12/15/07 It's Cold Here...

After 5 months of traveling, it is very nice to be in one spot.. relaxing, peaceful, incredibly beautiful.. and cold...
I skied today and it was zero degrees, 20 below zero at the top of the Mary Jane ski run.. and 40 below at the top of the new Panorama chair (where i did not go). Crazy.. no wonder my kids don't like skiing.. well they don't like all the layers of clothes and the cold and the traversing and walking and flat areas of the mountain.. it is an adjustment to be made with our thin California blood.

But i have enjoyed Winter Park very much, staring out the window, watching it snow, so beautiful. I did less in the last 3 weeks than in my whole life, I just chilled out, played games, watched movies, skiied, jacuzzied, stared out the window, worked out in the exercise room.. very relaxing, kind of like being on retreat, away from it all, quiet, contemplative, peaceful..

We've been playing lots of Legos (shocker!!) and drawing, Reese actually made our Christmas cards this year, very cool. We've been playing Munchkin Bites a lot, such a fun game.. funny and always different.

11/28/07 Denver Childrens Museum

After the airport drop off, Luc and I headed to the Denver Childrens Museum, 2 stories of fun, fun, fun.. they had a giant train room (we built and rebuilt), a wood working workshop where the kids could saw wood, drill, screw, wrench, and create all sorts of toys out of recycled materials, very fun. They had a wildlife area where the kids could dress up in animal costumes and play in an expanded nest, underground burrow, beaver stick house, and tree. We played on a real fire engine with dress up costumes, ladders, and a line to drive the truck, we painted and Luc told stories about his characters with such detail and passion, the whole room was listening to him (cause he was interesting not cause he was loud!).

Once we exhausted ourselves, we headed back up the mountain, stopping at the ups store to pick up all our ski equiptment we had shipped, hooray we are ready to tackle the mountain now.

11/25/07 Winter Park, Colorado

It took us 2.5 hours in the RV to reach Winter Park from Longmont, Steve made it in about 1.5 hours in the car, that is with very dry roads and no traffic. We headed straight for town to buy food and then to the mountain to get our ski passes, everything went off smoothly and we arrived at our condo around 4pm. A great fit, so convenient, we parked the RV right outside our door, we are in an end unit and the jacuzzi is a one minute walk. Of course the boys are excited to watch cartoons galore, I am excited to read, relax, ski a bit each day and mostly enjoy each other.

The next morning Luc, Reese and I headed out bright and early at 10:30am.. perfect. It was quite a challange getting them both dressed and ready, on the shuttle, on the bunny hill, Luc was less than enthusiastic and I was more than frustrated. We finally got on the chair lift and I skied with Luc between my legs, which gave him a feel for skiing without really teaching him how to do it. But I had to keep up with Reese too. Reese was doing very well, this is his 3rd year skiing, first year was Christmas in Steamboat, last year he and Steve went to Park City and now Winter Park. He took off and did several runs on his own and Luc and I gave each other dirty looks as i contemplated paying the $105 to put him in ski school for the day.

Day 2 was not much better, Luc and I were battling, and he did not want to be there, I felt like if he'd just pick it up, it would be fun, but not yet..

Reese and I got to take 3-4 runs alone in the afternoon, Luc went back to the condo with Daddy, that was very cool, Reese did his first blue run (green circle is easiest, then blue square, then black diamond), he did great, it was pretty icy, but he just snowploughed straight down the hill, we'll work on turns later. We were having a great time until I accidentially dropped his glove on the chair lift while trying to "help" him put it on, no recovery possible, but he made it 2 more runs and just pulled his hand inside his jacket, this kid is no wimp. It got cold and we headed in..

That night it snowed 5 inches, so pretty, every tree was dusted white. We had to get up at 6am and drive Steve and Reese to the Denver airport cause they were flying back to LA area for 7 days, Steve was working and doing a 3 day retreat and Reese was visiting family and friends. I was nervous about the snowy roads but no problems, the Passat has all weather tires and the ploughs did a great job clearing the roads.

11/22/07 Happy Thanksgiving!!

Relaxing morning, the usual, legos, building endless star wars ships and having imaginary battles where we die repeatedly and come back to life to battle again. Luc and I bought a few new lego sets and I actually helped him to assemble all of pieces, a diver, a shark, an underwater treasure, and a little guy in a submarine, I guided him through the directions and he put it all together, it took 2.5 hours, amazing.. it was awesome, i can follow directions and we had so much fun!

My girlfriend Martha cooked a beautiful dinner and we had about 13 folks to chow with, it was lovely, no family drama..
Of course the only problem was that I ate too much! We got to play out in the snow, Reese and Connor pulled our boogie boards out and tried to sled with them, very funny! Basically they got very dirty and had tons of fun.

We had 7 boys and no girls and a massive tackly football game in the basement, the kids were very into it and the adults got a little battered. We also broke out the hula hoops, you know traditional Thanksgiving stuff.

For the next 3 days, our boys played and played.. mostly it was fantastic, except when Luc got left out, then it was loud!
We had battles, we built legos, we rock climbed, watched movies.. and just enjoyed each other. Nothing quite like friends that you met when your kids were 3 years old, now they are turning 8.. wow!!

11/21/07 it's snowing...

