The ending of Ryland's big day (Joshua Tree sunset)

The ending of Ryland's big day (Joshua Tree sunset)
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

We hiked to skull rock
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Our original plans for Ryland's birthday were to drive to Mojave Desert Preserve and check out the Mitchell Caverns. But after a bit of a late start, then a detour because 'someone' knew a better way and 'someone else' was mighty peeved because *she* thought we should follow the signs, but instead we drove for an hour into the literal middle of nowhere in the stinking heat to see a dead town and a whole lot of nothingness, only to discover that the road 'someone' thought was a better route didn't really exist, so we had to turn around and drive all. the. way. back. You can well imagine how much fun THAT was! Add a tonne of sweating, whining kids, crying toddler and we made the decision to find another spot in Joshua Tree to camp for Ryland's birthday!

Which, of course, turned out to be an awesome idea, as we found the Jumbo Rocks campsite, how perfect is that? It was gorgeous, we saw so many neat birds and rock formations, we hiked out to Skull Rock (and thought about how our friend Ollie would have LOVED being here with us on this day!), painted lots with Ryland's new art supplies, and watched a gorgeous sunset!

And now today, we will be following the road signs, and making our way to Mojave!!!!!!

P.S. Jamie just read this and thinks that I come across sounding really angry. So I'm here to clarify. I'm not angry. Anymore:-) Te he. For the most part, it was a bit tense at the moment of deciding to turn around but otherwise it was kind of funny and an 'of course this would happen' moment. I'm also here to to clarify that Jamie would have a completely different version of this story, including an incorrect map showing a perfect route that makes so much more sense. But since he doesn't regularly write in his blog, and since I ended up being 'right' in the end :-) *I* get to tell the story!!!!!!

Ryland is TWO!

Ryland is TWO!
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Bike riding in Joshua Tree
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

And now, we're heading back into the State Parks in order to celebrate a special someone's SECOND birthday!!! Wow, two years have passed since the day he was born, how crazy is that?!!!

Since we're here in the desert, and since we're celebrating a boy who LOVES rocks, we thought we'd make it a full-on rock themed party! I found a great gift for him, we're going to paint rocks, climb rocks, felt rocks , throw rocks in water and perhaps eat some candy rocks! If I was doing a party with take-home gifts, I would have bought rock shaped soaps to send home, perhaps the girls and I will try felting some wool on the soap for a fun project one day! I have to say, I love thinking up fun birthday parties, and I'm kind of missing the chance to get together with friends and have fun on the 24th. We'll take plenty of photos of our growing boy on his special day, and pass on your love!

See you in Vegas!

What to do with all your extra LED lights and solar panels....

What to do with all your extra LED lights and solar panels....
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Tiegan watching her dad do a bit of 'bouldering'
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

From the moment we turned Bartha off, everyone was out and on the rocks. This view was literally three steps from the back of Bartha! I think this was by far our best camp spot yet - noone around, crazy quiet at night (except for coyotes!), AMAZING stars and fun scrambling/bouldering/hiking! WOW!

Camping at Indian Cove, Joshua Tree National Park
Originally uploaded by the five mckays

Here we are, camping in Joshua Tree National Park......Bartha fit right in there!!!!

We are camping in the middle of the desert now - the land of the military and of God. What a completely different place than the west coast!

We drove into Joshua Tree the other day (the town) and while standing in line for lunch we overheard numerous conspiracy theories, about the dangers of cell phones and the need to come to the desert to escape all the electrical waves. We then wandered down the street, checking out numerous fabulous shops (unfortunately the crochet museum was closed :-( and came across a fabulous art installation - dozens of brightly coloured dildos set up to look like a flower. We were told that they had LED lights inside, and they were surrounded by solar panel petals, so evidently they light up at night and are quite the spectacular sight! There would have been many more such flowers in the yard, had the vw van carrying them not broken down on the way back from Burning Man (yes, we are living in a stereotype here!)

We spent a bit of time talking to a man who makes his living way up here in the middle of nowhere as an art installer. Wow. He had a lot to say about how built up Palm Springs has become, but then reassured us that this area would take years to do the same - the live bomb testing by the military should keep people away!

Wow, we have truly arrived in the desert!!!!

