The short story is ... we bought a used travel trailer. End of story.

That's really all I need to write. It gets the point across. But how boring.

The slightly longer version is that we've spent a month of our summer looking, researching, surfing the Web, checking the paper, driving around town, driving around Portland, driving around Longview, WA, in and out of more travel trailers and RV's than I can count. And nothing seemed right. Everything was either too much or not big enough for our family or too big for our family. Nothing fell into place. My husband was serious. I figured if it was meant to be, it would happen. Then, we drove across the river to Long Beach, WA, to see the annual Kite Festival. We've only missed it once, and that was after I had just given birth to my oldest. This year, my boys flew their kites on the beach and we all enjoyed our time there. On our way over, we drove through a town called Chinook and passed a nice travel trailer for sale. On the way back, Todd stopped and we got out to look it over. Someone drove up and told us the owner lived just around the corner and could let us in it. We called, he let us in and the rest is history. There is was, just sitting there waiting for us to drive by. Who knew? Of course, since we are not rich, it will be a stretch on our budget (Todd suggested I get a night job ... um, no). But we prayed for guidance and wisdom and I feel the Lord's leading in this. Todd really wanted something like this and I was praying not for me but for Todd. Now I need to learn all I can about using one of these things. Yesterday, I drove by a man who was getting out of a travel trailer like ours that was parked in front of his house (just down the street). I don't know him but I asked if he had a minute. I can't imagine what he thought I wanted but I asked if he had any advice about using a travel trailer. He was kind enough to spend about 10 minutes talking with me. We have started noticing RV's everywhere we go. And, of course, all the local campgrounds are packed with them this time of year.

So that is mostly what has taken my time lately. That and my annual hunt for firewood for the winter. After numerous calls to shady characters who advertise in the local paper, I was getting fed up. Everyone is selling hemlock or a hemlock mix with other wood. My son and I are allergic to hemlock (we found that out the hard way a few years ago) and I find it hard to believe that there are so many hemlock trees around that they all had to be cut down for firewood. Finally, my husband looked in the local phone book and actually found an ad in the yellow pages for a guy across the river. He was pushing hemlock as well (!) but did have spruce and pine. We are getting the spruce as pine burns quicker which means you are feeding the woodstove more frequently. Didn't know you were going to get a lesson in firewood, did you?

Oh, and I suppose I need to be thinking about the coming school year. I have been, actually, between the trailer hunt and firewood. There are some things I need to order but we're not starting until the first of October so I have time. September will be busy for us so book learning will have to wait. There are other things to learn. Like the perfect way to stack firewood so it doesn't all fall over!