New Life

Welcome Baby Alec James Motherwell. I cannot wait to meet you next week. To know I have a newborn nephew and not be able to hold him is like torture! I love you little sweetheart!!!

Countdown

The countdown begins, we have 12 days until we're back home to visit with friends and family for the holidays. How exciting! Something tells me the 3 weeks will go by rather quickly, and before we know it, it will be time to find warmer weather again. I guess that just means we will have to cherish each moment.

The moment I'm most excited about is my first chance to meet my new sweet little nephew, Alec James. He was born this morning and the news is that labor and delivery was smooth. Praise God! I have only seen one little tiny picture of this angel, and I'm bursting at the seams to see more. I can't wait to get this little guy in my arms in 12 days!!!

We've decided to stay here in lovely Desert Hot Springs until we head back for the holidays. We've made friends here, and that has really enhanced our time here. One of our friends, Dick, is an older gentleman who's from the Quad Cities - has a place in Davenport in fact. We've enjoyed many soaks in the hot pools chatting with him. We had been shopping at Trader Joe's until we took Dick's advice and checked out Clark's - an awesome huge health food store. Thanks Dick! We've also met a great family from Vancouver Island, British Columbia. They've got 3 children, ages 3, 7, 11. Very like minded couple, its so nice to share a passion for eating fresh, local and organic food. Kevin, the dad, used to rock climb a lot as well, so he and Josh hit it off right away.

It's interesting to observe how children grow more confident in things as they practice them. Eiley is a little climber, she'll find anything she can to make a step stool to get to where ever she wants to be. Very humorous! Koen rides his bike every day (he still has training wheels on). I've watched him hardly be able to pedal up a slight incline to standing and pedaling uphill and then coming down and going off ramps. In the swimming pools he's holding his breath and going under water with his eyes open. When we arrived here a month ago, he was not able to hold his breath and go under water, he was not much of a bike rider...now he's a different child. It's fun to stand back and watch the change.

I could write more, but I'll stop and post some pictures instead. Can't wait to see you all in a few weeks.

Just Sitting Here

As I sit here to type this, I'm feeling so many emotions. Missing friends and family. Thinking about Thanksgiving and wishing we could be with family or friends to enjoy the day together. I'm wondering why we're set up here in a place know for resort/retirement communities. We're at a "Family Spa Resort" where most of the people I see are elderly and retired. There are 6 great pools here, some 1970s metal slides that are not much fun in the hot sun, a nice duck pond with lovely little creatures, a great view of San Jacinto Mts., but it's just not the right place. We're here until Dec. 2nd, I think, and I'm trying to make the most of it. I just don't love it here. I know it's not about where you're at, it's more about who you're with. But I feel like this time it is about where you're at.

You want to know what else gets me? They don't recycle around here. We save our recycling, bag it up, and take it with us on the weekends in search of recycling containers. So far we've taken everything to Joshua Tree National Park, at least they get it right. So now that we're not heading into Joshua Tree this weekend, it just feels so wrong to throw away recyclables. As wrong as putting your left shoe on your right foot. What's up with this? Should we get a pull behind trailer just so we can cart our recycling around with us until we find somewhere that provides this service?

Desert Hot Springs, feels more like Desert Funk Springs to me. The "Hot Mineral Water" draw just doesn't do it for me. They say this area has some of the best rated drinking water because of the natural mineral aquifer, well I'm sorry but my skin feels awful and dry, I can't imagine putting this water down my throat...my throat might dry out from this water.

Can you tell I'm cranky today? I don't mean to be a grump, I just needed to get a few things off my shoulders today. Ok, now I'm moving on. I am thankful that my family and I are healthy. I am thankful that the sun is shining and has been for many, many days. I am thankful that both my children are napping at the same time, in the same room. I am thankful for the peace and quite.

Here are some pictures from our duck pond on site.

Just another sunny day!

Since we left Rockford in mid-September...I think we've seen 2-3 cloudy days on our adventure. I am thrilled to be where the sun shines every day. It makes a difference, it really does. There are many things we appreciate about the midwest, but grey skies are not on that list.

We've been in Desert Hot Springs, CA now for a little over 1 week. We left the town of Joshua Tree because the place we were at was so dang dusty. Now I know we're in the desert, so I'm not complaining about the desert like conditions...but since I live in this RIG and I still like to keep my home somewhat clean...and since we can pretty much go anywhere....we had to move. Now we have a sweet secluded spot at a family spa (called that because of the natural hot spring pools).

Our daily routine here looks like this:

1) Wake up, eat breakfast together.

2) Josh goes to work, Tricia & Kids go for a walk to see the ducks/geese/fish/swans/birds in the pond here on the grounds.

3) Tricia & Kids back for snack, craft, story time, etc.

4) Naptime.

5) Josh back, snack time, then we're off to the pools.

6) Swim, soak, swim, soak - regular outdoor pool, small wading pool for kids, 4 hot spring pools.

