Monetesano is a small town near the coast of Washington. We found a pretty nice campground to park our fifth wheeler. It’s no State Park, but it’s nice and clean and has an espresso stand right next door that makes a mean Spiced Chai. I mean, what’s not to love about that?! The rain, maybe. Mantesano averages 82 inches of rain a year, compared to the U.S. average of 39 inches a year. It hasn’t been terribly wet yet, we have enjoyed one trip to the beach and the kids and I have visited Lake Sylvia State Park, just outside of town, twice now. I grew up camping at the beach with my family and camping at the state park with my cousin Amy, who also happened to be my best friend. Both locations are beautiful! It has been so fun to revisit places full of so many memories. We have only been here for two weeks, but we have been able to go to my niece’s 6th birthday as well as my little brother’s birthday dinner. Not only that, but we got an unexpected visit from my cousin last week, which is super fun! We don’t get a lot of visitors, I like to think it’s because we live in a small home. 😉 Anyways, even if we can’t do a lot of hosting, it will be good to be around familiar faces for the holidays!
Life back in the camper is going good. We enjoyed spreading out for those last three months in Wyoming, but it seems that everyone is happy to be back in our tiny home. We are focusing on getting in as many school days as possible while we are here in the rain, so we can save our “field trips” and “half days” for later. Asia has joined a local youth group. What, how did that happen?! She makes me feel old. But proud, of the tender-hearted, people loving, daughter of the King she is becoming. Micah, on the other hand, keeps me young. He never..stops..moving. His favorite thing right now is going for walks and watching the train. The one that comes barreling through town, right next to our campground, at all hours of the day (and night). If he is not outside, he stands at the window at the top of our stairs and watches all 200 train cars go by. Aside from those 5 minutes of inactivity, he keeps us all on our toes.
Below are a few pics of our trips to the beach, the state park, and a couple of the kids in the camper. You’ll notice Micah is wearing two different outfits at the beach. That’s because while we were all looking down at our feet, scanning the sand for sand dollars, a rogue wave came up and surprised us. I outran it in my new favorite boots, but realized I had left my youngest behind, wondering why he was knee deep in water. When he took a tumble and ended up on all fours, on the verge of freaking out, I earned back the Mom of the Year award that was temporarily taken away, and ran back in after him. We spent the next 45 minutes running all over town trying to find dry clothes for a two year old, in a town that apparently didn’t have any two year olds. We found him some boots and some 4T jogging pants that he rocked as we went back out to enjoy what was left of the sunshine. We might live just outside the rainforest, but we will make the most of every “sun break” we get. If you live in the Northwest, you know what a “sun break’ is.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Besties.
Wander More 