Palm springs wins award for spankiest town in america

By spanky, I mean swanky. Whoa!
Palm springs is kind of nutty. There is this beautiful desert that has been overtaken by houses, casinos,golf courses ( in the desert!!!), boutiques,upscale restaurants, etc. It feels so wrong probably because it is very very wrong. I can't imagine how much energy and time and money it must take to keep everyone watered and fed out there. Just keeping the grass green is a monumental task.
Well, even after all that is said, we stayed over one night at an RV resort. It was nutty. It had 4 pools and nine hot spring fed spas.  Pics.

Legoland rocked

We loved legoland. It was so cool. Their special exhibit was star wars. They had every movie depicted "mini style " in legos. Took lots of pics, but they do not do the place justice. There were life-size Lego creations of just about everything, animals, presidents, celebrities, American cities, etc. Too cool.
The rides were amazing too. There was a rollercoaster that went through a Lego castle!
There was a huge room where you could play all the Lego Xbox 360 games on big screen. They also had kinect, which was about the coolest thing ever. Kids (and Carl) were in heaven.
Legoland also has an aquarium that is next door to the amusement park.  It was amazing. We saw octopi and sharks and sea rays.
Coltrane and Emmett were in awe for 7 hours straight at legoland. I am not sure how we are going to top it.
Here are some pics.

One big family

The Oliverian school is where we have worked for the last 7 years. It is a very small, private school in rural NH for kids that think,  act and sometimes look outside the box. Obviously with only about 35-40 students in total,  you can get pretty close. You all start feeling like one big, crazy, dysfunctional family! I have always known this,  at least subconsciously.
Well, this past week we stayed with an alum from the school who is now 21 years old and living in Santa Barbara; JJ Mitchell. I wasn't worried about our comfort level with him; we had kept in touch and he had visited us back in NH on at least two other occasions since his graduation. What surprised me was how incredibly easy it was to be around him and how much it felt like being with family.
The visit with JJ made me realize how special the Oliverian school is. Even though we all drive each other nuts sometimes ( OK, a lot!), there is a lot of love there. Carl , Coltrane, Emmett and I really love the students like they are an extension of the family. Come to find out, they feel exactly the same way.

Aahhhh, Santa Cruz

Damn, we sure do love Santa Cruz. It is one amazing town. We were pretty mellow which was exactly what we needed.  Went to the beautiful beaches a few times. Coltrane boogie boarded. We went to the famous Mystery Spot. Mainly, we hung out with the bestest friends ever, ate good food and quenched our thirst for media. Candace and I watched some sitcoms, Carl some some documentaries with Jim, and the kids had plenty of Danny Phantom.  Good times were had by all!
Beth and Candace treated the hard working mamas to an overnight retreat to Mercey Hot Springs. Holy guacamole it was awesome! ! Healing hot pools with a clear starry sky.  Perfection.
We are off to Big Sir today for a camping weekend. We are also celebrating our 10th anniversary in the place we first got married,  Plaskett Creek Campground and sand dollar beach.  I didn't wear a wedding dress the first tme around. This time,  Beth, Candace and I got thrift store 80's dresses to wear on the beach. The plan is to jump in the water with them on. Good stuff.  I will take pics.

Bigfoot is real

Coltrane and Emmett have been fascinated by mysteries lately; the Bermuda triangle, crop circles, the Fiji mermaid, Sasquatch,  etc.
Well, lo and behold,  in little old Felton, CA there is the Bigfoot museum.  We tried to go twice. The first time there was a sign written with crayon that pronounced it was closed for research.  Intriguing!  The next time we tried it was still closed,  but there was a sign to ring the bell. We were just about to leave after 5 minutes when an aging hippie let us in to the museum. I had a feeling from the start that he meant business. I couldn't have been more correct.
This guy lived and breathed Bigfoot. He had paraphanelia, Bigfoot plaster footprints ( some for sale!), and many other crazy doodads. He and Coltrane started talking about the infamous video made in the 70's. Coltrane was discussing how he saw a show debunking the video as fake. Well, damn, that man started on Coltrane about how it has to be real, etc. It was a hoot.
We bought a couple of postcards,  a drawing of Bigfoot by aforementioned  owner and an iron on. It was such a good time. Here are some pics.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Well, Carl and I have been married ten years!  So crazy. We celebrated with the kiddos who made us signs and confetti. 

Out in the woods

We have very little wifi or 3G so we can't blog as much as we hoped. When we get to Santa Cruz and stay for a couple of weeks we should be able to update with pics and stuff.
We are in Oregon and it is extremely great. We are camping by the rogue river tonight. Next week we plan on staying at a tree house hotel. Will post pics.