June Update

The past several weeks have been pretty chill. The most excitement we've had was last Sunday when our fifth wheel flooded. Ya. Not the kind of excitement that you look for. That was loads of fun. Apparently, someone, not naming any names, forgot that they left the sink on to 'flush out' the grey tank. Well the tank either filled up or the drain cap got pushed down from the pressure and the sink started filling up. We still don't know how long it was flooding before we found it but it had to have been around 20 mins or more. Water was everywhere. Too bad I wasn't in the frame of mind to take pictures of that...it was frightening because we both thought that maybe we had just ruined our home and we'd be homeless. It was the boy's bathroom sink so it had flooded that whole area and had started coming out to the kitchen area and mostly into the bunk room. Here's where slideout's actually become beneficial because the water just slipped right out under the slideout which allowed SOME of it to escape. Who knows what would have happened had it not. 

The scramble to sop up the water was flustering. We didn't have enough towels! So we had to wring them out and then go back in! Ugh! Well we eventually got up all the excess water and as I was wiping out the cabinets under the sink and laying it's contents out to dry I realized that the squishy sounds beneath my feet probably weren't good. So I tested it. Squish...up came some water through the cracks. You're thinking...duh. Well with this new flooring that we installed, had it been installed in a home where no large temp fluctuations occur and your baseboard is properly installed, basically when it's not installed in an RV it's supposed to be waterproof. Nothing getting through there. It's nice stuff! And of course we did the best we could! I think everybody does but the truth is it's not meant for RV's. So water definitely got through. I knew instantly that we'd have to rip the floor up and let it dry. 

Ugh. My poor David did not want to hear that. It was quite labor intensive putting it in, ESPECIALLY in the bathroom with all the weird angles and small spaces. To undo all that beautiful work?! Yep, it had to be done. We didn't want mold or rot happening in the sub flooring!   

So he did it. I had to leave...I couldn't watch it. I couldn't help so I left. Fortunately it dried very fast with some fans on it and he was able to reinstall it the same day. Ox in the mire kind of situation. Normally he wouldn't do that kind of labor on a Sunday...he certainly didn't want to but he was worried the disconnected planks would get damaged further by not being in place. 

So there you have it. Lots of lessons learned and now we can sleep good at night knowing it's nice and dry under there. A few days later David realized the underbelly of our fifth wheel was bulging from the water that had gotten down there, not straight out of the slideout into the dirt...so he poked a hole in it and wala! No more water there either. Sheesh. Talk about stressful. This rig is just so...so...what's the word? Delicate. Finite. These things are not built to last that's for sure so any kind of wear that you directly inflict on it just tears it down faster...so it can be painful. 

There is much to improve here. This is what we have on the list to improve. 

1. Build custom banquet dining area
2. wallpaper the bathroom in something cute
3. wax and reseal the roof and outside
4. Install new custom shades or curtains (we took the ones in the kitchen down because I prefer the light and never really cared if anybody saw us in there)
5. Fix bunk bed ladder and slide out framing that got partly ripped off from the cupboard door when we put the slide outs out. 
6. New toilet in one of the bathrooms
7. New sink and faucet in master bedroom
8. Install curtain and rod for closet (we took out heavy ugly mirrors off the closet but now my...ahem...our clothes are just exposed)
9. Fix fan (Check!)

I think that's it. A list of what we've done so far to improve it is here...

1. All new flooring
2. Installed more shelving
3. Replaced big ugly dresser in master with lightweight option with more shelving
4. Removed water line that goes to washer/dryer area because those constantly cause leaking problems
5. Better mattress
6. Painted walls in kitchen and dining area boy's bathroom
7. Installed new kitchen faucet
8. Removed cabinet in kitchen that made it impossible to wash dishes without hitting your head!
9. Removed facade on fridge to make it magnetic and able to open all the way
10. A bunch of little things that mattered to us but might not to anybody else that made it more comfortable. 

So there you have it! Hopefully we can crank some items off this list pretty quick! 

We don't know for sure yet what we are doing, or what we are supposed to do. We know that we'd like to travel instead in a motorhome but not sure how or if it's going to work. So we'll see. 

