Feb 9, 2010

We be on the road again, leaving Jason and Jamie and the kids (and the dog) with a minimum of tears. We plan to be back through here in June, after we finish our Georgia parks. We’re changing our route this year, going north in June, instead of west. I’d like to see Prince Edward Island where my maternal grandmother was raised, and I have a cousin in Quebec I’ve been corresponding with. We’ll go to Seattle across the top of the country, instead of the bottom.

Jason continues to do well at L3 Communications. His team is currently working with the Navy on some program that detects undersea mines. Or something. (He’d have to kill us if we knew more,) He continues to work toward his PhD at NC State in Instructional Design.

Jamie is developing into a very good portrait photographer. Dave is impressed with her eye and the creativity shown in her images.  She is not working now, and volunteers as assistant coach for a Havelock city girl’s basketball team. It’s quite a contrast, this pink cheeked redhead, working with a large, loud black guy. When we comment, it’s like Jamie hasn’t noticed. (The team is all black too, of course, except for Becca and another girl.) She loves basketball and she likes the coach, even if she can’t always understand him. You go, girl!!

The girls all love school. All three got straight As this past term. Oh, someone got a B+. Competition is in the closet. We never hear a neener, neener, neener. Susie is 13 and has changed her name to SIOUXZY. She’s as tall as I am, and just beautiful. Last year it was a battle to get Becca to change her jeans. This year (age 11) she is an ingenue, right off the pages of 17 Magazine. She combs her hair before dinner!! Katie is 9 and struggles to find her place. She is playing the piano so well; we felt bad that we missed her recital. Xander is still a cute little boy, age 5, very talkative and precocious. As soon as he got his tonsils out his speech improved. he wasn’t able to say his Ks, so it was “Tatie” and “Betta/” After surgery, his treat was to go to his favorite, Cow Cafe. And he could say it!!

From Myrtle Beach. SC to Charleston, Hwy 17 is a flat gray ribbon, traipsing along the coast through little settlements and plantations turned to golf courses. The road is four lane but there is no shoulder. The grass grows right up to the white line. Every 500 yards or so there is a little stick built display stand selling sweet grass baskets. A couple of old darkies in bib overalls and straw hats sit in lawn chairs, waiting for customers. A real southern tableau.

We like the signage along this road: “Keep moving. Change lanes later.” Stretches of the highway are named after folks, presumably local. We passed Maxine Wentworth Intersection and Juanita T. Sikes Crosswalk. When we cross the Coosawhatchie River, we know we are deep in Dixie. Savannah is celebrating the 100th birthday of Johnny Mercer – crossing Moon River brings us to Skidaway Island, our home base for the next two weeks.

Weather here is warmer than North Carolina. We got here through a window of calm and it looks like this Georgia coast area will not get the cold that is hitting everywhere else. We wish you all an early spring.                                       Sam and Dave

Our Christmas Season was busy but lots of fun with old and new traditions. Getting the tree this year was different than any other year so far. Jason didn’t come with us so it was just me and the kids driving the VW. Well we picked out the tree and Susie suddenly thought she was a Super Hero or something…it was over 6 ft. tall but she didn’t hesitate at all and she wouldn’t let me help but she let Becca. She lifted it up, carried it over to the van and then heave…hoed it over onto the top of the VW!!! Good grief…all of us laughing our heads off at her too. People in the parking lot were staring at us like we were crazy, one guy came and offered to help. Nope Susie wanted to do it on her own. And then she got to do the fun part. Tying it down. This is Susie remember who has been tying knots into things…anything she could get her hands on since she was 2! Well we did it, picked it out, brought it home, set it up, and decorated it! Whew! I told Jason that next year if he didn’t help I was going to buy a fake tree (and as many of you know in Jason’s mind that is grounds for divorce!!!)

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We also decorated the tree in our back yard that we designated as Olivia’s tree. Most of her ornaments that we have used every year were getting so worn out so we used red balls and icicles instead. It looked really pretty.

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Uncle Davey and Aunt Jackie sent us their traditional Christmas gift, a Gingerbread house. This year it was HUGE!!! The kids were so excited and thought I was the meanest mom ever because I wouldn’t let them destroy it right away. I wanted to enjoy how it LOOKED for awhile….so the countdown to when we could eat the gingerbread house ranked right up with the countdown to Christmas Eve, Yarn Balls, Christmas Day and of course Xander’s birthday!!!  It is such a great gift that the kids look forward to each year! It had all of us on it, even Roxy and then we had a surprise when we did finally tear into it, inside was G’ma and G’pa! Very cute!!!

