From my Inbox!

"I really enjoyed the array of picture's,but,YOU were missing!"

Oops, I knew I forgot something heehee. I'll work on that over the next few days. I will make sure there is a picture of me on here... and yes, I'll try to get one of me and hubby too.

Here's a brand new site...

Today we are going to the Cove for the New Year potluck and we'll just sleep on the boat tonight. I am really starting to miss it anyway.

Happy New Year! Don't drink and drive! If I find out you did, I'll kick your as... you know...

Housesitting

We are house-sitting for a friend right now. Compared to a boat, this house feels like a mansion. Downright HUGE! I am not sure what to do with all the space. It does make me wish for a house again, but then the sensible, frugal girl inside me decides not. I would rather just have a bigger boat. A 40 footer would be the max size for me. Something with a center cock-pit and 2 aft cabins. That would be great. But since I can't have that right now (swimming in debt) I decided to make a list of things that I would want for Epiphany, our current home... a 30 foot sailing sloop.

Let's see, I have the stove and oven and they both work. I could get picky and ask for a brand new stove, but I'll wait until I have everything else first. Comfortable cushions for the dinette are a need! My tailbone falls asleep sitting on the dinette. A small coffee table for when I don't have the dining table together. A nice cover that goes from the boom and makes a little "room" out of the cockpit would be nice. They are pricey though, so I will have to wait. A double sink and two pump faucets... one for fresh water and one for salt water. A brand new fresh water holding tank. Ours is about as old as the boat itself. A decent head holding tank and a toilet, just in case this one doesn't work. A hot water heater for quick showers on board. A crew that cleans and buffs for me and a cabana boy. I'll take scantily clad sailors instead.

I'm not too picky. Am I?

A year in pictures...

As I find pictures over the next few days, I will be posting them to the blog. It is my year end picture show! Enjoy!

Here are the boys at Balboa Park. It's a great park to walk through, has museums, playgrounds, a zoo, and a lot of other stuff.

Here is the Galley as you look into the hatch (the door you enter the boat). You can see the stove and oven... the green camp stove isn't there anymore. The stove and oven both work. Then the sink (with the white thing in it. The four drawers next to the fridge and then the fridge. And behind the sink and counter is a storage shelf that is shaped like a square-ish U. The door is to the captains cabin (that would be dh and I) and the square in the floor leads to the bilge, a great place for storing beer, wine, green tea (already made) and eggs.

Here is Miles with Grandma Foot on one of our last visits just the way we remember her... always smiling! May she rest in peace.

I hope you guys can see this... that is Epiphany under sail. See the big boat in the middle under the bridge? We are the far right part of that boat. By the way, the bridge in the background is the San Diego- Coronado Bridge. It is HUGE! You couldn't even see the boat when it was going under the bridge because it was so tiny.

Here is a picture of Miles on Epiphany while we were sailing in on evening. You can see on of the channel bouys in the background too. This picture is just so interesting because it almost looks fake. I promise it's not!

One Year Ago On Christmas Day

We were sailing out to sea! We didn't make it very far... but we made it to sea. Here is my wonderful windblown hubby one year ago today! He'll probably flog me for posting this picture, but I love this one. Ah... sailing your house around... family together and anyone isn't cooperating they can go their room! HAHAHA! One time we went sailing and the meds knocked me out. I slept most of the time and we got 3 miles offshore (yes, we've been that far out) my phone rings. I answered it and a voice comes back at me with an echoing from the cockpit "Hi Honey! I felt bad that you had to stay home while we went sailing so I thought I'd call and check on you!" HAHAHA! It was so funny! That was funny ha ha... the fact that the phone barely works at dock, won't keep a connection and drops calls constantly on shore... but makes wonderful calls 3 miles out... that's just funny ironic. And downright annoying!

Mmm, Mmmm, Mmmmmm! Now here is a sexy man! Sorry, Linda... I mean, a fine respectable person :D And a darned good picture of Mendel 1.0 in his California get up!

