Here we are, on the road: Spent everyday with Kaitlyn this week.

Monday, December 22, 2008
Lorraine's Report

Well, here it is Monday, and I know I’m late in writing for the blog, but better late than never.

We got into LA last Saturday morning and drove to Soledad Canyon north of LA to spend several days resting. We spent Saturday afternoon unpacking from the cruise and cleaning the coach. But the news and weather report on TV said that a big winter storm was coming into the area. Sunday morning they kept talking about this big winter storm. I told Chuck I thought we should think about leaving. He looked at the weather map on line and at 9:45 he decided that we should leave to get through the “Grapevine” before the snow. We left there by 11 am heading north again. We had nice sunny driving weather. No snow, not much wind, even. We stopped around 3 pm just south of Coalinga for the night. I was still doing laundry and had started working on our Christmas letter for our non-traveling friends and family.

Monday we pulled into a Camping World to dry camp for the evening since we were a day early for our reservation at TT. Chuck unhooked the car and we took off to go get our granddaughter, Kaitlyn, from pre-school. On the way to pick up Kaitlyn, Chuck pulled into this motor home park, Trailer Tel and we asked if there was room. Lo and behold there were two openings. We took one and rushed back to get the motor home, as it was getting late in the afternoon and this park manager said if it got dark you couldn’t park your rig. I took off to pick up Kaitlyn from pre-school. You should have seen the look on her face when I got there. She came running into my arms, snuggling and kissing me. She was one happy baby.

Tuesday, we decorate the motor home for CHRISTmas. It hadn’t felt like CHRISTmas to me until we decorated. Chuck just goes and gets Kaitlyn from home, since we are only fifteen minutes away instead of forty five to fifty, depending on traffic. Kaitlyn has not been herself for several weeks, so we watched her all week while her parents work.
She loves being here with us.

Wednesday is time to get hair colored again. I looked up beauty salons on the computer and choose one. I got into one and show the gal my formula from my home town gal. She goes to work and my hair actually turns out almost the same as my home town gal. We go to Susy’s and I cooked dinner, then Susy and I wrapped her presents. We aren’t done yet, probably one more night should do it.

Thursday and Friday are the same. Saturday, we went to the swap meet here in San Jose. It was a sunny, bright day. Chuck took Kaitlyn, while Susy finished her shopping for CHRISTmas.

Sunday, I needed to go to Brookstone to do some last minute shopping. Susy and I went to two malls, Chuck watched football and Mark and Kaitlyn had to mail some packages.
Chuck cooked a pork roast and scalloped potatoes for us for dinner. We all had a great day.
So that brings us to today. It seems like we don’t live an exciting life, but we sure enjoy ourselves.

I’m missing my son; he went way north and is on the Ice Road in Alaska, working again. Take care of you, Rick. You have all my love.

I would like to wish all our family and friends a very Merry CHRISTmas and a wonderful New Year. Be well and we’ll see you down the road. Love to all…..Lorraine

12/21/08

Chuck's Report

This was a pretty uneventful week. Last week found us leaving the Los Angles area one day earlier than planned so we would miss the forecasted snow. That was a good thing as I read where the campground we were staying got snowed in, about a foot of snow and the road in/out was closed for three days. We did get some rain on the way up here to the San Francisco Bay area but only rain.

We had reserved a spot at 1000 Trails in Morgan Hill, about 45 minutes from Susy's starting on Tuesday so we pulled into a Camping World to see if we could spend the night in their parking lot on Monday night. They said it would be ok, we unhooked the car and went to pick up our grand daughter from day care. On the way, we stopped at a private campground just a few miles from Susy's that is almost always full. Lo and behold, they had two spots available so we decided to stay here for two weeks instead and not drive so far each day.

We picked Kaitlyn up from day care on Monday but were able to pick her up at their house every other day this week. She sure enjoyed spending time with Nana even though she wasn't feeling up to par. On Tuesday we needed to stock up with some food so we went to a super Wal-mart, Kaitlyn showed me what she wanted for Christmas. Boy do they have some fancy stuff for little kids nowadays. I remembered a picture I posted a couple weeks ago of her playing in a cardboard box.

We had a very hard rain on Tuesday, especially that night. They sure needed the rain here, but next morning there was snow in the hills around us. On Wednesday and Thursday night the temperature got down to freezing here but the daytime temperatures were in the low 60s. I even washed the motor home on Thursday but everyone blamed the rain that afternoon and night on me. Another good rain storm, that's two in one week.

Wednesday Lorraine decorated the motor home with her Christmas stuff. Sort of like cleaning the coach compared to our house only takes a short while, decorating only takes a short while also. Once she was done, she said she is now more in the Christmas spirit. She and Susy wrapped presents at Susy's house on Wednesday evening, that seemed to help put both of them in the spirit too. Me, I have been and still am a GRINCH!

I talked to a couple of friends from back home in Bellingham, there are experiencing a cold snap, worst in a decade. Although I am glad to not be there, especially glad I'm not working during it, I sure fell sorry for them. It was down to 7F with about 50 MPH wind, I know how miserable it can be with those conditions. The forecast calls for more snow tomorrow then warming up above freezing during the daytime, freezing at night for the next 4 days. Once again, I'm glad we're not there for this one.

Saturday Susy and Kaitlyn met us at the motor home and we went to the San Jose swap meet. This is one of the biggest, open Wednesday thru Sunday. I took Kaitlyn around all the tents, she sure enjoyed looking at all the toys and stuff. I found a blanket with all the Disney princesses for Kaitlyn, she wore it home and all evening at the coach.

Lorraine made a nice dinner each night, Tuesday stew, Wednesday pork steak and Thursday beef steak. Friday we went to Chili's for Mexican and everyone was tired today so we just ordered in pizza.

That was our week, spending time with Susy, Mark and Kaitlyn. This is just what we wanted to do while we are here and it turned out real nice. Next week promises more of the same.

As our next post should be next Sunday, I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a Very Merry CHRISTmas. I hope you are able to spend some time with family and friends, that is what makes the season. Also, remember, it's ok to eat too much, this is the only time you can have a piece of three different pies without being looked at funny. And lastly, I hope I don't get what I deserve for CHRISTmas but instead I get something good, ha.

Kaitlyn running through the coach wearing her Mommy's new shirt. She sure was happy that night.

Christmas tree in the coach. Doesn't take near as long to put the decorations on this tree.

Outside decorations.

Coach all decorated. For our family and friends back in Washington, notice the grapefruit tree behind the coach. Maybe I should have been standing outside wearing shorts and a tee shirt.