Fish, Gun shows, & Guitars

Ooo what a week! So why is it that I can write every evening when we are camping and I have only a few minutes of internet time but when I am home I can't seem to do it? Too many distractions! That is why I've decided to give up my life of stuff and live in the camper. :)) Ok, maybe in a few years. I don't think my MIL would appriciate it.

My Dad is better and at home. Yay! I think he just wants the attention. :)) I'm glad he is feeling better.

I thought it over a lot, about the boys and their spending habits, and I talked to some friends (thanks Jenn and Cindy) and I've come to a solution. We have all talked about it and decided that from now on they will each get $5 every time they go the store with me. Now this is $5 each time we go out, not for each store. I will not be buying things for them any more (except birthdays and of course the essentials) and they can buy whatever their little hearts desire right at that moment, or pocket it and save it up for next time. So far this has been working nicely.

Today we went to a gun show at "the mall". We knew it would be small since it was in the mall in our town, but this was REALLY small. I mean, our vendor hall at the CHN Expo was bigger. But the people were really nice and there was plenty of cool things to see. Nikki was fascinated with the swords.

And we got some more fishes for the pond. We call it a pond, but really it is a kiddie pool. Tom heard that I used to have a fish in a kiddie pool and it got really big. He wants to do it too. We got some little koi yesterday, but one died within hours and then the other one committed suicide. Today we got 16 feeder fish for $2. We'll see if that works out. They have a bucket to hide in for now, but we plan on putting some rocks in the shape of a cave for them to find shelter in. The plan is to see if regular old feeder fish will get big in a big tank. We are going to measure them and keep track of their habits. Tom wants to train them to come to him for food. :)

Oh! Guitars! I'm going to post a video of the world's best kids singing for us later today.

What to do?

So many things weighing on my mind.

First off, my Dad is doing better. He has pnuemonia and the hospital is taking good care of him. He should be fine in a couple days and then he needs to take it easy awhile.

My sons are driving me crazy about buying things. They always want to go to the store with me "to see if there is anything they might want". Well there are plenty of things that they want and I want too, for that matter. But do we really need it? I mean, do we need to buy a new toy every time we go to Walmart? Today it was Jake. He found a Halo action figure on Ebay and it was only 99 cents! Not really. We explained that it was the minimum bid and it had just started. He understands this because Dad buys things on Ebay with them. He looked up one he could buy now and it was $30. He has the money, so I wanted to let him get it. We talked it over. He was mad. I tried to explain that if he always spent his money the minute he got it then he wouldn't be able to buy the really great thing that he REALLY wants in the future. I'm at a loss. On one hand, I want them to experience making money and spending it. And on the other hand I can see the choices they are making are not going to make them happy in the end. Hmmm.

Well, off to get ready for bed and read some more. I'm almost finished with "Atlas Shrugged"!

Not much to report

But I'm going to write anyway! :))

It's been a relaxing (sort of) couple of days for us. The camper is unloaded and the laundry is done. The boys are playing video games and Nikki is finishing up her Oceanography class. Dan replaced the tires on the Pontiac and is looking into getting new tires for the camper. The dogs are happy we are home and won't let me out of their sight.

I've started a new homeschool park day here in town and joined a group that is based out of the Palm Springs area. Maybe we can make some new friends. I thought about going down and meeting the Riverside and/or Inland Empire groups, but they meet over almost two hours away. That isn't feasible. The group I've been attending here since we moved really isn't meshing with our lifestyle, so I've had to move on.

My Dad is sick with pnuemonia and my Step-Mom is worried sick about him. I'm sure he will be fine in a few days.

Oh! And this morning I woke up to the smell of a wet desert and the pitter patter of rain drops. Wow! It sure was pretty. It was cool enough to take a nap this afternoon and after dinner we went for walk and took the dogs with us. They kept getting cholla stickers in their feet though. We heard coyotes howling!

I'm ready for bed, but the boys are playing with Legos and Dan is listening to something on his computer. I doubt I'm going to sleep any time soon. :))

We're Home!