Blast from the past!

I was sorting through some files on the computer and found this picture of the boys next to a bear at one of our regular rest stops on our trip to North Carolina. I felt sad when I saw this picture because this was the last trip all three of us took to North Carolina with Leslie. But then too, we both loved this picture!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I hope everyone had a lovely Yule and/or Christmas or that you are enjoying the holiday you celebrate. I have a few friends who don't celebrate any... so I hope you are having fun with your days off.

I have a bunch of lovely gifts and a cute Rosemary tree instead of a Christmas tree. Now, I am going to concentrate on getting rid of things I don't really need. I want to declutter my van, car, boat and the storage units so I can start a lovely new year without the clutter or at least a LOT less.

I am also excited because I received a lovely scanner/ printer/ copier for Yule and I am going to type letters, start keeping in touch better and sending out pictures to everyone! Tia, Sandy and Grandpa... I haven't forgotten you... Kelda, yours is ready to print and send. Linda... You get a copy of the blog BUT I am going to send you pictures. Dad, I am sending you some pictures too! I am so excited! I am going to be little Ms Organized this year instead of little misorganized... LOL

My new year resolution... oh, wait, I am jumping ahead of myself. Sorry Heeheehee. You'll have to come back and see what that is later... but one thing.. I am going to start posting on here more often! I found that blogger has a save button so I don't have to lose my drafts before I post. That'll be nice! I haven't had a chance to post pictures anymore and the cellphone doesn't send them anymore... POO! So I will have to manually add them.

Enjoy your holidays! And enjoy your eggnog... either alcoholic (mine) or non-alcoholic. Dairy or soy. Enjoy! And drink a cup for me. (allergic to soy... lactose intolerant.) I'll just drink Bushmill's.

I am back! YEA!

We are back in California. Actually we have been back but I am working at getting organized again. Isn't that exciting!

Today was the boys consultation at school. We are doing great! Good news is that I can turn in work any day any time (assuming they are open) so I don't have to spend a day trying to hunt down all their assignments.

I am taking a writing course. I am just waiting for the materials to get here so I can start it. I am also taking a math course. Yes, voluntarily!

I will update the blog a little more later. I just hate to see it sitting here all un-updated! Especially after the great email from the Dad with kids who has been reading this as inspiration that he won't have to wait until the kids move out to persue a boater's lifestyle. I'll post some thoughts on that for you later. And thanks so much for the email. It really made my day knowing that someone reads the blog.

I just saved myself a load of money

Gosh I look horribly fat in this picture! But anywhoodles! I just saved myself a load of money by paying off and cancelling a credit card WOOHOO! I got a MUCH lower interest rate loan for it so I saved myself 23% interest! I am so flipping happy!

We are in New Mexico.

Hello all! We are enjoying our visit to New Mexico. We got to see the four courners monument and went to the Aztec Ruins. We'll also head off to the Salmon ruins too :) It's been a nice break from my vacation life in San Diego! LOL

I also have a friend helping me fix up the finances and figure out what bills to pay off first. That has been very helpful. I am going to start working on being more frugal again. It's hard sometimes but I know I can do it.

Miles is doing math online now. I was worried because I wasn't sure what level he would be on, BUT he is on middle school math so I am thrilled! WOOHOO!

Must run for now. I will update later.

Yes, we are okay. San Diego Wildfire updates.

I have a few people who contacted me to see how we are doing. We are fine. The wildfires are not close enough to evacuate us, but the smoke is pretty bad at times. We've met a few people who came here to get away from the wildfires. Some have lost their homes, some waiting to see if they have one.



We're in the lounge to keep out of the smoke and we're making a plan for the day. The school is closed, actually, I think all schools are closed. A few hospitals are being evacuated.



We're good though. We are on the coast across the San Diego harbor so we are NOT in harms way. Do not worry about us. We'll be okay.

