Let's play catch-up! Again!

It's a good thing I'm not doing this professionally since I didn't think more than once or twice about posting something on here to show what we were doing during this summer.  We had a blast and I want to remember it, which is really the only reason I'm even doing this now.  I know in a few years I'll look back and this and it'll help me remember the fun we had.  So once again, the last couple of months in pictures!

I sewed a tablecloth for my Mom and Dad.  It had a border on it. It wasn't as hard to do as I thought it was going to be.  Just don't examine it too closely.

I ran out of red thread for said tablecloth.  I had one more panel to sew.  One!

 

 The girls and I went to The Farm while Hubby was in CA doing a meeting.

Then we stayed with my sister and bro-in-law for a few days.  The B-I-L grew up with one brother, so we're a bit much for him to handle in large quantities, but he's getting used to us. 

So used to us, that when I asked them to bring me back something from Scotland, this is what he bought me.  Note--that's not my hair attached to the hat.  I laughed.  It is pretty funny!

On to my parent's house for their church's VBS.  The girls always enjoy it.  And we enjoyed spending time with everyone there.

I think my brother wears the hat much better than I do!

Or #4

We had a shower for my brother and Sis-In-Law for our newest niece.  #1 was sick and not able to be there, but the other girls had a good time.

 

Then the girls all stayed while I drove 12 hours home by myself.  I felt like this the entire way.  I swear towards the end I was stopping every 30 minutes because I was guzzling the soda to stay awake.  You would think all the salt from the sunflower seeds I was eating would have helped that, but all it did was give me cankles!

However, the girls got to spend time with my parents and my sister and bro-in-law and they had an awesome two weeks without their parental units around. 

All the grandkids for my parents at church together.  LuLu (the one we threw the shower for) wasn't quite there yet.

Hubby and I had a lot of fun being able to go and do whatever we wanted without having to think about the girls.  For instance, we spontaneously decided to drive 3 hours one way to hear The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra.  Clay is our friend, but we've never heard him perform with his group before.  So we drove there to hear them with every intention of driving home that night, but we were given a hotel room on the Mississippi River so we just stayed the night.  It was awesome!

After two weeks those in my family who could come met up in Hot Springs for a family vacation.  And this is the only picture I took.  I will eventually get more from those more picture conscious than me and I'll do a different post for it.  Because it was an amazing week!

Except for the trip home when #4 had a fever and was miserable.  Everyone ended up getting sick, but I was thankful we had made it home before it hit!

And since being home I've finally finished the t-shirt dresses I promised the girls I would make them this summer.  #1 and #2 have one also, but again, not picture conscious! 

So ya know, nice, typical, slow summer for us.  Wouldn't have it any other way!

Is it still camping if you sleep in a cabin?

We were in the woods and we all came home with chigger bites, so I'm going to say yes!

Our landlady owns a campground about an hour and a half north of where we live and she invited us to come and stay the night one Thursday night.  She knows Hubby has Fridays off and she usually doesn't have anyone renting the cabin we stayed in on a Thursday.  We decided to go ahead and go this last Thursday as one more fun thing before we all started back to school tomorrow. 



 When we got there we all piled in her ATV and she took us on a tour around the area.  It really is beautiful up there.  Hubby and I both really enjoy camping and being in the woods.  This was a nice time for us to be able to spend together as a family without it costing a bunch of money.  We have been thankful for having a wonderful landlady before, but now we're also thankful she is willing to let us stay in her cabin every once in a while as well!

Friday morning we had decided to go see the waterfalls that our landlady kept telling us about.  She asked if she could come along since she hadn't been to see them in about 20 years.  The two waterfalls we got to see were beautiful.  At the second one I even relented and let the girls go down and get their feet wet.  When we go back I will make sure I bring flip flops for all of us so that we aren't trying to put shoes and socks back on wet and muddy feet. 

The hike to and from the waterfalls was a bit more than we were expecting, but it wasn't too bad.  We'll be better prepared next time.  All the girls were troopers.  Even #4 only asked to be carried a couple of times.  #3 was literally running circles around the rest of us.  Gotta love a 6 year old!