Our next exciting thing is we got our cargo trailer set up next to us so we finally have the ability to do laundry! Yay for me! And the freeze dryer for David! Yay for him! We also have our freezers in there too. It's kinda nice having almost everything we need close again. For a while there we felt discombobulated with our stuff scattered around the county. Who am I kidding, I still feel discombobulated...probably something that I'll always sorta feel living in a trailer. 

But it's the small and simple things that can make us happy if we let them. Doing freeze drying, doing food storage for David is like better than Christmas for him! It's been hard for him to not be doing it while we've been in here and he's been counting down the days until he can start again. Seems like the universe is against that plan however since we got the trailer in the beginning of May and have just now done our first batch...various reasons and still more that seems to be working against us BUT against all the odds I know he is going to figure out a way to get it done! 

Our little garden tower is doing well too which makes us happy. The BIG in-ground garden that we helped start however seems to not be doing so well. Not as well as we hoped. But it's still so fun to see things growing, struggle as they may. We've been hand watering which can take up to 2 hours each time but as of this week the water line has been dug so we can install a drip system. Yay! See? Simple things!

Other than that, swimming and playing with cousins has been on the calendar. Lots and lots of swimming. Each and every day we go swimming if it's above 75 and not thunder and lightening then my boys are asking to go swimming. I'm not complaining. I am enjoying it as well. I get to bathe in the sun and take a dip if I get to the point of heat stroke, then sun bathe again. I've loved watching the boys become better swimmers. Ben is completely independent now and William is close behind. Henry is a little fish too and will be the last one to get out...of course his life jacket insulation probably helps with that. 

The fun project at the pool was the silo bathhouse that went in. So now there is an outdoor shower, an indoor shower and toilet! And it's so cute! My mom always seems to have such unique great ideas...like a pool house made from a grain silo that was delivered all the way from Kansas!

This week it will be fun to decorate the pool area for Williams 9th birthday. He decided to have a pool party and we are going to make it a good one! My only concern now is that we invited too many people and the kids will be packed in the like sardines! Haha! That's funny!

I promise myself to take pictures. I am getting better at this. 

Oh! The other fun thing we did this spring/summer was when Henry played t-ball with his cousin Malachi and the city of Spring City.  It just ended last week and I am kinda sad about it. There are fewer opportunities now to outright witness Henry's run. Yes, I am making fun of my 4 year old's run. Years ago when we watched way too much television we saw The Goldberg's and one funny aspect of the show was making fun of the way a one of their kids ran...with his arms straight, wailing out behind him. David and I thought that part was just so funny. Well that's exactly how Henry runs...so there. Now you are apart of our inside joke and you can make fun of it too. 

If you want a sample of what I'm talking about you can click this link to go to a Gif of him running. Then watch Henry. 

https://makeagif.com/i/C-k0Nt

Oh also my mom had a birthday! If you don't know her, it's your loss. If you do, then you know how great she is and what a lucky girl I am. And I'm not just talking about being able to go to her birthday dinner at the yummy Chinese restaurant. She like most everyone hasn't had a perfect easy life but she has been able to 'run with it' and let it change her and mold her and I appreciate her ability to 'eventually' accept change and be humble and still full of love. 

I love this picture of her...circa 2009.

Last of all, today was noteworthy when David took Ben on a special all day date. First, David took him to see Jurassic World! My baby boy who is 10 years old to see a PG-13 movie! AH! I kept saying how I was worried it would be too scary, too traumatizing and David kept pushing back (something he rarely does, so when he does I have to take notice) that he really wanted to bond with Ben over this movie. So they went. And you know what? It was OK. He survived. And he enjoyed it. They totally bonded or whatever, made a memory. Plus there is a chance that I've sheltered my children a little too much so this kind of shock to the system might have been a good thing? I don't know. It's still up for debate.

They spent the rest of they day near Thanksgiving point just having fun together. The original purpose of the trip was for David to meet up with his artist buddy to further finalize something that he'd been working on and last minute, David invited Ben to come along.

I loved that they got to spend that time together and whenever something like this happens we always remind ourselves to plan it more often...one on one time with the boys I mean. 

Parenting is hard. Mostly because you have no idea if you're doing it right or if you're going to be the reason your kids have to be in therapy later in life but when you get to spend quality time together a bit of that fear is taken away and you feel like you did something right. So more. More of that and we should be good....right?!

Ok that's all for now. I do another update post later about my birthday, the 4th of July, and William's birthday. 

Toodles!