 

With the absence of wide open spaces I took the boys to the park and they skip thejungle gym and go straight to trees.
Dotchi

Web Banking Made Easy

Web Banking is supposed to make it easier for someone to pay their bills online and for the organizationally challenged (like myself) this is a definite bonus. No envelopes to seal, stamp, stuff in your purse and lose before you mail it off. No guessing about whether the bill was paid. No sweating over the finances because you can't remember if you mailed the bill to the right person... just log on and type in the amount and go.

Easier said than done. My bank (and I do love them!) decided to use "enhanced security" so my log in process would be safe. Safe it may be, but long drawn out and annoying is more like it. Here is how it goes:

Page 1- I actually open the web page to the bank. I can skip this if I bookmark the second page. I have to click on "online banking".

Page 2- I need to click on personal checking account (instead of business)

Page 3- I type in my access ID in all caps and hit enter.

Page 4- I type in a "security question answer" to a question only I know... if I remember what the heck I put in there in the first place. There are several questions to choose from.

Page 5- Type in the password if the tequila cup icon is there (I could use one by now)

Page 6- Read a blurb about heightened security and our protection and blablabla... click "list of accounts".

Page 7- Click on the account number.

Page 8- Click on "bill payment"

Page 9- Read a blurb about how much easier this is making your life then click "pay my bills now".

Page 10- Type in the amounts I want to pay and when I want to pay them. Click submit.

Page 11- Confirm that is what I want to pay and when I want to pay them.

Page 12- Confirm the information is correct and type in a note if I want. Hit submit.

Page 13- Confirmation numbers pop up and I print the page off.

If it always happened this long and drawn out without any glitches, I would be happy. But today I spent quite a bit of time re-connecting to the internet, guessing my security answers, forgetting to type in all caps, waiting for the page to load only to have the website blip out on me and have to redo the entire process from page 2 after getting to page 11 and resisting the urge to see how fast the laptop will sink when thrown overboard.

I am reconsidering the whole paper check and stamps thing. I need a tequila!

This is for you. You know who you are.
Dotchi

We are at the mira mar air show. Here is a pic of hubby, heeheehee
Dotchi

Here is Epiphany safely at dock. that was a lovely day sail!

The tunnel with the bag is miles rack where he sleeps

Our competition!

Whats happening in the cockpit? Who is this capt?

The other end of the galley.

My galley. I am soaking the dishes n the pot.

Port view

Planes over the coronado bridge

Starboard view

From under the bridge.

Our trusty line handler

Mendel is listening to the water rushing by lol

The coronado bridge. We are going to sail under it.

Here is mendel 2 chilling out in the vee berth while we sail! Oh I made nachos under sail too!!!

Here we are today. Going sailing on the harbor with Sharon.

Thanks Neal!

I posted about blogger messing up when I type and Neal said to try typing on wordpad and cutting and pasting it into the composer for blogger. It worked wonderful! Thank you!

We haven't fallen off the planet!

With Homeschooling and trying to organize the boat, I haven't been able to post as much. We still use the charter school. Here are the classes the boys have:

Tuesday: We go to the free museum for the week in the morning. Then Miles has Art from 1-3 and Mendel has Road Trip and writing from 1:30.

Wednesday: Every other Wed Miles has a science lab.

We can show up at the school when we want during the week to use the resources. Miles has two online assignments each "school day". One is for reading and one is for math. Usually we show up to do those at the school.

Right now we are at the school. It is great here! I am listening to a boy play the guitar in the lobby, we're in the library working on the computer (I have my own). There is a group of kids doing something artsy, some waiting for the science lab to open, some are decorating for Halloween but it has a home feel to it. There aren't the usual "bully" groups or "geeks" groups or anything like that. You see parents working with kids, etc. It is so nice.

And Ms H's office feels like a livingroom. When you ar ein consultation it doesn't feel like you are in a principals office LOL. It feels like you are chatting with another homeschool mom (and we are! She homeschooled her daughter). It is really nice!