After a couple of hours touring the town and chatting to locals, we high-tailed it into the park for some fabulous camping, rock scrambling and hiking. WOW. I am in complete and utter love with the desert!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh, and happy heart day to you all! We woke up to lovely little cards made for us all by Kea, created days ago and hidden away until breakfast. She made us all into heart people and told us all, "I 'heart' E!" When Jamie read his aloud, she exclaimed, "Oh, I meant to write 'U'!!!" I love that she's at the age now where she thinks about others on her own, is able to create these cards without our help, and I love the little pile of fun memories that I'm able to stash away!!!
She's also at the age where she seems to be experiencing everything so emotionally. There were definitely tears today, as she didn't get any Valentine's Day cards from anyone, and if we were back at home, she would have gotten lots and lots and lots from all her friends. We all cuddled and talked about what we're missing and how hard it is to be away from friends, and what we'd like to be doing with them today. And then we baked a chocolate cake with m&m's, and Kea learned the true value in easing your sorrows with chocolate. I think by bedtime she was feeling much better, but this move is definitely an emotional rollercoaster ride for her.
As for me, i woke up today to brutal cramps that come once a month, which was a good thing but I would have rather not celebrated Valentine's with its arrival! And it's these times that I really don't like living in a tiny RV - I really miss my deep claw-foot tub where I could run a really hot bath and soak my cramps away. Instead, I'm stuck sitting in a semi-hot hot tub with the kids and spa philosophers - somewhat amusing on a good day, but downright annoying today!!!!

So, now that I've poured my heart out about the three days we spent in Disneyland, I'm sure you hardly want to hear what I have to say about SeaWorld! All I will say is that I think that we were completely spoiled by having 7 years of a yearly membership to the Vancouver Aquarium, and we had such a blast visiting the Monterey Aquarium - what an amazing place! And I also expected to be going to an aquarium when we went to SeaWorld, and was rather surprised that the focus was far more on theme park. And so, whereas I'm used to educational talks about the animals during a show, here I was treated to cheerleader-type chicks dancing to music while the animals performed tricks purely to entertain. Like throw people in the air, and splash the audience. All impressive (minus the chicks.....but that's just because they weren't, surprisingly, wearing bikinis) but I think they could have combined it with a lot of educational information that would allow the audience to LEARN about these animals, and thus care about them more.

I was surprised to see that you could pay to feed many of the animals, and have to admit it was kind of neat to watch and to take photos of. We touched dolphins and fed them fish, for only $6 - though I have to admit it seemed chaotic and like they could so easily lose control of what is being fed to the dolphins and how they're being handled with SO MANY tourists crowding in to feed them at once, but it was kind of a neat experience. The shark exhibit was amazing, with a tunnel to walk under and huge sharks swimming over your heads. I saw manatees for the first time, eating lots of lettuce. And the girls and I LOVED the Journey to Atlantis ride - though again, why would there need to be rollercoasters in an aquarium? Isn't science fascinating enough to hold our interest? Once again, I felt bombarded with loud music, tiny snippets of information that just left me craving for so much more, and almost like I was being treated like an idiot the whole time. I wanted a more real experience, and less of the window dressing. And LESS MERCHANDISING EVERYWHERE.

I think it's time for us to head to the desert for a bit of escapism!.................more updates upon our arrival there!

Okay, so I'm VERY behind in blogging and will soon catch you all up on our lives.  I promise!  For now, though, I'm playing around with this slideshow function to see if I can showcase a few of our adventures primarily with photos..........

For now, though, I'm going to crawl into my warm bed and catch up on a little sleep.  Happy Valentine's to you all!

Disneyland!

So, Disneyland. We went, we conquered, we met the mouse, we tried all the rides.....and you know, I'm still not convinced about the allure of the place. We went because it was REALLY important to the girls to go (I think it was back in 2005 when we were traveling in Ghana that Kea started to lament that they always had to go where 'we' want to go, they 'never' got to choose where we went. We assured her that no, we were a family and that they could have a say too......so she declared that she'd really like to go to Disneyland. And so we were bound and determined to be true to our word! Which is how we were found, 3 years later, spending THREE FULL DAYS in the park!) I know that Kea and Tiegan had a blast, so many of their friends had told them which rides they had to do, and they'd seen photos of so many things, they loved seeing them in real life! I'm not sure if it was that they loved the time they spent in the park so much, or if it was more that they were now part of the club, and could speak with knowledge about Disneyland with their friends - but either way, this was definitely a dream come true for them!

