july 24 to aug 6

July 24 to Aug 6 It is 5 am and I am wide awake, yes I know I should be sleeping .Arianna is still sleeping from 10 30 last night, im not used to her sleeping so long so I wake up numerous times expecting her to wake up. Derek just got in from work. We left off in san Francisco where it was cold. Headed to napa valley (wine country) where they have beautiful vineyards. I mean just hundreds of large fields of perfectly manicured green lush grape rows. The wknd was kinda broken up as we had to move to a dif rv park on sat. A Friday night job they snuck in that was not in the area we would be Sunday night. Derek usually works sun night ( likes to start after midnight so we can have a little more relaxing day ) through thurs night ,but the last 4 weeks we have had a fri night job too so we are ready for a full wknd off. The rv park we were at sat to tues was nice and roomy, whew a breath of fresh air compared to the tight ones in the SF area. We are slowly making our way farther inland and with that comes warmer temps. They had a little kiddy pool area where Austin loved to play in on the hot afternoons. And he had lots of room to push his little stroller around. I did find him down the lane a ways one time, he was just a goin for it. But I told him that if he goes where Mommy caint see him other people will take him and then he stayed closer to our camper. He does really good with knowing not to get on the road ( cause the cars will get him and he will get hurt  ) .if there is cars coming and we are walking he will stop and not walk till the car is gone so it takes me forever to walk some where with him if we are close to a road but I guess better safe than sorry. Wed july 29 we started our travels to salt lake city. Had a 2 hour drive between jobs tues, wed and then for thurs night we had a 9 hr drive. That was a long haul and poor Derek had to work that night. He had gotten about 4 hrs of sleep . We left the napa valley and headed north east to the beautiful mountainous area in northern ca. We had been talking about a certain job we had done 4 years ago in ca and would you believe it we had that same taco bell again this time. That was the only taco bell so far that we had also done with the other project . 4 years ago we had also been in Sa Francisco area. So it was quite something to come back to a taco bell we had worked in before. And it was one of those jobs that were special, that we still talked about. It was way out of town nestled in the mountains, quiet (almost too quite like there would be a bear come running out of the woods if you didn’t watch out at night) but in a beautiful location. A breath of fresh air. From there we went to south lake tahoe . One of the most beautiful lakes I have ever seen. Crystal bule lake up in the mountains, surrounded by mountains and trees. We even saw a few white snowy mountain peaks in the far distance. Austin and I picked up some humungous pine cones 10 inches high. We had a quiet place to park behind taco bell and as Derek is sleeping and we are just relaxing in the camper with the door open Austin was watching some people down the street. All of a sudden he hollers out the door, “ Hey guys , Hey guys!! What are you doing ?!!!! I see you !!! “ I hope they didn’t hear him. Thurs am we had a 9 some hr drive to salt lake city to do 2 jobs there thurs night.the children did really well, he was only out of his car seat for the last half hr. thank goodness for kids who do alright traveling. We had stopped at a rest area in the middle of the day and Austin got to run but other than that we hammered down. We lost an hour being it was a dif time zone so Derek had to start work as soon as we got here. And we will be here for 2 weeks. So nice to park for a little while. We are at a nice rv park. I have went with Derek a few nights to help him on his jobs. Arianna goes with us and sleeps in her carseat, Austin stayed with Brians next door. He has enjoyed being entertained by their kids . and it gives me a little break to sleep or get some work done. Some days I don’t get much done other than takin care of the kids, keeping them semi quiet while Derek sleeps. Arianna is sleeping real good nights, up to 8 hrs at a time most nights though last night she was up every 3 hrs. She is 2 months old, loves to coo and smile when we talk to her, smiles at her big brother too and wails when he hits her on the head . she takes short cat naps during the day but I can handle the long nights. She is holding her head and loves to sit up and look around. Not near as needy as she was a moth ago, when she thought she had to eat all the time and would not go to sleep with out it. Now during the day she will drift right off with her paci if a take a little walk around the campground. She loves being outside. next step is to lay her down and let her put herself to sleep, any help on that?? How do you other moms make your kids go to sleep by them selves? I didn’t do very good with Austin on that one either. Austin is a busy boy,loves to run and push his little stroller around the campground, playing on the playground, playing with his tractors and trains. Not into his books as much as he was but that could be my fault cause I haven’t taken the time to read to him like I used to. He picks up on every thing we say. There have been a few nasty taco bells and we have talked about them and this aft he informed me as Derek went into home depot. That store is dirty, it’s a nasty home depot, oh and then the mcdonalds was nasty too lol the expressions added to it were hilarious. Love him so much. He still takes naps most of the time but fights them some days, thinks he doesn’t need them I guess. And if he doent get one he does arlight on day, is a little more whiny maybe but those days its early to bed and hell sleep 12 hrs. he loves his fruit, will eat that over mcdonalds. Specially watermelon and cantelope, he'll eat it like candy. He also likes gummy bears etc and strawberry soda. Derek still likes his work, I enjoy going with him to help him and its just so nice to be able to work together but I caint help all the time with taking care of the children yet too. I am hungry all the time it seems and need to start eating healthier stuff so I can get back in shape

