Since we were getting over the tail end of having the flu and were scheduled to get our oldest’s last cast off, we decided to find an RV Park with a pool and hot tub, near Yuma, for a little physical therapy. We all were okay soaking up a little vitamin D and getting some swimming in.
We landed on Pilot Knob RV Resort, a short 20 minute drive from Yuma AZ (where our daughter’s appointment was) and just across the CA border. Best of all, it had a pool & hot tub and only cost $20/nt (at-least for the economy sites for small campers like ours).
Cast Off Day
We planned a whole day around getting our daughter’s last cast off as it was something we were all celebrating! We woke up and went to a Black Bear Diner for our first treat. Those diners are always so cheery and so tasty!
For our second treat I painted the girls faces into little kitties before they savored their breakfasts. For the record, our oldest ate her ENTIRE meal!! It was huge! This was also the biggest meal by far that she had eaten since getting sick with the flu.
The doctor’s appointment went well. They took off the cast, that was the main thing. So, this particular clinic, Bone and Joint Center of Yuma, have rotating doctors. Therefore, each time we have gone it has been a different doctor with different opinions and recommendations as any human being does. The last doc we saw was super easy breezy and told us that our daughter would be in her cast for two more weeks and then nothing. He didn’t recommend a boot for children, reasoning that if somethings hurts, the kid will stop. The doctor we happened to get this last time was a bit more conservative. He recommended that we either put our daughter BACK in a cast for another two weeks, put her in a boot or just take it easy as far as weight-bearing activities. He was worried she would put too much weight on it too fast and he wanted to give her another 2 weeks to heal more.
We decided not to get a cast or boot. The doctor said if she got a boot, she should only be wearing it for weight bearing activities and have it off at other times. Our daughter is typically super cautious and since we figured the pool would help a lot to acclimate her muscles back to working, we wouldn’t do the boot. If we were planning on being around a lot of other kids within the 2 week period after she got her cast off we may have opted for the boot just as extra protection but since we hadn’t planned any get-togethers soon after we felt okay without it.
Our third treat was playing in the pool and hot tub all afternoon and the fourth treat was an ice cream pool party! The girls and I dyed millet different colors for sprinkles and we found a Sprouts nearby that sold Coconut no-sugar-added ice cream so we could all partake. It was a day with lots of celebrating!
Los Algodones
We decided since we were almost due for teeth cleanings we would pop into Mexico for the day and get that done. It’s tricky knowing what places are good and which ones are not so good. Los Algodones is basically a town of dentists and eye clinics.
Last year when we came we went to Oasis Dental Group, a fairly large dentists office in the town. It was different from cleanings we had experienced in the US but pretty thorough. The only thing they didn’t do that I wished they did is use the little rubber polisher. I have a tooth that has half a temporary on it from when I was 12 years old. As you can imagine being a temporary it was only supposed to be temporary until my mouth became adult sized then I was supposed to get a permanent one. However, it’s still hanging on as strong as ever. The only downside is the seam in the tooth slowly collects stains from my tea and other things I am eating. However, once my teeth are polished, that all disappears! So…long story long, I wanted to find a dentist that used the polisher.
We got a recommendation from our camping neighbor at Pilot Knob to go to Ja Sol. She raved about how fast they got her in without waiting and how friendly they were. We thought we’d give it a try. Well, we found out why they don’t have a wait. They aren’t good, that’s why. Our neighbor was correct that they were friendly and there was no wait. However, they did some things that I’m pretty sure weren’t good. In hind sight I should have told them to stop, got up and left the office. However, I felt very rude doing that (can you imagine doing that to your hygienist or dentist?!) and I wasn’t positive they were doing things they shouldn’t be. I was sure that it wasn’t like any of the cleanings I had received in the States had been like.