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We went Caroling with the Martins again this year. It was so fun but much much much colder this year than last. We had to go back and stock up on more blankets and coats after the first house we went to. Brrrr! The kids were so cute hollering out Christmas songs! So fun!

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Finally Christmas Eve arrived…The long awaited night of YARN BALLS!!! It’s hilarious that even though the kids are getting older they still really look forward to this tradition Jason does with them. He did do it a bit different than previous years. Instead of hiding them he lined them up and they had to guess which one belonged to who and he did have a clue on each one, a very hard to notice clue…he had tied the end of the string with knots…13 for Susie, 11 for Becca, 9 for Katie and 4 for Xander. It took them awhile to figure it out but they did! Even Roxy got a special New Years Eve gift from G’ma!

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Christmas Eve tradition also includes new PJ’s for the kids. Well I got a great big fat F for this year. None of the girls PJ’s fit them….not one! Xander’s were fine but I failed miserably for the girls! Urgh!!! And both Katie and Xander contributed to the goodies left for Santa and all the reindeer!

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Xander has been so cute this Christmas season, so excited for everything, the tree, the lights, the gifts, the magic of it all. As it got closer and closer to Christmas I think he was getting a little worried about which of Santa’s lists he was going to be on. At night he would ask me, “Do you think I’ve been good today?” Xander got lots of fun things for Christmas. He was super excited about his Cowboy vest and chaps! He was lookin’ good!!! He also loved his star wars light saber for the Wii we got the kids! I caught him checking himself out in Becca’s mirror!

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Katie is at an age where she has been concerned about what she is hearing at school about Santa. She had numerous discussions with us through the month. As it got closer she came to us and showed us her letter to Santa. It was very sweet, hope you can read it. Basically listing a bunch of stuff and then the most important thing she want is to know Santa is real. Well Santa left her a very special gift, a photo of Santa leaving the gifts at our house, one of his elves took it for him. She also asked Santa when his birthday was. He wrote back that it is August 15…Did YOU know that??? She was in awe as she showed everyone the picture Santa gave her. It was really neat. She has it taped to her school notebook so she see’s it everyday! She was also very excited to get Dance Dance Revolution. She is one of the fastest kids in her class at DDR!

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Becca is such a tween!!! All she wanted for Christmas was a gift card from Rue 21! She scored big time when she went to spend it. They had just marked stuff down to $2-$3 bucks! She was so excited at all the stuff she got! She was also excited for guitar hero!!!  We had to chuckle at her gift from Wyatt. It was the green shirt, before she put it on it looked like it would only fit a doll… it had a note from Wyatt that said on it “call for explanation” I thought that was so cute! She put it on and it ‘stretched’ perfectly!

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Susie’s favorite gift was the clothes and jewelry she got. Porter gave Susie the neatest watch and necklace! (Katie got one too from Parker, very cool!) Santa also loaded her up with WAY too much makeup! What was he thinking??? Susie and Becca were hilarious…several weeks before Christmas we were driving to church and the kids were asking what everyone wanted for Christmas. They asked Daddy and he randomly answered “underware”(where did that come from??? He doesn’t even remember saying that) Well Susie and Becca thought it was hilarious and they came up with this great plan…they wanted to buy him great big HUGE boxers with spongebob or some other character on them and wake up in the middle of the night Christmas Eve and sneak downstairs and take everything out of his stocking and put the boxers in with a note that says “Hope they fit!” They laughed and giggled over their plans and had so much fun keeping it all a secret from him. They were so silly and cute about it. Well they even got G’ma in on it and it turned out perfectly. We all laughed and laughed when Daddy went to get into his stocking and all he pulled out were these obnoxious undies!!! (didn’t get a picture, I was laughing too hard!) Oh and the S.C. stands for Sarcastic Children NOT Santa Clause!!! 🙂

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Of course Christmas isn’t just for kids…we had a great Christmas too. The gift giving and receiving is lot’s of fun but the most wonderful part about Christmas is being together with our family and enjoying the blessing of our knowledge of Christ and His birth and his great love for each of us…

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Last tradition…we actually did it after Christmas…we invited our friends the Andrews over to make gingerbread houses. It was so fun. The kids were very creative and had a great time!

