Learning

I always thought that as a Mom, I'd be teaching my kids. And some days I am. But many days, I am the one learning from them. My youngest little boy is wild, and crazy, and loving and sweet, and rambunctious and hilarious, and just a handful. When I tried to fit him into the same mold; and teach him the same way as my other kids, it was frustrating to say the least. I think it's fair to say it was frustrating for both of us. Once I realized I had to change things up a bit, both life and the learning process has improved drastically.

So on our hike the other day, when my little ball of energy said to his sisters, "if we wait patiently enough..." it was a lighting bolt moment for me. This kid can definitely be patient and (relatively) quiet. He just needs the right incentive! I need to keep this in mind for the future.

I really love to watch my kids loving and appreciating nature as much as I do. Even little frogs and tadpoles are so exciting. I'm optimistic that they won't lose this enthusiasm for nature, I mean, it's been 40 years and I've still got it!

Between Trips

It's not all fun and games

There is actually quite a bit of work that goes along with RV'ing. While we love the lifestyle, owning and using an RV does require maintenance. Every trip requires planning and preparation. Most of us know that once we get home, the work continues. And the laundry...ugh, I won't even go into the laundry! But for us who love the open road, experiencing nature, spending quality time with our families, the hard work is worth the amazing times we have on each trip.

Last week we went on a whirlwind weekend trip to San Diego to spend time with our family. Driving down (and back up) the California coast in springtime is a beautiful, beautiful thing. We saw almond trees in full bloom, patches of brightly colored wildflowers covering the hillsides, and fields of fruits and vegetables beginning to blossom. And we saw bees, lots and lots of bees. The busy pollinators (along with their other flying friends) hit the rv with alarming frequency.

When we got home and surveyed the damage, we couldn't believe how many bug carcasses dotted the rv. We did a quick rinse at home, then looked for a carwash that would accommodate our tall rig. We found one 10 miles away! So we packed up a picnic lunch, grabbed the kids, and went to work.

We try to include the kids as much as possible in the work portion of our RV ownership and maintenance. Our RV enables our family to go on many fun and exciting adventures that we all enjoy. While my husband does take on the bulk of the maintenance duties, and I normally do much of the trip prep and clean-up, we ask the kids to help out with age-appropriate tasks. We both feel it's important that they understand that owning a vehicle does require extra work and that we all need to care for her properly. We also notice that they are more careful while eating (for example) now that they are responsible for vacuuming under the table and their carseats after each trip. Sometimes they grumble a little (just being honest here) but normally they are very good sports and have become very good at their responsibilities. I was seriously astonished at how much of a help my kids were on our last solo (mom & kid) trip.

We hope to teach them that we can have fun even when we're working. We all laughed and joked as we scrubbed off bug guts and got soaked with car wash over-spray. Even our one grumbly kid soon forgot her crankiness and scrubbed and laughed as much as the rest of us. After we finished, we praised them and admired our sparkling clean RV once again. Hopefully days like this teach them to be thankful for the things we have, and to take care of things they own. Or they may just decide that RV'ing is too much work and they do not want to do it when they grow up. And that's perfectly fine with us. 

Love this boy!

Freedom!

Being a kid today is so different from when I was growing up. When I was little, we roamed the neighborhood (and in my case, the untouched desert surrounding our Arizona home). Some of my best memories are of playing for hours with a group of neighborhood kids, including my siblings, under Palo Verde trees in the desert. We bmx biked, we ran, we built, we had fun! And none of this fun was done under the watchful eyes of our parents. We were all on our own...and it was AWESOME!

 

Homemade Bug Repellent Tested and Approved!

Last year I blogged about making homemade bug repellent for the first time. I was interested in finding a more natural way to keep mosquitoes at bay while we were camping. There's nothing more annoying than itching and scratching all night, after a fun day of hiking or an evening of marshmallow roasting. But I hate those deet-filled, overly scented, sticky concoctions that you buy in stores. And we have tried the more natural commercial blends (which were still overly scented for my taste) but they didn't work well enough. So, I used my best friend, Google to find some answers. Wellness Mama was an awesome inspiration and resource. She's got some great things on that blog of hers.

 

4th of July Fizzles- Clear Lake State Park

Ahhh...holiday weekends and camping. It's the stuff great memories are made of. 

Fourth of July is one of our family's favorite holidays. We've spent some very fun ones in Twin Lakes, Yellowstone, at home, and at Lake Tahoe. Last year, we decided to camp in the woods and visit a nearby amusement park for the Fourth of July festivities. We were all excited for our upcoming trip. We made reservations months in advance. We asked the grandparents to come with us, but they didn't think they could make it. So we started planning our trip alone. 

To our great surprise (and happiness) the grandparents called a few weeks prior to the Fourth and told us they could indeed make it for the vacation. We were ecstatic! But what about our reservations? Of course, there was no more vacancy where we had planned to camp (Mt. Madonna) so we searched the surrounding area. Nothing! California camping reservations are hard to come by, and last-minute holiday reservations almost unheard of. 