Next year we'll probably go to year round school.

My teeth are feeling better. I can bite down some but not a whole lot. It still is sore on some parts.

The boys are doing great. Hubby is on leave so we are cleaning out the boat. And I am trying not to be too hungry.

Here is mendel working on his science project.

Here is a pic of my new teeth! and the reason I havent updated much lately.

Here are the boys at the beach today. We are at a luau for the school!

Here is my strapping oldest son. He'll be going in for surgery soon... To have the younger kids removed from his back lol

Blogger Bug... can't report it, so I'll post it...

I have spent way too much time trying to figure out how to fix this problem. Screw it, I am just posting it to my blog now. I am quite frustrated.

Here is the issue. Look at this post right here. In the paragraph where I said the rain lasted an hour, maybe... That was not the full sentence. My sentences keep getting cut off on the screen. It is annoying! Everytime I take the cursor off the paragrpaph that I am currently typing and click ANYWHERE other than THAT paragraph, it have issues. Look, I'll do it... Once I click elsewhere, it will have an entire line break odd
and look like this. If I try to fix it, it still breaks odd and the last of the sentence is chopped off once posted.

If I try to fix it, it still breaks in odd places and nothing shows up in the HTML code to show that there is something wrong. Frankly, I am getting sick of it. I am tired of trying to figure out where 
to go to report it. If I try to "report a bug" it gives me options to choose.

Did it again... Of the options that seem to fit best, they open a page with their "choice" links to read to fix the problem. NONE of thes links are helping! They do not have an answer for me and I can not figure out where to EMAIL SOMEONE! I don't have time to read every little article that isn't relevant to my issue. Put up a damned "report a bug" button where we can actually REPORT THE DAMNED PROBLEM!

Disclaimer: the layout querks and malfunctions of this post are the fault of blogger. Not me. All the chopped up sentences are because I did not continually go back to fix them.

Baton down the hatches! Here comes the rain!

Yesterday some of the people were near the Chandlery talking about the impending storm we are about to get. Being that I lived the last 10 years in Tennessee, my definition of "storm" is not the same as theirs. They said it was going to rain too. Being as I lived in Tennessee for the last decade, my definition of rain is not the same as theirs either. In Tennessee "storm" meant there would be "rain". Here storm means there will be more than one cloud in the sky and rain has varying levels. It DID rain today though. Water actually fell from the sky for an entire 30 seconds. It was awful! I thought I was going to have to build an ark! And the "storm" has hit the marina. Yep, all the boats are swaying gently. Of course, I am used to "storm" meaning "pack up and go to another town to try and avoid tornadoes." Storm here could also mean we might actually have wind! The differences are hilarious.

Rain, as said, comes in varying levels. There are those waterdrops that fill the air but never actually fall. It's like mist, only called "rain". Then there is the "rain" where the sidewalks become polka dotted with wet spots. Then there is the rain where you actually see more than 10 spots in a square inch. Then the rain where it actually looks like drizzle and lasts about 20 minutes. Then we move up to harder rains that last 20 minutes. The worst one I saw was somewhere in February, I think, where it rained heavily, water gushed in the drain pipes and the wind blew so hard it created white caps in the harbor. It lasted about an hour, maybe 2 hours. 

I can't remember the last time I saw rain before the 30 second dribble this morning. Sometimes rain looks like someone sneezed on your windows. But anyway, when they rain here, I have to ask "what kind of rain?" Because the word "rain" is so vague out here.

Last January a lady, who grew up on the island, came to me and said "Better get out your heater. It's going to get cold!" I was still in Tennessee mode where cold means "snow and frozen pipes" and where you can see your breath and you have to wear layers of clothes to keep warm. With this in mind, and a little worry, I asked "How cold?" She answered with a straight face "Oh Honey, it's going to get down to the 50's!" I kept my composer but laughed my butt off on the way back. Now, at night it did get chilly... but not COLD.

