Three kids and a campervan?

We rented a 6berths campervan for our three weeks of new Zealand adventure. (There's still an empty spot, if any one still willing to join after reading this post ;-))
So how about our first ten days the 5 of us in les say, 15sqm?

I guess there are some key ekements to making it a success or at least surviving the campervan adventure!
First things first; keep calm! That's a rule for the parents (me....) And for the kids; no, you really really won't play with that ball now inside. Not even if you stop breathing (our 3 Kids have the special gift to stop breathing when really upset... Comes completely with turning blue and faint. A real pleasure!)
Secondly, keep things tidy and clean. Great! You all know how well organised and tidy&clean Pierre and I are! So this one did take us a few days, learning to put things away immediately and - more challenging - at the same place!
Then not having too much stuff helps and really good outside weather would have or would be great. Of course, as we are not good planners, we kind of missed on that last one, though we are getting better with it everyday.

You rent the thing with outside chairs, bedlinnen a microwave, a fridge and even a dvd player (but we have no dvds)

so we just put up the boys tent on the double bed in the back, Amélie is really happy to sleep in the upper cabin (and I'm glad I don't have to cause up there I suffer from the well-known campervan sickness: you feel every little movement of the wind or anyone in the campervan as being on a roller coaster. No thanks! Great for Amélie!) when we stop for the night, We put the three child carseats in front and that makes for our dinner table and Pierre&my self's bed. Note Pierre doesn't completely fit in there, but it doesn't prevent him from sleeping through all the noise and fuzz!

I m glad we tested the campervan traveling for a few days back in Spain in June, for us it functions well. We drive mainly during afternoon siesta time, we eat two out of three meals in there and even survive colder evenings and being in there with three kids. It gives you freedom to eat and stay where and when you want to,you don't need to pack and unpack all the time (let alone wet tents ans stuff). We only twice did freedom camping cause battery-wise we don't survive a night on heater and fridge. And on the other side, campingsites, though really expensive here, do make for nice settings and the washing is a lot easier with the kids (the shower/toilet/lavabo inside the campervan is a completely no go on this one, as you can not stand with 2 in there, we really do need the showers of the campingsites.) another plus of the campings is the wifi, or better said: YouTube.

I ll leave you with some pictures of the good moments and why we like campervan travel. I ll leave the less good moments to your imagination .... I am sure you can imagine some of them, knowing we need to dress, feed, sleep, change, calm down, tantrum-handle etc.. The three in there as well!

So, who is joining in for all the good things about it?!