Shoos!

When I used to dream of having a daughter, I imagined molding her into a miniature version of myself.

Funny how it doesn't really work that way.

See, I was (and largely still am) a tomboy. I preferred baseball to Barbies and Matchbox cars to Rainbow Brite. I never cared for fashion or makeup. Even today, my wardrobe consists of jeans, Old Navy t-shirts, and flip-flops. The closest I get to makeup is Burt's Bee's tinted lip balm.

Yet somehow I have created a daughter who loves nothing more than purses, sunglasses, and, most of all, shoes.

When Anna was about eight months old I had her in a kid's clothing store, and I remember her reaching out to touch the shoes. She threw a fit until I gave her one to carry around while we shopped. I thought it was funny.

One day a few months later we were in a store, and Anna started pointing and saying, "Ooze? Ooze?" Awwww, she was saying "shoes!" One of her first words.

Now it has evolved into a full-blown obsession.

When we were in Texas at the mall where Elias played in the human hamster ball, I took Anna into Stride Rite to look for some shoes. She was in the carrier on my back, and as soon as we walked in I could feel her start squirming with giddiness.

"Ooze!" she yelled.

"Yes, SHoes," I repeated, stressing the "sh."

"Ooze!" she yelled again.

"Yes, SHoes," I repeated.

Imagine that exchange occurring as we passed each of the next three dozen or so pairs of shoes.

Finally, she got the idea that there should be a "sh" sound in there.

"Oosh?" She started saying, a welcome change from the ooze.

"Close. SH-oes."

"Oosh?"

Then she did it.

"Shhhhh. Ooo."

"Yes! Shoe!"

For the next two hours, Anna kept repeating, "shhhhhhh. oooooooo," carefully puckering her little lips into a perfect "sh."

It was quite adorable.

Since then, "shoe" and "shoos" have become her favorite words...and her favorite things.

We were shopping the other day and passed a shoe store. Anna stopped and pointed to each pair in the window, exclaiming, "Shoos! Shoos! Shoos!" She then put her hands behind her back and pressed her face to the window in apparent adoration of the display.

I bought her a pair of cold-weather boots and put them in her closet. When she woke up the next morning, she insisted on holding them while I changed her diaper, and insisted on wearing them all day despite temperatures soaring into the 80s.



Yesterday we went to a Disney outlet store. I was perusing the goods while Anna hung out with my mom in another part of the store.

"Oh!" I heard Anna exclaim. We thought she was happy to have spotted me. A split second later, she squealed, "SHOOOOOOOS," jumped out of my mom's arms, and made a beeline to a display of black Crocs lined with red fur. She grabbed a pair off the rack, sat down on the floor, and proceeded to remove her brown Converse to try them on. How could I tell her no?

I realize that buying my daughter shoes negates our attempt to reduce the number of things we own. But they're so cute, and they make her so happy, and they're small enough that they really don't take up much room. (Plus I only buy on sale.)

And that is how my 17-month old daughter came to own more shoes than I do.

Photos from the trip

Sorry it's been a few days. We've been settling back into our "normal" routine.

Lucy seemed happy to be picked up from boarding, although as usual she never lacked attention while she was there. Apparently they had her sit in on some staff meetings.

Elias has started first grade, and we have work due soon so I've been scrambling to make up for the two weeks we lost while on the road. (Not that we didn't do educational stuff during the travels, and not that I can't have that count as our work, but I do need to get our organization in better shape.)

Steve has gone back to work.

The house is still for sale.

Oh, and Camping World might have messed up our hitch installation. Steve is talking with a hitch expert about that. Could be fun.

But without further ado, here are some photos from our trip, including the remaining photos of Homer's interior that I wasn't able to upload before.

Here's a big rocket at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. See Steve and the kids at the bottom? (At least I think that's Steve and the kids...)


This is the guard station at the Igloo factory in Brookshire, TX. (For the record, they have a factory store there, and we scored about $60 worth of coolers for $20.)


This is the World's Largest Fire Hydrant in Beaumont, TX. It's actually only the third-largest now, but who's counting? It sits outside the Texas Fire Museum and was created to publicize the release of the live-action version of Disney's 101 Dalmatians.


They also have some normal-sized Dalmatian-themed hydrants:


And Elias found a Hidden Mickey on one:


Anna driving a fire truck in the museum:


And Elias:


Here's Anna by the river at the KOA in Junction, TX:


Elias at the site where Billy the Kid was sentenced:


Anna being a goof:


The kids' wardrobe and bathroom in Homer:



Our first dinner in Homer:


A photo of the whole rig:


And finally, a rock Elias found at the campground in Yuma. He thought it looked like a fifth wheel, and I'd say he's absolutely right:

We're home!

Eighteen days and 4,444 miles later, we have finally made it back!

Homer is resting comfortably in an undisclosed location. Lucy is still at the "doggy hotel" (we can't pick her up since it's a holiday). Elias threw up all over the kitchen. Anna is cranky. But Steve is doing the laundry, so I can't complain much.