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We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Season this past month. We started out the month with Katie’s concert at school and her piano recital. The concert was really great, fun songs! (she filled our home with these songs for weeks and weeks before AND after the concert…she does love to sing!!!) For her recital she did a beautiful job. Wish the room wasn’t so crowded so we could have gotten a decent photo of her…Katie loved having our friend Raelyn come over for a birthday dinner. This is Ms. Raelyn that took Katie and Jason to Disneyland! And of course a photo with Santa…and the last photo’s were after Christmas was over. Katie was feeling pretty tough taking the tree out to the street!

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Becca and Katie both started basketball. Katie kinda fell through the cracks..I am wondering about this league here…she never got a phone call from her coach so I finally called and they gave me the info. We got to practice (she’d missed 3 already) and they had put her on a team with kids way older than her, add that to missing 3 practices and the coach was awful (her 2nd practice, coach’s 5th…he got there sent them running to warm up then threw a temper tantrum and yelled at the girls that he wasn’t coaching them today!!! I am not kidding…and then he left. All these kids left with no adult supervision. Well there were still a few parents there but there were 4 or 5 girls that were wandering the halls wondering what to do. OOOOHHH I was so ticked. I called the head of the League and let him have it! They actually let the guy coach a couple more practices until they could get themselves together enough to make a decision about the guy. Crazy, so I pulled her from the program. Not a great experience for her!  Becca was placed on a team that was older than her on purpose, when I signed her up the coach for the U14 really wanted her! She is doing really great with these older girls. I just wish she enjoyed it more! I am having a blast being the assistant coach. I guess it is good one of us is having fun right??? Sigh!!!  I was released as Primary President and the next week we were talking about Primary and Becca said “well I guess you are a Primary Veteran!!!” I thought that was so cute! Becca and Susie had a concert as well for their school chorus. Susie loves Chorus, Becca has been counting down the days for the semester to end so she doesn’t have to go to chorus anymore…does she sound like a moody pre-teen or what? Becca has done a little bit of art this month.  Becca says she started out drawing a portrait of Xander but it looked too feminine so she turned it into a girl.  I think she drew Olivia and just didn’t know she was…She looks very similar to Susie and a little bit like Lana, but not quite, has her own look. I’ve always imagined Olivia looking a bit like my sister Lana and she obviously would have looked like our other kids cuz as you can see we have what my mother in law calls “cookie cutter kids”!!!Becca also drew a boy and when she was done she came to me and told me she wanted to give it to Sister Hill for Christmas. She said sister Hill is always telling her how talented she is and what a great artist she is, she said she thought sister Hill would like to have a drawing from her. Very sweet, Sister Hill felt honored!

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Susie has been really into music this month. The school concert I already mentioned. She has also continued her voice lessons and has been preparing to sing in sacrament meeting ALONE!!! She sang “Mary did you know?” the Sunday before Christmas. She did an amazing job. She didn’t seem nervous at all. I knew she was but she was very composed and sounded beautiful. She sure had her Daddy in tears! She has done some babysitting for friends in the ward throughout the month. I think she has been dubbed the best babysitter in the ward. She really enjoys those kids. She brings activities and does a great job taking care of everything. The kids all love Susie! She has also been involved in 4H focusing on horses. She has had several meetings and activities.

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Xander has been super busy with preschool, he loves it. He has also learned how to snap his fingers and he is so proud of this!!! He will say “when I snap my fingers once that means yes, when I snap them twice that means no” when I ask him a question. And he just wanders around snapping away. “Hi Mom…snap snap…what’s for dinner…snap snap…” So cute! He also discovered that he loves tangerines because he can peel it all by himself (yep saves the seeds). One day he asked me to peel it for him, I said “no buddy, you can do it” he flipped his fingers up towards me and said very dramatically “I can’t peel them…you cut my nails off!!!” He was right, I’d cut his nails the night before! This other picture was such a crack up. We got home from somewhere and Xander was wearing his Santa hat. Well he kinda disappeared for awhile and when he showed up again he was wearing his red turtleneck and he had gone into the bathroom, filled the sink with soap and made himself a Santa Beard! It was so adorable. So he posed for me with his ‘Santa bag’ and even gave us some ‘ho ho ho’s.  Too cute!!! We also dogsat another dog, this one was Molly. Xander loved Molly, loved to help me take care of her and play with her. He started begging for a dog of his very own. I’d tell him we already have Roxy, so he started begging for any kind of pet of his very own. He got stuck on the idea of his own fishtank with his very own fish. So he asked Santa for that for Christmas along with a ‘bunch of oranges’. That was his list! Well Santa came through… And as you can see from the last photo Xander is into that age of picking out his own clothes! Good one Buddy!!!

