We Moved! (Pt. 2)

If you didn’t catch my last post, go check it out. It is the beginning of our cross-country chronicles.

Day three was awesome! After a refreshing night sleeping in our AirBnB, we headed to breakfast at my grandparent’s home. It is so fun watching our boys interact with their great-grandparents. They are so fortunate to have 6 living great-grandparents whom they have been able to spend time with.

From breakfast we headed into Albuquerque to visit Explora! If you find yourself in ABQ with younger kids, this is a great place to go. The boys loved the water exhibit. We spent the majority of our time on the water patio. They also enjoyed making giant bubbles, building with giant foam blocks, creating circuits, and designing marble runs.

After the museum, we stopped for lunch at the public library downtown. They have a cute and delicious sandwich shop.

We were hoping to stop at A Park Above in Rio Rancho on the way home but we were able to find someone to pick up our Pilot and drive it from NM to FL for us! Instead of the park, we headed to meet the car transporter. Once the transfer was complete, we headed back to my grandparents house to relax a while before dinner. And when I say relax, I mean my grandpa got the boys riled up with a massive pillow fight.

After dinner and goodbyes, we headed back to Casita de Sterling for the night. Day 3 really was perfect.

Have you every visited Albequerque or Rio Rancho? What were your favorite spots?

Instant Pot Turkey Chili

I’m not a fan of beans. Like, I hate them. Blah! It’s a texture thing. I do enjoy a good beanless chili though and the one I threw together a few days ago turned out great. Bonus – I was able to do the entire thing in the RV!

Instant Pot Turkey Chili

Servings: 6-8
Time: 25 mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

1lb ground turkey
1 sweet potato, cubed
2 cups baby carrots
2 onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1.5 cups vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder

Directions:

Set the instant pot to saute. Toss in the turkey and onions. Cook until the turkey begins to brown. (You can use olive oil to brown the turkey but I forgot ours at home and it was still delicious.)
Throw in the rest of the ingredients. Change the instant pot from saute to manual. Seal the lid and set for 9 minutes.
When the timer dings, do a quick release. Serve over rice (or cornbread, mmmm!) and enjoy!

If you like a spicier chili, add in some red pepper. The vegetables can be changed around too. I used what I had on hand. Let me know what you think!

-KB

Our First RV Outing!!

Last weekend we were supposed to take Roxie out for her first overnight. Long story short, due to the Navy, the weekend didn’t go as planned (shocking, I know). We did still manage to get her out to a campsite where we had awesome family time.

On Saturday afternoon we headed to Sweetwater Summit Regional Park in Bonita, CA. We got to our campsite around 1630. After hooking up to power, the boys and dog headed to the park while I got started cooking dinner. I brought my Instant Pot and made turkey chili. I’ll post a recipe later because it turned out really well! They came back before dinner was ready and built a campfire and played on the bed. We enjoyed our delicious dinner sitting outside by the fire. Everyone really enjoyed themselves, except the dog who was a little freaked out about the whole situation. (She did enjoy the chili though.) After cleaning up, we roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. This was probably the best part of our evening. The air was cool but the fire was warm. We sat around (as much as a 20 month old will allow) and talked and ate and laughed. Perfect first evening in Roxie.

Any tips or ideas for taking your RV out in SoCal with a toddler?

Roxie the RV

So…we went to Vegas and came home with an RV! (No, we did not win her, we bought her.) She’s a little thing, Class B. We are very excited. We’ll be taking her out tomorrow to spend the day at the beach. Look for her soon on Outdoorsy! We’ll be renting her when we don’t plan to travel.

Which, speaking of traveling, we are starting to plan our Yosemite vacation! Deployment is coming this summer so we will be taking the boys, dog, and Roxie on a two week vacation before the husband leaves. Any Yosemite travel tips? I’d love to hear them!

-KB