After our medical scare with little Theo, we knew that we needed to spend some time fixing up our RV parking spot and yard.

We decided to tackle our shade tarp first.  Though this did not directly effect his injury, we wanted to allow more airflow into the motorhome for the hot summer creeping up on us.

We initially decided to put up the tarp to shade the sunny side of our RV and protect against some of the internal heat absorption.  However, we did not leave very much space in between the motorhome and where we anchored the tarp.  This meant virtually no airflow from one side of the RV.

We retracted the slide and Andy got to work restringing the tarp on the outside of our carport.

So far, we have noticed quite the difference in flow without giving up too much of our privacy screen.

Our largest project, and one still in the works, has been preparing the yard for our dogs.  Our host situation is a very lucky one since we are hosts in a community park that only has guests in it during the day.  This means that we don’t need to worry about overnight campers like we would as campground hosts.

Our position also came with a wonderful area to park our RV, complete with its own yard (albeit a tiny one).

Most of our area is cement.  We have one small patch of fake turf, three little garden areas, and a large area that up until now has been weeds and dirt.  We were unsure of what to do in this area since we are facing a drought in Southern California.  We talked about laying grass seed–which didn’t make sense since we couldn’t water it much.  We talked about getting fake turf put in (way too expensive).

After our scare with Theo, we decided to gravel the entire thing.  There was already a little gravel garden path that looked nice.  We removed the large rocks around one part of the path, tilled and raked the entire dirt area, and laid the gravel.  Easier said than done.

The park supplied all the tools we needed to complete the job, including the gravel.  We thankfully were able to haul all the gravel in using the gator and not with wheelbarrows.

**I’d like to note that when I say “we” I really mean that Andy did most of it.  I helped were I was able but he is amazing.

We are very happy with how it turned out.  Being from Minnesota, I am used to a lush, green, grassy yard.  The whole rock thing is new to me but I have to say that I like what we did here.  It is easy for us to keep clean with the dogs and it cuts down on any weeds that could try to get in the yard.  Next addition will be a bird bath!

It’s strange to work on something that isn’t yours and to make decisions about a yard that you don’t own.  We discussed our plan with the rangers ahead of time and we believe that this will be better for future hosts as well (less maintenance).  We (Andy) did the heavy lifting and others will hopefully enjoy a yard that is more than just dirt!

To complete our project, we will add gravel along the other side of the fence near the RV.  We don’t want any more of those foxtails creeping into our yard or into Theo’s little feet!

After tackling most of this huge project on Sunday, we decided to spend a day at the beach.  A much deserved and much needed break.  We took time on Monday to enjoy our reason for being out here.

We also spent a great Memorial Day dinner with Aunt Kris and grandpa.

It was an eventful holiday weekend and we are thankful that we got to end it by spending time with family!