The Speed of Life!

I cannot believe how long it has been since my last post.  And I cannot believe that this stupid blog did not save the FIRST draft of THIS post that I started, but was unable to finish!  Grrr.  Back to the beginning then it is.  Life is zooming by us.  It's been a crazy month.

Well, for one thing, we FINALLY got to take our new trailer out camping for a weekend!  Woo hoo!  Okay...not a whole weekend.  Just for one night.  But still...woo hoo!  We planned to go one weekend, but then, as the weekend approached, the forecast was for colder and colder temps.  Highs of 41 degrees and lows down to 23 degrees.   Winds of 30 mph.  NOT delightful camping weather.  So we bailed and rescheduled for the following weekend when they were predicting sunshine and temperatures in the 60's.  This is especially important when you have Ben along for the ride and Ben  has his heart on spending his time down at the lake fishing!  60 degrees is much better fishing weather than 40 degrees!  And so we were all set for the next weekend.  However...as THAT weekend approached, the forecast became quite dreary with rain predicted for almost the whole weekend and chilly temps again.  However, Chris was excited and anxious to try out the new wheels, as we all were, and so we decided to just go for it...rain and all and piled up and headed out.  And it was great.  Except for the relentless pouring rain (which we planned for).  And the fact that we forgot our brand new grill back at the house (did NOT plan for that).  Thankfully, I married an engineer boy and he, together with Ben managed to construct an impressive rain shield out of tin foil and other assorted goodies and get a good old fashioned charcoal grill going on which to cook our steak dinner.  It was SO cold out there.  And SO wet!  But still, we had a great time.  We all snuggled up in our blankets and watched movies on the big tv in the RV.  We sat in front of the fireplace enjoying the cozy effect of it and even had to shut the heat feature off at one point because it was doing TOO good a job keeping us warm and cozy.  We all slept great in our new beds (except for me because my back was KILLING me and it hurt to lay on my back...more about that later), and woke up to a beautiful, much warmer, sunshiney day!  Ben was so excited to hit the lake and try to see if he could catch "the big one".  So after a big breakfast of bacon, eggs and pancakes, Chris and the kids were off to the lake to fish, while I cleaned up and began to secure things for the short drive back home.  And before we knew it...it was time to load up and haul our home away from home...back home!  It was a great "practice" camp and I have a great little list now of a few things we still need to purchase for the new wheels.  Can't wait until spring break!

In other news, both Clara and Max have had strep throat.  AGAIN!  Clara had barely finished her antibiotics when she started having symptoms again.  Literally just 24 hours after finishing her 10 day course of medicine.  And so I made an appointment with the pediatrician to have her looked at and rechecked. It ended up being a 4:00 appointment, so I picked up Max from swim practice on the way.  As he got in the car he said HIS throat was hurting really bad and his stomach didn't feel good.  A quick phone call later, Max also had an appointment with the doc.  Two swabs later, we had a positive strep diagnosis times two!  As it turns out, the doctor at the minute clinic had underprescribed Clara's meds two weeks earlier when she had the strep.  She was given the lowest dose you can possibly prescribe and was only prescribed it half as often as would have been needed at that low of a dose.  And so...the second she stopped taking it,  the strep (which we had not killed off, only knocked back a bit), took off like wildfire!  So I guess Clara really didn't have strep twice...just one really long case of it.  Anyway...all meds are done now.  Again, and both Max and Clara are feeling all groovy and normal again.  At one point, I thought Ben would be joining the strep party and he did end up at the doctor as well having HIS throat swabbed, but he was clean...no strep...just a crud.  Thank goodness!

What else?  Well, I discovered that I may have a Candida overgrowth, which is basically a yeast imbalance in the gut.  It causes all sorts of crazy symptoms, most of them seemingly unrelated and random.  I discovered this by total fluke, reading an article in the magazine that is put out by our gym each month.  The treatment is largely diet oriented, though there are a couple of supplements you take for a couple of weeks to help even things back out.  It's a hard diet, with some surprising results, but you can check that out over at my other blog.  That one deals more with food!  Despite the hard changes, I am surviving.  But more importantly, I am feeling BETTER!

I guess that about sums it up for now.  I am sure there is so much more that I have missed, but life has been so crazy around here and it's really all I can think of as it's getting late, late, late here in Texas and morning comes terribly early around these parts on  Monday mornings!  And so...That's all for now folks!  More updates to come soon!

Summer UPgrade!

We spent the weekend picking up our new wheels.  We bought a new trailer!  We have been camping for about 8 years now.  We started with our three kids in a tent in Arizona.  We LOVED it!  SO much that after a year of that we upgraded to a pop up camper so that we could camp in more seasons.  Tent camping in the desert can get CHILLY for sure!  We loved having heat and beds off the ground.  We camped a LOT.  SO much that we upgraded to a 25 foot trailer.  It had bunk beds for the boys and a slide out bed for Chris and I.  We loved that rig too! And after a couple of years we upgraded to a 30 foot 5th wheel.  THAT one was a big upgrade because we had to buy a truck that could pull it.  We have been in that trailer for 4 years now and our family has grown a lot!  And things that worked pretty great when Clara was 5, do NOT work so great now that she is 9!  We have felt somewhat spatially challenged the past couple of years.  This past summer, we decided to upgrade again, to something bigger that we will NOT outgrow!  I've been at this a long time and I know what works and what does NOT work with three kids!  So when I came across this certain floor plan, my heart skipped a few beats I was so excited.  It's PERFECT!  And now...as of this weekend...it is also MINE!!!!   Besides myself, I can't think of anyone who loves camping as much as we do...except for my dad.  He LOVES it.  Always has.  And dreams of having another camper himself one day...though nothing as big as "The Beast", which is what we are calling our new trailer.  While The Beast is much different from the trailer my dad dreams about...I know he is crazy excited for us and would LOVE to see it.  Anyway...this video is just for him...it's the closest thing to a personal tour that I can give him!  Enjoy, Daddy!!!  This video tour is just for you!!!