Road Trip Part II

Yesterday we made the pilgrimage to Scheels.

According to their sign, they are the biggest sporting goods store in the world.

And since this



and this



are both inside the store, I am inclined to take their word for it.

They also have this



and this



in there too.

Along with bunches and bunches of stuff to buy.  Clothes, guns, fishing gear, sports equipment, paint ball gear, traps, dog training stuff, & lots more.

I was talked into riding the ferris wheel





The little boys thought it was pretty neat but I think my daughter is cured forever...

Fun story:

Yesterday at breakfast my 4 year old was playing 'peak' with a young man seated at the table behind us. He was smiling & being 'shy'. After a minute or 2 or I had The Little Man turn around & finish his meal. At the end of our meal, when it was time to pay, the waitress told us it was all taken care of. The young man behind us had bought our breakfast because he had noticed us praying before our meal & just liked our family! Wasn't that sweet?

Blessings.

Road trip to Reno

We are here, in beautiful downtown Sparks Nevada, at the Nugget for the California Cattlemens Assoc. Convention.

Oh, by the way, if you ever stay here, stay in the west tower. The rooms in the east tower are newer but dinky. Like, claustrophobic dinky. And more expensive :(  (we moved to the west tower)

On the way here we stopped at the Holy Grail of outdoorsmen: Cabellas.

Very, very cool.

Very.

And being the yahoos that we are we took 62 pictures in there. Yup. 62.

And now, just 'cause I know you want me to, I'm going to share them with you :)



They had several dioramas like these. All over the store. Alaska. Africa. The desert. The mountains.



Dad! Let's go over there!



A polar bear!



This fellow was an associate there.



My daughter even met a nice guy while we were there... hee hee hee



Check out the elephant behind us!



My men.

Today the plan is to go to another huge outdoor store here. It is supposed to be even bigger ~ to the point of having a ferris wheel inside~ I'll let you know how it goes.

(yeah, I know, that isn't 62 pics, But c'mon, really? You wanted me to upload all of them?)

Blessings.

Anybody there?

So...I haven't written in ages.
I actually tried to post a really cute video of the kids but WordPress hates me (which is okay 'cause I hate WordPress) & nobody at Homestead Blogger has gotten back to me to tell me how soooo...I couldn't get it posted.
And that just frustrated me so I didn't post at all.
I have to admit that all the struggles with this new format make blogging no fun.
I have thought of trying a different blogsite but that would be unfun too.
Sooo...I'm still here.
Sorta.
I also haven't really had anything positive to say & didn't want to be a big whiner pants.
This has just been a rough year. These last 4 or 5 months especially.
And this move has been epic.
We still aren't settled.
Still don't have all of the animals set up.
It is just taking forever.
We also have a serious lack of furniture so the living room is empty.
It just looks & feels like we are squatting here.
Not like home.
So I haven't been very chatty. Haven't had much to say.
Hoping to have a more positive view of life soon.
We get to do a little traveling next week.
Maybe that will perk me up.
So...I am still here.
How about you?
Blessings.

Woo Hoo!

I'm baaa-aaack!

We have a house. And it has internet!

I am typing this from the comfort of my own bed ;)

We finally found a house to rent.

And it is so nice.

It's big.

Four whole bedrooms. Two & 1/2  bathrooms!

We haven't lived in a house with more than 1 bathroom in 10 years.

It's a fabulous thing.

It has a big kitchen & a wrap-around porch.

It's on 5 acres but there is no fencing or barns :( so we are working on that part.

It has a beautiful yard with a fire pit & a gravel patio & fruit trees & a garden.

And internet!

:)

So, everything is a mess. Boxes are everywhere & we can't find anything, but, we have hope.

Another week or 2 & we should be pretty much settled in.

I hope...

Blessings.

Home Again?

I had a surreal experience this week.

I went "home".

That old saying "You can't go home again"? It's so true.

We went back to my hometown.

I wanted to see the house I grew up in.

It isn't there anymore.

An emormous Lutheran church is sitting in the middle of our pasture.

Horse shoe pits are where the house once stood.

A small storage shed is all that is left of the many barns.

I almost cried.

Well, truly I did, a little.

It was so different. So unrecognizable.

I had to walk the property to orient myself.

Most of the trees are gone. All of the walnut trees & the huge old oak.

I stood at the spot that was my bedroom window.

It was bittersweet.

I know it was just a house - and not a very well built one at that.

But I grew up there.

