It's time of another F.A.Q., what kitchen appliances do you have?

We have a decent amount of space, so for us it's the weight that is our biggest issue- trying to keep things not too full so we can make it up the hills.  I didn't really have to give up any of my appliances, although we opted to have one waffle maker instead of two, and I left our hand-mixer in storage.  Pictured above our our six, and I'll comment on them l. to r., back to front.

First, our Hurom juicer.  We used to use this thing a lot more, but it takes a lot of time to make enough juice to feed our family, and buying the produce for everyone is cost-prohibitive for us right now.  Yet it's just so healthy, and having it on hand for medicinal purposes if necessary is our big reason for keeping it with us now.  I've mentioned selling it a few times and Michael doesn't want to, and his reasons are good.  So there it is, but we've only used it a couple of times since we moved into the RV.

Our Blendtec blender, on the other hand, is used all of the time.  This thing grinds our wheat into flour.  It makes us yummy icey fruit smoothies.  It mixes up our pancake batter.  Its just awesome that way.  This thing is totally earning it's rent.

And the Apricot tree?  Um, I mean, the air-popper?  Yeah, we use this thing a lot too.  We love popcorn.  It's amzing how much the little heat from this thing can change the temperature in a small room.  When its cold, I like to jumpstart the room with popcorn while the furnace kicks on when we just get home.  But now that it's summer, it's a nice evening snack when I know the night air will be cooling our home and I know the popcorn maker isn't competing with the air conditioner.

The crock pot is awesome too!  I used it a lot more last winter, and used it extensively before we fixed our propane line.  It doesn't take a lot of electricity , is efficient, and very easy if I manage to think ahead a little.  It stays.

The induction stove-top cooker was a gift from a friend when I mentioned that it's nice using electric appliances because I had ran out of propane recently and it's nice to have electric.  She offered it to me and at first I turned it down thinking we didn't have the space.  When Michael heard about it, he was shocked.  "Tamsyn!  I've always wanted one of those!"  And here we were snowed in in Idyllwild with an RV that wouldn't start, wondering if our propane would last until we could fix it.  Turns out we had more than plenty, but it was something we were concerned about then.  Anyway, we sat them again and it was a wonderful gift.  We cook outside with this thing all the time, and sometimes inside too since it heats up the pans so quick.

Finally the waffle iron.  It's not just for waffles!  We've made yummy brownies in this thing too, among other things.  Yeah, it can stay.

And that's it!  But you know what I've got on my Christmas list?  The kitchen appliance many full-timers say they love the most?  An Instant Pot.  Yeah, I'd really like one of those someday.  But I'm very grateful for the appliances I do have!  Plus we've got a nice, big-for-a-rig oven and a microwave.  Cooking isn't really that different from when we had a stick-and-bricks home.

Mike Thompson RV Super Stores has rented a portion of the parking lot here at Wilderness Lakes and we took the opportunity to be Lucy lookers.  In all fairness, we are hoping to be buying one of these suckers some time in the future.  But it's all about $$$.  We would have to prove our income to get a loan and right now we're self employed, but we could turn things around pretty fast, so we're allowing ourselves to dream. 

So the one that really caught our attention was the "Grand Design" 5th wheel called "Reflection".  I posted a couple of pictures from other RVs at the end, but this one really impressed us.  It also is retailed at $70,000+, but as a full-time residence, it would be worth it.  Not that I am announcing that this is our dream rig, but it sure would meet our wants and needs, so let's take a look!

When we first started RV shopping, one thing that I thought I would not be interested in is the outdoor kitchens.  Sure, it's a nice idea for, you know, camping campers, but as a full-timer with lots of kids, I want the bunk space!  But in truth, I often cook outside because our small space can get hot really fast.  Cooking outside helps keep things cool inside.  Plus, if you're cooking something at all smelly, like fish, you will be dealing with the fish smell until all of the dishes are clean.  But as nice as the outdoor kitchens would be, we would want the space for a bunk bed.

