Category: 2017

Yea, this post is a little belated. OK, its over a month and a half late. You can blame her tho:

She is so happy, 24/7. Never seen a baby like it but she just doesn’t quit. Nap time: all smiles. Bed time: smiles…Go to sleep baby! Mommy’s tired…ZZzz…I digress…

The week leading up to Christmas was not filled with the hustle and bustle of preparations. We were boondocking on BLM land in Tucson and toured Saguaro National Park and Colossal Cave. Saguaro was beautiful with such a unique landscape. The hiking trails were short and it took us only 1 day to get the sense that we had seen the majority of what the park had to offer. We took a short detour over to Colossal Cave and Eloise enjoyed the 1 hour cave tour. (Eliza slept through it).

Christmas Day in our home was quiet and focused. We moved from Tucson up to Desert Shadows RV Park in Phoenix on Christmas Eve. It was nice. There was a pool. No running around to endless parties. No winter driving. No massive amount of gifts or wasted monies. Yes we missed our friends and family but Santa was able to find our RV and everyone had a splendid time. We had Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant; it was delicious and there was no clean up at home!

The perfect sized tree from Walmart decorated with handmade paper decorations. A reasonable amount of gifts stacked underneath.

Family photo Christmas Day. Eliza’s eyes follow Daddy where ever he goes…

Daddy setting up the much anticipated “Crystal Empire” from My Little Pony

Tearing open a card

Eliza enjoying her first snuggles with her new elephant

In the morning we shared a video of Eloise opening presents with family and later enjoyed a quiet afternoon watching Christmas movies.

There are many things we love about our home but as time went on we realized that not everything was perfect. It became increasingly clear that the girls were going to need their own separate space a lot sooner than we had anticipated. Toys were spread all over the camper and Eloise’s high loft bunk was not ideal so we decided to make a few changes.

Change #1: Replacing the rocking chair with a couch (Eliza wasn’t too keen on rocking anyway)

Change #2: Replacing the love seat with a dining table with stools

Change #3: Removing most of the back storage in the toy hauler bay and relocating it up to the high loft space where Eloise’s bunk was

Change #4: Moving the ‘master’ bedroom to the lift bed in the toy hauler bay

New foam flooring

Change #5: Moving all the toys and both girl’s beds to the old master bedroom space and adding bunk beds

Some of these things are still a work in progress (especially the re-decorating) but so far we love it!

Yes, we boondocked at Ikea. It was quite and we asked permission first. (Coincidentally Eloise loved “Smalland” and begs to go to “daycare at Ikea”).  As we were packing up in the morning and preparing to head North, Kevin noticed that a giant crack had formed underneath our bedroom slide. It was the same slide that had been repaired by Camping World in NH many months prior. We emptied everything out of our bedroom (what a damn mess) and hurried over to the nearest Camping World for inspection (since we were still under warranty).

What a mess

Meanwhile, my Aunt and Uncle along with mom Mom and Dad flew into Phoenix for a week long stay at the Villas of Cave Creek. We waited an entire day at Camping World for their assessment of the situation (after holding it for 6 hours–they reported they could fix it two weeks from now).

Due to this setback, Kevin now had a ton of work to catch up on so the girls and I gave him some peace and had several nice visits with my family at their rental villa where we enjoyed the pool and outdoor lawn toys.

Fun watching Uncle Dick with the giant Jenga blocks

Eloise and Daddy relaxing in the hot tub

Mem and Eliza catching a nap in the Arizona sun

It was nice to chit chat with other adults (sorry Eloise but I get tired of hearing about My Little Pony day in and day out) and let other people hold little Eliza.

It was a fun week, but it was time for them to go home to the frozen tundra of the North and once again we headed South….to Ikea! We had cranked up our renovation and needed a few more low priced Swedish home goods to complete it…

This is what I got when asking her to pose for me and my mom! haha