Unsustainable

Since we entered California it seems like we've been on this crazy whirlwind tour of theme parks & attractions. The kids and Bob have definitely been leading the charge on this one, and I’m pretty sure they could keep this up for as long as there are attractions to see (and there are a ton of things to do/ places to go in south Cal.). Me, not so much. I want my quiet time. I need my quiet time. While I know that we just had a quiet stop in White Tank Mountain, AZ it feels like a million years ago (rather than just two weeks). 

Going to all these places is great fun & interesting and often educational in some way, but, it is true that you can have too much of a good thing… we do have responsibilities and this is not a vacation! While a big part of this adventure we're on is to see the sites and visit new places, there has to be a balance to it. Swing too far one way or the other and something needs to change. The pattern we've been on the last few weeks is not sustainable. It's exhausting and our recent stops have been rather expensive.  

It also hasn't left enough time for properly attending to certain tasks – things like, oh, school for one!  December is already a short month for school, even before taking a bunch of extra days off. I had planned to take a complete break over the holidays (two weeks just like back in Alberta), but I also wanted to finish some of the units Morgan’s been working on, first. Social studies (the bane of my existence!) and the current Science unit are so close to being done, but it’s pretty difficult to get them done if we don’t make time for it! 

I also need time in my house, to just be here.  

Now, I don’t mean that I want to sit on my butt and do nothing but eat chocolate all day (although that does sound good – the chocolate part, that is). I mean that I actually need a whole day in my house!  (or two or three!) It’s a cluttered mess at the moment, and desperately in need of a deep clean. And Christmas decorating! There are a myriad of other small things that need attending too. 

L.A. and San Diego have just so many things to do; so many attractions & places to tempt us away from taking care of our “regular” lives. And so, to avoid all that temptation I convinced the family to leave the sun & sand of the south coast and move up to Bakersfield. There are a couple reasons to come here, which I will get into later. 

We received several dubious looks and comments from fellow campers at the resort in San Diego who asked where we’re going next. There's nothing to do there they all said (which I highly doubt is true, considering that people, and families, live here). It does mean this place is perfect for my intentions to do nothing more than catch up on school work & life and get ready for Christmas. We’re here for a week and then will be moving up to San Francisco to spend Christmas with my extended family (oh boy oh boy oh boy!!!  It’s been too many years since I've seen them all, and they've seen us all, and I'm excited.)

NOTE: As I read this post, a couple thoughts came to me…  I think the rest of the family actually could sustain the life they've had the last couple of weeks for as long as there was money in the bank. They seem to all love amusement/ theme parks and Morgan would happily ditch school in favor of nearly anything else! I’m the one in the family who stresses about meeting school deadlines and keeping expenses to a dull roar and all that stuff. I can never quite let it all go. I never have been able to. I do wish I could let it go and live in the moment more, but I also think someone has to be the responsible one! 

And, boy, oh boy, after one good solid day where Morgan made good progress in his school work, I caught up on laundry, we walked to the playground, prepared for some work on the trailer tomorrow, watched a movie and met several of our campground neighbours (who are all extremely friendly) I feel so much better about life in general.  

I'm pretty sure we can fit some fun activities into this week, just better balanced.