I love the idea of sending hostess gifts to families that open their homes to ours. I know bringing a bottle of wine might be fun and all, but I love the idea of sending a present afterward. So I was browsing around at http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/ for gifts for a family we stayed with, they’re both working in the medical field and were talking about how expensive scrubs are. I just couldn’t keep this web site a secret because they have so many different colors and styles of medical scrub uniforms and they’re priced reasonably, too. They were complaining about how often they need to buy new scrubs and how much they cost and I don’t know much about it, but these prices seem totally reasonable. I know she doesn’t shop online much and I doubt he does either, so I’m sure they wouldn’t have seen this on their own. I can’t wait until the package arrives and they see the present. And the coolest part is that they have children’s scrubs, too. Isn’t that sweet? I can’t imagine WHY first of all, are they for dress up, do we have that many pint-sized PhD’s running around the country, or maybe sick children like to wear scrubs so they can relate with their caregivers more easily. Who knows> I just thought they were cute and I think it’s awesome that they even have such thing. Anyways, it’s a great website and it looks like they must have a gazillion different styles, colors, fabrics, patterns and sizes so I’m sure anyone could find what they’re looking for. The site is laid out really simply, so you’re not scrolling through page after page of the same looking thing everywhere. So what do you think? Are scrubs a silly hostess gift? I think they will appreciate them, I can’t wait to share!
The Love Playground in El Paso, Texas
We were stopped in El Paso overnight. It was 107 degrees and my pansy ass wasn’t the slightest bit bothered by the heat because the previous day we’d been in Mesa, Arizona roasting (OK… lounging by the pool with friends) at 112 degrees, so 107 was nothing.
El Paso… big city with lots of resources and things-to-do, but the Internet on my phone wasn’t working and I couldn’t look anything up.
Sometimes I feel like that guy in Quantum Leap who follows the main character around, looking things up on his handheld device. I love that I can answer some of this kids crazy questions instantly “When was this town built?” and “Where is the Alamo?” but when I can’t use it I’m worthless. Maybe “worthless” is an exaggeration, but I feel like my brain is missing when I can’t access Google. It is what it is 
We ended up asking the GPS system for advice and it sent us to a city park.
We were in luck because the park had a mister system, so we could cool off, not that I was bothered by the heat mind you, I had built new neuron pathways in my brain the day before and learned to associate the heat with pleasure thanks to friends like Brianna and Vicki in Mesa Arizona and I wasn’t suffering in El Paso at all.
But still, the misters were nice.
The nicer thing was the park itself. Love Park, it was called. It appeared to be built entirely by volunteers and donations. First of all, the playground was HUGE. There was a musical play section, two different swing areas and plenty of ladders, stairs, bridges, things to climb, things to hang from and places to explore.
Outside the park, there was a Girl Scout building AND a Boy Scout building. We felt safe and secure there, at the corner of Love & Shorty.
My favorite part of the day was the conversation I had with Gabriella and Madelyn about the construction of the park. Donors bought in at certain levels to fund the construction of the park. Some people donated enough to have a fence post carved in their name. Others were able to paint a tile that went on the wall by the entry. Also in the entry, some donors were able to have a walk-of-fame style sidewalk square with their hand prints.
We hadn’t been in town for 3 hours and we learned that there was a Jewish community because we saw names like Silverstein and Kaplan and Stein and Rabbi something. We learned that each piece of equipment was sponsored by a local – usually a business, whereas the tiles, fence posts and sidewalk squares were sponsored by individuals or families. We talked about the economics of collecting donations, about how wise it was for the planners to have different levels of donation, and how cool it was that everyone was acknowledged for their contributions. Before we saw that, it was easy to look at the entire park and see a great place to play but having the sponsorship list visible made it easier for the kids to look and see that the castle slide is separate from the baby swings, separate from the musical toys, separate from the mister system… We could see the whole and appreciate all of its parts. More importantly, it was magical to see how complicated and amazing the entire park was and to witness what beautiful things can happen when people work together to bring their dream to life.
I liked being able to expose the girls to such a great example of community action. Someone (the children of the community, it appears…) envisioned this park. Someone rallied up a LOT of people to make it happen and here it is, Love park… it was beautiful. The park, the time we spent with the kids and the energy that created such a magical space.