Wow! 21 days on the road and we are finally home. I'll recap our last two days. We left Castle Crags on Wednesday at noon in hopes that we could drive to Visalia and stay at a KOA. We didn't make it. It was hot. We stopped for lunch at a rest stop. When we stopped at a rest stop for dinner, a guy parked next to us informed us of a blow-out. Can you believe we didn't notice? We have dual tires on the back so there was no feeling and the camper tends to backfire a bit so we just didn't notice the noise. Tom was thrilled! They got to change the tire while I made us some tacos. We were there about an hour and then drove to get some air in the spare tire. That was a wild goose chase. Our cool new GPS directed us to a dead gas station and then the next one we went to had no air or water. So we drove on and found a truck stop. There we were parked among all the trucks at the service station. They let us fill up on air and were super nice! I love truckers! Now Tom isn't sure if he wants to fix arcade games or drive trucks across the country. We drove on from there and could drive no more. We stopped at a Walmart and got the nod of approval from the security guard as we parked next to the other campers at the end of the parking lot.

Thursday morning. We started early. Well, sort of. As we were leaving the camper guy across the way said he was making breakfast and was sad to see us leave so early! :)) Tom was hilarious, by the way, the night before he got out of bed and woke up Dad because "Some guy was driving around the parking lot looking to kill somebody." We asked why he thought that and he said he was going around in circles real close to the bushes and other cars. Dan got up to take a look and it was the parking lot cleaner! :))

We moved on, stopped at rest stop for a good breakfast, and then we realized we were almost out of water and were about to head into the desert. So we stopped at the afore mentioned KOA and got filled up and dumped our tanks while the boys played on the playground. Then we had to go get gas and we were finally on the road home. We stopped for burgers. Out on 247 we got stuck at some construction for half an hour. We were only 20 miles from home! I told the boys they were lucky. We have a generator and can sit in the air conditioning and read!

We are home now. I'm happy to see my doggies. We are all tired. And it is the best feeling to be home. I love my desert! I don't know what it is, but when we came over the hill and saw the rocks and the creosote and the Joshua trees, I just feel so peaceful. The dry air and heat feels great. I'm happy and I know I will sleep well tonight!

Tuesday Day 19

We left Klamath Falls this morning around 9am and headed down 97 to Weed, California! That is a beautiful drive. Dad had a call to make for work at 11, so we wanted to be stopped somewhere for that. The kids and I went to see the Weed Museum. Yes, there is one! But it isn't what you think. It is all about the history of the town. A really nice gentleman showed us around and the kids had fun asking him all kinds of questions. There was a carbon arc projector there! We went to the "mall" and looked around, got some cookies and a cool old "Red Ryder" book. Then we had lunch in the camper.

We made it back to Castle Crags to park for the night. It is hot! Oh man! The boys and I were fools and walked down to the ranger station to pay our fees. The walk was nice, but it was so hot and we were exhausted when we got back.

Tom used his tinder box to start us a fire and we cooked our corn and steak on it. He was pretty proud of that. Jake built a bridge across a dry creek nearby. Nikki is lost in a book. Now Jake is drawing pictures...again.

Tomorrow, we are thinking about heading straight home and only stopping for some rest on the way. I think we are getting cabin fever and it is only a matter of time before someone (ME) explodes. :))

Oh and Tom has decided he wants to fix arcade games after a long talk with a man at the burger stand. I'm going to try to get him someone to shadow with. That should be fun!

Monday Day 18

I meant to take the boys to a local museum, but it is closed on Mondays. Oh man! So I looked around for an alternative plan. I decided to walk across town to Moore Park and go on a couple Letterbox hunts.

We left at 10am and Tom took the lead with the directions. He only needed my help a little bit to get us there. It was almost five miles! On the way we stopped and watched some trains go by, took a potty break at a car shop, looked at some cool old buildings, and had a lunch of the greatest burgers in town. It was a long walk, but we had fun. It took us two hours.

