Camp Underdown is official!

We made it home to Coeur d Alene, Idaho!! We tried to leave early Wednesday morning but when it was all said and done we were not on the road until 9:30.  This was not ideal for me….Brandon had me towing that jeep and I have NEVER towed anything in my life, let alone in Southern California traffic.  I was scared to say the least, I have a hard enough time changing lanes in my car before someone else swoops in and takes the spot I was going for and now I would have two vehicles…eek! Brandon said it would be fine and he would be behind me running defense so I could just change lanes in front of him, well apparently once we got on the road he forgot that little tidbit.  So there I was all alone back there, I only had to cut off one person, who promptly blew her horn and gave me the finger.  We got Bashlyn a portable DVD player and I put it in the middle seat where she sits so she could watch it…bad move.  She kept kicking it and pushing buttons with her toes so it was turning off the movie.  It made my hour spent in the thick of traffic, taking exits and having semis right along side me that much more stressful as she is screaming because her movie won’t play.  At the next stop I moved it to one of the side seat headrests and it was smooth sailing from then on…that is until I put in “A Bugs Life”.  She had never seen this movie so I thought it would be great, something new to capture her attention, WRONG! Apparently those big mean grasshoppers are a little too scary for my babe and she screamed in fear when they came on, from then on we stuck to Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and Frozen for the next 1,000 miles :) 

We made it to Redding, CA on Wednesday night about 9 pm.  We stayed at this cute little park for the night.  Bash was pretty wired because she fell asleep in the car around 6 and there was nothing I could do to keep her awake so that was a little tough but eventually we all got to sleep. Thank goodness for Starbucks in the morning! We drove about 11 hours from Redding to Yakima Thursday.  Northern California is absolutely gorgeous! It was so breathtaking to see real lakes again and I saw my first Semi hauling a load of logs. Its funny the things you don’t even realize you miss until you see them.  Thursday was my favorite day of the drive, beautiful and less traffic :)  We made it to Yakima around 7 and stayed at Uncle Chances house.  Anna fixed the best tacos I have ever tasted and Brandon actually got to relax and have a couple beers with the guys.  It was awesome seeing Bashlyn play with Jackson, they are both mobile and starting to talk a bit now so it was super cute! We left Yakima about 6:45 Friday and only had 3.5 hours to go before we pulled into beautiful Coeur d Alene! We pulled into the RV park around 11:30 and were finally able to breath a sigh of relief that we were (almost) home.  

The next few days were busy to say the least! Saturday Brandon did a bunch of prep work on the pad.  The grass was so tall it was up to his knees so he had to rent a bushwhacker and get everything knocked down.  Monday was the biggest day so far.  Brandon rented a backhoe and had to drive it from Hayden, about 13 miles from our place, it was pretty funny but he made great time on that thing! We were going to have the rock pit deliver our gravel for us so Brandon would just be spreading it and rolling it as they were delivering it.  We thought it would be bout $150 in delivery cost but turns out it was going to be $560!!! Big difference so I quickly got a job! We rented a dump trailer and I made runs to the pit and delivered the gravel to Brandon as he worked his magic.  I was scared to death to take the truck and trailer through the scales, it was such a teeny squeeze (I felt but as Brandon reminded me semi trucks go through there) but I did it! My mom came out and brought us lunch, she took Bashlyn to the park so she didn’t have to sit in her car seat all day.  Brandon's mom came out and brought us dinner and she became Brandon’s water girl.  She didn’t know she was going to get a job just for coming to visit, haha but she sure was a big help.  She sprayed the gravel all down as Brandon was moving it and rolling it to help with compaction.  I am so thankful for my mom and Patty, they sure made the day go that much smoother! 

We pulled Piper into her new home for the summer Tuesday morning.  We are just in love!! It turned out even better than we could have pictured.  Its so peaceful out here and the best part is I cannot see ANYONE for as far as I look out my window!!! Bashlyn is getting used to playing in the dirt a lot and actually having space to to run and play with her toys.  Its been pretty much all work and no play since we pulled in.  We have another couple of days before we are completely done with all our work.  Last night Tyson came out and hooked up our power and this morning Brad came out and hooked up our water so we have full hookups now!! Brandon is busy backfilling all the trenches that he had to dig for the water and power so a bit more work but mid next week we should have everything put back together, grass seed spread and ready to relax in Coeur d Alene!! We are going to sneak away to Car d Lane tonight (hopefully)! Its a really cool old car show in CDA, something we used to love to do when we lived here but haven’t been able to go in years.  

I will be honest with you, when we talked about “putting in hookups at our place” I had NO IDEA the amount of work it would be.  Its been almost 7 days straight of work work work but we are almost there! I am so impressed with Brandon.  I have never seen a man use so many different pieces of equipment in such a short time.  He uses them like he is just using an extension of his hands, he is simply incredible and makes my heart go pitter patter!  I am so thankful for our friends Tyson and Brad for coming out and helping us get the water and power hooked up, obviously we couldn’t have done it without you so THANK YOU!! 

It sure is going to be a beautiful Summer and one of the best ones we will ever have! I am beyond proud of Brandon for working so hard and having the foresight to see what is really important in life.  We are so exited to spend so much time together as a family over the summer, he will get to go to every doctor appointment with me and have 5-6 weeks to bond with Coleman when he arrives.  Possibly even more, we’ll see how everything goes.  Bashlyn just lights up around daddy and she’s going to him for things before me, which is funny to me.  They are so precious together and I could just watch them interact together all day long and never get bored.  

We are planning on heading back to SoCal in the fall, October/November depending when Coleman makes his grand appearance.  We definitely have to get out of here before the snow flies…hehe yes I am 28 years old and already a snowbird!