And you know, Jamie and I were determined to not be downers the whole time! Part of me was quite excited to revisit the park I had vague memories of as a child. I also have fond memories of Sunday night dinners in front of the Disney Movie, and continue to feel nostalgic about many Disney movies. I will admit that going was not on the top of my list of things to do, and I nearly had a heart attack paying for the tickets, but once we were committed to going, I was determined to have a good time and remove my cynicism! And yes, there were fun times - I LOVED going on the California Screamer with Kea, she's a thrill seeker after my own heart! A Bug's Life was my most favourite amusement park anywhere, I thought it was so creative and fun and most of the rides we could all enjoy together. Little moments like Goofy hip-checking Jamie on the way out of the bathroom, and Tiegan's complete joy in getting a huge hug from Mickey, those were fun.

However, I have to admit, most of the time I found myself rather grumpy. Even though the park was remarkably dead, we spent so much time standing in lines. Many of the rides were outdated and kind of lame by today's standards - which felt disappointing after standing in line for 20 minutes. I couldn't imagine how I'd feel if I'd had to stand in line for an hour or more! There were bits of stories in some of the rides, but they were seriously designed for someone with ADHD - fast and loud and little snippets here, there and then goodbye, onto the next rider. I wanted more story, calmer and more drawn out. I wanted less noise - everywhere I went, there was canned music blaring from loudspeakers, making it impossible for a couple of minutes of quiet. Another thing that I did not understand was why, oh why parents would go with only a toddler in tow? Ryland endured our time there, primarily amusing himself with garbage cans and drinking fountains, but really it was not ideal for him. I saw more toddlers crying and tantruming, and parents screaming at them to get off the ground while they waited in line for a ride - and given that they spent more time in the line than on the actual ride, I can't imagine that the kids thought it was worth it!
Another aspect that bugged me was meeting some of the more popular characters - we stood in line for over an hour to tour through Pixie Hollow, as Tiegan is particularly enamoured with the faeries these days.....only to find it was a quick meet and greet with two faeries and that was it - then onto the store where you can buy all sorts of merchandise. Same with the princesses, you stand in line forever (again with the screaming toddlers who so obviously do not want to be there and probably couldn't care less about meeting specific princesses.....) It's not that I have an issue with meeting the characters, I know that was one of the most magical parts for Tiegan in particular, but I know that they could have done it so much better. First of all, if there's a place that knows it'll be full of line-ups, it's Disneyland - I would have thought they'd have so much more entertainment going on all around the lines. And they do an amazing job with the Jedi's and Star Wars characters - they pull kids from the audience and do a show, where the newly trained jedi's actually get to fight Darth Vader. What a fantasy come true, and a fun way to bring the stories to life. Why couldn't they do something like that with the princesses? Instead, you stand in line forever, quickly meet the princess, get a photo, move on so the next kid can meet her - and on your way out you can spend $30-60 to have your hair done in the royal salon! By the end of this, my cynicism was reaching it's max!!!

I'm just not convinced that Disneyland is magical. It was too fast, too loud, too in my face and frantic. My kids were running from one place to the next trying to get it all in, and wanting oh so much merchandise that was being shoved in their faces. They loved Splash Mountain and Space Mountain, but the line-ups made it less appealing to go again and again. I think that Disneyland has done a fabulous job on advertising, convincing us all that a childhood is not complete without a trip to Disneyland and getting us all to want to go there - but upon arrival I definitely had many moments of 'oh, this is it?" The castle seemed tiny, many of the rides seemed old and worn out, and I never did find the magic.

I think from now on I'd like to take a lantern-lit walk through the forest to listen to owls hoot, or take an evening paddle to the middle of the lake to look for shooting stars. Seek out good children's theatre and puppet shows, and show them the thrill of skiing or surfing or tobbagoning. So many moments of true magic that I now realize I'd much rather fill my kids' lives with.......