Happy Mother's Day

My one wish of the day was to get out of the house..... and take a new family picture for the blog. We enjoyed a picnic at the park and came up with some new photos.

Josiah is trying to grow his hair out, but after I viewed this picture I convinced him to let me cut it. Then we started really letting all our hair down.
Overall, it was a relaxing day and so nice to be outdoors, I really am looking forward to a year of it soon. We ended up with the new photo up top. Happy Mothers Day, me!!!

I have wished for a bomb, but not the....

Bomb Squad??!!

Hello friends!! The Kalers are still serious about this sabbatical thing, though I realize now in the packing process why so many people "have always wanted to do that..." and never did. It is a hellofa lot of work.

We have found rentors, moved in a Pod in our driveway, and are fixing up all the tweaky things about our house. Cheryl goes from thrilled to panicked.... thrilled as I find old Starbucks cards (sorry Tina, I'm using 'em this time....) and uncover all the wonderful scrapbook paper I forgot I had... as well as a very cool, compact scrapbook organizer thing that will go in Winnie. I have determined, YES, I WILL SCRAPBOOK!! We'll just print up those pictures at random Costco's across the nation and be good to go. We hope. Anyway....

The panic moments are coming with more intensity, lasting longer, and closer in between. I have equated this whole thing to labor... I have sweared I would kill greg (he almost ran over our Quilcene tree today, parking the van on the lawn....) and it does feel awfully painful at times. I keep sight on the baby in the end but amidst the sweat and tears, I do forget. I only hope I can sigh with a newborn's equivalence of joy, freedom and love when this baby births on the open road! But for now? Call the doctor!! I'm even considering drugs!!

So back to the house. One of the tweaky things we decided to fix is our garage. It was one of those "we should have done this a long time ago" projects, and took the help of our good friend RJ to get it done. We (I say we, like I did any of it? wait... I helped...) WE put up drywall around all the walls. Prior to this, we had insulation hangin out all over the place and only one corner covered with peg board. It was tacky, for sure. We were going to leave the pegboard and decided while we're at it, might as well dywall the whole thing. Dad would be proud, no Mickey Mouse garage for us!! So Greg and RJ went to taking down the pegboard...

and discovered this strange little can hiding behind one of the studs. It looked.... explosive??!! Army looking thing with a pin.... could it be a bomb? so Greg decided to play it safe and call 911. The police arrive and don't want to touch it. They call their supervisor. He arrives, and decides to send a picture to his supervisor. They forward it to... the bomb squad. They arrive, verify that it is a "1960 tear gas" can, had not yet been used. Can you imagine? What the heck did someone hide that thing in the garage for? And aren't we glad we found it? Maybe they were gonna come back and raid the house. Maybe they were saving it for when the dinosaurs returned. My mind goes all kinds of places but.... lets just say I'm glad its gone.....

and our garage sure looks nice now!!

It makes me be a little more careful with my words, because I swear last week (in one of my labor pains) I was wishing for a bomb.... that all the starbucks cards and scrapbook paper I find are not worth sifting through all the rest of this junk.... ay we did think, let's just blow it up...

or, not!!!! I'm sure our neighbors will be real happy when we finally clear outa here. What's next??

How many people does it take to.....

...fill up the Winnebago???

We first decided to test it out with Josiah's birthday party in March. He wanted to have a party at the house and take his friends on a little tour in Winnie... so we thought six six year olds?

grrrrrrrrrr

(insert picture here)

(that is on the disc somewhere either packed or in my scrapbook pile....)

(to blog or not to blog?)

Insert: reality check. Our house is half way packed and we are starting to show to rentors. Right when I thought I was getting totally MORE organized, I thought... now where is that second disc from Costco?

Anyway....
And today it's JJ's turn, we had a BBQ at our house and a quick tour and gifts in Winnie, right after baseball on our backyard "field."

And a couple gifts. When JJ opened this one, he said "look Josiah! It's to use against you!"

(not sure Mom liked that response)Then we broke the record in Winnie. Total sixteen people, she did just fine!

Happy Birthday Kaler boys!!!

Easter, TT style....

Well it is finally Spring here in Seattle!! This means we may see the sun a little more, we're into baseball, and Greg has got to start mowing the lawn. (Every year he thinks the Easter Bunny needs tall grass so won't mow until after Easter.... a little issue I have, but anyway....)

Now that we have Winnie, absolutely anytime we have the chance we're off to "practice." At first we took great joy in driving to Wallmart (don't call us white trash, we didn't know where else to go!! At least its FLAT!) Then we figured out we can go to the park (see Josiah's birthday blog, coming soon.) Well just last week we got our Thousand Trails Membership information (a long process but great deal from e-bay!) and whadaya know... its off to camping we go!! all that long grass at home wasn't gonna hide any eggs for us this year. We went off to check out if the Easter Bunny could still find us if we're camping.
So we went out to a TT park in LaConner, home of the not-yet-since-its-been-freezing-all-winter-tulip festival. Shayna and I did find some daffodil fields, however.
We then got only a little lost (Greg hogs Gladys, you know) trying to find the TT park. Its on the edge of an Indian reservation right out by the water.
Since this was our first time checking out a TT park, and we went full bore with the "full time" option (so we can stay anywhere all year for free), I was a little nervous that it was going to be a dump and we'd be stuck with it.... but... Not bad!!
We had an enjoying evening of campfire roasting marshmellows (Jenny: next year we'll be roasting peeps!)JJ summed it up well when he said "You know, its easy for me to get excited a lot...being here I feel really relaxed!!" The next morning, Mom and Josiah were laid up with a bug, but whadaya know!! EB made it after all.... she brought some devotion books for while we're on the road, and had a big ole egg hunt for all the kids. JJ even got the "golden egg" for his age group, which meant a special prize.Shayna stayed back at home and made another egg hunt just for Josiah, and Greg came back with a full on breakfast. It absolutely dumped rain the remainder of the day, so we stayed inside, watched movies and appreciated the day. Overall it was a great Easter and we look forward to more holidays on the road, maybe with a little more sunshine. Later in the afternoon JJ chose a devotional for the day. We were a little humbled by what it said:

"The grass may be greener on the other side, but it still has to be mowed"

Ok Lord, you're on to us!! Happy Easter. He is Risen, indeed!!

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9

3rd Grade Champs

JJ and the Tar Heels take the Championship!

It was really a team effort all year long. The parents really got into it and made tee-shirts and signs!

I don't think JJ has let go of that trophy all day~!

Celebrating at DQ. Shayna had play practice so we were missing the last Kaler. JJ played great in the game and had a great season overall. The team was undefeated and had a fantastic season. Go Tar Heels!!!

Making plans....

To some select few I have confessed my initial reaction to Greg driving up in "Winnie" for the first time. Since I am over it now, I feel I can write about it. So here it is...

We'd been waiting for 2 days. And here he comes.... daddy driving down our street with what will be our home for a full year starting in June. The headlights appear. "There he is!! Goooooo daddy!" and then he pulls closer, and we are able to see the height and width of the thing. "NOOOOO, that can't be him!! That's a truck!!" But it was him.

And then, the joy of stepping inside!! Its clean! Its new!! Its....
...what the ^%#$@&^>>!? are we doing?? This thing is wayyyy too small. There is no way we can live in here... The walls started closing in on me, and I was finding it hard to breathe. I watched the kids find their bears with joy.... even enjoyed the apple pie... all while on the inside, I thought I was going to puke.....

I later decided to call it "cold wheels", and though it resurfaces its doubtful little head every now and then, for the most part, it has passed.

It is cozy, comfortable, cute, and most importantly... it is MOBILE!!

Since then we have managed a few successful test runs, bought a camp membership, and are making plans. The fear has subsided and excitement and reality are setting in. I am also learning new planning skills that I never knew existed!! (or ever thought would need.) For now, lord willing, the plans are like this:

June 16 departure. Easy, non-panic cruise thru Washington and Idaho.
June 18-20 Glacier National Park, Montana
June 21-22 Rolla, North Dakota
June 23 Makinaw Island, Michigan
June 24-25 St. Clair, Michigan
June 26-27 Cedar Point and Kenisee Lake, Ohio
June 28 Pittsburgh Pirates, 1:35
June 29-Aug.7 Gallaudet (DC)
Aug 7-9 Chestnut Lake, New Jersey
Aug 11-18 Portland, Maine
Aug 19-26 Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland
Aug 27-Sept 13 Portland/Baxter State Park/ Bar Harbor, Maine
Sept 14-21 Boston, MA
Sept 22-24 New Hampshire/Vermont/Adirondack Mts (NY)
Sept 24-28 Montreal/Toronto/Niagara
Sept 29-Oct 6 Virginia Landing/Chincoteague, VA
Oct 7-14 Virginia Beach, VA
Oct 18-31 Myrtle Beach, SC
Nov 2-10 Orlando, FL
Nov 11-24 Tampa, FL
Nov 28-Dec. 21 Ft. Lauderdale, FL with a Bahamas cruise somewhere in there....

And don't forget that you are invited to tag along on any part of the trip. Winnie has a guest bed that folds down, or bring along a tent!!

May the Lord be the wind beneath our wings and the air within our tires!! HUGS

Winnie's first big trip....

Well, let us tell you, traveling in Winnie is a whole.... new.... luxury!!








We can stretch on the couch and play all our travel games, like mini-scrabble, gameboy, or read our favorite books!!

Our first official trip was out to the Washington coast, in a little town called Ilwaco. Mom and Shayna were a little woozy by the time we got there, we were more than happy to see the ocean.

At first we didn't know what we were doing and parked backwards up with the big boys.

Then we got smart and camped the way we like to camp, in the woods.

The kids had fun exploring and we enjoyed marshmellows by the campfire... then came in, showered and slept great.

The next day we headed out to the water and put some kites together. It was warm with a gentle breeze, a perfect day for rookie kite fliers!!

Oops, Uncle Ron left his super frisbee in Washington and it has a permanent spot in Winnie. If he reads this blog, he might try to claim it back!! Oh no!!
We had a great time, to say the least.

We even got brave and drove her out on the water. GOOOO, WINNIE!!!!!
There's nothing like hot cheesy bread straight from the oven right at the beach. I'm telling you.... LUXURY!!! Amen!!

We did learn a lot this weekend. Being our first official run, we were expecting this. A few things we learned are:

1) mama needs dramamine ? (never got car sick before!! hope this'll change!)

2) JJ's bunkbed needs a rail

3) We need a better mattress

4) It's not about staying perfectly new...

It's about using what you have and learning to maintain.

Carpe Diem!!