I still find it interesting that people are still warning me about the "cold" that hits here and how I will "climatize" to the area. I may adapt a little, but 50 degrees is still not cold. Light jacket at best, but other than that, it isn't COLD.

I guess I'll be off to enjoy my day resting on the boat in this terrible storm. Sunshine and all. Don't worry, I'll manage somehow!

FAQ: Are there a lot of spiders living at a marina?

Surprisingly enough, the questions about spiders and bugs is high on the list. A lot of people ask about the spiders. So far, we have lived here since December 21, 2006 and I haven't seen that many bugs. There are the stories we have about the occasional run in with bugs and unwelcome boat guests but for the most part, we don't see a lot of bugs on the dock. We do see a lot of ants on shore and we did see a spider a few weeks ago. It crawled on Miles and I about freaked out! It was a HUGE spider. The body was about the size of my thumb and the leg span was as wide as my palm. But we picked up this little friend on shore.

The only pests we have in the boat are the seagulls, Ospreys and other birds. We suspect that one flew off with my flip flop. They crap all over and think they are entitled to the food we are cooking, thanks to all the novice sailors who don't have to put up with them feeding them because they think it is great to see all the seagulls following their boats. While only get to see them once in a while, we have to put up with it daily. By feeding them, the birds become dependent on humans for their food. So when they see someone, like us, grilling out or eating lunch in the cockpit, they show up and harass us. We've had some actually fly down and try to take the food from our hands and off our grill when we opened the lid long enough to flip the food! They show up and hang around while we are cooking in the cabin too. Imagine if this happened every time you cooked. You open a can to heat up, pound out your hamburgers, heat up the stove and suddenly, birds show up and start circling your house. They crap all over the place and try to steal your food while you are cooking and eating. To you, it wouldn't matter too much because if they crap on your roof, you'll never know. But imagine that you walked all over your roof and they crapped on your car, sidewalks, furniture and everything in sight. It gets REALLY annoying because we have to clean it up.

The cabin roof is used for sitting and walking here. The docks get covered with it, the dock box is covered in it, the boom cover is covered and when the novice sailor leaves and goes home, we have to clean up the mess. Not just the boat rental place, but us boat owners. Especially those of us who live on our boat!

Okay, enough ranting. I'll put up the soapbox now.

Here is a picture of mendel on the bridge. They love to build dams near it when it is low tide and see if it holds up during high tide. So far the score is
Boys: 0
High tide: 28

Now that I have that out of my system...

We're cleaning up the inside of Epiphany today. I did laundry too. Miles cleaned out and organized the drawers and I bought paper plates, bowls, and plastic utensils to avoid doing dishes. I really need to get a windsock for the fore deck hatch and a canopy to lay across the boom. We aren't facing E/W so I don't get the wonderful breeze we had last time we were here. It gets so stuffy in here. I put a fan in the cockpit near the main hatch and have it blowing in for some simulated breeze. Tonight we are going to a concert to hear the 1812 overture. I need to remember to pack snacks.

One of the joys of living out here is watching all the people sailing in and out, try to dock and attempt to teach their friends how to cast off. I saw a lady nearly fall in the water trying to jump from the dock onto a moving boat. It was slightly hilarious... but not as much as the guy that killed the engine before raising the sails and drifted into the back of a few boats. I couldn't help but laugh.

I've noticed that when I talk to people about living aboard there tend to be varying degrees of opinions.

Some people love the idea, dream of it as a lifestyle and wish like mad they could do it too.  They ask questions out the wazu and some get rather silly with them. "Where do you use the bathroom?" or my favorite "Where do you sleep? Like, on the deck or something?"

There are those who live aboard and think it is great.
Some actually have central heat and air, hot water, dishwashers, washers and dryers and couldn't imagine how anyone lived without them. 
They usually gawk at our "very small" boat and refuse to live on anything smaller than a 45 footer.