At the park we saw some HUGE pelicans and some birds that Tom and Jake call "Firds" because when we approached them they ducked under the water and swam away. The park was really nice. And we found only one of our letterboxes. The other one was just too far away. We couldn't make it another step. We called Dad and Nikki to come get us! We played on the playground and looked at things with our microscope until they arrived.

On the way home we stopped at the burger place again to share its greatness with Dad and Nikki. It was fabulous. We sat and talked to an old guy and the owner of the stand for an hour. Then we headed to the grocery store.

When we got back to the KOA the boys wanted to go swimming! I was about to fall over dead and they wanted to go swimming! Yikes! We met a really nice family at the pool and had a load of fun. Came back, got dressed, and had some ice cream.

Dan is trying to plan for the next couple days so we can get home. Everyone is getting tired. I know we will all sleep tonight!

Sunday Day 17

This was the most awesome day yet! This morning, Dan just woke up and started driving South before the rest of us got up. This area is just beautiful and we have to check it out further sometime. They call it the high desert, but I think they are confused. It has a river and trees.

Our plan was to get to the volcanic park place visitor center and then eat breakfast while we wait for it to open. When we got there the gate was closed so we couldn't even park. We drove farther down and there was a boat launch area so we stopped there. It was freezing cold! I'm not kidding. Even I was cold! But it was so pretty. We decided to drive by the visitor center one more time and if it was still closed then we would continue on to Crater Lake. It was closed. :(

When we got to Crater Lake we were amazed! First of all, it was free today! Yay! Bonus! And then we saw the lake. Wow! We checked out the visitor center, watched the movie about the park, mailed post cards, had lunch. It was just beautiful. We will definitely have to come back up here and investigate more.

We headed South again to Klamath Falls, OR because Dan had a reservation for us at the KOA. It is laundry time! It is nice here. Dryer and still cool. I'm happy. I laid on the grass in shade of a big cottonwood tree and relaxed for awhile. Now I'm updating our blog. I really like being able to do this daily. Last year I had to wait and it was tedious.

Dan is working on the generator, the boys are playing at the playground, and Nikki is playing her guitar. Life is good. :)

Friday Day 15 & Saturday Day 16

I'm playing catch up here. :)

Friday morning we packed up and picked Dad up on his way out of work. He had to spend the night there getting things done and then we were supposed to take off early. He called after 8am instead of 7, so the kids were up and hungry. We stopped at Shari's for some breakfast. We have seen this place all over here and I was not impressed. Kinda cold and they had yucky coffee.

We started to head South, but Dan had a call to take for work, so we went to Fort Defiance. The kids and I checked it out while he worked. It was great. I highly recommend it. It is a living history type place where people are living and working there like they are in 1855. The trade store guy showed the boys all kinds of furs and how to use a tinder box. He told us all what our chores and responsibilities would be. Nikki asked lots of questions about social situations and morals. The boys talked to a kid chopping wood for a long time. Nikki and I took a tour of the house of the guy who ran the place. We ended up getting a tinder box of our own. :)

Dad wasn't done, so we went to an awesome playground and took a hike. There used to be a fairy tale theme there and a path that led to all the scenes. A woman there told me it had been torn out recently because no one was taking care of it. It was really sad. The path and forest were beautiful.

We finally got on the road and Dan laid down to take a nap. Our fabulous GPS steered us seriously wrong and got us on the bridge across the narrows then told us to drive 55 miles and make a u-turn. I said no. :))

We got to Linda's to pick up the part for our generator that Dan had mailed there and no one was home. Maybe if we planned better, things like this wouldn't happen. No problem though. It was late anyway. We went to a Walmart and camped for the night. They were home the next morning and we headed to Dan's friend Lynn's in Oregon. They have an awesome house in the forest. The kids watched a movie in their very own theater and had lunch while we chatted with Dan's friends.

We took off from there and headed over Mt. Hood. We stopped at Government Camp and looked around the cultural center. They had a kind of scavenger hunt for the kids and they got a post card for completing it.

We kept driving and stopped for dinner along a river on the other side of the pass. We were now on the desert side of the mountain and were happy to see blue skies! It was gorgeous. We got to Bend and then stayed at a questionable Walmart there. It had signs saying no overnight parking but there were trucks and RV's parked for the night. We figured we would risk it. We got a new GPS. Our old one was great, but it cost over $80 to update the maps. We decided to get a new one instead.