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Jason has been super busy with work and school and trying to keep his motorcycle running and of course the on going maintenance of his saltwater fish tank. It is really looking good. He is so proud of it and will show it off to anyone! I have finished up my photography course. Learned a lot but still have ton’s of additional material they gave us to go through online. I took a bunch of picture of several families for Christmas cards, this one is of our good friends the Martins. Molly is there dog. She came and plunked down when I was taking photos so I had to start snapping away at her too! Her poor sad face in time out! :-). I also included several from photo’s I took of our kido’s in the same area.

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Hi everybody!

Just a quick note update on our travels.  After four days in the RV park in Asheville, experiencing the biggest snow Asheville has seen in the last 20 years, we managed to creep out of the park on icy roads and reach the dry highway .  . .  and head east on I-40 once again. We had snow on the roadside until Raleigh (the second day of travel) but the highway was dry pavement. Arrived and Jason and Jamie’s on Tuesday, and are now parked in the driveway enjoying the sunshine and 50 degree weather during the days.  We plan on being here a month or so.

We hope all our friends are enjoying their Holiday season as much as we are, surrounded by great kids and grandkids.

Merry Christmas.

Dave & Sam

December 18

Sam asked that I update her latest missive  . . . . .

After pretty nice travel weather from Santa Rosa, we’ve found a bump in the road.  Had to take a 100 mile detour yesterday ’cause I-40 was closed at the NC border due to a landslide, which got us only to Asheville, NC  last night . . . .  so the storm has caught us here.  Snowing, with predictions of up to 8 inches today and more tonight. Looks like we’ll be here a couple of days. We were hoping to make Havelock by Saturday at least, since Susie has a singing gig at the church on Sunday which We were hoping to catch.  And Jason was giving a Christmas talk. Not to be. If we were a couple hundred miles further east we would be into the rain, not this solid white stuff, which I seem to remember seeing before somewhere  . . . . .

It has been clear and cool with cold nights across the country.  Good for the bus ’cause it doesn’t get so hot on the climbs. I-40 is pretty good as interstates go. Of course there is always old concrete, which I dislike intensely!  Tennessee has pretty good roads, but their bridge/highway interface sucks. I DON’T know why they can’t do a better job of matching the bridge edges to the highway. BIG BUMPS!  Tennessee  is really a pretty state.  I would like to spend more time there looking around. Same goes for Oklahoma City . . . . . looks very interesting. Hopefully on one of these cross-country treks we won’t be on some destination schedule.

One of the problems that we did not have a clue about until we started traveling is that, although it seems like there are a lot of RV parks, there really aren’t where you might wish them to be. We quite often have to quit traveling earlier that we might want because there are big distances  ahead with no parks. We don’t like boon-docking in the cold weather because it gets so cold in the bus overnight. And, you can’t always count on a Walmart or Flying J where you need them. So, we take a little longer going from A to B.

So . . .  we’ll undoubtably make the kids by Christmas . . . and wishing all our friends on this blog – o – sphere a warm and happy holiday!

Love to all,

Dave & Sam

December 12. 2009

Leaving Santa Rosa, New Mexico, this a.m. We never make any more than $300 on this job but we (I) love the little town. Santa Rosa is home to the Blue Hole, a diver’s dream, Historic Route 66, the author of Bless Me, Ultima lives here, and it’s not far from the Bosque Redondo, the “long walk” of Navajo and Mescalero Apaches 150 years ago. This is Billy the Kid country, too, but we don’t find his legend nearly as worth remembering as the Bosque Redondo, now a State Monument, or Memorial.

I didn’t get my annual story from Johnny Martinez, owner of the Comet Restaurant. Johnny was glad to see me, he’s looking well (Alice has been gone two years now) but his priest came in while I was there. So I got to meet the priest, whom I had heard about from nearly everyone in town, but I didn’t get my story. (I got the sale, though. How can you turn down a nice lady in front of your priest?)