And yet, this model would has enough room in the back for all of the kids to sleep, all of their clothes, a big screen TV, and STILL has an outside kitchen.  Technically there's only 3 beds, but both bunks are wide enough for two kids, and the bench is long enough to put another kid there.  If we needed to, we could even put a triple-bunk bed back there.  The kid room also has it's own bathroom.  The master bedroom ha the shower and a very large closet.  Another 5th-wheel model had a washer and dryer up there.  Wouldn't that be handy- wash the clothes and immediately put the clothes away right there.

As dreamy as these homes look, and as much as I really want one, there is this caution we are considering ourselves- some of the materials in the RV felt cheap.  They weren't designed for full-time use and I wonder how well some of these things would hold up with heavy use.  We've been spoiled in that aspect.  I mean, our 1989 RV is old, and has had roof problems, and engine problems, and we had to fix some plumbing and electric, and it's been a pain, but most everything works now.  And it was in our price range, so great!  But in 1989, our rig was right up there with the best of them, and I have been impressed at the quality of the cupboards, the table, the blinds, etc.  It's a sturdy ol' bessy, and I really like the quality of these things in our home, even if it is so retro.  Now, I'm not saying everything was cheap-o in this rig either, but there were a couple areas where they took shortcuts and I don't think it would take that long before we would be breaking light fixtures and such.  So I have that concern.  I also have heard horror stories from fellow full-timers recently who have purchased new and have had their rigs spend extensive time at the shop for warranty work while their family camped out in motels or a friend's couch. 

Not that it would stop us from purchasing new if it was the right rig for us at the right price, but it's something I want to do with our eyes open.  We don't have a warranty and have done quite a lot of work on our rig, but even with all of the repairs, we're in this thing less than $10,000 (plus labor, but let's look at the dollar figure).   And we own it.  And it has an engine.  Our dream vehicle is a 5th wheel with a truck, but we will have to add the price of the truck to our final price when switch to a different RV, which well need to do.  This is an excellent Southern California rig because it doesn't rain much, but  there are exterior weaknesses that I would not want to deal with in Oregon where it rains so often.  And I don't know if our rig would be able to handle extensive driving.  But it's nice and roomy for now and I'm grateful for to have a roof over our head.

It's so fun to shop though!  So good for getting a feel for what is out there and what is new on the market.  Someday I'd love to buy a new RV, and the Reflection is as good a model as I have seen to date.

Today's topic seems so mundane I almost didn't write it.  But then again, it's a question I get surprisingly often, so why not?  Who wants to go to the grocery store with me and my 5 kids?

First off, I have to warn you that it's inevitable that someone will say "You've got your hands full!"  Verbatim.  Every time.  So let's keep a tally and see how many times we hear it this time.  Okay, only once.  But it did happen.

Parking close to the front usually isn't an option, but if we can park next to the stall, that's ideal because we can put the kids in the car, then unload the groceries, and not have to leave them for a minute while we take the shopping cart back after the trip.

Having a big family and a tight budget, or even just wanting to save a money in general means that you need to buy in bulk.  Winco is one of the best places to do this in Southern California, so we'll go there.  Afterwards we'll stop in at Ralphs really quick because they have a great clearance section at the back of the store.  They often have whole-wheat buns and older produce they need to clear out, so I like to check there.  Ralphs is the closest grocery store to Wilderness Lakes.

We spent $101 at Winco and $12 at Ralphs. This was the big grocery store trip of the week.  We often do a smaller one mid-week, and we spend about $600-$700 a month, depending on the sales, how busy we are, and who does the shopping.  When I go, we save more, Michael spends a little more (I don't complain because he usually gets really yummy stuff), when we go together we spend the most.

Time for another F.A.Q.  How do you homeschool?

Before I answer that, I want to preface everything with saying that homeschooling will look different for every family.  Budgets vary, family size will vary, room in the RV will vary, and a whole slew of other things.  In our case, we have always homeschooled, beginning at infancy, and we have collected materials over the years.  We didn't transition to homeschooling when we moved into the RV like many, since it's harder to do public school when you are traveling full-time.  In our case, it was a matter of choosing our very favorite learning materials and putting the rest in storage or giving them away.  We have oh-so-many books in storage, and I really miss having a working library.

The other thing I realized when I lined all of the materials up is that many of these materials are on the higher end $$.  That's why they are our favorites, I guess!  These are materials we purchased when we had a little more money and all of my online earnings went straight into learning materials.  I don't really miss those days since we are having a grand adventure of a different type now, but it is what it is.  I am very grateful to have these learning supplies for our kids since I would not be able to buy them again at this time.  So, what made the cut?  Here's the tour.

