Home Sweet Home

August was such a blur. I spent 10 days at my sister's house in Austin and then three days in Tucson for some Realtor training. Then I left NJ with my parents for three days and come home to trade all my clothes for the next step up in the maternity wardrobe and host a baby shower of a good friend. Then my hubby and I went back to Tucson for two weeks while he did some work-related training. So, poor NJ was away from home for 31 days! I think he started asking about "home, home, home" around day 6 and by day 20 it had progressed to "Go home? Go home?" The poor kid was probably wondering if we'd moved! I tried to explain to him that it was just a long vacation, but I never know how much he understands.... Regardless, I totally know the way he felt.

Don't get me wrong: I LOVED my trip to Austin! It was so much fun to have the three cousins together! We did all sorts of wonderful activities with them and my sister and I did scrapbooking almost every night. I managed to create an entire 8x8, 11 spread album about a trip my husband and I took back in 2005 before we had kids, complete with journalling! Then one night, my brother in law was kind enough to watch the kids while my sister and I went out for a nice dinner, just the two of us! Good times, good times!

I also loved my time in Tucson- even if I was injured and flat on my back for an entire week of it. I did manage to get baby boy #2's quilt designed and the fabric picked out so mom could start working on it and I managed to start scanning some of mom's old pictures while organizing them. It was also great to be there when my mom got a new laptop so I could help set it up and try to make it as identical as possible to the old one.

Still, there's just something about home... When I got back I didn't even want to think about ever leaving again, but after one single week in the 108F heat, I'm ready to go back to Tucson where the highes are 90 and it rains almost every afternoon...

Camping Boy

We went camping again the first weekend of August. It was so nice to get out of the heat, even if we never really got cold. (The highs were around 112 in Yuma and 85 where we were camping.) It was a long drive for just two nights, but anytime I get to go camping, I'm happy.

We met my parents up in Northern AZ for an archery shoot near Happy Jack. When we got there, my dad took NJ to check out some of the targets and 'ride' a few of them. Initially NJ was a little frightened by the elk (they are huge after all) but Granddad convinced him it would be ok. (Click on the image for a bigger version)

That night NJ got to sleep in Granny and Granddad's camper because we had to keep all our windows open and NJ doesn't sleep well when the temp's below about 70 (we're lizards, ok?). See, we had a little incident with gasoline on the drive up and since I'm pregnant, I could barely stand the smell, so... all the windows and vents were left open all night long.

The next day, NJ got to go walking around with Granny and played around camp, picking up sticks, hitting trees and generally being a boy. It really amazes me how boyish little boys are- where do they learn all this from???

Overall, it was a great trip and, as always, I'm anxious to go again!

Campering

We just got home from a great camping trip! I have tons of work to do unloading the camper and working on my lesson for my next Econ class, but I just realized that I never blogged about our trip to SFO and now many of the details are hazy... maybe I'll try to go back and write about it when my hubby's around- his memory for details is waaaaaaay better than mine! Anyway, I think I better write a quick bit about our Memorial Day weekend before it all slips away!

When I was a kid we'd go to these archery shoots every summer (a bit like rounds of golf except you shoot an arrow at a target instead of hitting a ball in a hole). We'd meet my aunt and uncle at the shoots and dry camp in the National Forest. My dad always shot and when I got old enough, I got a bow and started shooting too. There were so few little girls who participated that I'd often get 1st or 2nd place in my class. My aunt and uncle always shot too and my mom has even recently picked up shooting every now and then (when there are no grandbabies around). We've been doing this long enough that we've made friends with other shooters and these shoots are the only place we get to see them. So by the time the night falls and everyone gathers around the camp fire, we usually have a nice crowd!

During the six years my husband and I lived in Michigan, I really missed all the camping. When we finally found a way to get back to Arizona, I was ready to start camping again! Every Memorial day there's a shoot at Clint's Well, AZ (south east of Flagstaff). It's around 7,000ft in elevation and all pine tress. Last year we went with our 9mo. old son, NJ, and didn't get there until midnight Friday night. It had snowed that day and we were all accustomed to the 110F heat of the Yuma desert. So, instead of crawling into our tent, we gratefully accepted a bed in my parents' camper. NJ froze and cried. He shortly ended up in my sleeping bag with me. I didn't sleep much because I was paranoid about rolling over on him, but we made it through. The weather got a bit better and we managed to use the tent to play in, even if we never slept in it! Soon after, we bought a small travel trailer and we've really enjoyed it and its furnace.