We woke up and everything was covered in snow, so pretty, at least 3 inches.. i love it. We relaxed and played in the morning and in the afternoon we went to Denver and visited the Denver Science Museum, huge, we barely covered 25% of it in our 2.5 hours there. Great gem & mineral exhibit, they created a whole cave to show the natural setting, big kids discovery center, learned all about tornados and what do when they hit (they have tornados here in Colorado, never learned about that in California). They had a giant space exhibit, got to play in a space pod, throw moon rocks and see a live "astronaut" living on Mars and talk with him. There was also a Wildlife Hall with tons of wild animals in natural habitat settings (like at the natural history museum), we had a blast seeing them.

Reese is reading (finally) and it is so fun to hear him read all the signs, it takes me by surprise sometimes, I can see how pleased he is to have access to this information on his own. We could have spent hours looking at the gems, Reese has so much fun reading the names of the stones and seeing which ones he has collected or seen before, they have an amazing collection.

That night we were invited to have dinner with Randy, Gail and Katie. Randy and I went to University of Santa Monica some 14 years ago, he is a very interesting guy who has spent the last 25 years teaching seminars on love and relationships. He has also worked at the corporate level training business leaders around the world. We've kept in touch somewhat and it was a real pleasure to see him and meet his wife and daughter. And it was also stressful to bring my boys into a very nice, fancy orderly home (with just one girl), does anyone relate, my guys want to wrestle, jump on the furniture, & be rowdy. They were very good sports about it all.

11/20/07 We're in Colorado!!

We left our friends house Sunday morning and were in Longmont, Co by Monday afternoon. We were very excited to see our good friends Martha, Ryan & Connor who we knew from the South Bay. Connor and Reese went to nursery school together when they were 3-5 yrs old, Martha moved to Colorado 3 years ago. We had a great time visiting, exploring Boulder, walking Pearl Street, & hanging at the Boulder Library ( a hub of activity when it is cold outside). It snowed on Tues night and we woke up to everything covered in white, so beautiful.

Steve was busy trying to assess what was going on with his knee, he saw an orthopedic surgeon who did an mri and told him cartilage was torn and he would need surgery that would mean no skiiing until mid jan and we were in a condo in Winter Park from nov 25-dec 30th - major bummer. He decided to see some alternative doctors/healers to look at options.

My kids are in heaven with the 50,000 legos and toys Ryan (10) and Connor (8) have at home, they also have a wii (video game player) and basically it was difficult to get them out of the house at all.

I was focusing on getting everything together for skiing, we did not have our ski stuff from California, and were trying to get it shipped (very expensive) and get what we needed besides. I bought skiies for the kids, found ski clothes for myself (consignment store) and we were pretty much ready to go.

11/16/07 Ten Sleep, Wyoming

A real treat, a girlfriend of mine who used to live in Hermosa Beach moved to Wyoming 4 years ago and we set off to visit her. We headed south 2 hours to Buffalo and then headed West over a mountain pass, through an amazing red rock canyon (some of the rock there was stated to be 3 billion years old), it was a bit scary, it was snowing, icy and windy as we crossed the pass and momma was nervous! But we made it, and landed in a tiny town (population 304) of Ten Sleep, a story in the town told of how the Indians named it cause it was 10 nights travel from their journey from one point to another.

12 miles South and we saw a sign for the Otter Creek Grazing Association. That is where Jessica and Beau live with 5 week old daughter Bree. Some 20 families own the grazing assoc which is about 80-90,000 acres and they send their cows and calves to graze for 6 months during the spring and summer. By late Nov, the cows have all been picked up and taken back to the owners ranches and fed hay (that they grew during the summer when the cows were gone) for the winter. The calves disappear in early November (they are sold) and I was told that the mother cows cry out their sorrows for days. 4 guys work the ranch and they move the cows all over the property during their stay there. They are some 40 miles to the nearest town, it was very cool to learn a bit about ranching life, they get up early, work till dark often 7 days a week. They were very happy folks who seemed to like their peaceful privacy just fine. We sure enjoyed loving on the baby and playing with the 4 dogs and one cat, what's better than babies and animals?

When we headed back over the pass to make our way to Colorado, it was sunny but still lots of snow to enjoy, they boys wanted to get out and play, oh they are sure gonna get their chance soon.

11/14/07 Billings, Montana

We headed to Billings to avoid a big storm supposedly coming .. but in the end, it was sunny but we had banking issues, rv power issues that were causing our heater to go out (in the middle of the night and we wake up and it's 35 degrees), oil changes, etc.. so it was good that we were in a city. Billings is the biggest city in Montana and we found everything we needed.

We stocked up on movies (we tend to buy a bunch every few weeks), as much as i love the scenery while we are driving, the kids are not so interested, for more than a moment anyways. So they watch videos on the dvd player or draw or play legos while i drive. I hit a great AA meeting on tues night, 30 folks or so, lots of folks who've been around for awhile and when they say the Lord's Prayer at the end of the meeting every man in the room takes their hat off (15 or so hats). cute.