A few only did it because they HAD to. One lady talked about having to row to shore all the time and how horrible it was to live aboard. I thought her perspective was interesting. She said the kitchen was too small to cook so they ate out all the time.

There are the people that wouldn't even think of living on a boat with kids, much less living on a boat at all.

There are the people that wouldn't think of living on a boat at all, much less with kids. One lady compared it to child abuse and said I was horrible for forcing my children to live such awful lives. She also hates grass, sand, children that run, walk, breath too loudly, blink too often, or are within 1000 feet of her. So I didn't really pay much attention to her. But some actually have honest concerns about boat living. Like, is it harder to make a meal on board? No, not really.

Anyway, I wanted to hear your concerns. You can post them in the comments section which will come straight to my email. I am going to start a FAQ and a LFAQ (less Frequently asked) label on the blog. Eventually I will work out these labels and get them organized too. 

Until then, ask me questions on what you want to know about living aboard or whatever.

Til then,
Happy sailing!
Dotchi

"National Teacher's Union" just ruined it for everybody...

Rude comments are not allowed on my blog. I deleted the rude comment from "National Teacher's Union" and put all comments on moderated and can only be by registered users. If you are going to post a comment, make sure it is not rude. If you want to point out spelling errors, email me. If you want to slam homeschooling, this is not the blog for you. Go somewhere else. If it was a joke, I am not laughing nor am I amused.

Here is a pic of mlb2. We were unpacking or packing. I forget which one lol

Here it is form the front view. It has rows of teeth like a shark does. We counted six row. Might have been five though. It was hard to tell.

One of the guys out here moores his boat until vacation time. There is an osprey that stays on his mast. This is the present it left for him. A mummified shark... We think its a shark anyway.

Things I am learning about out here...

For the most part I love it out here! It is so nice. But I do miss my file system. I need to figure out what to do about that. I simply can not function without my filing system. The file folder on the notebook is fine, but I need my box of files! I think I'll store it in the van. Speaking of which! I bought two poly-something-or-other folders and put the insurance cards in there, one each envelope... and I am going to put the tags, titles, registration or whatever is supposed to be in the car, in the envelopes. They are hot pink so you can't lose them in the glove box. Great idea! I think so. I am also losing one piece or another... this way I have them all in one spot, in one envelope (one for each vehicle)

Mendel, Miles and I practiced angles with pool today. We cleaned out the dock box and we rode the bus to the ASW base so we got to practice our map reading skills :) We learned about
community, neighbor and all the crap we already know about. Lil Mendel is already bored with the book and we're only in Unit 1. Can't blame him too much. It's all common sense stuff that
any child... never mind, I've met some kids around here that are dumb as door nails. My kids have basic common sense. They already know this stuff. So instead of studying the obvious, we are going to make a map of our own community and neighborhood and I am going to have Mendel label his groups! (homeschool, navy, sailor, etc) and list things he liked about sailing camp. Math should be a breeze up to a point with him. I still have to figure out what happened to Miles math book in the move. He'll be measuring and working with symmetry this weekend too. He's been reading about Coronado in a magazine we found here. He read about the "Coronado hall of shame" which I found interesting LOL.

This weekend I will make a "Learning Map" for the week and we'll go from there. I am going to make one that works (for the most part) for each week. They even have Phys Ed now too. That is just silly, IMO. They are so active. But at least it's something very simple to do. We can cover 30 minutes of PE with no issues!

One thing I do not like about living out here is the internet connection is pathetic. It won't stay connected at all. That is unless I go and sit at the picnic tables. I am updating my blog from emails now. It's too hard to get the connection to stay logged in more than 5 minutes at a time. But what can I say? It's a small price to live the life of luxury. Palm trees, boats, campfires (in a fire ring) no electric bill, cost of living is laughable... You know you wanna come out here and do it yourself! HA!

