Hello from Dirtville!

Ok, I really need to back up a day on our trip.  As stated in last month's edition we had a fabulous-awesome-life-altering experience in Navajo Nation.  Heading west from there towards the Grand Canyon we went through the Hopi Nation. HUGE DIFFERENCE! I am not sure who the Hopi Nation is using as their advertisement agency, but they need to be fired. Granted the Hopi are not blessed with the natural canyons that the Navajo have (or if they do they keep them hidden) but there is still quite a bit of natural beauty you drive through and it is not really accessible.  Of course our apathy may have had something to do with travel fatigue after driving 2,000+ miles... so we blew through Hopi county pretty quickly.

Later that day Jim decided, after much googling, that we needed to visit some Dinosaur footprints that have been preserved in rock.  We drove and drove and drove and drove thinking something like that would be easy to spot.  WRONG!! He had just mentioned that apparently we had missed the sign when I spotted it.  We were coming up on it FAST and I said there it is, thinking he would just drive past it- WRONG again!  He never even hit the brakes!  I am sure anyone who was behind us (not that there was anyone behind us because no sane person is out here in July) had a flashback of the family truckster from Family Vacation swerving out of control! I was like - Seriously? For Dinosaur footprints.

I was expecting something bigger.

Turns out I may have been right.  Oscar enjoyed his seven minutes out of the car.  Yes, you read that right, seven minutes.  That is exactly the time it took for Ben to run out, trip, fall on my camera (causing the fully extended zoom lens to retract forcibly) and scrape his knee.  We are in the middle of Hopi Nation, Ben is screaming (sounds A LOT like a goat screaming), the Dinosaur footprints are not much bigger then Jim's and we can't locate the first aid kit in the car. Pack it up kids - we are out of here.

Ok, so fast forward back to the Grand Canyon.  Our revised plan was to stay out of Flagstaff at Fort Tuthill in a yurt.  A yurt?  Fort Tuthill has several "interesting" lodging options but only the yurt was pet friendly.  After checking it out on-line I reluctantly agreed.  I don't think anyone could withstand another incident like what happened at the Thunderbird Inn.  Oscar, if you ever question my love for you, surely this proves it.  In case you are wondering (and you know you are) what in the world a yurt is:

Someone was going to be sharing a bed and it wasn't going to be me!

As we were driving through Flagstaff, Jim surprised me when he suddenly suggested we stay in an actual hotel! YES!!  My prayers were answered!  I was so excited!! I mean, you saw the pictures.  Can you actually envision that working out well?  We stayed instead in what is fast becoming a favorite hotel chain, Drury Inn, swam in the pool, lounged in the Jacuzzi, had an awesome dinner and slept like the dead.  Even Oscar I am sure was secretly overjoyed to have avoided sleeping in the yurt.

The next moring we woke up, drove south through lovely Sedona (seriously it's gorgeous), bypassed Phoenix, saw a lot of cacti, stopped in Dateland for a "world famous date shake"... and finally ... we arrived in Yuma.  In the middle of the day when it was at it's HOTTEST! Yes, that is how we roll.  Immediately suck the life out of the kids. Ha Ha Ha.  Well, it can't be helped.  Jim had done a fantastic job of unpacking and setting up the rooms but there was still quite a bit of work to do.  It took a week, but I was able to get the girl's bunk beds set up and all their clothes put away and the closets somewhat organized.

Somehow I managed to burn my finger on a pizza stone!! OUCH!! I made myself feel better by telling everyone I burned it on my car door.  Ha Ha - just kidding.  Acutally it was Jim's fault, but since he had unpacked 90% of our household goods, I gave him a break and only made him feel a little guilty.

Ok, since I begged and pleaded with Jim to stay in Swansboro for as long as possible I now only had 10 days to get the kids outfitted for school with new uniforms and all the school supplies.  No problem!!  The hardest part was getting the shirts embroidered with the new school logo.  It was interesting, but finally we were ready for the student orientation!

