Our last entry was about our RV trip, now months old. That trip seems only like a distant memory. We had so much fun and would recommend such a trip to anyone.
Even though our trip IS a distant memory I have some pictures I still want to share.
Our first night we stayed in Paso Robles at a really nice RV resort, they had a heated pool (the heat had just been turned on, so the pool was a bit cold.) Me and the kids wished it was a bit more hot so the cool pool would feel a bit better. (Yes if you must know I DID suck in my stomach!)
Our second night we stayed at Carpinteria State Park. We had some interesting neighbors. The RV section was basically a parking lot right on the beach. We also had train tracks about 25 yards from our site. The freight train goes through around 3 in the morning. Even with that we would probably visit there again. I snapped this shot of Emma at sunset.
Still at Carpinteria, the parents of one of Sarah's new friends took this nice family portrait.
After Carpinteria we headed south to Seal Beach to visit Nancy's Grandparents. Both Grandpa and Grandma are well into their late 90's and will be celebrating 75 years of marriage this year! Grandma's health is poor, but Grandpa is doing well. The kids loved gathering around him for this picture. Grandpa affectionately calls Grace "My Girl!" She of course was her charming self and stole Grandpa's heart immediately!
After a few hours of visiting we headed east towards Phoenix. We successfully navigated through the maze of highways and toll roads of Los Angeles County and hit the 10 going East. We took this picture as we headed towards Indio and wondered how the "other Desert Cities" felt about Indio getting top billing and the "them"getting the shaft on the highway sign. Oh well on to Indio and forget the other desert cities!
This was my usual position as Pilot of the RV. Keep on Truckin!
We arrived in Phoenix on Saturday night and spent Easter with Nancy's Brother and family. We parked our RV outside of their house for the next few days as we visited and enjoyed Rich and his family and the sights of the Greater Phoenix area. Monday Rich drove us down to Tucson. Our first stop was to the Pima Air Museum. Dad Ben and Emma were dropped off at the museum while Rich, Nancy, Sarah, and Grace explored Tucson and searched for "rabbit turd ice" The term refers to the shape not the color or smell of the ice. For those who know and frequent Sonic will know of the special Ice. Ben and Emma posed in front of the SR-71 aka The Blackbird. It is one of my favorite aircraft and I was excited to be so close to this special airplane.
This picture of Grace showcases one of the new tricks she learned on our great RV trip. We had sleeping arrangements rigged up to the inch so we could all be accommodated in the RV. Gracie had just enough room so her pack and play would fit nicely on the floor. While on this trip she learned how to pull her self up and stand. After doing this she would just stand there so proud of her self and bounce up and down. I was sure she would vault her self right out of her sleeping container. Gladly she did not.
As of the date of this posting, Grace is standing up all over the place walking around furniture and crawling like a woman possessed.
I am not sure if these feet are Sarah's or Emma's, regardless I had just cleaned one foot and left the other dirty for comparison. Both of the girls had a hard time keeping any kind of footwear on and consequently were continually filthy.
After 4 fun filled days in Phoenix we once again headed west. This picture is at Corona Del Mar. there we visited Nancy's Aunt and Uncle. Me and the kids took a walk down to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful weather and the water. It was so nice to once again be ocean side with the cool salty breeze on our faces after being in hot and dry Arizona. Don't get me wrong, we loved Arizona, but it is hard to beat a nice day along the side of the Pacific Ocean.
Life continues at a break neck pace even when we are not blogging regularly. So we expect that we may not get the chance to blog about a number of happenings in our lives.
For example, here are a few things that we should blog about but we will probably not get to them in any kind of further detail.
The last week of March I took a short trip to Utah looking at some rental properties. I was able to attend my Mission reunion I met some new friends and renewed some old friendships. Saturday I spent watching conference and looking at rental properties. There were some real dogs, and some nice places. On the Monday I arranged to rent a house for the year starting summer/fall semester. Mission accomplished!
In April we spent a fun week in Monterey. We had invited some good friends from the Ward to be with us our first weekend there. They actually blogged about it here if you are interested in any detail.
On the first Sunday in May as I was released from the Bishopric. It is a strange feeling not to have any early morning meetings to attend Sunday morning anymore. Strangely I think I will miss them. However, after three years on the stand I am looking forward to siting with Nancy and the rest of the family once again.
We continue to prepare for a major move. We are fixing and mending our house in preparation for rental as we start packing for our next adventure in Provo Utah. I will be attending the MPA program at BYU next fall. (that's why I rented a house in Provo at Conference time.) We were planning an exit and move from CA to UT in July or August. That has been moved up significantly to an early June.
Regardless of our blogging activity life continues to be exciting and challenging! So far not worth trading for anything else.