Father Joe (no one can pronounce his last name) is Pakistani and is learning English and Spanish at the same time. The 150 year old St. Rose of Lima Church is being remodeled, a big event here, which is how Father Joe came up in conversation so often. Santa Rosa is 96% Hispanic Catholic; they are being very kind and patient with Father Joe, but a little disappointed not to have someone who understands their history celebrate the remodel. If we weren’t getting out of town as fast as we can this morning, I would go to church tomorrow.

We see a lot of trucks on I-40 today. I counted 55 in six minutes. When we were coming west in June we were shocked at how few trucks there were. Must be a good sign.

When you’ve seen the first 50 miles of the Texas Panhandle, you’ve seen the whole stretch of it. Elevation down to about 3,000 ft, straight concrete highway, brown fields, winter dead shrubs, cattle, the largest cross in the world, occasional rest stops called “picnic sites,” (no toilets), few billboards, lots of open space.

You need a sign to tell you when it’s Oklahoma. The road is a little worse and there are more oak trees. Toilets in the rest areas. Oklahoma has casinos; no casinos in Texas (it’s the law). Oklahoma dirt is a rich sienna; still nothing on the horizon. We are down to almost sea level in this State, though, and it’s warmer. Lots of construction on I-40; we welcome it. Skies are clear, rolling across Arkansas. We can see some hills in the distance.

Arkansas is big on pigs. Not enough to have the razorbacks as a State School Mascot, pigs are a feature attraction everywhere. We passed “Pig trail,” a State maintained hiking area, the “Hog Trough Liquor Store.” and we could have eaten at the “home of the big porker. It’s a beautiful state, though, and we’d like to spend more time here. Arkansas has water: lakes, ditches, rivers, green grass. The Corps of Engineers sponsor most of what would otherwise be State Parks. Toad Suck Ferry is a lovely COE park.

Memphis, Tennessee happens fast. Cross the Big Muddy and you’re there. The huge pyramid convention center (needs a big eye on it) and St. Jude’s Children’s Research Center are right on Front Street. We have stayed in Memphis before and can attest to a lot of REALLY bad neighborhoods. Every bit as bad as the worst in Montgomery, Alabama. Elvis lived in a fairly seedy part of town, as I recall.

We notice that we have stayed in a lot of the places we are stopping at now. Making eight trips back and forth, I guess that’s bound to happen. We are thinking of changing our route, maybe go north up the east coast and see Nova Scotia, and cross the country across the top. We’ll see. Right now there is a really strong pull to the Swan house in North Carolina. We have about 900 miles to go.

Stay well, friends, and enjoy the holidays. We send our love,

Sam and Dave

December 5, 2009

How we be? We be seriously derelict in writing this, our 93rd journal entry, that’s how we be!

Albuquerque was great. We like the city, weather was good and thankfully, we got the bus switch problem fixed. Turns out we didn’t have two problems – the fixing the guy did in Junction City didn’t hold, so Statkus Engines in ABQ fixed it again, better. What a relief!!  Park sales were good, too.

We had another really great meal with Ted and Marcia in Placitas. They always entertain us so beautifully, but this time they had a little house finch in their lovely adobe home – perched most of the time on a carved St. Francis of Asissi (of course)! Be a long time before they can top that!

We got to Truth or Consequences on Nov 23rd. Our former managers live in Las Cruces and invited us down for Thanksgiving. Beth and Paul are the best friends we’ve met this past six years. We miss them. We got to visit again with Beth’s brother, the other Paul, who has traveled so much of the United States and the world. He teaches English as a second language and is, by his definition, “homosexual, but not very gay.” We were curious to find out what the difference was being a gay man in Korea, his last teaching job, and Arkansas, where he now teaches at Arkansas State. Not much, apparently, except Memphis is closer.

Truth or Consequences is reeling, well, wobbling, from an economic low. I don’t think it was ever high enough to reel. We’re struggling to make enough sales to print a map. This park, like a lot of others, has taken on permanent tenants, which puts advertisers off. Plus the owner is crabby and has had some bad reviews; she might not have as many snow birds this year, so ….

On the plus side, I have had some great birds at my feeder. An American Kestral stayed in the feeding tree a long time, not eating seed, but snacking on a dove he had apparently killed. And I had many Pyrrhuloxiae, a new one for me. They are a subtle colored, smaller version of a Cardinal, with a thin, really spiky crest. They will feed at the feeder, where I have only had Cardinals eat off the ground. A Curved Bill Thrasher came every day, busily throwing around leaves and grasses. And of course, lots of little female somethings, and dark headed juncoes or related juncoes. We were backed into a clay cliff with lots of nests.