11/12/07 Yellowstone National Park

yes, we made it, by accident kind of... you know how that goes. my plan was to go to Chico Hot Springs, this upscale she she place with a very high end restaurant.. but.. when i was at Norris Hot Springs a guy mentioned 'boiling water' a natural hot springs just 35 miles south of Chico, so we had the whole day.. so figured we'll just drive to "boiling water" check it out and stop at Chico on the way back to Bozeman. We passed through Granger, very cute town and the next thing i know we are at the gate entering Yellowstone, it seems boiling water is 2.5 miles inside of Yellowstone, so we paid our $25 bucks, even though 90% of the park is actually closed and headed for the hot springs. Just a 5 minute walk and we arrived, boiling water is basically a river of boiling water coming together with a river of icy water and it is pretty amazing you can feel very hot and very cold water at the same time running along your body. As far as scenery, this place is tops, i looked for elk and bison and swam around the 50 foot area checking out the little cave of steam and moving from 110 degree to maybe 50 degree water. The walk back to the RV was cold.

After our soak, we drove on 2.5 miles to the visitors center and Mammoth Hot Springs, we walked around several of the springs and drove a 1 mile loop to view 5 or 6 different types of springs, none of which you can enter as they are too hot. There were amazing colors in the rock around the springs which is tiny organisms that live there, wild. Our plan was to drive west through Yellowstone and exit at the west entrance, but a storm coming made us concerned that the pass would be icy so we drove back to Bozeman and on East to Montana's biggest town of Billings (did i mention that Montana has less than 1 million people in the whole state, and Wyoming has less than 500,000 and i think LA has 14.5 million -yep that is definately part of the appeal).IMG_0515.jpg">

11/11/07 Museum of The Rockies, Bozeman MT

A bit of Rv drama.. sometimes she just doesn't want to get started in the morning, I relate... so she gave us a bit of trouble this morning.. and I learned something new, a way to not flood the engine and a way to resolve it if it does flood. These older models seem to have little idiosyncrasies and are a bit tempermental.. again I relate, so we learn how to work with it.. and we meet nice folks who offer to help when she has issues..

The boys didn't mind more time to play with the kids at the campground, more socialization!! Then off to the Museum of The Rockies... they had a hands on very cool bat exhibit (seems bats are a lot like bees in that they pollinate and are very important in sustaining and helping plants to grow and keep mosquito populations down), an Ansel Adams exhibit (so awesome.. it was fun seeing which places he photographed that we'd been to. We had actually been to most of them.. Yosemite, Glacier, Sequoia, Mohave).

They also had a planetarium and we saw a great overview of the history of man's beliefs about the stars and space.. how ideas are evolving always.. just like in life.. just when we think we know something.. oops.. gotta let that one go too.. it is just easier i've found to know ... that you don't know, can't know, what's happening, what's gonna happen, what you are, what anything is..
yup, that covers it! Get used to not knowing.. and when you are supposed to know.. you will.. until then... ignorance is bliss they say..

I love going to museums and taking the boys, but i must admit it is stressful, they are loud and rowdy and not always in museum mode. I think i had a bit of a headache afterwards.. but damn it we had some culture.. ok crossed that off the list.

11/10/07 Socialization... Yup!!

They boys have been playing all morning with some boys at the campground. I got an email from a friend asking about
socialization?? haha absolutely.. as a matter of fact.. right now!!

At the homeschool conference we attended in Sacramento Reese got to do this live action role play game where they
made weapons out of duct tape and they made these little beanbags called spells and they are a character like elf or
goblin and they have this Lord of the Rings type of battle and throw these little spells at each other and on and on..
so Reese made a ton of these spells, we cut up old tee shirts and used rice and rubber bands and he has been looking
to play the game for the last 2 months.. well today he did. They only had 4 kids, but that was enough, they played on a
mini golf course for hours, a game completely fabricated moment by monent, altered by each kid as the game went on.. so cool..

Yesterday Reese and Luc started a game of D & D, a little kids version that doesn't require books or dice, all you
need is paper and pencil, you pick a character, choose powers and the battle begins... It is so funny to listen to Luc
tell about what his character can do and how his powers can morph.. he has no guidelines or boundries, he is a
total free agent, no ideas about what you can and can not do, Reese looks at me, exasperated (he can't do that), i love it.. anything is possible.

This is what i think is so exciting about unschooling and also not putting your kids in places or situations where they
are heavily conditioned, altered, conformed by pressure, or the like. It is a daily discovery to see who they are? what
are they all about? what can come out of them when allowed? See how they interact and perceive the world?
To discover and not dictate, to allow and celebrate and enjoy this is the daily assignment. It is always surprising and
never dull for sure, being with my boys is the most interesting and fascinating journey to date. I love talking with them,
listening to them, watching them play and interact with others, what a ride!

We were supposed to be going to the childrens museum this morning, but it's 4pm and the boys are still playing and I don't
have the heart to interrupt, it has been awhile since they had the whole day to play with friends.

11/09/07 Bozeman, Montana

We found a $1 store in Bozeman, we love those.. we bought art stuff.. paper, pens, lots of stuff to make Christmas
gifts, and then Luc and I headed back out to Norris Hot springs.. it was family night, tons of kids, i met several
homeschool kids, I can usually spot them, they are the talkative social ones.. haha

It is interesting, this 10 year old boy Tommy told me his mom does not let him play on the computer at all, no video
games, no TV, so he sneaks he says, at his friends house or the library. Another kid i met recently told me his parents
won't let him have any Pokemon cards cause they think they are bad. I love the diversity, everyone is doing what they
are doing, that is really the beauty of homeschooling, every family sharing their own values as they see fit. And the kids
hang out, learn about each other, play, it's all good. I love it. One of the best things about traveling is seeing how people
live in different parts of the country, Reese and I have been talking a lot about hunting and how everyone does it here. It
is a real art to discuss and not sway, explore different views, see how the kids feel and allow for whatever comes.
Sometimes I have a feelings that comes out and often i don't, I can really just see whatever is, take it all in, smile,
not have a preference or thought or judgement about it, not think anything should be other than how it is.. nice..
not in resistance to anything or anyone. sweet.