Screen time:  I have absolutely no reservations in giving our kids screen time.  While I do moderate un-educational and edutainment time, some of our greatest progress has been in direct proportion to the high quality screen time the kids have had.  Our favorites are starfall, BrillKids programs (Little Reader, Little Musician, and sometimes Little Math, as well as the Country Program), Prodigy and Big Brainz for math, PBS kids, Salsa, and Hoodamath.

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But the screen-time doesn't stop there!  We love our DVDs too.  Our collection includes Rusty and Rosy, The Magic School Bus series, Baby Signing Time and a few Signing Time, Preschool Prep Meet the Sight Words, Your Baby/Child Can Read (the name has now changed to Your Baby Can Learn), Your Baby/Child Can Discover, most of the MonkiSee Collection, TweedleWink and Wink, Liberty's Kids, Kid Start Spanish, various DVDs from Rock n Learn, Mathtacular, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego, School House Rock, Alphabet Beats, Home Art Studio, Sparkabilities, Word World, Peter Weatherall, Piano Wizard, and various DVDs from the LDS church.

How well do you know the RV lingo?  Well, let's start at the beginning, what constitutes an "RV"?  It's an acronym for "Recreational Vehicle".  Some people think only motorhomes are RVs, but a motorhome is simply an RV with a motor.  I took my kids on a scavenger picture hunt to scout out the different kinds and we found all but two, but I'm still on the lookout and will add image answers of my own when I get the chance. (I have to own the pictures to put them in the gallery).

I'm not going to take score, just read the different questions, look at the picture and tell yourself what you think the answer is.  Then click on the image gallery and read the captions to find the answers.  Have fun!  Now, is it sad or awesome that my kids can get 100%?

An RV built on a cargo or camper van chassis, whether converted or manufactured, is called a...

A converted school bus is called a...

A wheel-less RV that sits on the bed of a pick-up truck is called a...

An RV that is pulled behind the vehicle is called a...

The garage on the back of this RV makes it a...

An RV with a collapsible roof for driving is called a...

Wider, sturdier trailers made with heavier materials are called...

When a trailer is towed from the center of a truck bed, it is called a...

Built on a van or truck chassis with a bed over the driver's seat, this motorhome is a...

Built on a heavy-duty truck or bus chassis, but serving it's life history as an RV, these are...

Once a bus, now an RV.  It's a...

Finally, we'll address one brand-name since they have such an iconic look.  This is a...

I'm sure I haven't touched on all of the RVs out there, there are also Super-class Cs and another slew of sub categories.  And I'm not going to touch on the tiny-house movement lingo.  Some RVs are truly unique, like the Eco-Womb pictured below.  It's engine has been converted to use veggie grease waste, often gathered from fast-food restaurants like McDonalds.  How cool is that?

The Eco-Womb

It's always nice when moving day comes and goes without any misadventures.  We slept in, organized our coach before we left, drove safely, and had plenty of time to set up camp and eat a good meal before hitting the sack.  While Michael was buying gas for the coach, I decided to swing over to the nearby fruit stand and take advantage of their amazing food prices.

Wow!  For $12, I bought two bags of potatoes, two small watermelons, four bunches of small bananas, a bag of cherries, and eight corn ears.  I should have bought more food, but I was trying to hurry.

I love the staff at Wilderness Lakes.  We are regulars now and not only do we know most of the staff by name, but many of them know us too!  When we pulled up, this kind gentleman had seen us coming down the road, pulled up our information, and had all of the paperwork ready to go for us.  How's that for service?  Wilderness Lakes no longer feels like the exotic campground it did when first came here in December.  It feels like home.  When we were looking for a spot to camp, we were also keeping our eyes peeled for our friends, to see if/where they are parked, and we spotted a few.  While we are ultimately hoping to travel, for now we are primarily stationed in Menifee, and it's a great place to be.