Sail on!
Dotchi

Here is a lovely picture of Miles in a dock cart lol. I'd post one of Mendel 2 but he doesnt stay that still lol

My Cell Phone was Stolen!

I went to the boys school today and got their school books, workbooks and lesson plans for the month. They have writing practices now too. So that will be cool. Mendel 2.0 is doing a study on community and neighborhoods. It starts out with all the normal stuff but goes deeper into government and such. It's all obvious too. But he'll do a project for each unit. Miles is going to learn about the Romans! And they each got a starter baggy full of markers, crayons, rulers, protractors, scissors, tape, pens and pencils too! It was really cool!

Afterwards we went to Jack In The Box in Imperial Beach. I have always enjoyed the area and the people there are always so nice. We've been there once a month or more since we have been there. Today I needed to change my shorts so I went to the bathroom. My cell phone was in my pocket so I set it on the sink. I changed shorts, went potty and then grabbed my shorts and rolled them and sat them on the back of the sink. I washed my hands and grabbed my shorts but totally forgot to get my phone. 

We ate lunch and got ready to leave and I realized I forgot my phone when I got to the van. I ran back in and looked in the bathroom and it was not there. I went to the front and asked if someone had turned in a cell phone and described it in detail. They said yes someone did but a lady came up behind them and said it was her daughters cell phone. The bitch stole my phone! That's fine, lying bitch! I called my phone and it was turned off. I called hubby from the boys school and told him it was stolen. My phone # is suspended. No one can call it and they can't call anyone. The serial # has been reported and anyone trying to activate it will have the phone confiscated. No one can turn that phone on except for me! HA! So if you buy a SCH-U740 Samsumg off eBay and it has the serial # 02206956534 it is mine. I am so peeved. How dare people just steal stuff. I am so so mad!

Good News!!!

I went into the Chandlery to update our RV reservations for the next however many months. Jo was looking them up and updating when the dockmaster came up and asked when I wanted to start. I drew a blank. My first thought was "I haven't had a period in years!" Then it dawned on me.... LIVE ABOARD! Yes, he meant live aboard! I was so thrilled! So...

September 1 we move our boat to The Cove and are officially going to be live aboard residents! WOOHOO! The RV will become our storage unit LOL. We'll hopefully here from vehicle storage by next week and will move it to there on Friday of next week... if all goes as planned. WOOHOO!

The Trip To Texas and Back... AKA How spoiled am i?

So we went to Texas this last month. I am never going back. Oh the stay was nice and all, but there are BUGS in Texas... and Heat... and rain... and I had to get a JOB! Oh. My. Gawd! But it was still fun. Maybe I'll go back if it snows or something, but but beyond that, hell no! My bug bites have bug bites and I missed Epiphany. And I missed the palm trees. And it got muggy and I actually sweated... ew! LMAO. I am so spoiled. Actually I am not spoiled, my husband just loves me that much :)

But we are back now. We are in California again. No, I didn't move to TX. But I have a lovely photo box of CD's to show their teacher next Tuesday. And Mom printed out labels to make shirts with that say "Where in the World is Early, TX?" Hee hee hee.

When we got back to California we spent a day at Sea World. We went to the beach, went to the pool, went to a concert near the bay... you'd think that was the vacation. LOL

Now the boys are in sailing camp! They have 5 days of sailing lessons with a class of kids. They are having a blast! Really, you'd think we spoiled them! We're having a campfire tonight with smores and I am enjoying getting to walk the beach every day again. Next week I'll start adding updates on school.

The dockmaster here at the cove said that he'll be calling us "soon" about a live aboard slip. I wish I knew what soon meant. I am so excited! I can't wait to get that slip! WOOHOO! Soon-ish we'll be live aboards! I'll be a spoiled rotten beach bum! Oh wait, I already am!

Also next week will be the start of me working on selling items on eBay again. I am hoping to bring in more money to help pay off our bills faster. Then we can be debt free! That would be VERY nice!

