We Have a Name....

We name our vehicles. We used to have Big Red (15 pass van lovingly aka The Beast) and The Caboose (31 ft Keystone Trailer).  When we purchased this motor home we DID ask if she had a name - she didn't.

Poor, nameless motor home

We began brainstorming and discussing, and discussing, and discussing. Dad G called the Class C they had while Michael was young the "Dream Boat." I suggested Dream Boat 2. Michael didn't buy it. He wanted something shorter. I suggested DB2 - didn't fly.

Some of the kids liked The Mother Ship - that seemed a bit presumptuous as it was Michael's dream to own the thing, he did the research, shopping, repairs and most the driving. ::snort::

Michael liked Mo  - as in MOtor home. The rest of us were skeptical.

We kept talking - waiting for a name to fit!  Nolan and I wanted something "Japanese."  He was given the task of finding a suitable Japanese name to suggest.  He thought, うち (Uchi) would work.  It means home.

We decided to live with it a bit before making the final choice. We wanted to be sure the word meant what we thought it meant and did a bit of research.

Uchi can mean "house" or "I/me/us/our company/our organization". The second option is mostly used by Japanese that come from the Kansai area. If it is a sentence that has he or ni after uchi, it means house. If is followed by wa or ga, it is the second option.

Well - it seems that Uchi could mean organization or "I". I explained we'd need to adjust a bit if we wanted to be  authentic. You know, in case someone from Kansai knew we named the thing UCHI and thought we were saying "Me, me, me."  All understood, to avoid this confusion, Uchi would need to be followed by ni.....Uchini seemed incomplete...and then someone remembered MO - Michael's favorite. Uchi ni Mo!

We kept thinking and talking.  We bought a jeep. Now we needed a name for it. Ideally the names would "fit together."  One day I was out driving and contemplating this great problem. I offer a glimpse of my thought process.  Uchinimo (Ewwchey knee moe).

Uchinimo....Nemo was a cute movie. "Just keep swimming....just keep swimming." I loved Dori.

Nemo was pretty cute too. He had a bit of spunk, but for the most part kept swimming...following Dori.

Uchinimo. WHAT are we going to name these rigs?

The Jeep will follow the motor home. If we settle and just call the RV Uchi...what goes with uchi for the jeep.

Uchi for the RV.  Ni Mo for the Jeep.

I wonder if the family will go for it.  They did.

We  haven't come up with any names we like better.....

And so we present Uchi and  Ni Mo...Uchinimo - our house the motor home.

Nimo looks pretty tiny behind Uchi

BTW we  slapped those Alaska plates on and the very FIRST afternoon someone stopped us to talk about AK and how far we were from home. Cracked us up as the previous plates were NH plates-further from Northern CA than AK - and nobody stopped us to talk about NH.

Storms and Rainbows - #WYFF

We had a HUGE storm last night.  I believe it was the biggest storm we've weathered in an RV to date. It was impossible to sleep through. Things banged, crashed and jostled. We lost power, got up and pulled our slides in, grills and SAT dishes blew around the park, highway signs and trees were down as I drove into town. Our only casualty was poor little Featherstone.

He'll rise again. 

After big storms - magnificent rainbows manifest. That'll preach - BTW.  We found the end of the rainbow at the driveway to our RV park. 

#WYFF - our feet were doing school, at Mom's oncology physical therapist and radiation appointments, visiting with Rebecca, enjoying pizza at Coburg Pizza and playing games with Mom, Dad and Lorri.

For more #WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) posts click the tab below the blog header.

Moving!

I still haven't taken the photos to show the recent changes we've made to the motorhome, but I thought some may enjoy this glimpse. Today, we moved. NOT to a new living location - we needed to refill the propane tanks and get a bit of work done on the rig. I had totally and completely forgotten Michael made an appointment to take the RV to Hitch Pro and Tow today. BOTH of Mom's appointments were cancelled  - it all worked out well. Our own little scheduling miracle.

This is what the back looks like when we're ready to move. The bathroom door still opens. We could get stuff off the bed, but at this point we haven't wanted to sleep and drive anyway. 