I love this place. I love New Mexico. Dave likes the State also, T or C, not so much. He feels in time I wouldn’t be happy here, either. Thinks the populace is a little slow for me. I think they are all just slightly stoned. If I lived here I could be an Albuquerque Raging Grannie, wearing tye-dye and singing protest songs on the plaza. Truth or Consequences has its own aura (often somewhat like lysol over patchouli): a lot of artists, more than a smattering of woo-woo, good coffee, the New Mexican Veteran’s Home, and now the Spaceport, Virgin Air’s private lift off to provide tourist travel in space.

We drove out to the Spaceport last weekend. It’s about 20 miles out in the scrub dotted desert (Dave says it feels more like 50). We didn’t see anyone at the guard shack, so drove right through and wandered around where they are constructing the runway. I was looking for launch construction but I guess it’s good they are thinking of how to get the folks back.

When we left a security guard appeared at the shack. He apparently was “sitting kind of low” in his chair. Anyway, he politely told us that no one is allowed into the construction site without a guide. Oh. I’m anxious to see the hangar built. Pictures of the proposed building look like a very, very large manta ray, spread out, making just a copper colored hump to match the desert. The launching area is very close to White Sands, so you know they have a lot of space, pardon the pun.

I feel a real kinship here. It’s like a poor version of Eugene, touting “Peace, Love and Chili.” We were shopping at the one remaining market (except Wal *Mart) one day and noticed a pretty woman in her seventies, pushing a full cart toward the lot in the back. “SYLVIA,” we heard someone shout. It was an equally old woman bagger, shuffling up to hug Sylvia and say, “Let me get that for you!”

So we are on our way to Santa Rosa, our last park map west of the Atlantic Coast. It is unseasonably cold (17 degrees) and we have had snow. The folks in T or C got real excited about a couple of inches of snow. The kid clerking at Bullock’s Supermarket remarked dryly, “Be careful if you drive in it. All the old folks in town will be out looking for bread and batteries.” It was pretty, but gone before noon. We are in Bernardo tonight, having to make a stop to visit Walgreen’s. They haven’t had a freeze in four years, until this week. Dave put them on to the LaPine trick of putting buckets over the water faucets. Hope it works ‘cause it is going to be cold again tonight. We are very cozy in our metal house; just can’t hug the walls!

Wherever you are, we hope you are warm and happy. If you step outside, every now and then you can hear me holler GO DUCKS!!!!

Love,
Swans x 2

November was very busy for us…we stayed crazy with swimming lessons, piano lessons, soccer, preschool, church, school for ALL of us (crazy) dog sitting (we love Moose!),  of course Thanksgiving and 2 birthdays!!! Whew…

We enjoyed the last week of soccer season with Becca! It was so fun watching her play, especially in the tournament! She did awesome! She is very competitive! Go Becca!!!

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For the tournament the game ended 0 to 0 so they had to do a kick off. Becca kicked in the winning score! She was so excited…we went to Chuck E Cheese’s to celebrate! Becca has continued doing a great job with her little Kids Craft Corner, she has done several more fun activities with the kids!

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Xander was our little cowboy this month. He was thrilled to get a cowboy shirt from G’ma Sam. He’d asked her (numerous times) that when she got to Texas if she could look for a real cowboy shirt for him, with pearly snaps and all! At first we had a hard time getting him to take it off! He was so adorable. I had to do some portraits of him. He had his boots and his vest and his horses and his gun, even a sheriffs badge! I love how he uses his imagination, he even got his friends involved and his sister!