11/08/07 Norris Hot Springs rocks!!

Hands down, I found the best hot spring place so far.. Norris Hot Springs in Norris Montana, just 30 miles SouthEast
of Bozeman, Water of the Gods they call it, they have a 30X40 pool they call the Holy Bucket. The scenery is gorgeous
Montana mountains, I showed up at sunset and got to watch the whole sky (big sky) turn pink. The clouds here are a
full time art show, it is really spectacular! At 7pm, the live music starts, they serve drinks and food (folks eat and drink
right in the pool) and the music was great! Bluegrass baby.. 102 degree water, 40 degree air outside to chill you off,
music to fill your heart up and cool clean air to breathe in deeply.. I'm coming back..

11/08/07 Cruising through Montana

After leaving Dupuyer, we drove through Great Falls, Helena and Butte Montana.. yeah we hit hot springs all along the
way. Luc is an expert swimmer now, the 2 olympic size pools at Fairmont Hot Springs and 350 foot water slide kept the
boys very entertained. Luc went on the slide at least 10 times and he had to climb 5 flights of stairs to get to the top,
he slept very well that night. Seeing his face as he came out of the slide was awesome! My baby.. is going down a
350 foot slide. wow.. he is almost 4 1/2.

We also stopped at Broadwater Athletic Club in Helena, we swam and Reese and daddy worked out in the gym and
them played racquetball, another sport Reese is awesome at.

We found a great park in Helena, memorial park i think it was. The park looks like a castle, all made of wood, a
whole city to climb on and run through. The community pulled together and built the park in 5 days, everyone
donated labor and materials and put their name on what they built. I was remembering Valley Park in Hermosa Beach,
when they redid the park, it took 2 years and they spent millions, I actually liked this park better, more to do.. I like the
community involvement too.

Butte did not have a coffee shop for Steve to work at, but it did have a great used book store where i found lots of
kids books and 8 or so how to draw books for Reese. I tried getting him painting, but he loves drawing with his
markers, so draw I say. He is so delighted that he can follow the steps and actually draw all the characters in Sponge
Bob, mom I can do it! I love watching him learn, teach himself, enjoy it so, spend hours and hours, give drawings away
whenever he meets kids or adults that he likes in the towns we visit. What a cool thing to have something beautiful you
can create and give away as gifts, folks are blown away as his art book that we've put together, he loves to show it to
everyone.

Good news our heater is working great, we've been warm and toasty this last week, (it quit working the first 2 nights we
used it and we woke up and it was 40 degrees in the rv). I am amazed at how i sleep 9 hours at night and lie in bed
till 9am many mornings, then we cuddle and play tickle games and hide and seek (in the covers) for another hour or so.
It can be 10am before we get out of bed! Such a relaxed pace, play all day, see some sights, draw, read, play games
(Reese and I had a Pentago marathon the other day, he is so good at that game). Our other favorite game to play is
Munchkin Bites!, it is so funny, and Reese is so creative, he understands the strategy much more than I do. we got it
at www.sjgames.com , there are many versions and we plan to get another to mix with ours for Christmas. Oh and of
course Legos, we spent $100 in Kalispell and got 3 more Lego sets, now we are building loads of space ships and
Batman vehicles. Both of the boys spend hours playing Legos everyday and the imagination in the play is mind
boggling. We also have Knex and Kapla blocks with us for diversion. What a life.. our friend Bob in Dupuyer asked if
we could adopt him. sure we said!

11/5/07 The Ranch

The morning we arrived at Bob & Ali's ranch, Bob was out ... hunting.. he came home with a coyote he shot.
They bought this (little tiny) 100 acre ranch 6 years ago and it sits right next door to Ali's parents 3000 acres ranch
(where she grew up) they currently are raising sheep, apparently they lost about 100 sheep to the coyotes this
year (their entire profit), hence the dead coyote. We visited for awhile, got the tour of the beautiful house that the
completely rebuilt their first year here (while the lived in the basement of her parents house), and met the goats
and chickens. Ali cooked us green day old eggs (but not ham) and we watched the 100 or so birds in their front
yard. My favorite was a magpie it was black and white and 3x as big as the little chickadees, beautiful!

After a while, Bob took off to pick up a local boy who was gonna set some beaver traps for them. There is a religious
community nearby, the Heuterites, they are about 125 folks (in this group) who live in a big apartment style building,
they are farmers, have a baptist style religion, are not permitted to leave the community (although some do and they
can come back later if they decide to). They keep to themselves, don't socialize outside the community, although
many of the young boys do work PT for the local farmers. Unlike the Amish, the Heuterites are all about efficiency
and mass production, very nice folks but the women and the animals are not regarded very highly. They get an 8th
grade education and no more and are paid a very minimal wage as food and housing is provided, socialism in Montana.
Emil showed up with his thigh high boots, 17 yrs old, very nice and we got to ask him all sorts of questions about
the community he lives in. He will probably leave one day, as his 2 older brothers have (one has returned though)
as he wants to go to school and is interested in the medical field.

