Family time with the grandsons in the OC: Part II

May 26-30, 2013
Orange, California
Orangeland RV Resort



Our last four days here were mostly spent doing simple but fun things with the boys and picking up or taking them to their various activities. Fortunately, my step-daughter Mindy, who was vacationing in New York City, left incredibly detailed notes about their daily schedule plus their dad (son-in-law David) was around over the Memorial Day weekend and after work to help make sure we were on track. We did give him some time without us when we decided to take about an hour’s drive to an RV show at the Rose Bowl. We should have investigated the show more as it turned out to be just one big dealer, McMahon, with no vendors and only about a half dozen Class A motorhomes.  We had hoped to see the newer Tiffins, so we decided to stop at the local dealer, Mike Thompson’s RV Superstore, where we were able to see some 2013 Phaetons with the L-shaped couch, fireplace, and large TV layout. It looks more like a living room, even has a coffee table, but you give up a lot space on the other side by having just one recliner instead of a love seat or two recliners.  The other result with the sofa is no hide-a-bed, just a scissor bed.  It would be hard for two people to fit on the extra bed. So, once again, we are happy to say we like our motorhome just fine. (It is good for us to go and reaffirm this feeling every so often. Probably the biggest temptation for us would be to go up to 40’, but the only difference would be that we could take more stuff and we already have more than we need!)



With the boys living so close to Disneyland, Legoland, Universal Studios, California Adventure, Knott’s
Berry Farm, and probably countless other attractions we don’t even know about, there is no shortage of things to do in this area, but we are not into crowds, so we kept close to the RV Park or their home over the Memorial Weekend. The boys spent Memorial Day with us at the park where we all watched the first of the Narnia series,The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, together with the surround sound and two TVs on in the galley of the motorhome. I remember reading the whole series aloud to my sons we spent two summers on a sailboat in British Columbia. Those books have special memories to me and I also appreciate their symbolism as a spiritual allegory.



After the movie and lunch, Grandpa challenged the boys to a game of shuffleboard.  It took the boys a while to get the hang of out (Grandpa a little bit too—all those months in Florida the last two years with shuffleboard courts everywhere and he never played once).  After about an hour of practice, they paired up: Grandpa and Tyler (4) against Luke (9) and Nate (6).







Grandpa gave Tyler and Nate a bit of a handicap by letting them  shoot their discs from a shorter distance. The game was pretty close until the last frame when Tyler scored thirty points!  He came back to the motorhome beating his chest. These guys are competitive but, thankfully, no one was a sore loser. 




Tuesday was back to school, so Grandpa and I enjoyed the break and got some things done around the motorhome. This park has a car and motorhome/RV washing station which Vic used for doing a much needed detailing of our Jeep. He did not take on the motorhome, but I can feel that time is coming soon. Tyler had a fire truck presentation at his pre-school which we stayed to watch. The bummer was the actual fire truck had to go out on a call, so they sent a small truck but the kids loved the demonstration of the fire hose and sirens just as well and it was fun for us to meet his pre-school teacher and see him interacting with his peers.







The two older boys started basketball practice this week so after school was snack, homework, playtime, early dinner, off to practice, shower and get ready for bed. Vic, as a former basketball coach, was super excited to watch them practice for summer ball. I mentioned in my previous post that this side of the family is extremely athletic: Vic coached his daughter Mindy in basketball from fifth grade through high school; she also played volleyball which earned her a Division One scholarship to Oregon State; son-in-law David wrestled and played baseball in high school, then played Division One baseball for Oregon State. Did I mention that we are all avid Oregon State Beaver fans? They just finished first in Pac 12 baseball and we have high hopes they will make it to the World Series and become national champions for the third time since’05.  (Note to self: we need a family photo with everyone decked out in our Beaver gear.)





My step-daughter returned from NYC late Wednesday night which also happened to be our last night at Orangeland RV Park (long story but we messed up our reservation dates a bit). Our plan is to return for another week after the boys are out of school so we can do some daytrips to the beach and other fun places together. In the meantime, we are off to San Diego to visit my niece and nephew who both live there. My nephew has room for our motorhome so we are happily going to be parked at their house while we enjoy the San Diego area—a place we haven’t been since the 90s! 

Family time with the grandsons in the OC

May 23-26, 2013
Orange, California
Orangeland RV Park



Our annual trip westward takes us to Southern California to spend time with Vic’s son and daughter and our five grandkids. First stop is in Orange County to visit his daughter’s family with three grandsons, ages 9, 6, and 4. Challenge number one is finding a decent RV park close to their home in Yorba Linda.  Last year, we stayed at a park about eight miles from their home, Canyon RV Park, which was once a county park but is now privately run. It is in quite a lovely setting with one major exception: many of the sites are almost directly under the freeway. Noise doesn’t usually bother us, but this was one exception. So, this year we chose to stay a little further away at the Orangeland RV Park, a private park that used to be an orange grove a hundred years ago. The cool thing is they kept many citrus trees throughout the park and campers are invited to pick to their heart’s content. If you don’t like picking, the office keeps full bins of fruit available for guests to take.  We are about ten minutes further from the kids, but this park has better amenities for us all to enjoy: miniature golf, shuffleboard, heated pool and spa, and two dog parks all for about the same price.





After a three to four hour drive from Barstow, California, we arrived before noon and checked into the very full park due to the Memorial Day weekend.  After getting settled, let the games begin. Our oldest grandson, age 9, was in a baseball playoff game at 5 p.m. We were thrilled to be able to watch one of his games before the season ended. Of course, the other two boys wore their baseball team outfits and played around in the park while their brother was playing.  Meet the boys:

Playing third baseman, Luke looks to the outfield for a throw to get the runner out on third.

At bat, Luke gets a solid hit but it was a fly ball that was caught.

Nate goofs around with a plastic bat and soft baseball that they brought along to play with in the park.

 

Four-year-old Tyler runs the pinecone bases he set up for his own game on the sidelines.

The Red Sox lost the game 7:6 with an exciting last inning. The good news is that they were ranked higher than the other team, so both teams earned a spot in the city tournament next week.  Meanwhile, summer basketball season for the two older boys starts next week as well. With three athletic boys, my step-daughter is in her early stages of carting kids to practice and cheering on the boys in their various sports teams.




On Friday, Grandma and Grandpa took advantage of a day to take it easy around the motorhome while the boys were in school. After school, it was pool time at their house before having burgers on the grill. 





On Saturday, my step-daughter, Mindy, flew to New York for a five-day vacation in New York City with her best friend from high school. We offered to be here during this time to help out with the kids so she could enjoy her first break in nine years. We brought the boys to the RV Park for the day where they could swim and, most importantly, help Grandpa pick oranges and make fresh-squeezed juice for our picnic lunchtime together.






It has been nearly a year since we have been together—much too long a time to not be more a part of their lives. We have high hopes of getting the family to Florida next winter (Mindy, are you reading this?) or we may just take a flight back to California for the holidays. Such are the challenges of choreographing a full-time RVing lifestyle. The good news is we have the rest of this week here, another week later in June, and another week at a lovely campground in Oregon in July with the boys and their parents.