Let’s just say a whole lot has happened in the three and a half weeks since I last blogged. We went from everything being a first these past eight months (yes, you heard that right – we had our eight month full-timing nomadiversary since I last blogged) to several things actually being a second (which is a first!) We returned to the exact same park we had already visited, for the second time (more about that later). Also, I made yet another long drive to pick up our granddaughter, Saylor, so she could come stay with us, for the second time. Wait, what?!?!? Yep… You heard that right. As I said above, a whole lot has happened since I last blogged. Put it this way, Elijah said I should name this blog entry, “Less Relaxing, But More Exciting”. Remember when I said in the last blog entry that we are NOT retired! Well, little did I know when I wrote that statement just how far from retiring we really are. Apparently we are are not even done raising young kids. God knew and even then He was already preparing us for our next journey. To clarify, here is an excerpt of what I posted on my personal Facebook page last week:
Saylor is back! Brittney (our adult daughter) is still having a tough time getting back on her feet and feels that Saylor needs more stability. Yesterday we both drove 4.5 hrs (each way) to meet halfway in the middle so that I could bring Saylor (and all of her stuff!) back to live with Papa, Elijah and I – for the foreseeable future. We would all covet your prayers.
Prayers for Brittney to have peace, wisdom, and God’s guidance for her future; For Saylor to feel loved, content, and stable; For Greg to be able to work and focus and not get stressed; For Elijah to not get too stressed and to continue to love this lifestyle even with the added responsibilities, less space and more noise. (He’s a quiet peace loving adult-like teenager); and finally for me. For my health to not suffer, for the energy to keep up with her and for me to figure out a good routine to homeschool both a high schooler and a kindergartner in our tiny home.
We ALL feel strongly that this is God’s will and plan so that made it an easy choice. One thing is for sure… our life is never boring!
Saylor stayed with us for six weeks over the summer, so having her with us is one of the second things I was referring to above. This time it’s not temporary though, so we have quite a different mindset. This isn’t just a fun summer vacation time, but a new way of life for us all. To that end, we are adamant about establishing consistent routines for our homeschooling schedule, Greg’s working schedule, her bedtime schedule, and so on. We turned the loft back into her room, this time making it more permanently functional for both sleeping and for having a nice play area for her so she truly feels like she has her own “room”. Check it out:
We have a dvd player and a monitor for her so she can watch only dvd’s we’ve provided for her up there. This is especially helpful when I’m trying to homeschool Elijah!
Her loft is queen sized and has this built in TV area as well as deep cubbies (for her toys) on either side of it.
I set up her Barbie houses and dolls on the left edge of her loft.
We hung up the remote with velcro strips so she won’t loose it.
She insists on keeping her HUGE monkey (see the previous picture) and HUGE bear. Good thing it’s a big loft!
I put this at the end of the loft, drawers for her clothes.
We have literally had to transition overnight (with very little notice or forethought) from a go-with-the-flow, not tied to any routines other than our own, relatively calm, quiet, traveling regularly in our tiny home family of three with no young children; to a routined, relatively less calm, a great deal less quiet, traveling regularly in our tiny home family of four – with one of them being a five year old. She has been here less than a week, and after a few stressful days (for everyone it seems except Saylor who has been happy as a clam since day one!) I can confidently say that we have officially begun to settle in and feel our groove.
The other second thing that I mentioned above is we returned to the same campground we previously stayed at for a second time! If you’ve read my prior post you will remember that we stayed at Ponderosa RV Resort several weeks ago, which is located right on the south fork of the American River. The last time we had a large private site up on the hill with a fence that felt like our very own yard. We loved that site, but it wasn’t available this time so we ended up finding an even better spot right on the river. It’s not as large or as private, but it’s a lot more scenic and we can watch the kayakers paddling by right out our back window, or when sitting in our campsite. Check it out…
Our campsite. See the river right behind us? The 5th wheel right next to us (the one you see on the left) is another full timing family with a 6 year old boy. He has come over to play with Saylor almost every day. He and Saylor really hit it off.
See the view of the river out our windows? We love to watch the rafters, kayakers and even stand up paddle boarders go by. The river is especially busy during the weekends.