This year it looked like the weather was going to be much warmer! So, I was super thrilled that my husband managed to get a 4-day weekend! We haven't been camping since elk camp last year and I was eager to go again. We invited some of our friends, M&M, who are avid backpackers. The whole "campering" experience, as she called it, was a bit new, but we loaned them an ice chest and they improvised easily.

Of course, the day before we left, the weather started to turn cold. It's a double shame because not only did we end up camping in the cold, but we missed the last beautiful weekend in Yuma! We drove the last hour or so in a downpour and when we got to the Clint's Well service station, I had to run through the rain barefoot in shorts because all my warm clothes were in the camper and I was not about to get $150 leather sandals wet. After a bit of confusion, and a wardrobe change, we filled the camper with water and headed out to find the rest of our family in the forest.

My uncle gave us some very explicit directions, but we missed the turn somehow and quickly found ourselves on a narrow, very bumpy, steep, muddy road. Given the fact that we were pulling a camper, we couldn't just turn around anywhere, so we just kept going and going and going. When a slightly wider, less steep, area presented itself, I jumped out and started directing my husband so he could do a three point turn with the camper on this bumpy, muddy road. In all honesty it worked out easier than I thought.

We started back down the hill and stopped at a road that looked like it had a paper plate with my name on. Turns out it said "Willie" and not "Julie" but I had to get out and walk over to it to see that. At this point, M&M, who had been following us through all this in their all-wheel drive CRV offered to give me a ride back to my husband. However, when B saw me get in their car, he kept driving. Huh.

At the next road, Mr.M stopped the CRV and I got out and tried to wave B down. Picture me running through the mud and the rain, arms waving widely, calling out to B, Mr.M honking in the background... but B just kept driving. In fact, he got back on the highway! Huh.

At this point, M&M drove over to me and offered me a ride again. Mr.M suggested that we drive south down the road and see if it was, in fact, where my family was camping. I agreed- after all, I don't even know where B has gone. It turns out that he had missed the road and decided to just drive back to the service station to turn around. So when he got back, we were no where to be found. Not having the directions, he turned north.

When M&M and I found my family, I really wanted to turn around and go find B and lead him to camp- after all, he was alone with a baby and a dog, pulling a camper- but M&M were feeling a bit lucky to have made it through the mud holes the first time without four wheel drive, so instead, Mr.M and my dad went walking. Soon after, My uncle and his friend got in a truck and drove back too. Ms.M and I hung out in my mom's camper for a few minutes and then, when we couldn't take it any more (and the rain had stopped) we started walking back too. About half way back to the main road, I see our 4-Runner, pulling our trailer, come barreling up the road. I instantly knew B wasn't driving. B doesn't drive like that with my trailer! Sure enough, My Uncle was driving! I had to laugh- it was soooo typical for him to end up behind the driver's wheel! In the end, we were really grateful for every one's help. We got the camper set up and even managed to eat a warm bowl of soup at a reasonable hour.

The rest of the trip was pretty typical. The rain stopped and started, but didn't affect our plans too much. NJ struggled to sleep every night so we had to run the furnace until I was sweating. But, during the days, he had a wonderful time playing in the dirt and making weapons of sticks (where do they learn this?), following daddy, discovering beetles and caterpillars, leading our dog around the forest, making friends with other kids, and gathering fire wood.

Other highlights include my aunt and uncle's granddaughter using an old toilet seat they found in the forest as a table in the fort she built with another friend's grandson,
and my husband lighting the old washer turned fire bowl.

The drive home was long: 8.5 hours of driving- which included 45 min for lunch, 46 min in stop and go traffic when there was an accident on the freeway, 12 min lost to diaper changes, 21 min dumping the black water tank, and a total of 40 min worth of gas stops. Now why does Yahoo Maps think it's a 5 hour drive????

But NJ entertained himself almost all the way home!

Goodbye Baby Blue, Hello???

