Coming In Hot

Today we left the Oceanside Harbor and docked up to the Tucker house for a night while Uncle Cousin Booty is still in town.

We will be heading to Lake Guajome park for the next week, and it is a really pretty little park with so many things to do and it is only a few miles away from here. We are pretty excited, in fact we went there today to play at the playground so it is familiar to Madee when we arrive.

As we were swinging on the swingset we saw two SPCA vehicles come tearing through the parking lot and past the campground, and as Charlie said, "They were coming in HOT!" Madee and I crossed the playground to see what was happening, and were surprised to get roped into a sting.

The officers had us feed bread to about 200 hundred ducks and geese so they could try and grab one of them that had some fishing line around her foot.

It was terribly exciting and although they didn't catch her, we got to learn about all the teamwork involved, and how they had been trying to catch her for about 2 months, which is precisely why they needed Madee and myself to feed them bread, because this one goose knows who they are now.

Oh yeah. And the generator is now fully functional thanks to brilliant Dad, and now dry camping is actually just like plugging in.

AND I went to the mall today with Auntie Teri, did some major retail therapy and got a new Mom uniform. Which is awesome because I so badly needed some new clothes, and I was very smart about what I bought, so I am really excited about wearing it all.

My favorite item is a matching hat and scarf. It is TO DIE FOR, and will be featured sometime very soon, I'm sure.

Also exciting, our friends Stacey and John are having their baby.

Like right now.

Guess who is doing the newborn pictures?
AND I have my first on-the-road photo shoot here in Oceanside for a family that we met at the park last week.

Ida is sitting up really good by herself, she got a new tooth, and Madee is up to 2 and 3 word phrases, is a trooper in the scary ocean waves, and gave up bottles all just in this last week.

Life is just mach 5 with kids - every day seems so long, but they flip by so quickly.

We found some crazy cool stuff at low tide yesterday, alos to be featured once photographed. I could sit and sift through sand and shells at low tide for hours.

AND Dad is a surfer now.

I think we are settling in to our new selves quite nicely, and we are glad we get to do it all together as a family.

Now I must set my mind to decorating the RV for Christmas. Madee knows who Santa Claus is and I am pretty excited even though I don't know where we will be for it...

Gotta run. I smell turkey enchiladas!

Thankful

Hope your Thanksgiving is full of lots of things...

Fun

Family
Rad Mustaches
Killer Decorators
Sword Swallowing
Bacon Wrapped Food
Serenity
Simple Things
And more family.
From our family to yours, whoever you are, Happy Thanksgiving.

And Thanks for reading.

Hook Ups

Tonight we are driving the RV down to the harbor, where there are all sorts of delightful things, but not hook ups.

I get spoiled plugged into Auntie Teri's backyard. I have even been sleeping in a real bed with no steel plate, and doing dishes when I like with nice warm water.

I also like running into the house all the time for whatever.

It is great to spread out.


Every morning when we wake up all efforts are to get ourselves to the beach anyway, so we are excited about going to stay there this week. Charlie can roll out of bed and into the surf, and we can roll right onto the playground.

The harbor camp is a parking lot. And I don't mean it is like a parking lot, because it really is just a parking lot.

It will actually be nice to have our house right there by the beach, because we could play in the sand all day, and now we probably will.

Madee likes her new bird friends.

Harbor Line Up

I already like it there.

And I already miss it here.

Thinking

I could live at the beach...

Quote of the Day

"See you in Cambodia."
-my Dad

Thinking

I need this Kiss onesie.

These are pretty cool too.

Every girl loves flowers.

Sunset
Ahhh. Catalina off in the horizon.

I want to go to there.

What Are Ya Hauling?

Ever since we got an RV, I have cultivated a new interest in the caravan practices of others. Where ever we are, gas station, in town, on the road - I am seeing RVs and RV parks and trailers and fifth wheels trailing scooters and golf carts and bikes and smart cars and it is just really cool to look around a camp site and see the style and accouterments that other people have going on.

Some of them are even good enough to share.

Like this one.

When we first started talking about renovating an RV, I started doing some internet research to get ideas and came across this collection of jewels so of course I have been keeping my eye out for one of these ladies in person.


I am kind of disappointed that we never saw the person who owned her.


Love love love the license plate thing she has going on the door.

Giddy up cowgirl! You are a hot little Mama!

I heart Arizona

We popped in Raising Arizona for our last night in Phoenix, and every time I watch that movie I fall in love with Holly Hunter.

She is just so hysterical in that scene when Hi finally gets her a baby and she breaks down crying so hard choking on the words "I love him so much!"

Before we came here, that movie was all I knew about Arizona.

These were the clouds as we left.

It looks like a heart to me.

We actually found quite a few rocks that look like hearts, too. So I am guessing it was a theme to look for the love in people and places and things.

I got no love for this guy.
He gave me the heebs and I just had to share him with you.
I am pretty sure he shoots lasers and we could have seen one at any time.
Apparently also quite the sting.
Bleagh.



And I have seen Zeus run right into a tree while tracking a frisbee so we didn't throw it around these guys.

I think this is where toothpicks come from.


We are now in Oceanside for the weekend, which is awesome because the girls feel quite at home here. We just pulled right up and plugged in to the house so it is pretty awesome that now when we come visit we bring our own room.

Since we are parked on the street we can't slide the sides out, so it is a tight squeeze.

Of course we are just so happy to be able to hang out in a house that we don't need to go in there for much anyway.

Scenes from the RV.