And I was happy there.

After we moved away I wasn't happy again for a long time.

I'm glad we got to see it again.

But it wasn't "home".

Not anymore.

Blessings.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

We climbed Mt. Lassen today as a family.

All 7 of us.

It was long & steep & awesome.

And now all of my kids can say “I climbed a volcano.”

How cool is that?

It all started several months ago when we drove by Mt. Shasta.

The Little Man decided he wanted to climb that mountain!

And every time we drove past while we were moving he kept asking when I was going to take him to climb that mountain?

Well.

I explained to him that Shasta was probably a little beyond our capabilities.

He assured me otherwise.

Uh huh.

But, I told him, I did know of a mountain that we could climb: Mt. Lassen.

I climbed it way back about 17 years ago.

I remembered it as being long & steep but not hard.

So I thought that would be perfect for us.

So today we did it. We climbed a mountain.

A volcano to be exact.

The southern most peak in the Cascade Range.

It took us 3 hours to go up & 2 to come down.

The Biscuit made the trip in his backpack - all but the very beginning & very end where he walked.

But The Little Man hiked.

He hiked that entire mountain up & down on his own 2 legs.

All but about a half mile section where he got a piggy-back ride from his biggest brother.

He determined to climb a mountain & by golly he did it.

Pretty impressive for a 4 year old.

People on the trail were quick to give him an encouraging word as he made his way.

One group of women hikers from Germany were particularly impressed with his good attitude.

It was a good day.

The only bummer was later at the gift shop.

I had promised my kids that if they all made it to the peak I would buy them a t-shirt that said “I climbed a volcano”.

I still have mine from when I first did it (in fact I wore it today :)).

But when we finished up our day & headed to the gift shop they didn’t have any!

I even asked the cashier & she said they no longer carry them. Even though, according to her, whenever they did they always sold like hotcakes.

Which kinda seems to me to be something you would want to carry?

Maybe that’s just me…

So after moping around about that they all picked out different shirts that they liked & a couple buttons that said “I climbed the volcano”.

Care to guess how much 6 t-shirts cost at a National Park?

Uh huh. Yeppers.

It was pretty outrageous.

We don’t do that sort of thing very often but this was a special day & sometimes, if you can, it’s good to splurge.

For a long time we never could afford to but now-a-days, every so often, we do. And it’s fun.

So we are pretty universally tired, sore & sunburned.

But we can proudly say “We climbed a volcano.”

Can you? :)

Blessings.

Ponderings

I can’t sleep.

It’s now 4:26 & I have been up for hours.

I prayed & then prayed some more & tried to go back to sleep.

Didn’t work.

I got up & read for awhile & tried to go back to sleep.

No go.

I really would love to talk with somebody but there is nobody so, here I am.

Blogging with no blog as we still have no internet.

I think I am mostly homesick.

I had an unpleasant encounter with people I thought better of.

Had a major disappointment in the housing department as well.

I think that has for sure added to my unsettled feeling.

I just keep playing the same thoughts over & over in my mind & can’t seem to get passed them.

Not sure what to do about it.

I would love to be able to do something productive right now or even just mindlessly watch TV but being as we are in a 1 room apartment & the other 6 occupants (5 people & the dog) are sleeping~ that is a no go as well.

And, yeah, that situation is definitely part of my problem.

I so desperately want to be a “bloom where you are planted” kind of person.

But I feel like I am withering on the vine.

I want my own place.

I crave my own space.

I want to be able to plant flowers & to sit in my yard. I want to be able to send my children out to play on their toys in their own space.

It is just so hard to have no ‘place’.

To not be able to change anything or make any decisions.

I so admire people who can just adapt.

I am trying.

But, failing miserably so it seems.

My son told me tonight that I just don’t seem happy anymore.

I’ve been trying so hard but failing all the while.

I want to be happy here.

I want it not to matter that we have no home of our own.

We are all together & healthy so what else is there?

That is what my head says…

but my heart says: I want a home, I want my own room, I want to plant flowers & put in a fall garden, I want a kitchen , I want to be able to bake for my family again, to make bread & cookies & anything I want anytime I want, I want my fridge & my bathroom inside my house, I want a yard, I want grass, I want to be able to let my chickens roam free, I want my boys to have their sandbox & their swings, I want to be able to have people over, I want internet, I want my things out of storage & available to me, I want, I want, I want.

The heart is deceitful above all things & desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jer 17:9

Blessings.