As soon as we started setting up camp, the kids took the corn on the cob out of the car straight to the table and started husking them.  I guess we're having corn tonight!  $2 for eight ears, and $1 for the watermelon.  Not bad when you can feed a family of 7 on $3!  Living in a small space means that it doesn't take much to heat or cool the space up.  When we were at Idylwild during the snow storm, we were surprised at how popping a batch of popcorn could make the whole room feel warmer.  We baked a lot of food up there! 

But what about when it's hot outside and you want the inside to be cool?  Simple.  Don't cook!  At least inside.  We eat lots of raw fruits and vegetables, nuts, and cold sandwiches, as well as fruit smoothies in order to keep cooking to a minimum.  Whenever we can, we like to cook outside.  We have a convection hot plate we plug in to the side of the RV with an extension chord.  I've also made popcorn and waffles outside.  Other things like baked granola I will make at night when I know the RV will continue to cool at least a little during the course of the night.  Gotta stay cool.  Little things make all the difference.

We have visited San Diego several times since we moved to California but had not yet made it to Balboa Park.  We were in for a real treat!  On Sunday we visited our aunt and uncle's church and afterwards went for a stroll to see what could be seen on a budget (aka, free).  It wouldn't have mattered anyway since everything was closed anyway, so most of the foot traffic was there to enjoy the buildings or coming to see a Shakespearean play happening in the dome theater. There was plenty of free parking and we only saw a fraction of what Balboa has to offer.  It was perfect weather for comfort and for pictures.

Often dubbed "The Smithsonian of the West", Balboa has a rich variety of museums to offer, a zoo, and (at least?) three theaters to share the arts.  There are a series of small houses representing different countries, "The House of Holland", "The House of Spain", and so on.

Peter's favorite attraction was the real airplanes on display outside.  The large one has a real titanium shell.  He couldn't get over how lucky he was to see it, since it was a REAL plane back in it's day and not just a copy.  Please forgive the blur on the first few pictures.  Luckily Michael snapped a few and noticed the lens needed to be cleaned.  haha.​

When I was taking pictures of the family on the crescent amphitheater stage, someone sitting in the audience seats hollered, "Sing something!"  So after a couple more clicks I joined them on stage and we all sang "Do, Re, Mi" from the Sound of Music.  The 20 or so people who happened to be nearby applauded loudly and my kids were on cloud nine knowing that had performed on a beautiful stage.  Especially Helen.

Balboa Park is a beautiful place!  I recommend spending time here during your San Diego visit, whether you are on a shoestring budget and go to see the exteriors, or are looking for more depth as there seems to be something here for everyone.  2015 is Balboa's centennial year, and they are having a variety of special events to celebrate.

July 4th.  Independence day.  A day for parades and floats, fireworks, watermelon, family, and celebrating our founding fathers and their sacrifice in order to give us freedom.  In the past July 4th for us has been a big family day where we would rise early in the morning to see the parade in Lewiston, Utah where Grandma Spackman lives.  Grandma Spackman has 14 children and getting the whole crew together is a challenge during the winter holidays so they decided to focus on special family reunions every other year, and anyone who wants to celebrate Independence Day at Grandma's house is always welcome.  So while we lovingly thought of them, truth is, we didn't go.

Instead, we celebrated the 4th in a campground.  A very busy, happy campground.  There was a parade in the morning where kids could decorate bikes, water games at the pool, a special craft at the youth center, and candy bar bingo.  Pio Pico went all out!  THIS is where other families have their own traditions.  There were several tent-and-camper set-ups that were obviously for extended family units, with activities set up for kids and happy music playing.  Seeing other people celebrating made me happy. 

We thought about going to some of the festivities, we really did.  After all, I'm document our life in pictures, and I could take some really cool pictures during the water games!  But...  Well, we didn't.  Why?  Because we didn't really want to.  We had a lot of work to do catching up on some of chores that hadn't been done during the week, and Michael and I both have web-based work that needed to be done.  And the kids seemed perfectly content to stay home and play.  I'm sure they would have enjoyed the parade, but they would have tired the rest of the day so I let them sleep in.  Plus, I reasoned, the campground is quite busy, and this is THEIR special family time.  We can go swimming any time, let them have their fun today.  So we did.