This is the front when we're closed up and ready to drive. 

The blue tubs are our library and school resource books. The top left is sports stuff and the right is ALL the holiday decor we brought....for every holiday. I do enjoy a simplified life. The ice cream maker and fire pit fill out this bay. 

The flowered bag contains our seasonal clothes. We THOUGHT it would hold winter coats. In reality, it holds our shorts and tank tops. ::snort::  One of the tubs is my pantry. The other tub holds the books for a year of Tapestry of Grace. 

Yuuki NEVER is allowed on the dash. However, I had the kids in the Jeep and took them to Mom and Dad's to do school. Yuuki is terrified of  riding in the RV. She MUST ride on Nolan's lap. Nolan's lap was unavailable. As Michael began to drive, a streak landed on the dash. She rode well there. I MAY give in and buy her a pillow for riding on the dash - but I don't want her nails to puncture the vinyl.

Michael has been working to install a tow package on the RV and the Jeep. He took it to the shop for two reasons, 1. He was more comfortable having them connect the brake line from the RV to the Jeep and 2. He wanted them to check his work.

All checked out! He hooked up and towed the jeep. He reports you don't even know it's back there. He had to keep checking to make sure it hadn't broken away.

This goes a long way in preparing for our upcoming road trip to CO and TX.  We drove back home and hooked everything back up again. This is pretty common in the park as folks don't want to pay for the adapter which would allow propane to be delivered to an external tank.

We refuse....

...to give up hiking! We'll just adjust our pace and expectations! 

The Creaky Knees Guide, Oregon - the 85 best easy hikes! Of course, we think the rain needs to let up a bit before we do too much outdoor exploring.

Practically Perfect Day

Bre found herself scheduled for a four our Glucose Tolerance Test this morning. She needed a ride there and back and someone to play with Bella. I so love being nearby. I was, of course, thrilled to give her a ride AND play with Bella.  The test came back just fine, I spent four hours with Bella - win/win!  It seems I forgot to comb her hair - BUT - I was on a mission to get a photo of her four teeth. I may have succeeded there. We did get dressed, eat and play!

Bella learned early, when Gemma is around there are flashes and clicks! 

Gemma - why is that red thing attached to your face

Such a sweet smile

Her "Come, I want" signal. BTW I DID put the camera down and go to her!

Look VERY close - four teeth

  I'm grooming her to be a future guest blogger on Courageous Joy. This is HER laptop - a dead, repurposed one of Bre's. 

Bella conquers the laptop! 

Break-away 

 To top off the day we all met Bre at the theater! She remembered me taking them when the animated one came out.  Yes, I caught the "scene." I get it. However, the movie was magical. I was glad to see it with our oldest and youngest daughters. 

The tradition continues

The theme of transforming love resonated with ME. I saw the beast as a type of mankind - monster like, until coming into contact with Christ's transforming love. 

Michael and I especially loved them playing "our song." For YEARS any time Michael and I hugged or kissed, Alex and Stacia would sing "Beauty and the Beast." ::snort:: They were a bit embarrassed when we got romantic as they played our song.  Embarrassment happens. 

Only ONE Week????

We have a family goal to blog. Most often this means, *I* need to carve out time to blog.  I caught up - and then I didn't touch the blog again for a  week.

As I set down to capture my thoughts  I commented, "I haven't blogged all week again. I have no excuse."

Nolan heard me and responded, "You've been REALLY busy. "

I stopped and thought. I have been. It seems like 2 or 3 weeks since I blogged, but in fact, we've only lived one week.  Michael continued with repairs to our rig. He's now installed most of the parts we need to make the Jeep tow-able. I believe he's taking it in to get the "air brake connection" installed.

Never Attempt full time RVing unless you are a DIY mechanic/repairman

 He's also sought out estimates to fix the double-paned storm windows in the motorhome. Seven of them are fogging up. Not sure we'll fix all of them at this point - is clear vision worth $3,000? We WILL fix the driver window. 😲 

We had a great lunch with BreZaak and a wonderful evening of catching up with John and Nadine (for whom we house sat). We enjoyed a quick visit with Will and Sherri. We spent Saturday afternoon with Arielle while Cory was at work....BreZaak and Bella dropped by too. 