It was a quick trip, we weren't even up there 24 hours, but it was worth it!  We're already looking forward to the next time we get to go back.  As #4 keeps saying, "We're going to the cabin tomorrow, right?"

Still in CA

Sadly, Wednesday morning we had to get packed up and head back to Tulare.  We did a little bit of shopping and because I took too long to shop we just had to eat at a diner famous for its clam chowder.  It's a shame I don't like clam chowder, but everyone else does so we were all happy.  After that Hubby took the kids back to the beach for a few minutes to allow them to collect some shells.  #2 was really upset that we left the beach so soon the day before because she had spent all her time in the water and then didn't get to look for shells because we left early.  So Hubby, being the good Daddy that he is, took them all down there and let her gather some shells.  Mom and I went to a couple more stores trying to find t-shirts for all of us and some salt-water taffy.  We all met back up, grabbed some amazing cinnamon rolls to go, and hit the road.  We made it back in enough time to take a shower before going to church.

All our family at the coast

Once again, it was great to spend time with all our church family there.  We said good bye to D and Auntie M and their kids and Papa and Gran-Jan who were all leaving the next day to go on vacation and then went back to P and Aunt K's house.

At this point we had worn every article of clothing I had packed for the trip.  This was how I planned, but still, getting all that laundry sorted from the last week and a half was a bit daunting.  Remember this picture?

Now think of it all being dirty!  So Thursday was laundry day.  Instead of taking all day trying to do laundry at the house I just took everything to a laundry mat.  12 washes later and how ever many cycles in however many dryers to dry it all, it was done.  I threw it all semi-folded into a couple of suitcases until I could get back to the house and sort it all for our trip home.

See, I was in a bit of a rush because we had to make it to a certain bakery in Porterville to eat a torta for lunch.  Hubby and I both worked in Porterville for a while when we lived there, and Hubby and his family had known about this little hole in the wall Mexican bakery for a while, and they make the most amazing mexican food.  We really wanted to sample everything, but settled for a torta.  So good!

The rest of the day was spent re-packing all of our things for the trip home and trying to cram 2 years worth of talking into just a few short hours.  You guessed it--we stayed up way too late again, but it was worth it.  We miss seeing our CA family!

Hubby wrangles children while I pack

And so began our trip home.  Pretty much the same thing as the trip out, only in reverse!  A lot of endless miles that have all blurred together.  One thing that did stand out because it was so funny was that when we started this whole trip I was perfectly happy being in the car with everyone and would talk and engage with everyone, especially Hubby, and it was just another adventure we were on.  When I got in the car to start the trip home I just remember looking over at Hubby and thinking, "Ooo, I already don't like you!"  He hadn't done a single thing, but I didn't want to have anything to do with him!  I don't think I talked much that day.  Again, it's a good thing my Mom was along!

We got to Canyon Saturday evening and got to spend some more time with my Sis and BIL and our friends who live there.  We decided to stay in Canyon on Sunday to give us some time to recover and to enjoy a little extra time with our family there.  It was just what we needed!  We went to see a movie and just enjoyed being together.  My BIL fits into our family quite nicely!

Aunt S let them do her hair!

Monday morning we traveled back to The Farm (my brother D and Aunt A's place), stayed the night and then headed home on Tuesday.  We were very thankful to only have a 5 hour drive on Tuesday.  We weren't complete zombies when we rolled in to town!

And so ends the saga of our trip to California.  While the drive to and from was not the most fun I've ever had, the time we got to spend with friends and family while we were there made it worth it.  However, the next time we go I'm going to make sure I find flights for cheaper than we would pay in gas to get out there!  

Now that we're in California

School starts tomorrow--I've got to finish all the posts about our summer or I'll never stay caught up to date!