We searched all over the state, looking for reservations that would accommodate our whole group. Finally, we found some at Clearlake State Park! Hooray! We read the State Park Web Site and consulted our trusty Camping Guidebook, "Scenic Rating 9"?! "If you have fallen in love with Clear Lake and its surrounding oak woodlands, it is difficult to find a better spot than at Clear Lake State Park." WOW!! This seems too good to be true. The Fourth of July family trip was back on! We (somewhat reluctantly) cancelled our reservation in the cool redwoods of Mount Madonna, and booked our sites at Clearlake. We love the woods, but nothing is better than spending time with the grandparents!

The "Boys and their Toys" or "Father/Son RV's". Either caption works here. :)

The elevation at Clear Lake is only 1,500 feet, so we knew it would be warm. To offset the heat, we thought it would be fun to rent a Pontoon Boat and tube and pull the kids (and us) around the lake. We made the reservations through Disney's Boat Rentals. They were great! They had very affordable pricing, and the employees were really courteous and helpful. The shop was very crowded, but they were quick and efficient, and the process was really simple. 

When we arrived, it was H-O-T! The air was a bit muggy and still and (did I mention?) hot. We all were looking forward to hitting the lake. There were also a ton of mosquitoes around, so we quickly doused ourselves in our homemade bug spray, and set up our campsites. 

Frosty Drinks to beat the heat!

We quickly put those grandparents to work! Thanks guys!

A little hot, a little buggy, but we will make our own fun anywhere!

Thankfully, with two mini-RV's, camp set-up is easy. So we relaxed for the rest of the evening, ate dinner, and hung out with the family.

One of our favorite veggies- grilled zucchini and yellow sunburst squash grilled and sprinkled with grated romano cheese. These veggies were from a local farm just a few miles from our house. Yum!

Another family favorite- Artichoke. Dinner manners are a little looser when dining al fresco.

We woke up early the next morning to spend the day at Clear Lake. But not before feeding the kids. Have you noticed a trend here? Yes, our kids are constantly eating. I am a feeding machine. 

Breakfast in a hammock in swimsuits. Life is good!

 When we arrived at the docks, the first thing we noticed was the smell. The smell of foul, fishy, green algae. It was not pleasant. We made our way down the dock to the boat, and there were swarms of many more mosquitoes. Slather on the bug spray again! The water near the shore and around the boat was literally green. I mean super GREEN with tons and tons of stringy algae everywere. I was a bit put off, but thought surely it is not this bad in the middle of the lake. At this point, the Disney's worker was explaining how to keep the algae from clogging up the motor and showing us a special technique for de-algaeing the prop. Uh-oh. This does not sound good. 

The lake itself looked pretty. From a distance. But when you looked down, it was completely green with strands of algae everywhere. I wish I would have gotten a better shot of what it actually looked like. This pictures make it look so much prettier than what I'm describing.

I was kind of concerned. So I did a quick Google search. Never do that! 

I found this. Check out the photos and you can see how green it was.

Clearlake Contaminated

Ugh. I didn't want to swim. But we had the boat. And the awesome tube rental! And there were tons of other people in the water. And the boat people swore the water was harmless. And I fully admit that I am usually overly concerned about possible illnesses (aka germ-phobe) especially where my kids are concerned. 

So I decided to "take one for the team" and try to ride on top of the tube, without actually getting in the water. If I could do it, we'd try the kids. My hubby agreed somewhat reluctantly. He carefully lowered me out. Only my feet and lower shins were getting wet. They started pulling me on the boat. The algae was everywhere. Then a dead fish floated by. Then another dead fish. Then water started splattering towards my face and I yelled for them to stop. That was it! I could not stand the stink, or being in the water any more. My lower legs were green. I was so grossed out. I rinsed off with clean water and we all agreed we'd stay ON the boat. 

We had a lot of fun on the boat. We took turns driving, and found out our middle girl is secretly a speed demon!

She felt the need, the need for SPEED!!

They all enjoyed driving!

We may have used a lot of gas, but the breeze on the speeding boat was worth it!

Our littlest guy liked trying to row the boat. He was thrilled when he could move us all, but amazed at how much effort rowing really takes.

 

 Despite the foul and green water, we all really did have a great time on the boat!

 

Laughter

 

Love

 

And an attempt at a group selfie (I am SO bad at these!) 

 

This guy was beaming the whole time!

 

 She's either passed out from heat exhaustion, or very relaxed.

Just kidding. She's relaxed. I hope.

We reluctantly returned the boat, and went back to our warm campsite. The kids had a great time on the swing my hubby had made for them, and relaxed in the hammock too.

 And they soaked in the grandparent time!

Only grandparents love you enough to hold you when it's this HOT and sweaty.

 After putting the kids to bed, the grown-ups made a unanimous decision to leave a day early and go back home to our cool home for the Fourth of July. I really think this is a camping first in our family. We've never left an RV Park or campground early before. But we were all sweaty, mosquito-bitten and just ready to head back home.

When we arrived home, the kids got to work making home-made decorations. Then they treated us to a parade.  

 It was fun, and very cute. We loved their creativity and their patriotic decorations!

 Then we all enjoyed a celebratory and impromptu Fourth of July feast at home. It wasn't what we had planned, but it was a fun and fabulous Fourth anyway!

PS- If you haven't gathered from the post, I would NOT recommend Clear Lake State Park for summer camping. I have heard the bass fishing is good, but I can't confirm it personally. I currently have no plans to return there, myself. But we did have a great time anyway!