We discovered we cannot simply make keys for the Jeep. Michael visited a locksmith and we'll soon be able to change the codes on the chip in the keys and have three keys. This will give us greater peace of mind. 

I accompanied Mom to five appointments. We are learning cancer has the potential to take over one's life - simply by virtue of the TIME it requires. Mom has opted not to have chemo. She is showing signs of lymphedema and is now seeing an Oncology Physical Therapist at least 3 times a week. She's starting radiation - which will be 5 days a week for 6 weeks. All of her other docs continue to want to see her - more now that she is dealing with cancer.  She's a trooper - but it wears her and I out to be running all week long.   I believe there are 8 appointments on the calendar for this upcoming week. 

Michael has been gone since Thursday. There are loose ends we've been trying to tie up with Mom G's estate. In this age of technology these things should have been easy to handle long distance - but sometimes Realtors, DMVs and lawyers need to see you face to face. He also went down to visit with his oldest sister in Eureka. 

Friday night the kids and I discovered a pizza joint near the RV Park....a nice discovery at the end of a busy week. 

Falafel pizza - no cheese

The Gherkins (and Nadia) helped Dad do some yard work - we'll get better as we go. Who would guess one has to tend to the city's property?😏

Nadia - working on her birthday 

Nolan

Alex

The kids have continued to hit the books - hard! As of this week we are one week ahead! They've decided to continue double timing until we (or maybe they and I'll stay here to help Mom?) go to Denver/TX....this will allow them to be "on track" at the end of the three week trip. 

We loved watching Casper and Nadia play with Dino - a Great Dane/ Grey Hound mix. We also enjoyed celebrating Nadia's 22nd birthday with her. We loved the rare Mikhail sighting. 

Casper, Dino and Nadia

I do love this picture

Lent marches on - I miss the blending of church traditions in a military chapel. We will need to do better in future years to maintain a focus on the season. It's not part of our church tradition - but it's become meaningful to us. Without a church structure discussing the "weeks" and handing out devotionals leading up to the Resurrection, I will need to plan ahead. We did bring our Lenten wreath with us - and I finally bought a candle yesterday.

Today is Monday. We started the week with two medical appointments, two days worth of school, and Michael calling with the hope to be back this evening. 

I've skipped a lot of the week - but here are the facts. LOL 

Topics to be explored further: 

• Future plans
• Perspective
• Nameless motorhome is named
• Showcase the modifications in the motorhome

Perspective - That'll Preach - #WYFF

This Friday finds Michael's feet in CA doing a bit of work around Mom G's house and attempting to untangle some loose threads with her estate.  Our feet are at the park....relaxing after a busy week.  The boys' feet are sporting new hiking boots/shoes.

I'm not sure I've said much about their upcoming adventure. The older three Gherkin men are planning an "Epic Alaskan Hike."  The kind of hike into the mountains  requiring one to bring all essentials and hike 10 - 14 miles a day. They asked if we'd send the younger two Gherkin men up for the hike. Alex is 15 and Nolan just turned 18. They are game. We know our favorite RV footwear - Croc's - won't handle this terrain. We are in the process of breaking in their new footwear.....tonight we took a jaunt around the RV Park. It's been a bit bittersweet knowing Michael won't be on this hike with the guys, but we're now planning our own Alaskan adventure for the same time! 

I stood in one spot and took the following two photos. We live on the side of Interstate 5 - behind a fence - across the street from Camping World. 

Look the other way - and we live out in the country, beside a gorgeous pond, surrounded by grazing land and mountains. It was a graphic reminder of some things I've been meditating on concerning perspective.

Perspective - a particular attitude towards or way of regarding something; a point of view. 

Just a quick turn of the eyes and the whole picture changes! It reminded me of  Charles Swindoll's quote, "Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it."  I can choose how I respond to my circumstances by adjusting my vision and picking the perspective.  

As James instructed in chapter 1 verse 2 of his letter, I can choose joy! I can make an effort to, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials...."

That'll preach!

For more #WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) posts click the tabs below the header.