Arizona Trippin'

February, 2014

This past February we took a month long vacation to Arizona.  Jackson's brother was getting married and we needed to check on our home in Flagstaff.  We packed up suitcases, pots and pans to cook with at the house, ice chest, blankets and pillows, two dogs and 50 lbs of dog food, three boys and 50 lbs of boy food (I am not known for packing light, I bring the kitchen sink too!) and headed west.

This is the home we have in Flagstaff.   We love this house and were so happy to be able to spend time there.  You can see more pictures here: http://thestrawbalemountainlodge.blogspot.com/
After spending a long weekend with family for the wedding we were able to be tourist in our own back yard.  Even though we had spend the last 13 years in Arizona we didn't do much exploring.  We had never even made it to the Grand Canyon, so off we   went to site see!

We day tripped to Camp Verde.  (Thanks for coming with us Clint and Jen!)  Montezuma's Castle is amazing.  It was built on a cliff overlooking a river.  The kids were sworn in as Jr. Rangers after completing some book work.

Montezuma's Well

Yes, this is how I "hike".

We miss you Millers! 

We visited Native American ruins.  The old homes still partially standing.  

The Grand Canyon

Our favorite stop was the dinosaur tracks on the Navajo Nation. 

dinosaur eggs

 On the way home we stopped at the Big Texan.  

Home to Texas! 

SV Little Woo

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. ~ Mark Twain

                                               

Ahoy! We've set sail....


Introducing SV Little Woo.  We are now proud owners of a sailboat.  She is a MacGregor 26S.  SV, stands for sailing vessels, 26 is her length and MacGregor is the name of the maker.  The MacGregors are wonderful, family friendly boats.  The mast folds down very easily and the boat comes with a made to order trailer that we can pull behind our suburban.  Because of her move-ability and length, we have the freedom to take her to any lake or ocean lagoon we choose.  She has two berths (sleeping areas), a small head (toilet) and a little tinny kitchen sink and counter I keep the camp stove on.

 We found her north of Dallas.  She was just what we had been looking for.  We knew we wanted a MacGregor with a length of no less than 23' and no more than 30'.  Its a scary thing to look at buying a boat.  Not something I do everyday.  We had to look at sails, rigging, hull, keel and make sure the engine starts and the thing can float.  But, we knew she was "the one" as soon as we saw her.  We were all so excited when the day finally came to bring our sailboat home.  I grabbed all books needed for a full day of school in the car, the boys grabbed their life vest.  While Jackson navigated the amazingly scary, and always under construction, roads of Dallas, in the rain, the boys sat all buckled in, in their life vest (it was a rainy day, you never can be to careful). Now, I didn't sleep the night before as I was unable to stop thinking how in the world we were going to drive a 26' sailboat through Dallas.  I voted on taking the long rout and making it a two day trip by going completely around the big city.  But, no, we were going to be coming back strait though the middle of it.  I don't have any pictures of the haul back home because I was too busy freaking out, something I'm an expert in.  Jackson, on the other hand, did great and maneuvered that suburban and sailboat on trailer combo like a pro!    

 Alex is reading "Robinson Crusoe" and "Swiss Family Robinson".  Both stories of shipwreck... great! 

 A few days later, we were ready to take her out for a spin.  We took our neighbor, Mr. Mark, with us for an extra set of hands, just in case.  Not that he has any sailing experience. Actually, none of us did at this point.  Not unless you count Jackson's Navy submarine years (under the water) and the fact that I had read "Sailing for Dummies" three times.  Which, by the way, makes allot more sense after you've been on a boat. 

The first time out was fun, and totally scary.  We did a lot of motoring.  But little by little we are gaining knowledge and confidence.  We have camped out on the lake a few times.  It's wonderfully peaceful out there.  We fall asleep to the movement of the boat on the water, while watching the stars though the hatch.  At first, all the lines (the boat term for rope) looked like a bowl of spaghetti and I saw no hope in ever seeing which line did what.  But, now I can raise the mast, unleash the furler and drop anchor!  

    Little Woo is our practice boat.  We are learning, we are baby-stepping it.  Our hope is to be able to go on a more long term sailing adventure.  But for that we need practice, lots of practice and a bigger boat.

We named our sailboat after one of our favorite movies, Jo vs the Volcano.   Jo and Patricia are about to leap in the volcano, the Big Woo, they are in love and ready to see what life has for them. They hold hands and they jump.

Patricia: "Nobody knows anything, Joe. We'll take this leap, and we'll see. We'll jump, and we'll see. That's life, right?"

It's true, that's life. 

I will go to Texas!