#19 | Ponderosa RV Resort (TT) in Coloma, California • Site #H-10 • 3 weeks: 10/9-10/30/16 • (2nd Visit – Different Campsite)
Greg was desperate to hang the hammock somewhere but there was nowhere to hang it. So he hung it up on our back ladder as a chair. Silly man.
I took this right from our front yard. That is GREG kayaking down the river! Can you see the guy in the blue shirt sitting on the rock on the bank? That’s Elijah, watching him. Fun times!
Saylor, pretending she is kayaking down the river.
Saylor is waiting for the hummingbird to come. They are so fast it’s hard to catch them on camera, but they kept coming right up to her!
See the hummingbird?!?! There is a couple that has been visiting the feeder all the time. We can just sit in our chairs and watch them come and go. Absolutely gorgeous. Definitely one of God’s most creative creations.
I just thought this was a cool picture. You can see the hummingbird’s tail. The way the sun is shining through the feeder makes it look like it’s floating in mid air.
Popeye on one of our many daily (several times a day) walks around the campground. I remember before we started this journey just imagining staying in campgrounds with views like this and it seemed like a fantasy. Too good to be true. Now, we are living it and this was one of many times that I was overtaken with emotion that this is our life now. It’s not too good to be true after all. Such a blessing.
People paint rocks and leave them here (this is in the campground) for future campers to see.
Our next door neighbors here also full time. They actually even have a mid bunk 5th wheel very similar to ours (by a different manufacturer). Anyway, their 6 year old son and Saylor really hit it off. They were playing with her toys in her loft and I thought it was so cute the way he had his legs sticking out the whole time.
A flock of turkeys right here in the campground. Hey… Thanksgiving is coming up. Honey, where’s that shotgun?!?! (Just kidding!)
I finally groomed him so he can see again!
Another second… I went back to that same farm stand and bought more of these yummy tomatoes.
Homeschooling Kindergarten. Deja Vu
She kept making rock piles that she wanted to collect so I turned it into a math lesson and told her to count all the rocks. She got to 29 and then said, ‘Meme, I’m tired of counting!” Oh well… it was fun while it lasted.
Just in case you were wondering…. This is how you vote when you are a full timer. We voted!
Elijah and Popeye modeling our new rug.
Our new rug. Makes our living room even homier. This was taken before the wrinkles had fully settled out, but I didn’t feel like taking another one.
This is a little park close to our campground. See the bear family? The one on top is trying to get honey out of the beehive.
Here are some pictures taken right before we left the Lake Tahoe area. Some of these are in that area and others were taken during our drive to Nevada.
Beautiful Countryside in Nevada
Pretty farm with some fall colors as well.
This was heading to Nevada, looking down into the valley.
One of my favorite shots. I took this on Lake Tahoe.
This was taken in Nothern California, very close to the Nevada border.
California Cabin in the Woods
Taken on one of our weekend drives
We ended up stopped very close to here for a picnic
Elijah walking Popeye through the golden grasses while we prepare our picnic lunch
My back was a bit out of sync on this day so Greg prepared everything for us to have a picnic. Who needs a picnic table when God provides such perfect rocks?!?!?
Enjoying the view
Elijah is king of the hill…. er rock.
Popeye needs a serious grooming. Where are his eyes?!?!
Elijah and Popeye by the river
We were looking for “hot springs” but found this cabin instead.
Beautiful granite mountains in Northern Nevada
Fall Colors are Kicking In
Dog Chew Toys – That’s RUFF!!!!
This was a restaurant called “California Burger” in Heavenly Village in South Lake Tahoe. Awesome GF burgers. Check out this sign – If you are a health food foodie like me, then California ROCKS!
Our “date night” at California Burger. Lots of character and atmosphere.
This girl was sitting on the table singing. She didn’t arrive until after we were seated so we didn’t even realize we were going to get live music too. BONUS! She was very talented, sounded a bit like Tracy Chapman.
Snow is on the way… This is Elijah – waiting for it.
What do you do on a chilly, snowy day but make Chili!
We only got a dusting at the campground, but the mountains around Lake Tahoe were snow capped.
The snow killed my back so this gave me an opportunity for a home ec. day with Elijah. He did absolutely everything – 6 full loads! He now officially knows how to do ALL the laundry.
