Since our last check in, life took us to Lancaster for ~4 weeks, back to Loomis for 1 week and now here we are in Middletown, CA. Population <2,000, it’s smaller than the town I grew up in in Maine.
It’s definitely been an adjustment. Very eye opening, too. We have been primarily bouncing around Sacramento suburbs for a few years now. It seemed having pretty much any store we could want within a few miles was convenient. Sure it was, but it was easy to kid ourselves into running several “quick” errands a week. Only they weren’t that quick. The traffic and masses of people often ate up more time than desired or budgeted. But because everything was “just down the road,” it was easy to give in to the pull to venture out for that instant satisfaction to check off whatever creeped onto a shopping list. And before we knew it, the extra pockets of time were eaten up by errands.
Here, there is no Target or gymnastics classes. Our days seem to have more room for slowing down with a book or an episode of the Great British Bake Off, all cuddled up together. Playgrounds are limited, nudging us to nature’s playground. The joy of throwing rocks into the creek just steps away doesn’t seem to get old. Nature walks and hikes are opening up Ellie and Maeve to new interests. The girls are even happy to help in the kitchen again.
The biggest down side is missing the wonderful families at the campground in Loomis. I miss chatting with the fellow moms. Ellie and Maeve really miss running amuck with their friends up and down “kid row.” Thankfully, their houses have wheels, too, so hopefully we’ll end up parked near each other again some time in the future.