Making the Adjustment

After living back in Ohio for the past six weeks, reality is starting to set in... and set in hard. We do not live in Arizona anymore and never will again. All those things that we always thought we would have time to do and kept pushing to the back burner, the places we wanted to go, gone. It's too late.

This was our fourth cross country move so therefore I was sure it would be easier. HAH! It's not. The kids and I are staying with my parents and that in itself is a challenge all its own. Just finding room to put our stuff or store it is a difficult and slow process. The moving pod we used is currently at a local U-Haul (10 miles away) and I've only gotten a quarter of it emptied. I'm having to separate our things between three houses and loading and unloading it all on my own.

Our moving pod still with tons left. Oy!

Another adjustment that many wouldn't think much about is that a quick trip to the store is no longer actually quick. In Arizona, everything was less than 15 minutes away. Now, 15+ minutes is a normal time and distance resulting in a "quick" trip taking at least an hour... IF I'm alone and get in and out of the store fast.


The weather. Can I talk about the weather?! Thankfully, we are not into the hot and humid days yet but we have experienced a few days like that and it was not pleasant. Not pleasant at all. Come July, you'll probably be able to find me on the floor in a puddle of sweat camped out in front of a fan trying to find some sort of relief. I won't even mention the winters because I'm just going to hibernate this year.


The time change, oh the time change! Arizona does not do daylight savings and boy do I miss that. It made bedtime SOOO much easier. Daylight was always over by 9 pm at the latest during the summer. But here, the kids are still trying to stay up later because duh mom! There is still light outside. They're having a hard time with that adjustment.


I really hate to sound like I'm complaining or ungrateful so I'll just move on to the GOOD adjustments.


I can see my family more than once a year! I love love love to see the kids playing with their cousins. I grew up in a large family with literally hundreds (not exaggerating at all, my parents came from families of 12 kids) of cousins and I can still remember the family get-togethers where we would all play hide and seek, kick the can, tag, and all those other fun games that we played until dark and even after.

There is room to roam. People have yards with room to play and run and you can't look directly into your neighbors' yards/houses. That was probably my biggest complaint about Arizona (or at least city) living. The yards were teeny tiny and even if you lived in the Arizona countryside, you didn't have beautiful green yards (unless you worked HARD at it) where kids could run barefoot without having to worry about stepping on things that would hurt you. That's the other thing. In Ohio, we don't have to try to grow grass. It just does! We had to water our yard EVERY day in Arizona if we wanted any hope of a green yard.

I could prattle on and on about the adjustments I'm making or the differences between the two places but I'll spare you or turn it into a whole post in itself. :) My point was that things aren't going according to how I thought they would (do they ever?!) and making these adjustments is taking a little longer.

Arizona From 7000 ft

We are alive! The move was successful and our drive from Arizona to Ohio went just fine... Minus the snow we woke up to in Amarillo, TX!


The weekend before we moved, the kids and I went hiking. I chose a place we've never hiked at because with us moving, we won't get the chance again. After the absolutely gorgeous views we saw, I regret not having done it sooner and with Gabe there. I chose to hike at the Coronado National Memorial which is just south of us and sits on the border of Mexico. Yes, we lived that close to the border.

I selected a hike that was short and had an incline of about 400 ft. No problem I thought. HAH! I didn't take into account that with a short hiking distance, the incline meant it would be steeper. And steep it was! Just about the whole thing was steps and I almost turned us around a few times but we persevered and it was worth it! It was breathtakingly beautiful, amazing, serene, so many words could describe it.

We had to drive up a steep, winding, one lane, dirt road which you'll see in the photos. Speaking of photos... Let's get to em.

Memorial Not Quite Weekend

While most people celebrated Memorial Day on the weekend from Friday to Monday, we did things a little different.

We wanted to go camping, but since there is pretty much ONE good lake around here, we knew it would be packed to the max. So we decided to avoid the crowds and go from Monday to Wednesday. So much better! There was still plenty of people there but the throngs of families and teens were gone. Most of what was left were older retired couples so it was quiet and the kids could ride their bikes without fear of getting hit by crazy drivers.

Monday started off rough with a dead battery in the RV that needed replacing. After we got the RV started, a pipe in the sink decided to burst! There was water spraying out into the RV so what do you know... another trip to the store to replace that. We got it fixed and go figure the generator that would power the fridge and air conditioner on the way up wouldn't start! ARGH! We decided to forgo getting that fixed since the RV could still drive and that was most important.