We don't know what tomorrow will bring! :)

Thursday Day 14

Not much to do today. We did have a nice day though. We took Dan to work this morning at 7am and I got a glimpse of Mt. Rainier through the clouds! It was gorgeous all golden and white through the clouds. Nice. We went back to the RV park and had breakfast and messed around awhile. We have a leak somewhere between the toilet and the shower that is making the floor soggy. We think it is the pressure from the city water hook up, so we are running off the tank. No big deal. It is drying out now. It was cloudy and cold all day. We played games and read and ate lunch. Dan called for us to pick him up from work about noon and we stopped at Walmart on the way back. We were looking for a "Shamwow!" to see if it would pick up the water on the carpet. I even asked for it and couldn't find one. :(

Dan took a long nap because he has to go back to work tonight at 10pm. I took a nap too. Nikki worked on some school work and Tom and Jake were reading and playing on the computer. Then it started to rain. It was raining SO hard! Lightning and thunder and all! They all went to look at the big puddles when it stopped. Tom and Jake started playing in it and I told them to get wet and play as long as they could and then I would shower them and have them put on dry clothes, but only once. They helped a guy put his trash in the dumpster since they were already soaked. I figured they would stomp in puddles but, of course, my boys find the water up to their waist by the dumpster and lay down in it. :)) They are so gross. They stripped off their clothes behind the rv and got in the shower to warm up. They had warm chocolate (I made it hot, but they put a bunch of ice in it) and now we are all relaxing before we take Dan to work again.

It has been a very nice day...well, except for the leaks.

Point Defiance

We went to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Nice! The only suck about it was that when I looked at my tickets it had a coupon for 2 for 1 at Northwest Trek! We should have come here first!

Just some thoughts on Day 14

We are relaxing today. Well, not really. I'm doing laundry and cleaning. Nikki is doing some school work. We have to go to the grocery store today. We might do some sight seeing this afternoon. It has rained all night and it still raining now. I'm a little tired of wet. If you shut the windows in the RV it gets steamy and when you leave them open it gets wet inside. The floor in the bathroom is soaked and it won't dry out.

I have found that I like having the RV wherever we go. At first I wanted to rent a car or something, but we took the RV to the wild animal park yesterday and it really paid off. We had breakfast in the RV when we got there and then came out and had lunch and rested a bit. And my camera battery died while we were inside, so I charged it when we came out for lunch.

This morning we had to rise early and take Dan to work. I didn't have to wait for anyone to get up or get dressed. I didn't even get dressed! We just unplugged and drove off. The camper is like your house and we go around plugging into a port when we can. It isn't camping, but kinda like having your hotel room wherever you go. It is nice. Although we have to work extra hard at not annoying each other and not being easily annoyed.

It's only 9am and my laundry is almost done. I think we may go out for a bit and bring back some groceries on the way back.

Day 13

We went to Northwest Trek Wild Animal Park today! It was raining all night and still this morning and I almost changed my mind about going. You know what is the great thing about going to an animal park in the rain? All the animals are out and about!

We dropped off Dan at work this morning and then stopped at Target to see about getting a rain coat. Can you believe they didn't have any? They said they were already a clearance item! There were a few boy's ones, so Tom and Jake got one.

When we got to the park it was beautiful! It was raining still and the forest was gorgeous. I felt like we were in Jurassic Park. The park was so nice. Everyone there was eager to help and tell you what you should do first. It isn't very big, but we were tired when we left and we had seen just about everything.

Tom's comments: "You can explain it all in three words. It was awesome!"
Jake's comments: "I liked it when the coyotes ate the children." See our YouTube video.
Nikki's comments: "I think it was utterly awesome. It was amazing and almost surreal that we got to see all of these animals that I normally only see in books up close in real life. I especially liked the otters. They drowned us with their cuteness. I'm still recovering from my near-overdose on THE CUTE!"