So off we went to trap beavers.. apparently the beavers are very destructive, they take down a ton of trees,
divert the creek, and flood the basement, an inconvenience, hence the traps. It seems that the farmers and the
animals have different agendas about exactly what should be. Emil not only traps the beavers but he skins and
stretches the pelts too. A friend of Bob's showed up later with 8 beavers that he trapped that were destroying a
tons of trees on his property, it seems that whatever was supposed to be controlling the beaver population wasn't.

I just finished reading Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, one of the characters in the book was a wildlife
biologist who studied coyotes and said that they don't feed primarily on calves or sheep, they may take one or tow
but mostly they eat smaller animals, but that was not the case on this sheep farm, interesting..

Wherever you go in Montana, men are talking about hunting, everywhere. Usually there is snow here now, I think
it's delayed for us, gratefully, and the lack of snow is not good for elk hunting, the elk don't run without the snow. The
weather is warm, high 50's in the day, maybe even 60, down to 30's at night mostly. But no rain and no snow, yet.

11/5/07 It's snowing in Dupuyer, Montana

11/4/07 Meadow Lake Golf Resort

It was a nice break, we spent our 7 days at the condo, swimming, jacuzzing, ping pong, exercise
room, game room, very nice place.. the kids watched a lot of TV, I cooked and took baths and chased them
around the condo playing hide and seek, we swam in the pool everyday, Luc is such a good swimmer now!
We rented movies, slept in late, and several days we did not even leave the property, it was so cozy and the
views from the room were great meditation material.. We trick or treated in Whitefish, very cool downtown area,
went to a great halloween party at a christian school in Kalispell, games galore, we roller-skated 3 times
where Reese won the limbo contest every-time, and then...then we packed up this morning and
headed out... destination.... Glacier National Park. We stopped at Hungry Horse Dam, very big dam,
and took Hwy 2, Marias Pass and spent the afternoon cruising Glacier from the Eastern entrance,
we were completely alone in the park .. and it started snowing.. beautiful! Reese jumped out with a bowl
and a list of snow experiments in mind. He then wanted snow rolls (snow rolled in seaweed) for dinner.
Glacier suddenly became even more spectacular the mountains and trees dusted in snow I tried to focus on
the scenery and not the potentially icy roads.

So after talking with a few folks, i made an exciting discovery, we do indeed have propane heat in the Rv, just
had to turn the thermostat on, quite wonderful as it was about 27 degrees today, and for the past month we have
been using a portable heater which plugs in and we can only use when we are plugged in.. so funny. So now
we can camp anywhere, we don't need to be plugged in, and we have heat where ever we go which is nice
cause so many Rv parks are closed in the winter.

I am so happy to be back in the RV, i just love it. I love everything about it, it's warm now, I love the views,
seeing new sites everyday, No TV, that is very nice, the kids can watch dvd's but it is not as
compelling as TV, we play games more, they play outside more, the condo was nice, but we spent a lot of time indoors
and i want to be outside, communing with Mother Nature, it inspires me, i breathe better. We are gonna visit some
friends tomorrow who have a ranch SouthEast of Glacier. I spent the evening tonight reviewing my maps,
scoping out hot springs (we have 4-5 on our route through Montana) to visit in the next week, and reading about
the towns we'll visit. My new flannel sheets are feeling very cozy..

10/29/07 Colombia Falls -Meadow Lake Golf Resort

What an interesting trip, the seasons of life, growing up, buying your first house, pouring all your love into it, painting and decorating and buying furniture, having babies in it, celebrating all the holidays, I remember my most favorite time was Christmas, sitting on my oh so comfy couch watching the blinking lights on the tree, meditation is was, I would sit for hours, early in the morning and late at night, staring at the lights, full of warmth and joy and gratitude. Looking at all the ornaments on the tree, many made by my kids, many gifts from friends, all full of love and memories.

I loved everything about that house, the light that came flooding in from the backyard, all my plants, my beautiful blue tile kitchen, the cooking classes we held there and ginger bread cookie making parties, the awesome playroom we built for the kids, the tree house built with love, the amazing sunsets, the gorgeous french doors that Bill painted so well that glistened, the lilies that Lee gave me from his garden that bloomed year round, the flower bed in the front yard that i put in, labor and childbirth, the red trim around the house and the red front door with the little reminder sign to take your shoes off, the mantle the Johnny built for us, all the parties, Kevin and Edie singing and playing, the house full of love and friends and memories... Everything.. and then the season changes and it's time to let it all go.. my kids have the best memories of that house.. who can blame them for struggling to let it go.. and now we are living in the RV.. life on the road is very different.. simpler, quieter, better views and scenery, more diverse terrain, more adventure, different that's for sure.

After 10 months of vacation renting our furnished house, we found a long term tenant (who may even buy the house), it was a huge task to empty the house, but the good news is we sold a lot and got to donate a ton to the those who lost their homes in the recent fires. It's got me thinking about all I have to be grateful for definitely.