the grand canyon

Grand Canyon Saturday august 31 2013 We are travelling to texas right now, left the grand canyon this am. We have a 12 hr drive today . I had never been in New Mexico before so I am enjoying seeing some new scenery once again. Red rocky mountains and green brushy deserty landscape. Any way about the grand canyon. I had always dreamt of seeing it and finally we were driving close by with work so we had the chance to stop in. It is beyond words, majestic, marvelous, vast, gorgeous the list goes on. You stand at the edge and there is so much to look at you don’t know where to start. Pictures just do not do it justice. If any of you ever have the chance go see it for yourself!! I had imagined it to be deserty, hilly and rocky around the canyon but to our surprise it was a lush green forest of evergreens and relatively flat and the canyon is just a big hole in forest .high elevation so it was cold and rainy the days we were there. What a surprise the early explorers must have had, there is no warning , just all of a sudden a straight ledge down. We got there thurs aft after having travelled 15 hrs from California with a camper break down on the way. The leaf spring broke and we were out in the middle of nowhere, an hour and a half from any town. We got a brain wave to weld it together with our tools we carry for his work to get us to the town where there was a rv shop. It worked and got us there. God was with us, he let it get over cast so it wasn’t too hot in the desert while Derek was working on it and just as he was putting away the last of the tools it started raining. We stayed at a little rv park in a town just 15 minutes away from the canyon. The first aft we Went to the visitor center and seen the canyon film at the Imax . They gave you a pretty good idea of what it might feel like to fly through it or raft the rapids, makes you want to go and actually do it. Well the flying part, the rapids look a little rough though the dare devil in me would like to try it. Austin enjoyed it and never flinched through the loud noise, Arianna actually fell asleep through all the noise. She is doing so good now that I used the baby wise sleep method with her. We went to see the sunset at the canyon but got there a little too late. Oh well we still have 1 more day. Seen some elk and mule deer beside the road on our way into the park. Friday spent all day driving and touring the grand canyon. We were riding the shuttle bus and at the one stop Derek and I got separated. They run every 10 minutes so it was no big deal , I just waited on him at the next stop. Austin was heartbroken when he realized that the bus had left with me and Arianna on it. Then when Derek took the next bus and he didn’t see me on it he started sobbing again. Boy was he glad to see me at the next stop. He hadn’t had much of a nap so it didn’t take much to put him in tears. Sightseeing with babies and toddlers is a lot more work. Takes time and you caint go hike any old trail but we still had a great time seeing every thing. next time I want to hike to the bottom to see the river and really feel out the canyon’s inns and outs. This is one place we would come back to in a heartbeat. There was little gophers digging up holes around the camper so Austin had a hay day watching them and digging and covering their holes with dirt. He is really into digging and getting dirty right now!! Next week We work in texas with aprox 2 hr drive between jobs each day and then this cutting board project is all done. We have a month and half off and then head out on a new project beginning of November doing some new shelving etc for taco bell as they are starting to serve breakfast so they need to add some space to their food lines. That will take us through 2014 and into the beginning of 2015. We are getting a larger camper for that with an extra room in the back so that will be great with the children .