Monday, December 14, we left CVR (Carefree Village Resort) in Yuma, AZ for Pio Pico Thousand Trails in Jamul, CA. We found a decent 50-amp site, A-8, for our two week stay. We went over that afternoon to have a quick visit with Mona and Isaac since I had an afternoon orthodontic appointment in Escondido on the 15th.
As we knocked on the door, we heard squeals of excitement from both Isaac and Mona. “Nana and Papa are here! Nana and Papa are here!!” Their smiles, hugs, and pure excitement to see us made our day. We are so blessed as they fill us with tremendous joy.
Wednesday, December 16 – Friday, December 18:
With Erika working from home again, and Justin working at the fire station on most of his days off, we babysat Isaac and Mona. This allowed Connie a break from Imperial Beach to watch the kids. Mona is in the midst of potty training. Mona pooped in the potty, so she was able to come back with us for an overnighter in the motorhome. She was SO good. She told me every time she needed to use the potty! Even when she went to bed she called out to say she needed to go poo-poo! I think she has turned the corner with this part of her potty training! Mona helped me make cupcakes on Thursday. We showed her how to lick the beaters. She couldn’t wait to have a cupcake! We let her have a half of one after her lunch. She didn’t want to wait for us to make the icing. This actually worked out great. I will wait to have Isaac help make the icing.
Playing with Nana’s nativity set. 
Cuddle time! 
Our little princess. 
Making Cupcakes with Nana! 
Mona wanted a cupcake before we made the butter cream icing.
Late afternoon on Thursday, we took Mona home and brought Isaac back with us. We always treasure this concentrated time with each of them individually. The time with each one flew by!
Isaac loves riding the dips at Pio Pico 
Intrigued with our solar torches! 
Great balance!! 
Perfectly balanced 
Magnetic people. Isaac also likes to mix them all up.
Saturday, December 19:
This morning, I went to Collier Park in La Mesa for a three-hour pickleball clinic with John and Letha Rodrigues. It was a great clinic!! Four of us stayed afterwards to try to implement some of things we just learned during “game play”. Winning wasn’t the goal, but recognizing intentional positioning, patience and placement were.
Sunday, December 20 – Tuesday, Dec 22:
Justin finally got five days off in a row – Sunday, Dec 20 through Dec 24. Originally, we were hoping to have each of the kids for another overnighter prior to Christmas Eve, but so that Justin could have some quality and quantity time with the kids and Erika, we changed that up. On Monday, after some errands and such, we went over to their house to spend the night with them. They gave us our Christmas present early so we would have a chance to wear them. Nana and Papa Christmas Sweater Sweatshirts!! OMG We LOVE them!! We put them on immediately!
SANTA is checking his list twice!
It was really nice to have the extended time with Justin and Erika after the kids went to bed.
WEDNESDAY, DEC 23
We went over again on Wednesday about noon so Justin and Erika could open our gift to them while Justin was still home. A massage gun with a heat feature. Hopefully, they both will get relief from it on a regular basis! (We LOVE ours!)
We decided to also take one of the presents for the kids. We bought Isaac and Mona the game Cootie. I always enjoyed playing it with our kids, so I thought it would be a fun game for them. We took this over for them to open early. This way we were able to play it with them before we left to go back to Yuma.
We went out for a bike ride. Mona is balancing so well on her balance bike when she lifts her legs to coast. Sometimes, on the flatter sidewalks, she will bend her left leg to keep her left foot up off the ground, and then push herself using just her right foot.
Isaac wanted to head to his secret fort. Justin ran home and got his fire ropes that he uses to practice knots to use as a climbing rope. It was really cool. Isaac learned how to use the rope attached to the fire hydrant to pull himself up the dirt hill. He wasn’t ready to use the rope to repel back down. He preferred sliding. First experience of mountain climbing. Isaac’s great Uncle Montana, (my brother), would be so proud of him!
After our fun outside, Erika assembled two small gingerbread houses for Isaac and Mona to decorate. What fun it was to be there to watch and help. Erika operated the “icing glue” for Mona, and I did the same for Isaac.
THURSDAY December 24:
Barry and I went to Mackenzie Creek Park to play some pickleball. When Barry knew he better stop playing due to a sore knee, he went over to see the kids while I stayed to play more games. How cool it has been this week to stop in multiple days to spend a few hours with the kids-as well as Justin and Erika. 🙂 We watched the movie “Home Alone” together. That was fun.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 25 – MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Santa brought Isaac a new Spiderman two-wheel pedal bike, and Mona a sweet baby stroller for her dolls It was our turn to head over to see them about 4:30. We took their presents of play foods – breakfast, lunch and dinner baskets, and the first kit of a monthly subscription to Kiwi STEAM kits. They loved the food! This will work so well with the new kitchen that they got from Monica. Unfortunately, they won’t be able to play with the kitchen till the Christmas tree comes down and Justin is home to assemble it. (Or when we return about the 8th of February.)
SATURDAY, December 26
Today is our last day to spend time with Isaac and Mona before returning to Yuma.
I read to Isaac and Mona about rainbows from their first Kiwi Crate -Koala level, while they ate lunch. Then while Papa played with Isaac, Mona and I worked on one of the activities in the crate. It turned out great. The cloud pillow and the stained glass picture activities are still left to do. I really hope they enjoy these monthly crate themed activities.
Made with tissue paper squares and water.
Papa got Isaac to agree to take his bike outside and try to ride with Papa’s help. Isaac was definitely scared at first. Part of it is the size of the bike. He has to be lifted up to the seat, and can’t touch the ground with his feet. Mona was happy to ride her balance bike independently while we helped Isaac. We made two trips around the complex. Barry held on to the handlebars to do the steering as needed, and give Isaac the security he needed.The second loop went better. Then together, with Papa on one side and me on the other, we helped Isaac go SLOWLY down the ramp that he usually flies down with his balance bike. Now we had a nice open concrete area to practice without any concern of cars. When Papa needed a break, so I took over. I put my hand on Isaac’s back for security and a slight push for him to get started up. I nonchalantly pulled my hand away. It was so cool to see how proud he was when he realized he was doing it by himself. Soon he was even turning. We were so proud of him. He was awesome!!
So proud that he could balance!
Here is a video of Isaac and his first day on his new Spiderman bike.
When we came back inside Mona, Papa and I played Cootie, while Isaac played with some of his animal figures. The new version of Cootie has multiple choices for choosing the body parts or an accessory. You can see some of these choices in the pictures below.
Barry went upstairs earlier and taped a picture of the four of us onto each of the kids’ beds, so they would see us every night when they went to bed. We decided to show it to them, and ended up staying in Isaac’s room to play. It is so nice when Isaac and Mona play together and parallel play.
We hate to leave these guys to go back to Yuma, but we are also excited to put together our winter home. A big factor to selecting Yuma as our winter home location was reasonable distance to the kids in California. The Thousand Trails by them just wasn’t going to cut it for us any longer!
BONUS!
While the main focus was to spend quality time with Isaac and Mona (+ Justin and Erika), we were able to fit in a lovely evening with our dear friends, Jo and Don Richardson. Jo made a fabulous tri-tip on the grill. I brought salad and pumpkin cheesecake squares. After dinner and some time catching up, we watched the Disney movie, “Call of the Wild”. It was really good. Thank you, guys for another great evening together!
