Day 7 - Part 2 Crescent City, CA - June 21, 2007

Quote of the day: After watching his father's ill treatment of his mother (read below), Zander said, "Dad, you are just so....so....so...SELFISH!" ::snort:: I guess that's as bad as he could think.

After settling in to our new site, we headed over to Mom and Dad G's. Today is their 50th anniversary....

We spent the afternoon down at the river. Jared swam ACROSS the river and BACK. A first for him - somewhat of a rite of passage in our household.

Mike's high school tennis coach now lives next to his parents. He came out yesterday and offered us the use of his kayaks. We gratefully accepted. Our picnic on the far side of the river.

The view of Mom and Dad G's from our picnic - you can just make out the van to the right of the photo.

Mike determined that I would go in the water. I had been "in" but not "in enough" for his satisfaction. I told him that God made tropical oceans and rivers for swimming but he made the Smith River for viewing and boating.....I finally told him he had no moral authority because the kids had noted HE had not gone in yet. He dived in. Note I NEVER said I would go in if he did.....but I knew the battle was over when he picked me up......I told him to leave me alone and I WOULD go in.....Jamin evidently grabbed the Nikon - ignoring my rule that no one snap a photo of me in my swimming suit. I share all this because the quote of the day came from this incident. LOL When I wouldn't go in deeper he threatened to make me - and did.

It was cold!

We came back to the trailer - SHOWERED in our trailer that now had a working pump ::snort:: - and then picked up Dad and Mom G. We took them out to The Grotto - one of their favorites for their anniversary.

Crescent City is amazing. It has the Redwoods. Mom and Dad G live less than 1/2 a mile from the state park and right on the river. In other words, they live in the middle of the redwoods. They are 10 miles out from C City. C City has an OCEAN. I love the ocean. It's always fun to me to introduce a child to the ocean. Today was Zander's first time to see the ocean. Stacia's too, but she probably won't remember so we'll get to do it again with her on our next trip. LOL We could watch the ocean while we ate. Zander seemed mildly interested. We drove home along the ocean and Mike stopped to take photos. I let Zander get out and he spent several minutes just staring out at the horizon. It was obvious that he was contemplating how big it was.

And WHY do I have all this time to blog tonight????? Because Mike and the children are sleeping on the other side of the river tonight. This is another rite of passage. I don't think BreAnne ever did this but all the others have. I'm home with Stacia....she's asleep. It's amazing. I never planned it to happen this way but I'm getting my very own night alone....maybe not in a hotel and not a real vacation but it is wonderful.

Day 1 photos -

I lost all the photos on the little camera but Mike had taken a few on the Nikon. The Nikon actually takes better night photos anyway. LOL I finally had a minute to play with the lap top and the Nikon to get them communicating.

Sunset in Moriarty, NM - Zia RV Park

Goats and lhamas

Fun spot to camp - to bad they broke the water main....I think we are bad luck for these parks. ::snort:: Seriously, Debbie, we also LOVE state parks and think that we need to buy a new battery.....but since we just bought new tires we opted for a new campground instead. LOL

We interupt this vacation to bring you long awaited photos....

CY'S HOME - the day before we left. Stacia was soooo excited to see him and it was about 11:30 p.m. I know the one is fuzzy but it captures her excitement better than any of the

other photos. We miss you Josiah! (Don't forget to water the lawn! ::snort::)

Day 7 - Crescent City, CA - A Tale of Two Campsites

I did not nag. In fact, I was content. ::snort:: However, it became apparent that our trailer is not set up for "real" camping. The fridge quit working. I have no clue why....but it wouldn't cool. The battery totally died yesterday. We charged it with the van and it died again BEFORE bedtime....no lights, furnace, fridge, water pump.....not a big deal when we packed for camping....but we have no warm blankets, no coolers for food, no containers to haul water.....and so...

Mike went and checked the horse pasture. They had room. They give a military discount. We are set. They ALSO have coin showers...but we have water hooked up to the trailer so we can shower that way.

Our first campsite was gorgeous....

Our second site is also in a very pretty setting. We have a field for Frisbee behind the trailer, you can see the ring of mountains...all in all a very nice horse pasture it is. ::snort:: We are chuckling at how our views have changed...from "gee WHIZ can't they even get along without their electric for a weekend" to "OK - let's camp in the horse pasture!". ::snort:: Really, it all comes back to how you are packed. This has convinced us to keep one of our tents, one of our solar showers and such. Look how close our slide out is to the concrete divider.

The younger four love these dogs that are across the field. The dog was better at Frisbee than the children. ::snort::

Day 6 - Crescent City, CA - 20 June 2007

Quote of the day: Goes to Stacia. Jared was taking his shoe off. She loves to help the big kids take their shoes off. She has a shoe thing. She pulled his shoe off....took a whiff, noticed his socks were wet and said....."Ew.....YUCK!"

Nolan spent the night throwing up. And he did the same all day yesterday (Wed).

The other children spent the afternoon swimming and playing in the river. Mike and all the children but Nolan and I had a BBQ at his parents.

Some photos from the River - Think most of them are from Tuesday.

Ah Ha - finally a view from my window....Or at least from Mom and Dad G's window. ::snort:: (Dad G, Mike and Stacia)

Building a canal - all the kids have tried to divert this river...have photos of the oldest 3 doing this very thing in this very spot. Mom and Dad G's house sits right at the edge of a "cliff" that goes to the river.....here is the house looking up the path...

Photos - from Day 5

I have a connection - there is none in the State park. Mike is buying milk and I'm trying to load a few photos....more coming.... (lost the connection and went back to the state park - we've moved sites and I'll update later.)

Breakfast this a.m. in K Falls. We needed to eat all our fruit up before entering CA. Yum....

Better scenery today ::snort::

Gas at Grants Pass, OR

Trees

Our Site at Jed Smith - close fit

BOOK GIVEAWAY

Ladies, I'd been feeling bad that I didn't get a book given away for the summer reading challenge before we left. BUT Trish is also volunteering some books. Below is a note left in the comment section - I thought I'd post it here so all can see.

Basically, go on over to her blog (because I'm not home!) and comment if you want to be considered for the drawing.

~*~*~*
D ~ if anyone wants to win a copy of The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace to add to their Summer Reading Challenge list, I'll be giving one away on my blog. Sign up between today (June 20) and June 27 ~ I'll draw a name on the 27th and send the winner a brand new copy of The Excellent Wife ~ it even includes a cool bookmark! :)