I can’t imagine teaching an 8 yr old about different business models in a classroom. At 8, I would have been able to memorize vocabulary words, but I wouldn’t have felt the deep spirit of cooperation or understood exactly how awesome it was that they pulled this off. This is living, this is life and this is just conversation. No lesson plans are needed, no vocabulary words, just plenty of time in the real world and conversations that answer pressing questions. How much simpler can it be?
Technical Edit: Apparently the name of the park is White Spur Park and it’s just the Love Playground that I’m writing about.
Our Summer House in Malibu
Can you believe we boondocked in Malibu for a month? I can’t believe it’s even possible.. Just outside of Zuma Beach on PCH, they allow overnight parking. We also enjoyed spending time at the tidepools and caves at Leo Carrillo State Beach
This was the longest we’d stayed in any one area during this trip and even then we drove into the San Fernando Valley to visit with family while we were there, so it wasn’t a continuous stay in Malibu. But still.. close enough.
It was close enough that I got used to hearing the waves lapping at the shore while I slept. In fact, after just a few days, I was missing the sound when we left.
Have you heard of Binaural beats? They’re sound waves that you play with headphones. Different frequencies are played in each ear and when they get inside your head, they can target specific parts of the brain for relaxation, energy, mental focus, even sexual stimulation. Listening to the waves must have had an effect on my brain because the way it felt to allow the rhythm of the waves to sink into my being was a huge experience. Being there just.felt.right.
One thing I felt strongly about when I first envisioned life on the road was that I wanted to really lay down a couple roots in every place we went. The time we spent in Malibu was really special.
We got to know the rhythm of the coast.
Every day, around 6 am when the sun rose, the local surfers would come by. They would arrive in their wetsuits and carry their boards out to the sea. When they finished up, they’d return to their cars, sometimes stripping down naked (without knowing about the psychomom in the RV watching them) and changing their clothes for work around 8 or 9 am. It was then that the morning fitness people would arrive. These are the runners, the joggers and the dog walkers. These people were usually locals, too. Locals park on PCH and tourists park in the parking lots. They would arrive between 10am and noon, setting up their camps on the beach with umbrellas, radios, colorful towels and coolers filled with snacks. Many of them would slather on a ton of sunscreen and head into the water or bathe in the sun, depending on their preference. Around 4 or 5, the beachgoers would leave and the fitness crowd would return. As they dwindled away, the sunset-gawkers would arrive. Sometimes you could feel them counting down until the sun dropped behind the sea and more than half of them would leave when the sun was no longer visible. Don’t make that mistake. I’ve learned that some of the best colors, cloud shapes and prettiest shadows come when the last remaining fragments of light begin to fade.
I always intended to play in the ocean, but every time I felt my feet getting numb I’d change my mind. That water was COLD. I can’t wait to take my kids to the gulf coast of Florida so we can play in that water, from what I remember it’s so warm and clear. Hopefully the BP thing hasn’t ruined it.
Anyway, we familiarized ourselves with Malibu, deeply. We shared the community’s mourning of a local grocery store. Their land was bought out by the Wal Mart family and they’re replacing it with a strip mall.
We were lucky to have stopped into the Malibu Gardens Nursery, although their business card says Trancas Canyon Nursery and the owner tells me that their land was part of the buyout. A new nursery would be built on the site, but only after everything is graded down and started from scratch.
Malibu is one of the more expensive areas to live. Celebrities live in Malibu. We saw Cher’s house (which, incidentally, is the new Hannah Montana House) and we got to stroll the beach behind The Colony, where Pink lives (I totally would have asked if she had a trapeze in her house and begged to play on it if I saw her, but alas…)
Anyway, I just can’t believe how lucky we were to be able to spend a month in Malibu. I tried to have a beach party, but very few people could all make it out the same day. We found ourselves entertaining quite often anyway. Brandon’s friend from Jr High came out for a visiit with his beautiful family. Our family friend Diane came for a visit, she was the mother of one of our high school friends, so she had a bunch of fun memories to share with us (and DAMN, she remembers everything). I was ale to visit with my friend Teresa (it had been over ten years) and Mike Hedge, a badass photographer, came out to visit, here are the pictures he took that day.
Anyway.. Summer in Malibu… Surfing, tanning, wave play, tide pools, pier fishing, restaurants, night clubs and $5 a day for public transportation into Los Angeles.
Wow. I got through that entire post and never once complained about all the sand in the motorhome. You know why? Because it wasn’t really that big of a deal. Whenever I found myself cleaning it up (and it was a daily chore), all I could think about was how lucky we are to be here. Life is Good