" You can all go to hell; I will go to Texas"
    David Crockett

     East Texas has so much to offer in the way of outdoor activities; fishing, hiking, antiquing, hunting, bug and turtle collecting (I'm not sure that last one is an actual activity, but our boys seem to find them everywhere).  Our home is a block away from a large lake with private docks to fish from. The boys begged to go fishing as soon as we arrived. We went fishing many times this last summer and look forward to the weather warming up so we can start again. We have made it a point to go on a walk to the lake at least once a week. I have loved watching the season change the trees.  Winter is giving way to spring now and the bare branches of the trees are covered with buds and flowers.  The dog wood trees will be blooming soon as well as the Texas blue bonnets.  Already, the grass is green again, the days a bit warmer.  

Frogs, lots and lots of frogs!!  The boys have spent hours in the backyard making what they call "frog habitats".    

This is Mo and Lucy.   Mo and Lucy decided that the shiny hook on the end of the fishing line looked tasty.  Jackson did his best to remove the hooks while at the lake, but the little turtles just weren't helping.  So Mo and Lucy were brought home for minor surgery.  It took quite a while with a team of "experts" helping out.  One boy holding a flashlight pointed into the tiny mouth of a turtle, one boy running to get necessary tools and one more to watch the other turtle.  I was in charge of keeping the mouth of the patient open, let me tell you, not easy!  Jackson was finally able to extract both hooks.  We put Mo and Lucy in turtle post-op (a big box with some food and water) and left for our weekly Cub Scout meeting.  They must  have been very busy  while we were away.  When we returned neither turtle was in the box.  I can only imagine how they made their escape.  We found Mo under the kitchen table and Lucy in the library area of the dining room.  The next day we brought them back to their home where I'm sure they had a good story to tell their turtle friends. 

             Good bye Mo and Lucy

Pioneer Days in Nacogdoches. 

We love our turtles!
And, big leaves.

The dock where we do most of our fishing from.

Jumping, hiking and running in the leaves of fall!

Spring Roll 

At the Sugar Cane Festival.  Ya, they have an entire weekend dedicated to the art of making cane syrup molasses, including all the fair food, rides and everything cane syrup related.

Jimmy's first fish.

A Great Adventure

"Life is either a great adventure, or nothing" Helen Keller 

      We choose adventure.  We didn't let the fear of the unknown stop us, we jumped in with both feet! 

       Jackson and I love our house in Flagstaff.  We built a life there.  The boys had friends and were apart of groups.  The house was just finished (finally after 10 years).  But, we knew we were meant for something else, somewhere else.  

        It all started about 2 years ago.  We were almost done with the house, we were living in it by that time.  Winter was on it's way and like every year I was dreading the thought of 9 long cold months.  Yes, its Arizona, but up in the mountains it starts to get cold in October and freezes by the beginning of November.  The last frost date is the second week in June.  I dreaded the cold months, driving on frozen streets, wearing 3 sweaters at all times.  I think I must have had on one too many sweaters and my coat that day (inside with the heater turned up to 73F), I was still cold.  I sat down with Jackson and asked him, "Is this where we want to spend the rest of our lives?"  That got us talking about where we want to be and what we want to be doing in the next 35 years.  We wrote a list of all that we would want to do and what we would look for in a new place. It included water, warmer weather, grass for animals, a good job market, lower taxes.  We also wanted to be closer to the ocean.  Over the next year we scoured books, talked to friends from other states, and did a lot of research.  Finally we narrowed it down to east Texas.  We put a plan in motion.  After taking 4 months off work to finish the house Jackson and I packed up, gave the keys to our Realtor and headed east!  We were all so excited!
      We have now been here for 6 months.  Jackson's job is going very well.  The boys and I are making friends. We have joined a new Cub Scout troop, church and home school group.  We even found a zoo we love.   We are in contract with 50 acres of beautiful grassy pastures.  I love the people and small towns.  I love the leaves.   I love the warm weather!
      It hasn't been all smooth sailing though. On our trip out here we had 4 blown tires, between 2 cars and 2 trailers. A window popped out in my little camper on a day that rained like crazy.  We didn't know the window was out till we stopped to sleep and the floor, bed and blankets were all soaked with rain water.  The wine in the cupboard had fallen out and spilled all over the clothes that came out of the closet along with the spaghetti that had re-hydrated with rain water.  That was a long night.  Next time I'll make sure the cupboards stay closed.  The window was fixed and we headed east, again...
   We rented a small house by a lake.  It is very small, but has a big back yard.  We were all moved in when Jackson's work called to let him know his Nursing license never transferred.  There was a paper mistake with the Arizona to Texas transfer and he was home another month with us..... in the very small house, day after day.
     The house has been in contract 3 time.  It has not sold.  We decided to take it off the market and give renting a try.  I like the idea of keeping the house we worked on for so many years.  We will go back this month to check on the Flagstaff house and see friends and family.  I look forward to the visit.  I look forward to coming home to Texas even more.