Games with Krista

Krista is here and that means Nolan will have an extra one who loves to play games in the mix. I'm not sure there is much better than Dominion, outside the trailer, with a campfire in the background.

We're so glad Krista came to visit. 

#WYFF Little Bald Hills

Hiking the Little Bald Hills trail is a family tradition dating back at least three, possibly four, generations. True confession: I've never hiked it. I've always had toddlers that were thought to be too young for the hike. The younger two hadn't hiked it. Michael let us know that the hike was just too much for him now....and I wondered how to get the other two up.

Krista is down for a couple of nights. She took the three traveling Gherkins and headed up Little Bald Hill. From the point where they started to the top of Little Bald Hill and back again is a 6.6 mile hike, IF you hike over the trail and end up on South Fork it is a  9.8 mile hike.  The last time up it took them 8 hours  - but they came down Sheep Ends Gulch instead of the trail. Michael knows all the extra spots to explore....but they hiked to the top and back in about 3.5 hours. They think they can find their way back up again, I have plans to make it up yet. LOL

 Part of the tradition is to plant seeds each time up.....

Watch out for the bears! 

#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. For more #WYFF entries, click the tab above.

Grapes!

We have GRAPES! The ripe ones are WAY up high - above the roof line.....yes, we DO plan on taming them  - AFTER we harvest.  There are three types of grapes at Mom G's: Concords, Thompson and Malaga.  The Malaga grape vines were planted in 1939 by Grandpa Jack.

I do think they are pretty and have taken numerous photos of them as they grow and RIPEN. I thought purple was good, but we have to wait for black or DEEP purple.  Finally, I pointed out, no one could argue, the grapes at the top were BLACK.....but how would we get them down?

This man is so good to me. 

The grapes up high don't get the nourishment they need to grow big and plump. They do taste good. We will patiently wait for others to ripen. Here is our haul for the day. The grape arbor was destroyed by bears who also like fresh grapes, apparently.  In the absence of an arbor, or any pruning, the vines have grown onto the roof and entwined in other trees.  When we picked the grapes, we got a few more Green Gage Plums. These are VERY good too.

New Dentist

Just because I love to add chaos to already busy weeks and because a trip to OR for PT, starting school, trying to do 5 days in 3 days wasn't ENOUGH, I scheduled our first trip to a new dentist this week, too. LOL  Hope recommended Dr. W, AND he takes Delta Dental; so off we went.

I was in my late 20's before it was discovered that Novocaine does not deaden me. I spent years having dental work (cavities drilled and filled, teeth pulled, braces) assuming the pain I felt was normal.  I NOW KNOW BETTER! A good dentist uses other stuff on me, waits and gives me second doses as needed - but I STILL dislike going to a dentist.  Some things get burned into the psyche and don't go away.

I sat in the office, trying to look supremely calm and confident - so the kids would be confident. I've decided when I'm Mom G's age I'm not going to the dentist without a fight.

After our appointments, we checked out a few new RV Parks and campgrounds  (long back story), took the kids for ICE CREAM (a tradition after shots and dentists) and bought groceries for Mom G and us. I was excited to find a bit of Japanese comfort food on this emotionally trying day. LOL

*Note full-timers still need to take care of basic dental and health care needs. We are working to get as much done while we are here, less to worry about when we are traveling more extensively in the future.

BTW, this was our one year "nomadiversary" - one year of living and traveling full time in our Caboose. I'll need more time to process and write a post worthy of that date - later.

School Daze 2016

Never before, in our family, has the start of school signaled such huge changes in our lifestyles. We've been spending 6 - 10 hours a day at Mom G's - clearing brush, cleaning, visiting and playing.  School means priorities have to shift a bit, and schedules, of necessity, have to reflect that change. This is imperative with two high-school students. I'm still fairly free-flowing as a teacher - but we DO have structure, the hours DO have to add up, we DO have some subjects (Alg 2 for instance) which will take significant chunks of seat time at the trailer. We can't be ALL about PE and Life Skills. ::snort::

The past two weeks, I had been reminding all of us school was starting on the 29th, and our schedules would change; it was still a bit of a shock to all - from Stacia to Mom G.

Michael goes over to Mom G's in the a.m. We are TRYING to finish school with a couple of hours to spare, so I can drive the kids over too, but that didn't happen Mon - Wed.  There will be days we school until 4:30 or 5:00 p.m., and then I need to cook dinner... I DID realize our program, as written, is an honors program...and the boys have decided they are not honors students this year. I do plan to ease up a bit - but that didn't happen this week. ::snort::

We move through history in a 4 year cycle. All of us study the same year at our own level. This allows time for great conversations and natural integration of the material into our family time as we're all thinking on the same things. This year we are covering Ancient Civilizations. We are starting with Egypt.....We'll use the Bible and other materials as original source material to explore the many civilizations of this time. We'll complete a Bible survey in the course of the year. This adds new depth to both our Bible reading and our history studies.  We'll do some things together - and most things separately. I no longer have a young student to oversee...and am working towards more independence for Stacia. HOWEVER, Stacia is a mad extrovert and craves  interaction time with me - so we'll balance. I'll work to develop those independent study skills which will serve her well in college, but I will also include plenty of time together working through material.