I better run for now. I am going to go have lunch with the boys.

Here is a pic of the boys waiting to get into sailing camp. They get to learn how to sail all week long! Will update the blog later. We are back in ca!

Here are the boys at the Nimitz museum in Fredericksburg Tx. Where we are staying we do not have internet or cell phone coverage. I will update as I get coverage. The regular updates will start up on the 20th of August. Until then...

Oops, didn't update...

The last update never showed up! That's okay, here's a quick run down.

 

We went to the meteor crater and then to the Lowell Observatory in one day.

 

We went to the Grand Canyon and it was beautiful, just like last time. Very beautiful!

 

We drove to New Mexico. Today I picked up my van. I will have to post pictures when it isn't raining anymore. It's SO COOL! It has the front two seats (driver seat/ passenger seat) the two seats behind it turn in a 360. Then there is the back bench that turns into a bed. Behind that is a CLOSET! WOOHOO! The two front seats lay down flat to make a bed with the two back bucket seats. I will definitely be posting pictures of it tomorrow. I love it!

 

Tomorrow we'll be heading to TX. I'll try to post an update during the trip stops.

 

Dotchi

Here is Mendel with his sculpture. It is so strong that it can hold up this skillet full of pancakes (approximately 4 pounds)

Standing on a corner in winslow arizona with seven women on my mind

We're standing on a corner in Winslow

Enjoying the mountain air! (Or lack of...)

Man, I forgot about the altitude change. We came from sea level to something like 3,000 ft above sea level in a day. I thought I had a touch of a headache, but I brushed it off because I ALWAYS have a headache. It's nothing new. But then I got out of bed to go pee and got a touch dizzy and lightheaded. I made it downstairs to the bathroom just fine but I didn't put 2 and 2 together until Mendel 1.0 started reading about "altitude sickness" and listing symptoms. I am fine now. Took me a little while to adjust, but other than that, it was just a nice reminder of how nice it is to have oxygen!

The kids- Miles, Mendel and Sara's son Jeff, have been outside playing all day or watching TV. They built a fort in the woods behind the cabins and made some friends. I've sat around being lazy and surfing the internet, answering emails and enjoying Sara's cooking. She is a great cook! I am going to adopt her and take her to TX with me. I got to sleep in this morning. So far, basically, I haven't done very much. I am actually starting to FEEL lazy, which generally means I am over vacationing and ready to act like a non-lazy person again. Wow. It took about a month when I moved to San Diego to get over that feeling. Here, one day. It's nice. I might actually wash dishes in the morning... who am I kidding? They have an automatic dishwasher!

Tomorrow we check out and we'll probably go see the crater. Hopefully the Grand Canyon because I REALLY want Mendel 1.0 to see it. It is quite awe inspiring.

I finally came out of the cabin to do laundry. It was that or camp in a nudist colony and I didn't want to traumatize the nudists. I'm not so much fluffy as I am floppy. While the kids would remember it forever, I don't think anyone wants to be blinded by my pasty white skin. No, I am not really this brown. It's a tan. Under my clothes is skin the color of the Pillsbury Doughboy. The clothes are drying now and I am going to go play online until they are done.

In a cabin in the woods....

We are in an A frame cabin, actually. But anyway, it is LOVELY here. We met up with Sara and Jeff somewhere, I wasn't paying attention to where we were, I was taking pictures of the clouds. Now that I have cooled off...

The heat in the desert was miserable. I was melting. And to top it off we do not have air conditioning in the car. It only reached 110 yesterday, compared to 111 the day before. I thought I would DIE! I did have a teeny allergy attack and a slightly discolored chin because of it. But at least now we have a vehicle with A/C now so all is cool LOL.

Well, Sara is done cooking breakfast! So I better run. I have to do laundry today but I will post more later and hopefully get some pictures up here too. Til then!

We made it safe and sound to Flagstaff and we are setting up the cabin.