Usually at the dentist they use their little Captain Hook metal pick (yes, that’s the technical term) to scrape off any stuck on plaque in the hard to reach places. This dentist office used a powered metal Dremel-like contraption and did this along my entire gum line. When the hygienist started doing this I stopped her and asked what she was doing. “I’m in here for a cleaning. Are you aware of that?” The hygienist said she was getting the plaque off my teeth. I then warned her of my temporary tooth because she was picking at it. For heavens sakes! It has lasted so many years, I didn’t want her to pop it off. She started using her little sanding tool on the front of my broken tooth since there was a slight catch in the seam which is why it was collecting stain. Honestly, it’s really just me that notices it and it wasn’t that big of a deal. I asked her to stop, I didn’t care that much about the snag in the seam. She insisted and started sanding again. I moved her hand out of my mouth taking the sander with me and asked that she please stop messing with that tooth and just move on with the cleaning. It was my mistake for not leaving then. She then sanded again and then finished the cleaning. So, I have a dip in the seam of my tooth now where she sanded the catch out! I just really hope this doesn’t weaken my tooth! Getting a permanent tooth is very pricey! I would not go back to this dentist in the future nor would I recommend it to others.
Justin got his cleaning done first and gave it a good review to me so, I guess we all have differing options.
We decided we didn’t want to stay and eat lunch. After our cleanings we did a loop through the sidewalk’s full of curios and then, overwhelmed, we went straight to the border to cross back into the US.
Pool
We took full advantage of the pool and hot tub while we were at Pilot Knob. It was an older pool and hot tub, but they were clean and heated so it was great! It turned out to be just what our oldest needed for rehab for her leg. We stayed at the RV Park for 7 days and swam all afternoon for all of those days.
By the 3rd day our oldest was swimming again using her healing leg to kick. Hurray!! Our youngest did a good job testing out some skills she had previously been intimidated by like putting her head under water. However, she did at one point walk off the pool steps into water over her head, which caused me to jump in the pool with my towel on to save her. It was so scary for me but didn’t seem to phase her. Yikes! After that I stayed very close to that little munchkin. Heavens!
Our poor little one’s skin takes after mine and is very sensitive. By the end of this swimming week she had a rash behind both knees, on both her upper thighs, on her arms and on the cheeks of her face. Sadly it all got bad all at once so there was no turning back at that point. Soothing creams and time out of the pool was all we could do. I think next time I might try a specialized pool body wash to use on her after every swim followed by soothing lotion. Lucky for our oldest, she has Justin’s skin so she wasn’t effected.
Other events
The campground held a dinner one night of burgers and hot dogs with some sides for a small fee. It was really a nice get together and fun to have a night off of cooking. Also, how nice for the regulars to have a weekly group meal, right? I’d honestly love to have this with my friends back in Portland!
Pilot Knob also had a little church service in their club house on Sunday morning that the girls and I went to. I have been spoiled with the best minister who has ever lived, thanks Mom, so my bar is high, but the service wasn’t bad. For those of you who have heard my Mom preach, this is a good review from me about another minister preaching. We got to sing which is something that always makes me happy. 🙂
We had such a sweet camping neighbor at the campground. It was an older couple with a dog named Red Velvet. The wife was so sweet and gave the girls her extra weaving supplies for plastic canvas. The girls have been absolutely stuck on making all kinds of creations since. They are getting really good at it! Thanks neighbor!!
Red Velvet and our little one hit it off right away. They adored each other! Our little one spent a lot of her free time petting and loving Red. When Red saw our little one coming she would jump up out of her bed and kiss her and snuggle in for some petting. It was pretty cute! Our youngest was sad to leave Red when it was time for us to move to our next destination.
We also checked out the library while we were in Yuma. The main branch is HUGE and quite lovely. The kids section is probably at least 6 times larger than our small local library branch back in Portland. There were lots of little nooks to read and spots for kids to play and interact with what the library had to offer. The girls and I chose to read in a starlit cave for over an hour. We read until we got so hungry we couldn’t concentrate anymore. I’m so grateful that our girls love reading so much! They love being read to and love reading their own books as well. There is just such a wealth of knowledge in libraries and it’s fun to discover it!
Justin ended up riding his bike a couple mornings for exercise and funny enough, he rode to the Mexican boarder as it was only a handful of miles away from where we were staying.
One of the mornings our oldest wanted to go along so they took a walk together with the wagon. They didn’t make it nearly as far as Justin did alone on bike but the open desert was still fun to explore together while our oldest worked on her weaving.
Though we had a great time in the pool, enjoyed the warm upper 70* weather we were getting and popping into Yuma, which was 20 minutes away, to explore, we were itching to move on. We had been stuck in the Yuma area a lot of our trip for doctors appointments so we were ready to explore other parts of the US.
And so we gathered our things and headed to San Diego.