And after 4 months living in the RV traveling from California to Nevada to Oregon to Washington to British Colombia to Idaho to Montana.. we are checking into a super deluxe 2 bedroom condo at the Meadow Lake Golf Resort in Colombia Falls, Montana. They have it all, game room (with playstation, pool, ping pong, air hockey), pool, 3 Jacuzzi's, tv, movies, and a bed! Reese says he had the best night sleep of his life last night. Nothing like 4 mos in the RV to make you appreciate a house huh. I've heard you never truly appreciate things until you lose them. I am totally enjoying our life now and completely appreciating the great life we had in our house too! It feels like a win win plan.
We've got a week to enjoy a home, relax, stay put, and when we pull out, we'll have 21/2 weeks on the road venturing through Montana, Wyoming and landing in Colorado where we'll be staying for 10 weeks. We have rented a condo right on the mountain at Winter Park for a month (I figure the boys will be expert skiers by then), a big house to spend the Christmas holiday with Martha, Alexis and all the kids, we even get Ronnie Alexis's mommy, what's Christmas without a grandma! I am hoping my sister and my cousin Dean will come visit us in December. Then after New Years we'll head for Boulder to a beautiful condo right downtown for the month of January. We'll be able to really check out the AA community, the homeschoolers, the Osho group there and the Adyashanti tape group that meets every Tues night. And we can still ski a few days a week with our ski passes. I am hoping Colleen and her kids will come see us in Boulder! I't gonna be a great winter for sure, different, I've never lived in snow, an adventure i'm sure, something new, new friends, new sights, i am so grateful for it all! And.. you've got to let go of what you have (or who you think you are) to have new experiences, let it go, let it go, open up to what is.. and i'll tell ya, the view from our condo in Montana is something else!

10/26/07 Kalispell Montana

We got in touch with the local homeschool group here and we headed for the boys and girls club friday to go roller skating, so fun, Reese made a lot of friends, they had foosball and air hockey too and I had a blast skating. It was so fun, we went back for 3 more hours that night, Luc is so awesome, totally picked it up in one night, even found a teenage girl to skate with him. Reese spent the evening hanging with the boys and chasing a girl, a 12 yr old ,he is so cute, she kept saying, ladykillers these boys are gonna be..
brought back so many memories i have of skating as a kid, friday night at the skating rink.. checking out the boys.. so much fun..

We also met some homeschoolers at a local park and spent the day with them. I try everyday to find kids to play with, good thing my boys are so adaptable and can make friends in a minute and play with anyone. That is a gift.

On Saturday morning we headed to a park and they had a candy hunt just like on Easter, we got our booty and momy headed back South to Symes Mineral pools. It got very cold in the last few nights, we've been running our portable heater all night and we bought flannel sheets and an extra blanket as well. But nothing quite compares with soaking for 4-5 hours a day in that hot mineral content 106 degree pool. It really quiets you down, awesome place to get very still, I go deep within, don't talk much and relax very deeply, until i cease to exist.. at least for a little while.

Strange day, i started out going to an AA meeting in a treatment center, it was great, the speaker was a guy with 5 mos sober, the secretary had 13 years and went out and was back 3 years with a totally new appreciation for all of life. He was on fire doing all kinds of service and it was great hearing from the folks in patient too. It made me very grateful, I've also been reading some newspaper headlines lately of moms losing their kids and going to jail and all kinds of drama cause of their drinking and the insanity that follows, but for the grace of god.. I am forever grateful to be sober, what a gift!

10/23/07 Glacier National Park

We woke up this morning and after several cloudy days it was sunny and not a cloud in the sky. After 3 days of soaking we were in close to a comatose state and well i guess the sunshine motivated me, I knew today was the day to head back up North and visit Glacier National Park. Unfortunately they close a lot of roads (for road repair) in the fall and we were not able to access the most talked about areas, but we drove 16 miles of the Going to the Sun Road, took a short hike and then watched the sunset turn the mountains purple, spectacular!

The next day we went hiking and biking in the park, taking in the full autumn views, it was so quiet and peaceful barely anyone in the park, I had a full on religious experience watching the sunlight on the trees and the reflection on the lake, the boys built rock towers and dams in the creek and we had to rescue Luc when he got in too deep.

I dropped my camera leaning out my window to take a picture, gotta head to costco tomorrow to get a new one.. ouch, gotta love those unexpected expenses.

Good news is I got an awesome camera and a bunch of warm sweaters from Costco and no sales tax in Montana, gotta love that.

10/21/07 Hot Springs, Montana

After a day in Kalispell we headed south an hour to Hot Springs, Montana. We stopped at Symes Hotel and Medicinal Springs and spent 3 days there. We parked the RV right next to the big pool of mineral water and I soaked 5 hours the first day, it was divine. They had it all, RV hook ups, a restaurant, live music, a big fire inside to sit by, 3 soaking pools, gorgeous scenery, nice folks, really a sweet spot. I was diving deep into my new Barbara Kingsolver book, Prodigal Summer, it's awesome! I just love her books, i bought The poisenwood bible to read next, they are so well writen, great characters, and i learn so much too.

Another great book i just finished was Follow the Cowherd Boy, by JA Joshi. I met the author at a book signing, she said the book was about India and Spirituality and a story about a 16th century princess and her spiritual path, i just loved it, a book about devotion and being truly who you are in the face of great pressure to be who the world wants you to be or to conform and be like others. I related a lot to the character.

10/19/07 We're in Montana Now

The drive after getting off the ferry ride across Kootenay Lake was so beautiful, a perfect exit from British Colombia which was the most spactacular scenery I've ever seen. A huge wind blew in and millions of gold leaves blew across the road as i was driving, I've never seen anything quite like it. Mother Nature's version of Cirque de Sol, oh my god, I kept saying oh my god, branches were flying and leaves leaves leaves, wow.

