Those Extra Weeks

December 13-24, 2017
Santa Clarita, California

Sad to leave behind the beautiful desert sunsets.

Before we leave Mojave, our friend Danny reaches out to let us know he's in Palmdale, and plans are made to meet on our way back to Valencia.

Unfortunately his wife Brenda has another commitment, but we have a wonderful visit with Danny. He's the one who worked on that big yellow truck we saw in Boron. We love learning what our nearly fifty-year friends were doing over the years since high school.

We added a couple weeks to our time in Valencia when Bill got his cataract surgery dates, and we figured there would be several days of "recovery" after each one. Nope. Wasn't even really any hours of recovery! Modern medical procedures are so amazing.

The 5:30 AM check-in time for each surgery isn't fun, but it makes parking really easy :-)

In between, we enjoy lots of Ezra time, have the sons over in shifts on Sunday, pick up our mail from our good friends, give Tessa a bath, apply for our passports (a quick efficient 20 minute process at the nearby post office), and pick up Jeff (my youngest, and the only one of our six not already living in Valencia) from the airport.

Happiness is Ezra with a chip.

Saturday morning going to meet our friends at the Northwoods Inn.....worse because of the holidays :-(

Shamelessly lifted from his FB page because I again forget a photo - Lori and Steve.

Not a mom-fan

I love you again - so much!!

Tessa assures Maximus that he should pet her - lots.

Uncle Corey reading to Maximus - with the voices!

Daddy's home with a cold so Mommy drops off Era on her way to work.

Richie and Gabbie

Maximus is getting so big.

Tessa and I go for a walk while Bill is in his second follow-up appointment, and this heron never moved for the whole 45 minutes. We get close enough to confirm it's a real bird!

Done with cold winters and too little sunshine, and wanting to spend time with his nephew, Jeff has decided to move back to SoCal for at least a little while. I'm excited to pick him up from the airport one evening, and the opportunity to have all our kids in one place. 

The full-side slide has been making a "clunking" sound for a few weeks, and leaving a two inch gap at the bottom when pulled in. Not something we need to fail on us on the road, we have an appointment at Camping World to get it checked. Our new tech, Amanda, is efficient and fast and we're off for breakfast in a few minutes. She calls in a couple hours to confirm we need a whole new mechanism. We aren't surprised. 

She contacts the warranty company, orders the parts, lets me know she'll keep in touch for us to come back to get the work done. We have no plans after our New Years gathering until the end of January so it's not a problem. And we'll get another chance to see those little boys!

Our house hasn't had a good exterior cleaning or wax job in 10 months, and looks like it. Fortunately this park allows on-site mobile service and we're able to get an appointment on our last Friday in town. Not only is it clean and shiny at last, but they remove the "evidence" of my close encounter with the light pole :-)

Without the space to host family for the holidays, and our last minute change to be in town, the kids all have plans for Christmas with the "other parents". We're fine with that, and make sure we have some time to get the grandsons their presents before the big day. 

Ezra opening his presents - hands Daddy all the paper "Take it...."  So cute.

Ezra's turn with the cold - which he shares with Mommy too :-(

Maximus - tissue paper is the best.

The bear chair is a hit.

Laughing with Mawma - yes, gray is the color of Christmas!

Visiting the ducks on a warm and sunny Christmas Eve.

Nick, Maximus, Jillian, PopPop.

We'll get some time with the others before we get back on the road on the 26th. 


Happy Holidays to Everyone!!!!