life at the swartz homestead

Friday, September 6, 2013

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 .

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Just Another day

We are , just out of sanfransisco this week. Actually found a Rev park that has open spots. Our site is rocky so Austin has a hay day playing with the dirt and rocks. There is a playground here too which is nice to run off some energy while Derek sleeps. It is cool nights , we run the heater and days are breezy and just comfy. We are here till Tues next week. Then off to see the grand canyon enroute to OK and Texas.

Went to the jelly bean factory today. Hes showing you his jelly bean:) all he cared about was the lady handing out jelly beans:) lol

Love childrens hands , even when they are filthy. . Baths every night for this little man

Filling his shoes w rocks and dumping them. Also fills his littke stroller with rocks and givesthem rides

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Goodmorning:)

Woke up this am and heard Arianna stirring and wheezing away. She was laying awake looking around her nose all plugged up. Not sure what causes it, she don't have a cold or anything. Maybe the dry dusty weather.
As soon as I came over she got the biggest grin on her face. Her smiles melt my heart. Austin wanted to go lay beside her and snuggle with her under the blanket. Love my kiddos so much:)

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Scenery

Scenic drive from salt lake city it to Idaho today

Monday, August 12, 2013

love my little baby girl

garden photo shoot

Monday, July 29, 2013

Life happenings

A Day In the Swartz family as life on the road

I had this all typed out a few days ago and didn’t save it correctly so here goes again.

Tuesday July

The day started at 9 am when I had to go move our truck so the rv beside us could get out. We are in a tight little rv park and when Derek had come in from doing his jobs early am someone else had taken our parking spot and parked their vehicle right by our camper door, ( oh the nerve of some people ) so Derek had to park halfway on the driveway. Kids were both up which wasn’t all bad as we have a busy day ahead including Baths, photo shoot, clean up, dishes, check out at 12, drive to next jobs, find rv park for the night.

Arianna loved her bath, she was just a kicking away. I stuck Austin in as I dried her and got her dressed. He was grouchy and did not want to play with his bath toys cause he had got woke up too early ( he often sleeps till 10 or 10 30) , she was fussin cause she does not like being cold and wet so poor Derek had to sleep with a lot of noise. Thank goodness for ear plugs. She sat happy in her seat , Austin watched cars as I took my shower. 10 30 we are ready for our mini photo shoot in the gorgeous flower garden over looking the ocean they have here. we are out on a little pier out on the ocean, absolutely gorgeous here. The lady who does the rv campground web site loves taking pictures so she was more than happy to snap some for me of the kids and I. Arianna did really good even though she was tired and ready for a nap. She fell asleep as we were walking around the garden taking pics. Love it when she is this good. Trust me we have had some rough days. She thinks she has to eat all the time and also would not go to sleep for me with out eating. We are working on it and she is doing a lot better . Austin of course would not pose for pics, he takes after his daddy, so we just took random ones of him playing. He is such a stinker, he’ll stand there and smile and as soon as she is ready to take the pic he looks down or runs off. It was nice and comfortable with the sun trying to peak through ( it has been so chilly here on the coast. 63f during the day. ) Thank goodness for our sweatshirts.

At 11 we headed to our camper, I quickly picked up our mess of a camper. Amazing how quickly this place can be a wreck, with toys ,blankets , shoes etc strewn all over. We have a 26 foot rv with a slide out so it is a nice size for a camper . She woke up at 12 ish so I had to feed her . Then dishes and out to help Derek load up our scrap stainless steel that he collects from his taco bell jobs. He had been working in a bad part of San fransisco where they say not to leave any thing valuable in the vehicles so we had unloaded our 600lbs ( worth about $250 ) of stainless steel and kept it under our camper. Lots of homeless people and theft. We were parked out of town thank goodness. We are so sick of San fransisco, it is such a tight town and just busy and people are so rude. Don’t get me wrong we love life on the road , getting to see lots of sights but there is a few places I could not live permanently. Los angelos and San fransisco. Or California in general.

All packed up and Headed out around 1 pm. We were driving right through San Fr so stopped to sell our scrap . Had it all unloaded and the guy comes out to tell us he caint take it after all cause in the san fran Township he can only buy from people who have a California ID. Grrrr.California and all their rules and bylaws is rididculous. So back in the truck it all goes again. Drove our 2 hrs to the next jobs and were going to park with our friends Brian waglers from our home area who we work for. They are a wonderful Christian family w 3 kids ages 7 to 14. Austin loves to go play with them in their camper, he is always asking to go to brians. The rv park they were at was all booked full so we found a cheap little place 15 minutes down the road. Basically just a parking lot , Their was some creepy looking people in that one so when Derek wasn’t there we stayed in the camper with the door locked. But atleast we had ac , it is getting a little warmer as we are travelling further inland. Stayed there 2 nights and then moved over with our friends for 2 nights cause that’s all they had open and on the move again. Around SF all the rv parks are always booked full so we had a hard time finding spots. But we will be headed out of the big cities soon so it should be easy to find stuff again. We are in the napa valley where they have acres and acres of beautiful vineyards.

We are out of clothes so tomorrow have got to go find a laundry mat to do some laundry, and go get some groceries. All I have is few hamburgers to grill.

Derek took a nap from 7 pm to 10 and then he got up to go to work and me and the kids went to sleep. He usually sleeps when he gets back in the am till 1 or 2 pm and then sleeps again a little before work. He will be back any where from 5 to 8 am and we will start another day with more adventures J