When we arrived in Creston it was 4pm, sunny and we were ready to boogie back to the US, we crossed in Porthill and what an encounter those federal agents, the front line of defense of our country. We had to exit our cars, wake the kids up from naps and sit for 45 minutes in the office while they went through everything in our cars, it felt so violating, just cause we wanted to take a trip to Canada for 2 weeks, this is what we signed up for. They were quite pleased to confiscate 2 lemons, 3 avocados and 2 cans of soup bought in canada that had signs of meat (mad cow disease). Imagine if we'd ate that stuff we probably would have died. So rest assured, you are all safe, the government is on the job! what a joke! I think the basic idea is this.. Everything bad in the world is out there, not in here mind you, don't worry about that at all, just keep all the bad stuff out and we'll all be safe! And those agents, they believe it, I don't though, I think what is most harmful to us is right here in our very own borders thank you very much.. To top it off I discovered 100 miles down the road that I'd left my wallet at the border and had to call them and ask them to mail it to me in Montana. oh joy..

We were in Idaho for about 20 minutes before crossing into Montana, we ate dinner and spent the night in Libby Montana and headed to Kalispell in the morning.

10/18/07 Ainsworth Hot Springs - Paradise!!

About an hour North of Nelson is a primo hot springs.. Ainsworth.. a hotel with all the amenities.. a giant 98 degree pool and a 105 degree smaller pool attached to a cave with all kinds of springs running in, very unique and an ice cold 38 degree dip.. I discovered the secret.. you sit in the ice pool for as long as you can, i made it about 2.5 minutes, then hop in the hot pool and wow, it's a kundalini rush of energy that lasts for 10-15 minutes.. i did it over and over!!

So.. Canada is expensive.. grocery store food is move expensive, gas is over $1 a litre, 3.9 liters in a gallon, and the biggest kick is how excited the Canadians are about the Loonie being higher than the dollar right now I guess it is 1.04, i remember recently reading how much you saved going to Canada for vacation, i guess that was over a year ago?? well those days are over.

Our one reprieve was the free ferry ride we took across Kootenay Lake on the way back down South, it is about 5 miles accross the lake and takes 30 minutes or so.. the boys and I were playing up on the top deck and waved at the Captain and next thing i know, they are waving us up to the deck. We got a tour of the whole Captains Deck and the boys got to see the whole operation they were very nice, what a treat!

10/17/07 Welcome draft dodgers to Nelson BC

One of the big scores for the homeschooling camping trip we took with all the Oregon folks in Sept.. was we made some friends!! One of the families there who used to live in Hood River Oregon now lives in Nelson BC. 4 hours North of Spokane, Nelson is a bit remote, but it was right on our path to our next stop Ainsworth Hot Springs.. check it out.. http://www.bchotsprings.com

We called our friends .. we're here.. ready to play?? sure they said, come on over.. Lorraine and Brian have a house up the hill from town, they are very much in process of remodeling, the house, 2 barns, and the garden?? Brian is very busy! Reese was so excited to see Logan 14 and MacKenzie 11 and Luc was really happy to play with Logan's 10,000 legos. Logan, Reese and I had a game frenzy.. playing Masterpiece 2x ( i loved that game as a kid) and then we got the whole group to play Bananagrams into the night.. I love that game!! Their house has a view of the Kootenay Glacier and is in the midst of a forest of golden trees, just beautiful.

Lorraine is a nutritionist and member of www.westonaprice.org , a non profit group that promotes natural healthy eating.. boy looking into her refrigerator was an experience, everything natural, no packaged items, very inspiring. She had great stories about health issues her family (and many many others) faced and how they all went away when they changed their diets. I am not there yet, especially living on the road, but i was inspired enough to make some changes and we've been eating more fruits and vegetables in the last week.

We had fun exploring Nelson, a radical liberal town with lots of hippie types and political vibe. Steve overheard several conversations in the coffee shop about how they don't want to buy anything from the US, they don't want to show support in any way for the politics coming from the US. I was told that Nelson was the town that all the draft dodgers came to avoid the draft. They had a Buddist center there and a load of alternative food, spiritual, etc..
Apparently homeschooling is the majority in Nelson, the community is huge and very active.

We so enjoyed visiting friends, recharged our batteries and reminded us that you can feel at home whereever..

10/16/07 Falling apart and falling together..

So.. what a week.. beside traveling, soaking up all the beauty around us and enjoying myself and the boys as much as i can.. a few other things were just sitting unresolved..
you know how that is... sometimes you think.. for 2 hours in the middle of the night.. or drift away during the day.. thinking.. and resurface several hours later.. not knowing where in the hell you've been..

so i was really tired of managing vacation rentals of our house, the house not selling, not even getting one offer in 3 mos after we lowered the price several times, our winter in colorado was not going as planned, they wouldn't sell us season ski passes online so we were considering scrapping the whole deal, then we lost the place we wanted to rent.. blah. blah. blah..

Then in one day.. everything resolved, we found a long term tenant to rent our house, yeah the payments are covered! A friend of a friend helped us get our ski passes, done deal! We found a place to rent! Steve booked a flight to ready our place for the tenants. Oh and i was feeling lonely.. i haven't been calling my friends since i've been in Canada..