After we left the KOA where we stayed our first night on the road, we stopped at another KOA in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It wasn't nearly as nice as the first one, but it did the job. We had planned on staying at a place about an hour east of El Paso, but it looked really questionable so we kept driving. We then planned on staying somewhere else (Deming, maybe? It's all blurring together now.), but those also looked sketchy. So we wound up in Las Cruces, which was much farther than we had planned on driving.

Then yesterday we planned on making a short trip and staying two nights wherever we ended up. We figured the kids had put up with a lot of driving and deserved a break, plus we didn't want to drive back into Southern California on Labor Day when we would be sure to hit awful traffic.

Again, the first few places we planned on stopping looked a little scary. So we kept driving and wound up in Yuma, which resulted, again, in far more driving than we had planned. I scoured RV-park reviews online while we were driving and managed to find two that had pull-throughs, 50-amp electric, a pool, and were "family friendly" (a lot of the parks around there are reserved for seniors).

When we finally pulled in to the one we chose, it was a ghost town. Nothing but taped-up trailers waiting for their owners to return in the winter. I think there were only four other people in the whole park, including the people working there.

It was pretty sparse and ridiculously overpriced. Another internet search revealed that there is absolutely NOTHING to do in Yuma during the summer. The camel farm doesn't open until October. It was also 110 degrees. We decided that if we left early enough in the morning we should be able to beat the holiday traffic.

In the meantime, it was so hot that Steve and I were both able to shower this morning without turning on the hot water. I'm not exaggerating: the cold water was warm enough to bathe in at the same temperature we normally would.

We did hit a little traffic, but not enough to make us regret our decision.

In retrospect, we wish we had stayed at that first KOA (the one with the amazing barbeque) for another night or two. But there will be other opportunities.

I have many more observations and things to write about and photos to post, but those can wait until later. Right now I'm going to get the kids to bed and take a nice hot bath.

We're on our way!

We have made it out of Southeast Texas!

And we have hot water!

Someone from my car seat message board (the person who initially shared the link to the trailer we wound up buying) suggested that we see if we have an electronic water heater. Steve poked around a little this morning and didn't see one, but he did realize that we had propane after all. I'm willing to give him a break since he was setting everything up in the dark with rain pouring on him last night.

We left the Houston area this morning and figured we'd see how far we made it. We did have to plan a little bit since the middle of Texas has large expanses of nothingness. I had campgrounds picked out at different intervals, but they were all either too close or too far.

Eventually we decided to stay at one of the "too close" campgrounds. We figured with all the problems we've been having it was better to err on the side of having extra time to set up. Plus Elias had been begging to go swimming, something we hadn't had much of a chance for with everything going crazy.

So we pulled into a Kampground of America camp. We were apprehensive. Steve hadn't had good luck with KOAs in the past and I have an aversion to things that are intentionally misspelled, especially with a K.

But this place is actually really nice. Pricey, but nice. The "playground" is kind of lame, but Elias enjoyed the pool, and the campground is on a lovely river. Anna and I went to hang out there while Steve and Elias swam. We saw several teeny butterflies, some damselflies (I think), and some kind of huge yet elusive jumping bugs. They even have canoes for rent, which I would love to do if we were staying here longer.

For dinner we went to a hole-in-the-wall-inside-a-grocery-store barbeque place and had, possibly, the best meal of our trip. Steve and I were both full half-way through our meals but couldn't stop eating. It was so good I might dedicate another post to it.

We're actually having--dare I say it?--fun! Not that I didn't hope it would be fun, but the trip has been so stressful I had largely given up on it.

I do feel a shift, like the clouds have parted and things are looking up. That statement will be hilarious if we wind up encountering some horrendous problem tomorrow, but I'm sticking with it. I think maybe our luck is finally changing.

Homer's Innards

Today I finally got to see inside Homer. In fact, I'm sitting here at my new desk as I type. Next to my new "fireplace" and TV.

The internet connection is pretty slow, but I was able to upload a few pictures. There are more coming, but I lost the connection during the upload so those will have to wait for another day.

With no further ado, here is the inside of Homer.

The master bedroom:


Dresser, TV, window:


Washer/Dryer:


Closet:


Master bath:


Linen closet:


Living room/kitchen/dining room:


Table and couch:


TV, desk, fireplace, fridge, stove:


The rest of the kitchen:


The kids' room:


Elias is sleeping on the mattress on the floor for the trip home. Later on, we'll get a bed rail and figure out some way for him to get up to the top bunk. Then we'll either leave the spot below as a play space, or we'll put a toddler bed there for Anna. Not sure yet.

Steve has the electric, water, and sewer hooked up, but apparently the dealership failed to fill up our propane as they were supposed to, so we don't have hot water. I guess that means no shower tomorrow.

We will, however, leave tomorrow to start our trip home. Uh, presuming we have no more delays. Fingers crossed.

My mom also pointed out to me the irony of the "Free-Range Family" being so desperate to get home. Obviously once this is our home, it'll be easier. Right now we're sort of in limbo and just want to get back to our normalcy.

We might ACTUALLY be getting out of here...

All right.

So, as you know, we had a hydraulic problem on our brand-spanking-new Cedar Creek 36B2 (known to his friends as Homer).