We just got back- hum, I guess it was a week ago now- from a wonderful little trip! We've been trying to save more money (I'm a Realtor, so you can guess how lean things are feeling), so we weren't going to do any flying vacations, but then Baby Blue died.

She was a blue 2001 Ford Taurus and she was the only car we've ever bought (or likely ever will buy) new. We got her in the winter of 2000, just months after graduating college, getting married, and moving to Michigan to start our life together. Don't tell her, but I really wanted to get a Camry at the time. However, Ford was offering great financing and Toyota wasn't offering anything. Being so young and still working on school loans, we sure didn't have cash to buy a car, so we went with the financing we could afford.

Baby Blue was good to me for over 9 years and 130,000 miles. While I didn't call her by her proper name very often, we had a connection. It was harder than I imagined to part with her, but when we found out she needed a $2,000+ repair to be drivable and started to think about the fact that most Taurus need a new $3,000 transmission around 100,000 miles, we decided it was time.

As God would have it, just days after finding out about Baby Blue's 'needs,' we were complaining to a friend, G, in California and he said that he had a Camry he was wanting to sell! We found some one-way tickets for about $100 each for just three weeks later, when Brian had several days off (for the fancy vacation we were supposed to be taking). Another wonderful friend loaned us their Altima for the three weeks, so I wouldn't be without wheels while B was at work. (we're so spoiled!) Then G generously offered us his spare room for a few days, so we got to make a vacation of it (more about all that later). After three great days in and around Sonoma Valley, we drove the Camry back home, stopping at my sister-in-law's new condo along the way.

So, here's where you come in. My pretty silver Camry needs a name! It needs to be something fitting, yet still flattering... something that inspires him/her to greatness! Thoughts?

I'm So Excited

And I Just Can't Hide It...

I know it's a bit of an over-reaction, but I'm super excited about the Kid-Carrying Backpack I bought off Craig's list for $30! We've been wanting one for a long time but they're usually $100-$200! We have a trip coming up to the San Francisco area where we plan to do a little hiking and I kept thinking- how in the world are we going to go hiking with NJ???? So, crisis adverted! Yay! Bring on the Redwoods!

Elk Camp Highlights

...Ok, my conscience tells me that I'm being lame relying on other's posts and need to write a few of my own thoughts on elk camp. It's hard after Deanna has said it all so well, but maybe I've got something I can add...

In the interest of convincing myself to do it all again next year I'm going to try to focus on all the fun parts and conveniently skip over all the hard work. Surely NJ will be walking by next September... Surely a walker will be less work than a crawler... don't tell me if I'm wrong because it would be so sad to have all my extended family at elk camp while I sit at home by myself with my baby- I mean my two year old. See, the best part about elk camp is the family. We've never really done a formal family reunion, so this is as close as i get. There's something about living in the woods that bonds you. The guys are getting to be guys, flinging arrows at a walking hunk of meat (I should mention that one of the hunters was actually my aunt Charlene- you go girl!) and the women get to sit around, scrapbook, and chat (and change diapers, make dinners, sweep campers, search for runaway dogs/children). Seriously, there were a few days that we managed to get our two babies' afternoon naps to overlap for an hour. Deanna and I got two or three speed scrapbooking sessions in and I managed to complete two layouts. If you've never done speed scrapbooking, let me give you some pointers. First, don't bother to pull out all your embellishments until you've narrowed the pictures down and chosen your background paper. If you do, you may very well find yourself spending all your time getting the junk out and putting it all away instead of focusing on completing a layout. Second, don't get too picky. It's like a pop quiz- The trick is to go with your 1st instinct. Third, apply your double sided tape as soon as possible. This helps you stick with that 1st instinct and it prevents the wind from carrying your photos away. (yes, this is me being funny- you get what you pay for...)