But I went to an AA meeting when we arrived in Grand Forks and met a guy and we had a mutual friend in Hermosa Beach and he invited me over the next day to meet his wife, she made us lunch and we talked for 3 hours about life and AA and our amazing lives and yoga and children and i left feeling a full heart for sure.

everything got handled.. amazing.. i felt such a lift.. at the same time i realized that only when there are problems do you learn how to be serene in the midst of drama, then when it resolves.. you really appreciated it.. when things are always smooth you don't have the appreciation or strength of character or heart.. sad but true..

10/15/07 NK'MIP Cultural Center in Osoyoos

After 3 days of jacuzzi, heated pool, beautiful sunny days, bike riding, free gameroom with pool, shuffleboard, ping pong, etc..
we had to move on.. On our way out of town, we spent the afternoon learning about the NK'MIP tribe and we got lucky and got to join in another groups tour.

They had Indian history, art, hands on art for the kids, and outside trails where we saw the types of housing the indians built and heard stories of how the lived, ate and interacted. I was most impacted by the wisdom of the elders, their respect for the earth and constant thougth of future generations and providing for them.

We saw 2 good films about the tribe, then and now and one really touched me.. It featured a teenage girl spending the summer on the reservation with her grandparents to learn about her culture. She struggles a bit at first to embrace the traditions, stories, spiritual beliefs etc.. but she gets really open quickly and jumps right in with the dancing, drumming, awareness of nature and feeling like a steward of the land. Her grandfather tells her of the coyote spirit who is always about watching and soon she feels him and is aware of his presense. The coyote is there to teach the people the ways of the land and Grandfather says he can feel the hunger in her, I'm not hungry though she replies.. not in your belly in your heart. She thinks deeply about this..

As the summer unfolds the girl really finds her way and in knowing her people and their ways, she comes to know herself and feels a sense of wholeness she didn't feel before, she is open, secure, & joyful. The closing line of the film is .. When you come to know who you are.. you aren't hungry anymore.

Very powerful for me, i sat there for several minutes (as the boys ran out of the theater)... Yes this is too is what i have found
knowing mySelf, awareness of the One Presence, the One source of everything and I AM THAT.. ends the seeking, the hunger, the looking outside for wellbeing, fulfillment, satisfaction..
Like Mick Jagger says.. I can't get no satisfaction.. and i try.. and i try.. and i try.... I can't get no... satisfaction..

There is no relationship, career, amount of money, drug, estatic state, physical health.. nothing that will untimately satisfy..
these things all fade, change, come and go.. i can enjoy them but not seek for happiness in them, for they will change and then i'll want something else.. hunger.. buddists call it desire.. the source of all suffering..

But in knowing my oneness with everything, feeling the aliveness in all the bodies, the trees, the sky.. identifying with the source of all, the hunger is no more.. there is resting.. aahhh

10/13/07 Princeton, Osoyoos and Highway 3

We've been in Beautiful British Colombia for 8 days now and it gets better and better. I finally hit a
highway that said 100KM (about 63MPH), until then it had been 80KM max, (that's 55mph) Canada is
making up for the high speed driving in Germany. We spent yesterday in Princeton, we camped out at a juice stop with WIFI,
Steve is working a bit and I am stilll trying to find a long term tenant for our house. I was able to talk with a friend using ichat (a mac to mac internet chat for free which includes video, technology is wonderful!) We took a nice bike ride around the town, got Reese's bike gears fixed, wd40'd all the bikes and soaked up the sunshine.

So we've been driving under 100 miles a day, cruising along and enjoying the scenery. We spent a day in Hope (that is my neice's name, so we had to go there, we played in the park, rode our bikes around, walked the main street, ate Beet Borsch soup with sour cream.. i did, Steve would have none of it. We enjoyed the sunshine, we've had 3 days in a row now, beautiful sunny days and starry starry nights. We rolled out in the morning, it was a brisk 30 degrees, but heated up to 53 later in the day. The boys and I stopped to play in the creek, built dams, skipped rocks, and generally soaked up the incredible beauty.

I can't believe how much i love to watch my children play, almost as much as i like to take pictures of them in gorgeous scenery. Reese built prayer rock towers and Luc fished with a big stick, we looked for heart shapped rocks and crystal rocks.

We spent the night at the Princeton Golf Club, they have 20 or so RV spots there and the scenery was very nice. The season is over here, it was the last day of golf and when we woke up and it was 28 degrees with frost on the ground, we knew why. Many of the RV parks, bike shops, recreation in general is closed already, the shops say closed, but list the owners phone numbers and say call if you need us, we live close by.. gotta love that small town feel.

Today we drove through Keremeos, a farming town, with orchard after orchard after orchard, 20 or so fruit stands, winerys, and lots of pumpkin displays. We arrived in Osoyoos 40 minutes later and parked right on the lake that surrounds the town on both sides. We fed ducks, swans, and seagulls, rode our bikes from one end of town to the other, Reese worked on his drawing and did a bit of reading and writing, Luc built Lego Star Wars space ships and explained to me how the game went, he is amazing how his stories flow.

When the sun set, we went in search of our RV park, we scored, it had a heated indoor pool, jacuzzi, game room, ping pong, pool tables, and WIFI. We played and played.. and the stars were out putting on quite the show.. we are gonna spend 2 nights here for sure.

10/09/07 Beautiful British Colombia