#20 THURSDAY 3-30-17

JOURNAL ENTRY:

Thursday

March 30^th, 2017

The kids are feeling almost 100% themselves. Woohoo! How do we know this? They woke up a little after 6 a.m. and began chatting away. They wake up happy and alert almost every day. We never have to go and wake them up. As Steve and I lay in bed (awakened by their talking), we laughed at the topic of conversation. Total kid topic... passing gas and what it would be like to be trapped in a room with farting people who have eaten cauliflower all day long. Yep, that is the conversation we woke up to. Welcome to our world! They were laughing together, so we figured why stop them when they were getting along plus we could lounge a little longer in bed before they asked for breakfast.

After a short bike ride on the paved trail that ran behind our campsite (which was beautiful!), Sierra and Steve played legos in the sunshine while Alex and I worked on math. 

 It's been a bit difficult for Alex to memorize which arms of the clock are for the hour and which are for the minutes. I told him to associate the word 'hour' with the shorter arm since the word is short, and the word 'minutes' with the longer arm on the clock since the word is longer like the minutes arm. Click! It worked! He also wrote a long letter to his class and to his Uncle Jon. 


Then we hit the road... our mission, Macy's coffee house in Flagstaff! Back in the Prescott College days, I'd stop there enroute to adventures with friends or with instructors/classmates. They have the BEST coffee!  

When we arrived, Macy's was pretty much exactly the same. Alex had the fakin' bacon BLT and was smitten. Sierra had the fruit cup and was happy with her choice. As I sat there with my family, memories of road trips and expeditions came rushing back.

Alex looked out the window and saw a Dodge Sprinter parallel parking & said, "That would make an awesome ski vehicle!" We told him he could buy one some day and travel and ski on the road. A few minutes later, the man driving it came in to Macy's and I shared with him how much the kids dug his van. He offered us a tour of his home on wheels. Super cool!

Tim is originally from Indiana & decided to get out of there and head West to the mountains. He ended up in Flagstaff and lives in his van. His goal is to make a full time living by converting and building the interior of vans. He is a super nice guy and we loved the tour of his home on wheels! He started with just a shell and has built and installed all those cabinets you see in the picture below. Awesome!

Laura and Peter, you both must check out his website!

http://www.bettythevan.com/

 

We also had promised the kids that we'd stop at a rock and crystal shop in Flagstaff on the way back in to town. I loved watching Alex and Sierra wander in amazement at all they saw. Alex is very much into rocks and gems & is a collector of treasures. We picked up some gifts for Gramma and Uncle Jon & then Sierra picked our her first official backpack with built in water storage. She was pumped!

Then we drove to our campsite for the night. We are not fans of city campgrounds, but the Flagstaff KOA backs up to National Forest land & our spot is right across from a hiking trail. Plus, we needed to dump and fill the water tanks & wanted to take long hot showers. While Steve and the kiddos visited the playground, Titus, Willow and I took a short hike on a trail. This landscape is so beautiful. 

Now, Steve is cooking another pot-roast in the Instant Pot. We all know I don't like to cook, but I can reheat. On nights like tonight, when we are all toasted from exploring, we want a quick n' tasty, and healthy meal. 

Thank you Mr. Adventure for being the family chef ♡

P.S. There is a lot of wind tonight... 

more than the other day... 

NOAA's website says we may have 55-60 mph winds 

& we may see some snow!