Without further fuss - 2016 Second Day of School pictures - the first day they were on top of Spencer's Butte.

Nolan  - Junior

 We are deliberately doing some school outside of the trailer so all note we ARE schooling. LOL And, YES, we also enjoy the lovely sun this time of year. 

Stacia - 6th grade - WHERE IS MY BABY????

Alex - Freshman

The boys like to school on their bunks - we like to school outside. Yuuki suffered some separation anxiety and solved it by joining us. 

Poor Yuuki, she loved spending all summer with the kids. 

Most years, we do a rolling start to school. We did the same this year as there were only three days in this week. We accomplished all that was on the schedule...and as I type, I realize I need to get busy and plan out next week. ::snort::

Prayers are appreciated as we work to integrate our schedules, with Mom G's needs, and life in a new location - you all know - deep down - we'd rather be up north now, heading to the NE for the fall. LOL

Mad Dash North

Dr. C, Michael's VA neurologist, felt Physical and Speech therapy would be beneficial. We made the most of the trip to Eugene. We got up early and arrived in time for breakfast with Mom, Dad and Lorri.

We ran a few errands. I found the pickles Mom G had on her shopping list. Stepping into Staples was like walking into heaven! I didn't realize how much I missed a real office supply store. The boys and I had designed a lesson planner for them we liked. It is a two page spread, has room for 11 subjects, and tracks weekly and yearly hours for each of the subjects. This makes it easy to determine the time spent when awarding high school credit. Michael figured out how to fit it all on to a standard sheet of paper and made it "work."  Last year Nolan printed it each week and then just saved them.... I thought it would be easier to have the thing bound - which we thought last year, too, but our travels never quite took us by an office supply store at the right time. Staples copied and bound the trackers for us, and we're quite happy with the product.  Our writing handbook has been well-used; the binding broke years ago. They snipped the holes, re-punched and spiral bound it for us! Much easier to use.

We then headed over to the VA clinic feeling good about all we'd accomplished in the day. Krista picked up the kids. They'd been told to bring their tennis shoes, always a sign a hike or a game is in the making.  They hiked to the top of Spencer's Butte. Lots of Phys Ed on our first day of school this year.  I suppose these could be our 2016 First Day of School pictures.

It would be wrong to get the impression Michael is stumbling, shuffling, slobbering etc. However, his right arm doesn't swing and some days he  stumbles and staggers; they tell us he does have a bit of a shuffle, and his torso doesn't move when he walks. Part of Parkinson's Disease is muscles become stiff and/or rigid. Dr. C feels early intervention, via exercises, will give Michael more tools as the disease progresses.  His voice has gotten softer and hoarser over the past 4 - 5 years, and he is having trouble swallowing. Speech therapy will be in the mix to help with those symptoms. They haven't called with appointments. We're hoping they find a speech therapist in Roseburg.

We liked the physical therapist. She began by wanting him to come in weekly. We can't. We talked about every other week but settled on monthly. Michael will do his exercises daily and if he makes progress, we only have to drive up once a month.

Hawaiian time is a fantastic meeting spot for a late lunch/early dinner. This was quite the accomplishment as we didn't have much time to plan the trip. LOL

L-R; Nolan, Alex, Stacia, Krista, ARielle, Cory, Micahel and Bella, Bre, Izaak

Bella has reached an age where she isn't thrilled with strangers - classified as "other than Mommy and Daddy," and maybe a couple of others. I was prepared to play from a distance - but she smiled and laughed with both Michael and me and was happy to come right to us.  YAY, Bella!

We tried a selfie - Bella was interested in seeing us on the screen

 

Gemma has my binkie! 

Such fun

Go Bella....

We ran for the border and were home between 7 - 8 p.m.;  14 hours after we'd left. Our future appointments are on Mondays, we CAN do this again....or we may drive up on a Sunday night and come back Monday. We'll see how Mom G's needs, mesh with our needs.

Date up South Fork

Michael and I drove over to visit with Mom G. On our way home, we took the South Fork Road. A sign indicated there may be land or a house for sale up that way - we didn't see such - but we did enjoy the gorgeous drive, mountain meadows, river views and trees. 

LOVE having a tour guide with us in this area

 One of Michael's colorful boyhood tales revolves around a family who lived in an converted bus up South Fork. They had also built several cabins from press-board. There were a couple of families who lived up here 40 years ago.  Of course, we had to search out the site of the stories.  Forty years ago they had the brush cut back...but the road is still there....yes, they were squatters, but no one much cared 40 years ago.

We suspect this was where the bus was parked....Michael did a bit more looking and found an old water pipe and remains of a cabin.

We decided it would not be possible to get a Class A into the old spot....but we did find several promising spots for boondocking  AND a campground. Big Flat Campground is run by the US Forest Service.  There's no cell service, it's dry camping - but the sites are big enough for the trailer and/or a Class A AND it's only $8 a night. They close Nov 1st.

We enjoyed the drive, the hike and being alone. A perfect date.