One Last Sunset

There is still so much we could do around here, but tomorrow we go back to Cali. Points of interest we enjoyed while here?

1. Makutu's Island
2. McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park
3. Some random park in Tempe


4. The Brick's
5. Usery Mountain Regional Park


6. Famous Nails (Killer pedicure!)


7. Outdoor World (Madee loved the carvings!)


8. Kid to Kid Consignment (Ida got a new walky!)


Tomorrow we think we will stop by the kid's museum while Dad has the oil changed in the RV.

While we were here, Madee got scratched, bumped and bruised, fell off of numerous playground equipment, was dragged through the streets by the dogs, and drove her Dora bus out of the RV door and down the stairs.

And for the most part landed it.

Ono got locked in the car, Zeus got stuck by a cactus while trying to pee on a jumping cholla.

Ida fell off the sofa for the first time, (thud) and has been battling the teeth and gums.

So it has been pretty exciting around here, even on the boring days...

Next, Newport Beach, possibly Mom in Anaheim, and Thanksgiving with family in Oceanside... All of which is sounding pretty awesome to me!

And one last sunset.

The Brighter Side of Phoenix

Of course now I have grown slightly find of Arizona. My new favorite thing? Saguaro Cactus nubs. They look like little sea urchins, and they are just so cute!


Sea Urchins

May favorite nub cluster.



Charlie has a buddy he has known since he was 5 that lives not too far away in Scottsdale. He and his wife have an adorable little Logan, and she is turning 1 today. She and Eden were pretty much the same size.

Only Eden is heavier...

The Italian Greyhound is Lola. She is a good kisser.

What a cute group of girls! They got along quite well!

Madee enjoyed being the oldest and helping the other babies. She was so sweet and you could just see her confidence being boosted as she realized that she had lots of skills compared to the other two.

She even got all crazy and was leaping off of the ottomans...

That bruise on her cheek is from an unfortunate header into the cockpit of the RV from the living area last week, and she has scabs and scrapes all over from the gravel and rocks in the desert.

I have asked Charlie on more than one occasion if he thought she had a cactus spine in her, she has been so moody and cranky.

Then today she reared her head back laughing and i could see her 2 year molars have been coming in.

Mother.

I'll be glad when that is over.

Madee knows her way to the playground and we go several times a day since it is just so close to our site. She has learned how to big girl swing, and she can land her slides and comes off of them running. We do lots of high fives.


So we have been really focusing on running, jumping and playing skills. Guess who gets to fall down all the time to convince her it is cool?

The other parents think I am nuts.

The other kids are nuts about me.

We had our first campfire and Dad made awesome burgers on it. Then the girls freaked out in the dark (it is REALLY dark here when it is dark) and Madee wasn't even convinced we were eating until we came inside and she could see her food.

Note to self. Purchase lantern.

Madee and I spent a lot of today sifting through the rocks together, Ida loves to sit in her bumbo and play with her fingers in the sand. We have been doing our best to slow down and try to enjoy ourselves in the simplest kind of way. And "pway" a lot.


It isn't easy with all these teeth and Dad's tedious and demanding job that literally has him so busy that I don't get break from whenever they get up in the morning until Ida's teeth stop bothering her at night.


Tomorrow night is our last night here, then we pack up and head to Tucson for a couple of days. I can't believe I will kind of hate to leave.

Strange Arizona

Oh, Internet.

I cannot even begin to tell you how hard this is. I am sure that you are wondering why we would do something like this to ourselves, and that maybe we are just gluttons for severe punishment, what, with having the 2 kids so fast and then moving into this RV with them like life wasn't stressful enough.

I mean, we weren't getting great sleep before, and I thought we had really reached a low on that one. But we had far further to travel.

I don't even try to sleep during the day anymore.

I can't handle the disappointment.

This is our front yard.

I know there will come a breaking point. Some crazy thing will happen and we will start to work together as a team and it will be incredible.

But right now we are incredibly moody and I am learning to take "fake it til you make it" to a new level, I mean somebody has to be the head cheerleader in these situations and Madee isn't looking to fill that position anytime soon.

Yesterday was a pretty good morning because we went to the train museum park and met a nice mommy with two little girls. Her 2 year old was named Zoie, her 7 month old's middle name was Charlotte and her mom's middle name is Ida.

Each of us had somebody to play with and it ruled.

The other night the clouds were incredible, and although I do not quite understand how people can live here with the hostility of the landscape, (I am convinced that the Saguaro Cacti are Arizona's way of giving me the finger) the sky is certainly another thing.


These are all shots of the same sky.

Giving me the finger.

The flash makes a huge diff..


Later that night, long after the sun went down, I was walking Ida to put her to sleep. The mountains surround the campsite so that at night they rise like dark teeth on the horizon. The clouds that night sat between the mountains and the moon creating this illuminated frame around more clouds in the sky. I was insane, and I can't show you because there isn't a wide angle lens like that in my bag, but let me tell you, it was as though the sky had opened up with a picture window, perfectly framed with the clouds and then the earth outside of it so that it looked kind of like nature's huge big screen television in the sky. A sky movie.

And I wasn't even drinking or anything, although I am working on very little sleep, but I can tell you if I was some old school Native American Medicine Man and I had some peyote, I could have told you that story and a few more, I am sure.

The coyotes were crazy that night.

This was the sunrise.


I guess what I am trying to say is, I know now why the Native Americans would come and live here, even if more hospitable lands were available.

Anyway.

We are trying to make the best of things. And it isn't easy.