It turns out, many other full-time families felt the same way.  I know because someone made a post on facebook and several others joined in.  For us it wasn't the crowd aversion as much as the reality of work that needed to be done that kept us home.  That and I prefer water-play at night when I don't have to worry about the kids getting sunburned.​

Now before you go and think we're the scrooges of freedom, we did go to the big-screen movie night again.  This time it was Big Hero 6 (weird movie, imo).  When we arrived, a staff member came and gave us smores made in an ice-creem cone, wrapped up in tin foil.  Yummy!  Michael started the laundry before the movie and joined us once everything was in the dryer.  Afterwards we picked up our stuff and went home.  Over the course of this month I plan on doing a special unit study with the kids about our nation's birthday and what it is we are celebrating.  It just didn't happen on the actual holiday.

On a side note, Pio Pico has a lovely laundry room.  You have to buy a card in their convenience store, but after that, it's quite convenient to load it at the kiosk.  I prefer to do laundry at Wilderness Lakes since they have multiple smaller ones and we've been able to get a spot within walking distance.  But I have to keep enough quarters on hand, sometimes the machines eat the quarters, and on busy weekends the machines sometimes fill up and you can't use them until someone from their company comes out and empties the coin tray.  So the laundry cards are nice that way.  This laundry room is decorated with posters of other Thousand Trails parks and people enjoying camping in general, which is a nice touch. 

I love having clean clothes!  And I like being able to fold them in the nice big table areas that all of the campgrounds we have visited have had.  Get it all folded there and put it all away at home.  Done.

It was Friday, July 3rd, and that means a busy holiday weekend at the campground.  Earlier that day the campground offered bean-bag baseball and water balloon games, and we didn't feel like going.  Long hot walk and Dad had the van during the day.  But for the first time we decided take advantage of the evening movie they periodically offer.  It was a lovely evening walk.  On the one hand there are the desert mountains and the cactus garden, contrasted by the lush tropical palms by the river. (not pictured)  It was worth the walk knowing we'd get a ride home when the movie was done. 

The movie was "Planes", and we watched it on a large inflatable screen with solid, well-placed speakers.  It was really fun!  Daddy arrived half-way through the movie, and afterward the kids helped the staff put away the big screen by rolling on it to get the air out.  That was fun!  And so was running in circles on the wooden tree stumps.  Michael stopped in a craft store while he was out and about and bought a few items for the kids, so they had something fun and quiet to help them wind down while I took them aside and helped them get ready for bed.  Fun stuff!

I love taking my kids to museums, but as a backyard Christian scientist, it can be tricky to teach our own perspective when museum after museum, book after book are telling them that dinosaurs lived millions of years ago and that we evolved from apes.  Now, there's nothing wrong with allowing people to have this theory, but why should they have a monopoly in the education world?  Lucky for me, I found the Creation and Earth History Museum near San Diego, only 35 minutes from our campground.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves in demonstrating the professionalism and hands-on, kid-friendly-ness of this museum, I want to point out how welcoming the staff were.  I am used to seeing staff members cringe a little when they see me come in with 5 small children.  I deal with it.  This place was so different.  When they saw me come in with 5 small children, they were thrilled and I sensed that.  One of the museum guides talked with our kids after the tour and told them about the size of dinosaur's brains, and how lizards and dinosaurs were different.  He also gave each of the kids $1,000,000 bills with a Christian message on them.  They thought they were real until I explained it to them in the car.  I took so many more pictures, there were so many exhibits!  And it was all very kid friendly with lots of hands-on experiments at the their eye-level. 

Even if you aren't Christian, this museum is worth the visit, and very affordable too.  When I explain my beliefs to my children, it helps them gain a broader perspective of the world, and a greater appreciation for it's peoples, cultures and belief systems.  So it's a great place to visit to learn the Christian perspective on world history in one afternoon. 

But for me, it was oh-so-refreshing to be able to build off of the exhibits that reinforce our own beliefs.  Just this once.  I would put the Creation and Earth History Museum as one of the must-sees for Christian families if you are in the area.  There aren't very many museums like this.  $7 for adults, $3 for kids 5+, so we paid $13 to go.  Compare that to $60+ for some of the other local museums.  It's a place I would like to visit again, especially when Daddy gets a chance to go with us.  We bought glow-in-the-dark fish to put on our ceiling as a souvenir.