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He has also been a crazy boy outdoors. We have wild onions that grow randomly in our lawn, he has taken it upon himself to dig them all out. So I have holes here and there but at least he’s getting them out for me. Problem is he doesn’t look at it like they are weeds, he wants me to cook with them so he “saves” them for me!  We have also decided he is our little ‘Johnny Appleseed’. Ever since he grew his own apple trees last year from seeds he dug out of an apple he ate (sad but it didn’t survive the cold) anyway now any fruit he eats he saves the seeds, apples, pears, oranges…we’ve got baggies of seeds all over with his name on it! He keeps asking when it is going to be spring so he can plant his seeds! Xander finished up another session of swim lessons. He passed the level. He is doing really great, can go independently in the 3 ft. area. It is so nice to sit on the edge and watch instead of holding him the whole time! He does drive everyone around him bonkers with his “watch this, watch me” over and over. He’s moved from just his family, mostly me, to complete strangers and the lifeguards! It was kinda cute at first but I finally had to tell him to stop so they could play on their own or for the lifeguards so they can do their job! He also pushes the rules with the lifeguards. He knows he is not suppose to dive in but he does anyway…perfect belly flops…until they come tell him to stop! The other pictures are of him and Daddy being silly and Xander and his friend Jake playing…oh and Xander snuggled with Moose! Ever since we dog sat Moose, Xander has been begging for a dog or pet of HIS VERY OWN! Sorry buddy, 1 dog, 2 cats and 3 fish tanks are enough (did I mention Jason’s tank is large enough for me to fit in it!!! It takes up an entire wall of our living room!)

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Jason has been so swamped with all his responsibilities…we are so grateful for all his sacrifices each day, the many hours he works, dedicating himself to getting through a PhD program, his church callings… I included a couple of his photo’s from his fish tank and a few when his daughters ganged up on him and decided to “help” him out with his birthday treat! Brave girls to take him on…he doesn’t get mad he gets even and beyond that!!! Watch out girly girls!!!

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We celebrated Jason’s birthday. Yummy cinnamon rolls from our friend Debbie!  For his gift we decided to give in to his latest obsession… (we always tease him about his obsessions)this time, his motorcycle. We got him a warm coat so he doesn’t freeze on the way to and from work. We had fun ‘giving’ it to him and the kids loved beating on him to see if he could feel them through the armor in the jacket!

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Next was Katie’s birthday…darn she had to go to school…we took in some cupcakes to share with her school friends, then after school we went swimming! She loves the pool. Then afterwards gifts and treats! We did do a fun thing to give her the gift from Daddy and I. Katie LOVES music, constantly has the radio on and sings along, sometimes at the top of her lungs! Anyway we put together several of her favorite songs and took a phrase from it and turned them all into a treasure hunt, for example ‘1,2,3 like a bird I see…’ the clue was hidden in a bird feeder, ‘I love to see the temple’ the next clue was hidden behind the picture of the SL temple on our wall etc. We had about 10 songs and after each clue she had so sing us the song. It was alot of fun…well the “treasure” was a ipod! She was so excited!!! Her friend Sophie joined us for the night, Katie’s cake so fit her personality…that’s how she wanted it…wild and crazy like her!

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About 2 weeks before Katie’s birthday Becca came to me and begged me to let her throw a surprise party for Katie. She planned it all out, Susie helped her too and Katie’s friend Sophie was in on it too. Sophie passed out all the invitations secretly at school and kept Katie entertained at her house while Becca and Susie decorated the day of the party. The guests arrived and then Sophie brought Katie over and she was REALLY REALLY SURPRISED!!! It was awesome…The played several games and had so much fun being silly! It was really neat to see Becca and Susie go out of their way to make this a special birthday for Katie. Katie was very  happy!

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Susie has finished up the soccer season as well for the middle school. She was their manager and the coach told her she had never had a better manager than Susie. She really enjoyed it. She played with them some of the time or she entertained the coach’s daughter in addition to the other managing stuff she did. This picture of Susie playing with the Lincoln logs cracked me up…We got these for Xander and he was so so interested if someone would do it with him. So Susie did but he soon lost interest and left, but she was obviously having too much fun!  For Thanksgiving Susie decorated the table and put together the place settings. She even folded the napkins into origami cranes. She is so talented. We had our good friends the Martins over for Thanksgiving dinner. Great times!!! And we are extremely thankful for all the “gifts” in our lives…our beautiful family our extended families , our friends both near and far, the gospel in our lives, and our Country and those serving and fighting for our freedom!

