Bacon- STAT!

Ah bacon....the thing that dreams are made of. Okay, maybe a little dramatic, but I do love my bacon. And so does the rest of my family. In case I haven't mentioned this yet, this crew gets horrifically cranky when hungry. And since we don't really eat packaged meals, preparing a quick breakfast was challenging at first. I found having muffins, pancakes, or banana bread pre-made and brought with us was extremely helpful. But for that real protein punch, having bacon was even better! At first, I used to cook the bacon on our griddle outside the r.v. This works well, but definitely takes time. When beach camping (with electric hook-ups) this is no problem at all. I mean, who wouldn't want to spend time cooking bacon like this?

 

Sutter's Mill: Coloma, California

After hiking the Monroe Ridge Trail last weekend, we decided to continue to explore the little town of Coloma. Our kids (and we) are fascinated with the Gold Rush era, and it's so interesting to explore the pieces of history that are still standing from that time period. It's like a history book coming to life! The hike spilled us out just a few feet short of the ginormous monument to James Marshall. It was so sunny and hot outside, I had a hard time getting a decent photo, but please bear with me. I still had to try to get a photo of California's first monument. Despite the sun, hopefully you can still get an idea of how impressive the monument was!

Gold Country: Coloma, California

This weekend we decided to take the kids to explore a little bit more "Gold Country" in Northern California. We drove to the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park in Coloma, California. The drive was beautiful this time of year. We saw rolling green hills speckled with orange poppies and other wildflowers. We are so thankful for all of the rain this winter!

When we arrived in Coloma, we parked at the North Beach parking lot (state park fee was $8). There was ample parking for both cars and RV's. Much of it was shaded. There are also extremely clean restrooms here with flush toilets. Well worth the minimum park fee. A short walk through the shaded park leads you to the visitor center and replica of James W. Marshall's sawmill. We were all excited to see this, and stretched our legs a little while checking out the mill. Pretty impressive!

"Our" Birds are Back!

Last year we were so happy to discover a beautiful looking bird swooping in and out of the little hiding space under our roofline. We kept watching and trying to capture the speedy little guy on film. It was not easy! The only window where the hiding spot was visible for us was from our laundry room upstairs! The crafty birds were building a nest. Finally, I was able to get a photo of the bird, which my friend helped me to identify as an American Kestrel. Here's a picture of the "Daddy" on our house. 

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.