Being the mean momma that I am, I got the kids up and dressed and ready for a test run the DAY BEFORE school started.  Why yes, I am that momma.  What? In my defense, it is a new campus and I wanted to make sure I had the routine down.  I didn't want to be that parent doing it wrong - GASP- on the first day of school.  It started out surprisingly well at the house.

Then we moved on to the school.  I forgot the Kindergarten orientation was going on and so the kids were a tad embarraseed when I did the entire car loop and even made them get out so I could take a picture in front of the school sign!  Ha Ha Ha Ha

According to the gauge in my car, I could have actually burned my finger on the car.  You thought I was kidding.  The high was really just 117, I am not sure why it registered 131, maybe my car has a sense of humor.

We have been scrambling trying to put some finishing touches on the house. Jim had worked so hard on it before we got here, but there was still some work to be done.  We organied the garage and once we have our yard sale (to end all yard sales) in October I might even be able to PARK in it!! What?  The big goal for me this month was to paint Ben's room.  The house we bought had two bedrooms for the kids. One blue and one pink.  Perfect.  Until we realized that the pink bedroom was a tiny bit smaller but had a much smaller closet.  Since the girls were sharing a room (much to their chagrin) again, they need the bigger closet.  Sorry Ben, you get stuck with the pink room.  Just for a few weeks I promised him.  So to make good on my promise, I started.  Four coats later (yes, four coats and yes, I used a primer in the paint) Ben's bedroom is no longer pink.  Well, mostly not pink.  I saw some places near the ceiling where I need to go back and touch up.  I have three years to fix that.

It is not all work work work around here.  We have fun sometimes.  One afternoon we decided to go "tour" the local country club and it was such a slow day for them they let us have golf carts.  Silly people.  The kids were thrilled!

It was hard to get them to leave!  We must have stayed out there for over an hour!

The big news this month is we got a puppy.  Notice I did not put an exclamaiton mark at the end of that sentence.  Oscar and I voted no.  Of course the kids and Jim have made grand promises (in writing no doubt) of how they are going to do everything and I will have to do nothing, but let's not kid ourselves here.  We all know where this is headed.

Wesley is super cute though.  Oscar, however, is not impressed.

Since arriving back to his home town, (we got Oscar when we were in Yuma the last time), he has been hiding in my closet or under our bed.  I am not sure if he is an illegal alien and is hiding from ICE or if it is the 117 degree heat, but the boy stays inside all day only emerging at nightfall to go outside.  This is as close as he has gotten to Wesly voluntarily.

So far the kids have enjoyed Wesley.  I am sure that will change.  I am sure Wesley hopes it will change.  This is one of his least favorite activities.

As far as extra-curricular activities are concerened, we have the kids signed up for swimming - a new sport for us.  So far, they love it.  Good thing too, because it is really too hot to do anything else.  We also found a cub scout/girl scout troop that meets at a nearby church on the same night and even has a supper prior to the meeting - SCORE! We have yet to make the supper, but it will happen.

Even though we have a new puppy that has to go outside at least every four hours to potty, that is not going to stop us from going on our first camping trip with the new scout troop.  How are you going to swing that you ask?  Somehow we have been fortunate to know some awesome pet sitters from our earlier life in Yuma and they have someonw who can overnight with Wesley.  We are only going for one night but one night may be all any of us (including the sitter) can stand.

I am going to be honest.  I was not particularily excited to go on this camping trip until Jim mentioned that the hight temperature for the day was 80 and the overnight low was 65.  That was a huge motivator for me.  The camp site had pretty primitive facilities (I am being VERY generous with that description) so I was excited about only staying one night.  At the end of the day, they asked where the showers were.  Ha Ha Ha Showers! Sorry, no showers here.  Oh well, not the first time they have slept dirty, won't be the last.  It will be the first time they have not sweated in their sleeping bags though! True to his word, the low was in the 60's.  Jim brought the cool.  It will also be the last time I ever go to that camp site.  Bleck!

All in all the camping trip was a success.  It might take a while to feel 100% comfortable with this new troop, but I think we are up for the challenge.  I am starting to feel good about our life here, but don't tell Jim.  Don't want him to get complacent.