Forest River and the company that makes the hydraulic system sent out a technician who they had to dispatch from Fort Worth, but he got here the other night around 7 p.m. Steve hung out with him while he worked into the night trying to diagnose the problem.

I don't completely understand the technical aspects because I know absolutely nothing about hydraulics, but basically a major component blew out. The technician was in touch with the engineer who designed the system, and the engineer was confident that it was just a faulty part, not a systematic failure.

So yesterday they had the part overnighted, and the idea was that the technician would be able to put it on very quickly, and then we could test the system just to make sure all was well. Forest River also arranged for us to take Homer to a local dealership tomorrow to have the underbelly cleaned and insulation replaced.

That would mean (ideally) the trailer would be ready to go on Saturday morning, just in time for Labor Day weekend. We worried that RV parks along the way might be full so we contemplated staying here until Tuesday, but we really, really, really just want to get home.

Anyway, the technician was here all day yesterday without much to do since the part wasn't arriving until this morning. To keep busy he decided to clean out the underbelly and replace the insulation himself. Steve says he was very thorough and appeared to do a very good job. That meant that we could skip the dealership tomorrow and hit the road, presuming the replacement part fixed the problem.

The part arrived at 8 this morning. The technician got it on and he and Steve ran through the systems a few times. Everything seems to be running well, and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it continues to.

Steve then realized that after installing the hitch and the connector plate, Camping World had failed to file down the metal where they welded the parts in (or something like that). So he's on his way back there with Homer and the Canyonero to have them fix that, but it should only take an hour or so.

If all goes well (I realize at this point that's a big "if"), we will sleep in Homer tonight and get on the road tomorrow. We figure the places we're likely to be staying aren't big tourist destinations so we're not too concerned about parks being full. If they are, we'll stay in rest stops and have even more fun stuff to write about.

Please cross your fingers that things go smoothly from here on out. Southeast Texas is a lovely place, but we are so done with it for now.

I know why this is happening

I'm a bit embarrassed by Anna's birth video. Not because of the nudity, but because of what I'm caught on tape asking a split second after she emerged. Most normal people would have asked something like, "Is it a boy or a girl?" Instead, I asked (frantically and repeatedly) what time it was. Poor Steve, instead of welcoming his new baby into the world, is seen on the video fumbling with his cell phone trying to find out. Finally someone answered and I could get on with other things, like realizing I had a baby girl.

Why was the time so pressing? Because you can't get a complete astrological chart without an accurate time of birth.

As I've mentioned before, I believe in omens and superstitions. I also believe in astrology and metaphysics and other things that most people view as whacky. I just do, and I'm not going to apologize for it.

So I have to believe that the planets are the cause of the problems we've been having. Actually, just one planet in particular, that pesky Mercury.

A few days into our trip my mom reminded me that Mercury Retrograde had started the day we left California. Mercury Retrograde occurs a few times a year and lasts for a couple weeks each time. During that period, Mercury appears to be going backward and it makes things go haywire. You're not supposed to undertake any major new projects, make large purchases or sign legal documents.

I wasn't worried, though. I had always operated with the understanding that it was ok to finish things during Retrograde--you just couldn't start anything new. Since we had applied for the loan, ordered the trailer, and paid our deposit well ahead of Mercury Retrograde, we should be fine.

But with things going so utterly bad, I looked into it some more. It turns out I might have been wrong.

The information I found today specifically said not to end any major projects during Retrograde if it meant signing documents or contracts. One should allow extra time for travel. And transportation issues are especially affected. (I also learned that one shouldn't hold elections during Mercury Retrograde, a fact I'll be sure to remember should I ever stage a coup.)

My mom placed a call to our astrologer (yes, we have one) to see if there's anything we can do to make this better, but we haven't heard back yet. Mercury Retrograde doesn't end until September 12, so we might still be in for a long haul. (As an aside, the first time I heard about Mercury Retrograde was when I accompanied my mom to a meeting with our astrologer when I was about 10. I thought she was referring to a type of car. I still think the Mercury Retrograde would be an awesome car name, though it would probably be a terrible car.)

On the topic of superstitions, a while back I wrote about EcoJoe, the environmentally friendly St. Joseph-house-selling kit. The owner of the company read my blog and asked if I'd like to take St. Joe on our travels and photograph him with different landmarks, sort of like the Travelocity gnome. Of course I would! She also said it was fine if I buried him in the meantime if I needed help selling our house.

I was quite conflicted about what to do. I didn't want to bury him because I worried he might clash with or negate the other St. Joseph I already had buried. I didn't want to disinter the original St. Joe lest he get mad at me and seek revenge (I have issues, I know). At the same time, I didn't want to bring him with us on this trip. After all, his role is to sell property, and we're trying to buy something. I could have just let him sit, unburied, in the house, but at the last minute I buried him in a different part of the yard as the other Joe. Hopefully they're playing nice.

Anyway, EcoJoe has missed out on some roadside attractions, but I think it's best that he's not with us on this trip. I already have one supernatural force trying to keep us from this trailer, and that's more than enough.