We left around 5pm (we wanted to be there at 2!) but the 1-1 1/2 hour trip took us over 2 hours! Something was pulling power from the battery as we drove so the brand spanking new battery died THREE times on the way up there! Thank God Gabe thought to bring the portable car charger and we were able to make the trip. Talk about a horrible way to start a vacation!

Tuesday was a great day. We had a late breakfast and then dessert from the shop there. Dessert after breakfast is perfectly acceptable on vacation. :) The kids had been begging us to go swimming so the beach was our next destination. Gabe took the kids to the water while I stayed in the shade with Noah.

Lake in the desert with mountains as the backdrop.

Noah fell asleep so I folded a towel and put him on the picnic table. That gave me a chance to actually READ! Yes, read a book! I rarely make time or get to read.

After swimming, we headed back to eat lunch and start on dinner. The kids rode their bikes and relaxed a little in the air conditioning of the RV. When dinner was done and cleaned up, we went for an evening walk. It was a little later than I wanted so I didn't get the good sunset pics I was hoping for.

The last minute before darkness set in.

We spent the next morning packing up and getting everything ready to leave. It was much hotter that day but I wanted to go on one more walk/bike ride. It was a quick walk and I got some cute photos of the kids on this really tall and steep bridge over the lake.

The next photos were taken from the top of the bridge.

Our shadows. From left to right, Alena, Christian, myself, and Gabe (holding Noah).

Yes, my husband babywears and I love it!

Where the sunset picture was taken from the previous night.

Once we were ready to go, we strapped the kids into their seats and they were all out before we could even start!

We were not moving yet and I did adjust Noah's straps before going. I wanted to get the picture in case he woke up.

I'd say after a rough start, our mini vacation turned out pretty good! And the RV made the trip home without any problems!

Rodeo

Last weekend the rodeo was in town! It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining and it was really warm. We stayed for just over two hours and actually left before it was over because I didn't want to keep sitting on the hard bleachers in the direct sun and the kids were getting bored. I was hoping to see more bull riding. We got just a few minutes in the beginning, then it was all horse riding and calf roping. We still had a good time though.

Christian started getting cuddly and tried giving Alena kisses. lol She wasn't having it.

Beauty Surrounds Us

We've lived here in Arizona for a little over five years and I love our scenery. At times it can be somewhat "ugly" if you're looking at the surface. It's not very colorful except for a few short months during monsoon season. There is mostly dead weeds, small shrubs, cacti, dirt, and everything seems to be a shade of brown.

But open your eyes and mind a little and look past that and you will see beautiful mountains, clear blue skies, and small wildlife. If you look a little harder you will find plenty of colors in the birds, bugs, small plants, and desert flowers.

The other week when we had snow, I wanted to get a good shot of the mountains because they are just so beautiful when covered in snow. I'm not sure I did them proper justice but I tried.

I really like the flag that appears as if it is in the middle of nowhere in the above photos.

These were taken on the west end of town at the edge of the base. I then moved to the south side of town to take the next photos. I went as far as I could until I hit a dirt road and there was nowhere else to go but down a walking path.

Seriously, so beautiful.

Father's Day Weekend

We had a pretty relaxed Father's Day weekend. Our church is currently getting ready to move to a different location, but first they have to fix up the "new to us" building. Gabe and I both wanted to help so we decided to do it in shifts on Saturday.

Gabe and the kids dropped me off Saturday morning and then Gabe took the kids to their gymnastics class. I spent the next four hours doing nothing but painting. I helped paint a classroom, the nursery, and almost the entire outside wall of the church. Whew! I was feeling it the next day. Ouch! After lunch, Gabe came and I went home to let the kids have their naps. While we were home, the skies darkened and it actually rained!!! This is great news for us here in the water starved state of Arizona. We're entering monsoon season where it rains almost every day, but they usually don't start this early in the month of June. So everyone was pleasantly surprised! It also left a beautiful rainbow.

Sunday started out with the kids and I letting Gabe sleep in, and then waking him up with breakfast in bed. We went to church, then came home and started planting grass in the front yard. (Ugh, grass does not just grow here like it does elsewhere. We have to work for it.)

The kids had gotten some free meal gift certificates for Texas Road House from their swim instructor, so we went there for dinner. I stuffed myself so much my stomach hurt. I love their rolls! So good! And we topped off the evening with going to bed at 9pm. Hah! We are such party animals, let me tell you...