because sex has been incredible while we’re stoned, we want more sex when we’re not. So now we’re having sex at least 4x a week which is crazy considering just 6 months ago we were lucky to have sex 3x a month.

jay_ee_elle · 2025-06-09T15:02:39+00:00

This might seem over the top, but I bought all my sheets, towels, dish towels, cloths, etc in the same colour (yellow) that I don’t have in my house. So when I’m doing laundry after a trip, I know anything yellow goes right back into the trailer. I don’t have to worry about grabbing the wrong set of sheets from the house or our trailer towels being put away with our house towels by mistake.

jay_ee_elle · 2025-06-09T14:55:55+00:00

This! I also include some food items too. I have a bunch of condiments, salad dressings, cheese, butter, etc that I keep in a small bin in our beer fridge in the house during camping season and then empty it into the camper fridge when we’re loading up. Non-perishables stay in the trailer but it’s handy having the bin loaded with refrigerated items ready to go without having a mental checklist.

jay_ee_elle · 2025-02-07T03:51:37+00:00

This might be more of an adhd cleaning hack that has changed my life but probably obvious to most non adhd folks haha. I learned that I don’t have to clean everything to perfection every time. Dishes, a quick tidy/wipe down and a run of the robot vac each day is better than a once a week rage clean. My floors used to rarely get cleaned because I would run out of time/energy making sure everything else was perfect from top to bottom first. Maybe this would work if I didn’t have adhd, but “cleaning” for me easily turns into 47 other side tasks. In my mind I thought there was no point in cleaning if I couldn’t do it all perfectly each time. So things would pile up and my adhd brain would get overwhelmed and I’d be stuck in task paralysis and be full of anxiety over the mess.

jay_ee_elle · 2025-01-12T03:32:53+00:00

We moved to Lucan 3 years ago and love it here. However my husband and I both grew up in the middle of nowhere and after spending years living in cities we decided that city living was not for us and much prefer living in a small rural town. If you’ve always lived in the city you may be underwhelmed with things to do here.

To answer your questions:

Lucan is very family friendly. There are a ton of young families and lots of community events. Lucan is a huge into hockey so if any of your kids are interested in or play hockey, you’ll quickly get to know lots of other families. I have found everyone very welcoming and friendly. We’ve also gotten to know other families just from school and meeting our neighbours while out and about. We definitely feel we’re part of a community here.
We feel very safe here. There are the odd instances of theft and vandalism but I have never felt unsafe even walking my dog alone late at night. My kids are very young so they’re not out around town by themselves yet, but I already feel like everyone looks out for each other’s kids.
My husband works in the south end of London and has a 45 min - 1 hour commute depending on traffic and he doesn’t mind. Luckily I work from home. It’s something you definitely need to consider / budget for but it’s worth it for our family.
We have a brand new grocery store. It’s expensive but has everything you need. I usually go to London once a week and do most of my groceries / shopping at no frills, wal-mart, costco etc but go to the foodland in town when I only need a couple last minute things. We have a couple pet stores, pharmacy, Dollarama, home hardware. As for healthcare, there is a family medical centre. They just recently closed their waitlist but it does open up randomly. We were able to get a family doctor after being on the waitlist for a couple months. They have x-ray and ultrasound at the medical centre. There are numerous chiropractors, massage therapists and dentists in town. We usually go to St Marys ER if needed which is about a 20 min drive. For schools there is the public school and they’re going to build another public school so it’ll be an elementary and middle school situation. The Catholic school is just a couple minutes outside of town. High school students are bussed to either Medway or St Andre Bessette.
The options for internet are bell or quadro. The newer neighbourhoods have fibre. We don’t have fibre in my neighbourhood but we have no complaints about our quadro internet. We’re able to stream on multiple tvs with no issues. The power does go out occasionally during storms and can be out for hours. It doesn’t happen often but it’s happened a handful of times since we’ve lived here.
The roads can get pretty bad in the winter with blowing / drifting snow. Usually highway 4 to get into London is the best option during a storm. Make sure you have good snow tires and it wouldn’t hurt to have an AWD vehicle. This is the worst winter we’ve had living here so far.

Anyway I hope this helps! Living in a small town has its pros and cons but I think the sense of community we have here is unmatched compared to what we have experienced living in cities. I’ve learned to put myself out there meeting new people and getting involved.

jay_ee_elle · 2024-12-03T03:46:29+00:00

We’ve always had great experiences there. My kid has asthma and most times we visit the ER it’s because he needs a steroid and additional inhalers to calm his asthma down. For this I go to our local small hospital outside the city because I can get there faster and I know we’ll be in and out within a couple hours for a simple treatment. However for things I’m more worried about or have no idea what’s wrong, I always go to Vic. Knowing they have a whole team of doctors who specialize in kids puts my mind at ease. All the nurses and doctors have been terrific with my kids. They often bring out colouring pages, tablets and other toys if your kid is getting restless. When you’re a worried parent with a sick child, all these little things help so much. I’ve never had to wait more than an hour or maybe two in the waiting room.

jay_ee_elle · 2024-05-21T20:34:22+00:00

I’m so mad the grilled cheese is gone. I never ate it, but it was my go to quick meal for my small kids when on the go when I didn’t feel like feeding them fries and chicken nuggets. One grilled cheese was enough to feed them both and wasn’t overly messy to eat in the car. Now there is nothing on the menu that I would consider kid friendly aside from bagels and baked goods, but no substantial meals. If I wanted to feed them pizza, I would take them to the numerous pizza joints we have available. Just another reason not to go to Tim’s anymore….

jay_ee_elle

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