What else can I add to my sister's summary? The food was, indeed, remarkable. It was a lot of work, and I did end up creating an Access database for it, but if you know me, you know that I look for excuses to use Access over Excel, so I'm not sure that's saying much. In fact, all it may tell you is that I'm going crazy being a full time mom and needed a good project to sink my teeth into. Either way, it worked out well. I can't think of any other way to cook three meals a day for 9 people out of a camper with a 2ft by 3ft fridge (ok, so there were actually three refrigerators, but Deanna’s was smaller and mom’s only stayed cold when it felt like it). It's interesting to me as I look back at it- I felt like I was doing a lot of work. I was stressed by the responsibility of it all. Yet each time we sat down to eat, I looked at the food on the table and realized mom had done most of the cooking. Sure I counted up how many plates we needed and occasionally dumped biscuits out of a can to cook in the oven, but mom made all the casseroles and then did the veggies most of the time too. huh. Someday, I hope to be half as productive as my mom!

Of course, mom left her dog at home and I had to devote considerable energy to trying to keep my dog from wandering off. We started out with Max on a leash, but he looked so sad being tethered to the camper while the great outdoors awaited. So, we experimentally let him off his leash and the sweet little thing barely left our side. I suspect it was because the forest was big and full of unknown dangers... Of course, within a day or so, his investigative work led him beyond the confines of the camp where he found countless treasures like a very good stick, and old bone, and the big prize: a hoof with a little bit of yuck left on it. Well, after discoveries like that you know he was inspired to search the great unknown. Twice I thought I'd really lost him- picture me walking in progressively larger circles around the camp yelling, "MAX!" Once he went up the road where there was another campsite. I'm thinking he was pretty confused at that point because when one of the guys road up on the quad and called to him, Max came right over in spite of his deep fear of loud noisy machines. But the worst time was when he came trotting back into camp with a bloody smile- literally. I guess he finally caught some sort of varmint or found the drippings from the elk Larry had killed the night before. He was pretty impressed with himself and I was furious. From then on out he didn't get much off-leash time. Overall, I think Max would say it was a good trip though. Prior to elk camp he really didn't want to get too close to the camper even though it was our 2nd trip in it. Now Max doesn't like me being in the camper without him. Maybe he just really likes the taste of elk.

Ah, the taste of elk... that was the purpose for the trip after all. Happily, B was successful and we'll be tasting his elk soon too, although I like mine significantly less rare than Max likes his. I have to say I had my doubts. B told me he wanted to get his elk opening day and then relax and hang out with family the rest of the week. We'd even tossed around the idea of doing some day trips around the area and checking in on some friends we don't get to see often enough. But day after day, no elk. It was a hard year for the hunters. The moon was so full that the elk stayed up all night and slept all day. Elk look incredibly similar to everything else when they're lying down, so it's close to impossible to see them when they're sleeping. Plus it had rained several times the week before, which meant there were plenty of puddles for the elk to drink from. So, they didn't need to walk to the "tanks" (big muddy ponds) to get a drink. Larry, the expert, full time hunter (and part time electrician) got his first elk most of the way through the week. However, none of the rest of the guys were having any luck. I think they all saw some bulls (boy elk), but they all had cow (lady elk) tags. We had to leave on Sunday, so on Saturday afternoon I told B, "If you're not bringing a elk with you, don't bother coming back!" Not really- I'm not THAT mean. But I did point out that this was the last possible chance. Wouldn't you know it, that night, September 20th, 2008, at 6:49pm, I got a text message:

"i shot one shes down send others!"

It's hard to explain how happy I was for him, how proud I was of him. I had to read the text twice to make sure I didn't just imagine it. I ran to tell Mom and Deanna and then physically jumped up and down a few times! A lot of archery hunting is skill- you have to make sure the elk don't see you, or hear you, or even smell you before you get within 40 yards of them and then you have to be on mark with your arrow or you'll pierce them but not kill them. But a lot of it's luck too. We had 8 hunters at camp with us and most of them didn't even get an opportunity to fling an arrow. But on that Saturday night, one nice lady elk was playing hard to get with one handsome bull. He was making all sorts of noise trying to show off and she had come to the tank to check him out. B said he waited and waited for her to get in just the right spot. When he took the shot, she was a 25 yards and went down right away! What a triumph!

B getting his elk saved the trip for me. I'm not sure why I thought it was so much work- must have been something about the 5 babies, 13 adults, 2 dogs, 5 campers, 20 lawn chairs, 5 tents, 12 days, 33 meals, 300 plates and 5 quads. But when B got his elk, it all seemed worth it. The only thing that could have made it better is if all the hunters had the same chance to bring home an elk.