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And last me… I’ve decided to get into professional photography. I am feeling the need to do something since next year I am going to have a empty house… and I love photography so I am taking a course through the college in Morehead city and so far I have learned alot.  I have set up a “studio” in our home and have done several photo shoots of our friends, I’ve also done a lot of outdoor as well. I already put the few of “cowboy Xander”, these are a few of my other favorites. I also ran a 5K on base…it was actually Jason’s idea to have the two of us and Becca run with our friends, well we thought it was on a Saturday so he signed us up, turns out it was on a Friday and he couldn’t leave work and Becca had a presentation that day so it was just me with their family…wish I could do more than a 5K but my feet are such a mess! Plantar fasciitis really sucks!!! Xander and his friend Jake waited with Ms. Debbie for us at the finish line! My goal was to be under 30 min. and I made it! (none of my running friends are allowed to laugh!!!)

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We’ve had another great month of Preschool! I can’t say enough about how much I love this swap thing or co-op whatever you want to call it…I love it! We have had so much fun! My week in November the theme was Harvest. The kids made their own corn on the cob and yummy scarecrow cupcakes.

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Our first field trip we went on a nature hike. The kids had their binoculars we made and we went searching for birds and plants and leaves…they found lots of acorns too! And they made up a game of being dinosaurs and running ahead and hiding from us, then when we got near they would yell out at us and ‘scare’ us. We ended our outing with a picnic at the playground. Xander was so sweet helping Kerrigan swing!

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Our next fieldtrip was at A Day At The Farm. It was a bit of a drive getting there but we had a great time. They got to make butter, go on a hay ride and have yummy ice cream. They had all kinds of animals, pot belly pig, bunnies, kittens, sheep, cows, chickens, turkeys, goats (smart goat that can get his own dinner by pulling a rope up!) several HUGE pigs, a pond loaded with fish…the kids had the greatest time with the ducks though! We were the last to leave and she finally let all the ducks out of their pen (keeps them penned up while guests are at the farm), anyway the kids went nuts chasing the ducks around, it was hilarious…we really had to work to pull them away so we could leave!

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Our last fieldtrip was a Thanksgiving celebration. We made turkeys and had a festive lunch. There were games planned but the kids had the most fun making up their own activities like hide and seek!

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November 1, 2009

After what seems like months of sitting and looking at my lap, I can feel depression starting to lift. Given to assessing how I feel, I’m surprised every day that I don’t feel relief, or more sad, or some kind of grief. I just feel hollowness. Where for years I felt worry or irritation or tenderness toward my mother, that part is now just empty. It is very uncomfortable.

We buried Mother’s ashes in a little cemetery on a hill outside Monroe, Oregon. She’s next to my Dad and his parents; Mother’s folks are nearby. The tributes were few, but heartfelt. At 94, Mother outlived most of her tributes. Katie Swan, age 9, offered a memorable tribute. On hearing that Honey-Ma had died, she wiped her tears and said. “Well. I’m going to be especially nice to everyone today.”

We’re back on the road, back to work. The day after we left Monroe we pulled into a station for fuel and the bus wouldn’t start when we were ready to go. Damn! Same switch symptoms that left us dead in the park in Georgia in March. We got a tow down the road to Guaranty RV and got it fixed, hopefully for good. Five hundred plus and we were back on the road.

We worked a park in LaPine, Oregon and did very well. We didn’t see any of our friends in Bend, our only excuse being that after a Friday trip to the dermatologist I couldn’t wear a bra or my glasses.

It has been a beautiful fall. We’ve seen the trees turn gummy bear colors of root beer, watermelon, lemon and lime. The Aspen have quaked with a shimmering giddiness that left them bare and stickery. I was about to compare the beauty of Vermont but I remember a roadside sign we passed: “Beetle Cleaned Skulls.” It’s definitively LaPine.

We got a shot of adrenaline on Hwy 20 east of Bend that could last us all the way to New Mexico. Heading east, approaching a corner atop a little hill, a car coming up the other side didn’t make the corner and came at us totally in our lane. He did not have time to get back in his lane and didn’t seem inclined to run off the road. Fortunately we had room to swing all 55 feet of us into the westbound lane and the guy stayed where he was. Our serpentine maneuver at 55 mph must have startled the traffic behind both of us. We hate this highway.

…About that switch …. We stopped in downtown Vale yesterday to fix lunch, and the bus wouldn’t start. Dead. Dave diddled with the circuit checker and for some reason, the engine started. It died a few miles down the road, though, so we limped into Fruitland and are trying not to worry while we wait for Monday to get some help. We can drive the bus, once it starts; even when the engine quits we can get it off the road. The worry is to break down out in the hinterland where we would need a long tow, and have to detach the drive line … not good.

Stay tuned,

Sam