7) Back home, showered up, dinner then kids bedtime.

On the weekend we've made it to Joshua Tree for some climbing and to hit their weekend farmer's market. Last weekend I came back with fresh dates (best I've ever tasted), fresh grapefruit and oranges, and lots of other goodies.

My Mom comes for a visit this weekend and to hang with me while Josh goes away on business for 2 days. It will be nice to see someone we know again!

And the adventure continues...

The adventure continues. Thursday we left the cold in Utah and drove to find warmth in Southern California. We arrived in the city of Joshua Tree, just outside of the national park, on Friday. We explored Joshua Tree and some climbing spots at Indian Cove, checked out the town and set up for the weekend. The weather was amazing! 70s and 80s. Blue skies. Just perfect.

On Monday, as we got ready to run our daily routine, we just couldn't get into it. I personally was not loving the dust/dirt factor right outside our door. Koen and Eiley loved playing in the dirt, but I did not like the idea of 3 baths a day. So we packed up and headed to where it was even warmer, Desert Hot Springs.

The last 2 days have been in the low 90s. Man, the desert is hot! Thankfully we're at an RV resort with pools! Home for now is here in Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs and Joshua Tree are just a short drive away. We just weren't ready to leave this area without spending more time in Joshua Tree National Park. So that's where we'll be on the weekends.

Here are some final pictures from Moab, and pictures from the last weekend. We celebrated my birthday on Sunday with a trip to Joshua Tree, home made BBQ chicken pizza, and a store bought slice of cake with a sliver of wood for a candle. Nice!

A few more days...

Just a few more days here in Moab. We're packing up and heading south to Joshua Tree, CA on Thursday. It's getting cooler here...which means we must go to where it is a bit warmer. We have enjoyed our time here, it's been such an awesome experience to get out and discover what God created. Most of all, we've experienced some great family bonding time and began work to change some of the things we weren't satisfied with before we began this adventure. God is good and faithful.

Here are a few pics from our hikes this past weekend. Saturday we hiked in the 70 degree canyon, Sunday we hiked in the 40 degree mountains. On question we can't answer...why did we leave the midwest for warmer weather and then layer up to take a hike through the snow?

A Mother's Visit

My dear mother, Grandma Chris (as we call her), came to visit us in Moab, Utah last weekend. The weather was perfect - sunny and 80 all weekend. The anticipation of picking her up at the tiny airport was exciting. Koen and I were able to watch her plane fly over us and land from the back of the pick up.

We spent time hiking in the La Sal Mountains. We hiked up, up, and up to find a lake in the middle of no where. It was quite, cool, and peaceful. Just amazing, minus the fear of bears. Spent a little time geocaching - which Grandma doesn't even need GPS for. When we were stumped and frustrated because we weren't finding the caches, she just casually found them...as if it was no big deal. We also hiked at Arches National Park - beautiful blue sky and red sand stone arches. Amazing!

Another great perk of Grandma's visit - date night. Josh and I went to a fabulous restaurant, Center Cafe (www.centercafemoab.com), that uses tons of local ingredients in their dishes. We dined outside - the weather was just perfect. Our food was so delicious and the time we shared was much needed. Here's what we tasted: caprese salad w/fresh red and yellow tomatoes and basil from their garden behind the restaurant and a divine fresh homemade mozzarella...cool cucumber soup with avocado sorbet...pasta fagioli...artisan cheese & fruit plate...house smoked, tequila-lime cured salmon, corn cakes, pineapple salsa & chipotle crema...a decaf coffee...an espresso...chocolate and banana sorbet served w/lemon shortbread! We savored every bite, it was food at it's best for sure!

Grandma left on Monday, and I found myself in a slump for the rest of the day. We've been so consumed with this new way of life that I often forget what I'm missing back at home. I am still happy we began this adventure, but I sure do miss family and friends. We are so thankful for all of our wonderful friends and family, and we can't wait to see everyone when we're back in town for the holidays.

A Great Ride

Last Saturday we went on a great long trail ride with the kids. It took us FOREVER to get ready and actually get on the trail, but we finally made it, and it was awesome! Miles and miles of sand, dirt, gravel, thorns, and slickrock made it an interesting ride with the bike trailer that Josh was pulling - probably an extra 60 lbs. We rode and rode with no one else in sight, and when we finally made it to the canyon overlook we were awed by the silence and the view. We took a nice long break to eat a few snacks and hang out with the kids. Josh fixed the flat tire on his bike that he got when he rode into a thorn bush, we took some pictures, and then it was time to get back on the trail. It was getting late and the supposed 3 hour round trip took us 5 hours with the kids and all. We didn't mind the time a bit! The kids were great, the weather was perfect - warm sun and cool breeze, we couldn't ask for more.

Rock Climbing

Nothing like spending the time to get a rope set up on the rock only to find that your rope is too short. This is the story of of our lives sometimes.

I love my morning coffee.