Tryout

We needed to travel to California to buy our trailer and decided spring break would be a great time.  We needed to get to the dealership by 11:00am on Saturday to be able to complete paperwork and do our walk through.  If we couldn't get there in time, we wouldn't be able to get the trailer until Monday morning.  Of course, things couldn't be easy.  We left late, throwing everything together quickly. We needed to stop in Murray for an oil-change, which took an hour and where we discovered our oldest wasn't wearing any shoes!  HE'S NINE!  How do you miss shoes??? He also didn't pack any extra pants for our week long trip...
After a quick stop at Shopko it was five o'clock and I was thinking very seriously about waiting and leaving on Sunday.  My husband had suggested this during the oil change, but now he says to me, "We are already this far, we might as well go." (We were twenty minutes from home and twelve hours from the dealership...but okay.)
When we stopped for dinner the boys were eating so slowly that I left and filled the truck up with gas.  Later that night I said to my husband, "I know what I forgot." (Because you ALWAYS forget something) "Underwear..."  He didn't think that was a problem...  A while after that, an image of the bed of the truck flashed into mind.  While I was filling it with gas there were only two suitcases in it, not the three that we had packed.  Trent always packs the largest bag down to the car/truck for me when we go anywhere, but not this time!  We'd left home my clothes and the two boys clothes.  All we had was one extra change of clothes and pj's in the overnight bag!!! Yikes!
On top of that, Trent was worried about getting there and thought we should drive through the night.  UGH... By the time we made it to Reno I have talked him into stopping.  After all, the kids were sleeping and we might as well sleep while they did because they weren't going to let us sleep after we got there.  We stopped at 2:30 in the morning and then while everyone else slept, I couldn't because of a car alarm going off right in front of our room!  We got up early and managed to get to the dealership at 11:04.
We got to see the trailer finally and since we didn't have any plans for a place to stay they let us stay right there on the lot for the night.  We were able to leave through the back gate to get food and to visit the local Target.  We enjoyed lunch at a little Ma and Pa diner and then visited a boutique across the street that was owned by the wife of our salesman.  I could have spend hours there, except for the worry that my kids would break something.  We followed up lunch with a nap for everyone, how considerate of the boys!
The next morning we decided that it was just too cold in Los Banos and headed south.  We ended up in Anaheim and spent the next day in Disneyland.  Even when we don't plan on Disney we seem to end up there.  We enjoyed Anaheim and then went to Las Vegas to see Trent's cousin play in a baseball tournament.  Cole was really interested in it.  He says it's because he's finally old enough to understand the game.  He spent most of the time in the dugout with Trent's cousin and uncles.  Jayden charmed the fans and everyone knew his name after those two days.
We finally made it home after a week, and guess what???  We didn't kill each other!  This thing might work!

It all started with one little, silly thought...

I really need to think things through a little bit more.  My husband spend a week during December of 2011 in Florida looking at an apartment complex that he had under contact to buy.  He and his business partners decided to buy it, and I think I'm happy they did.  Around Christmas time Trent was walking past me in the house and a thought popped into my head that I then said out loud. "Hey!  Wouldn't it be great if there was an available unit this Summer?  We could fly out to Florida and stay in one for a month or so!"  Trent didn't even stop walking, he just said, "Hopefully we don't have any vacancies."

I wasn't really thinking seriously when I made the comment.  Really, what was I going to do with a family of four and an empty apartment.  As in, NO FURNITURE!  Let alone all the things you might like to have to entertain two boys for an entire month (two boys of very different ages).  I'd have to get airbeds and linens and pots and knives and a card table and beanbags and.....so when Trent blew it off, I didn't mind.

Then...a couple days later Trent says in passing, "You know, that's would kind of be fun.  I'll have to think about it."  

After a couple more days he says, "Instead of flying, we could drive and see the country.  There is so much of it we haven't seen."  

 Then a few days later, "Why don't we drive the truck; we'll take the trailer and camp along the way."  

This was quickly becoming a summer long trip instead of a month.  By this time I was starting to have a hard time sleeping.  Our trailer is 19 feet long and although it has a bed, it's a glorified twin.  Then the dinette has to be changed morning and night so the boys have a place to sleep.  There isn't any counter top space in the kitchen.  And I could go on and on and on.  I was staying awake thinking of all the problems with living in 19 feet for a whole summer. I started to wonder what I'd gotten into!

I finally told Trent I wasn't too keen on the idea of the trailer and why.  He then told me he had been looking for a new trailer.  (We'd bought a truck three years ago in preparation for a larger trailer-a toy hauler.)  This helped relieve my anxiety and we started to look together for a trailer.  We have a large extra garage and Trent was not going to buy something unless it could fit in the garage.  One bay is deeper than the rest, but had the shortest door on it.  We'd have to raise the door as far as we could, but even with the new height we were having a hard time finding a toy hauler that would fit.  We tried to find something in the 2009-2010 range but they were all taller than we could do.  We finally found a new 2011 at a dealer in California that would fit and made arrangements to pick it up during Spring Break, but that's another story...