Snuggles
Elijah and Popeye enjoying a bonfire at our South Lake Tahoe TT Campground, not every campground allows fires so we get them in when we can.
Here’s another second thing, Elijah and I went to the Sacramento Zoo when we stayed here several weeks ago. We decided to go AGAIN and this time we took Saylor. Here are a few pictures of our zoo day with Say. (That rhymes!)
Elijah and Saylor
Saylor wanted to take a picture at every single one of these face cut-out photo ops. LOL
See – now she’s a spider.
Hmmmm… can you tell me what is WRONG with this picture?
She sat down on the rock and said “Take a picture of me.” So, of course, I did!
Face to face with a giant anteater
Just because I absolutely LOVE giraffes. I love the lighting in this picture.
After the zoo we went to Chipotle. She loved their kid’s meal. She said she never had it before. It’s a good thing because Chipotle is Uncle Elijah’s absolute favorite restaurant so we go there every opportunity we get.
Today I took Saylor to Marshall Gold Discovery State History Park which is literally less than two miles from our campground. Greg and Elijah have walked there and back several times. Saylor and I went and ended up spending several hours there. She did the “Junior Ranger” booklet, watched a movie about travel back in the gold rush days, and even did a 45 minute gold panning class! She was so excited to be able to find 3 flakes of gold!
Being taught the proper technique to pan for gold
Saylor picked it up quickly!
She ended up finding three small gold flakes.
This is a rendition of James Marshall who found gold flakes in he streambed here on January 24, 1848 which sparked one of history’s largest human migrations. The Gold Rush!
A model of a Dredger
Bridge over the exact location where gold was first discovered by James Marshall
A Meme and Saylor Selfie
Saylor standing in the old jailhouse
Oh no… she’s behind bars!
Last but not least, these were taken on my drive all the way to Winnemucca, Nevada to pick up Saylor. From the worst rest area ever, to the prettiest snow capped mountains.
My first 45 minutes of driving down the mountain was in this pea soup fog. Fun, fun.
This was the absolute worst rest area ever. It was somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Nevada. Porta Potties!
This is the rest area on the other side, some picnic tables in the concrete jungle. Yuck!
I saw and passed way too many triples. Apparently they are legal in Nevada. They freak me out as they are dangerous, IMHO. I’ve seen too many of them swaying.
Saylor, playing in the snow at a (nicer) rest area on the way back home.
Crazy to go from 80 degrees to all this snow, then back to 80 degrees.
This was at Donner’s Pass. A beautiful almost fully frozen pond right off the rest area.
Saylor flipped out over all the snow
This was taken right at a beautiful rest area. (We were still in California here.)
We are leaving this campground on Sunday, October 30th, to head to an Encore resort in Santa Cruz for one week. Then we are heading down to Santa Barbara to stay at Rancho Oso, which is a horse ranch type campground, and we will stay there for three weeks. We have a LOT coming up, in the next couple of months. I’m flying back to NC during Thanksgiving to be there for the birth of my first grandson, then we are flying our 20 year old son, J.Jay out for three weeks over his college Christmas break shortly after I return. I’m going to try to write as often as possible, but realistically it will probably be every three weeks or so from here on out, instead of every two weeks. My time is even more limited now, as Elijah said above, our lives have become less relaxing, but more exciting! Join our journey and if you ever think about us, use that thought to lift up a prayer on our behalf.
Pamela, I can’t explain how much I understand but I’m here on a similar path and I understood every word. (You’ll recognize my “Reflection” from another place) We have special paths we’re being guided down and it’s his plan. After 4 1/2 years I can’t imagine life any different and we’re the blessed ones chosen to travel his path. Blessings to you and all your family.
Thanks! Blessings to you and your family as well.
Great blog. Love the pics! The view(s) of the American River is truly stunning.
Pamela, I can’t explain how much I understand but I’m here on a similar path and I understood every word. (You’ll recognize my “Reflection” from another place)
We have special paths we’re being guided down and it’s his plan.
After 4 1/2 years I can’t imagine life any different and we’re the blessed ones chosen to travel his path.
Blessings to you and all your family.
Thanks! Blessings to you and your family as well.
Great blog. Love the pics! The view(s) of the American River is truly stunning.
Praying for each of you daily. Love you much sis!
Thannks, Brenda!