We finally made it to California, after what seemed like a week in the car traveling.  Our wonderful sis-in-law, Auntie M,  got up and made a huge breakfast for us that was super good, and then we all got ourselves ready for a photo shoot!  Auntie M does photography on the side and I asked her if she would take some family pictures for us.  It wasn't necessarily a good time for either of our families.  They were getting ready to go on vacation for two weeks and we only had a few hours before we needed to leave to get to where Hubby was holding the meeting, but she was sweet enough to fit us in.  And she did a fantastic job!  A lot of photographers aren't very good dealing with kids, being able to be clear and precise with what they say so that all ages of kids can understand, but Auntie M was fantastic.  We got a lot of great shots of all of us, just the girls, and Hubby and I by ourselves.  I don't have any of the pictures yet, but when I get them I'm sure I'll be posting them for everyone to see!  Thank you again Auntie M for working us in and getting such awesome shots!

After a quick dinner prepared by Auntie M (yeah, I'm pretty sure I sat around like a slug that day.  My apologies M!) we headed down to Bakersfield to start the meeting.  And that is where we spent the rest of the weekend.  We had dinner and evening services each night and activities during the day.  We got to see friends and family we haven't seen since the last time we were in CA,

One of our nieces

new family members we had never met,

#4 and a second cousin

held a few snakes,

We all held the snake, even #4

and basically had a good time with everyone.

Swim time at the end of the meeting!

I love the meetings we do in CA because we know and love everyone there so it is a time of great fellowship, even if we don't get much sleep!

Sunday night we headed back to Tulare for one night and then got up bright and early Monday morning to head to the coast with Hubby's parents and brother P and his wife and 3 girls. We were looking forward to a time to relax, unwind, stick our toes in the sand, and just spend time together.

We had a bit of a snag when we got to the campgrounds we were staying at because the trailer our family was borrowing from a friend of Hubby's brother wasn't there because another trailer was parked in the spot we were supposed to have.  We got it worked out pretty quickly, but as we were finishing up getting everything set up inside and went back outside we noticed smoke in the air.  A lot of it. Turns out there was a brush fire less than a mile from where we were.  We decided to get out of dodge so we left everything but a few chairs and headed to the beach a few miles away.  Luckily the fire never got any closer to where we were so all the trailers were fine!

Cool classic truck painted the same color as the trailer it pulled

And even though I lived in CA for two years and went to the beach often during that time I had forgotten how easy it is to get burned at the beach.  We were only there for about an hour at 5 in the afternoon so I didn't bother to put sunscreen on any of us and I got burned enough to be miserable the rest of the night.  Luckily no one else burned much so they were OK.  I still love going to the beach, even though it is a ton of work to lug all the equipment to and from the cars!

Everyone put their toes in the water

Tuesday we were joined by brother D, Auntie M, and their kids and we attempted to go to the beach again.  It barely lasted two hours.  I really wanted to spend all day at the beach, but it was 60 degrees outside and the wind would not stop blowing.  We were all pretty miserable.   However, the sun was still shining and having learned my lesson from the day before I made sure we were all covered in sun screen.  Except that this still happened! 

I got sunscreen on almost all of my leg, except that large red spot.  And if you look closely you'll see that there are two large white spots where I apparently put my fingers that had sunscreen on them.  Y'all, those marks have not gone away!  So ridiculous!  Hubby and his brothers and most of the children did get out in the water, but after they got out they didn't want to get back in.  So we packed it up and headed back to the camp.

Then we felt bad that none of the kids had really gotten a chance to be in the water much so we got the bright idea to take them swimming in the pool at the campground.  A pool that was not heated.  And it was still only 70 degrees outside.  It was miserably cold.  The kids of course were having a blast.  Even #4 couldn't be persuaded to get out if everyone else was in the water.  So we stayed long enough to turn everyone's lips blue and then headed back to the trailers to get cleaned up.

This is our Suburban with twelve people riding in it after being in the pool!  The heat of sitting so close actually felt pretty good! 

We went out for dinner that night, we had to have some real fish and chips, and then Hubby's brother D just had to get some chocolate covered bugs for us to eat.  I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

Ants

Nope, she's not a ham

More ants

Worms

Cricket

Whatever was in the box

As long as you don't think about what you're eating...

"I'll eat one if you eat one!"

"It's just chocolate, it's just chocolate..."

I ate one, and like I said, as long as you don't think about what you're eating, it's not too bad.  But when I watch my 2 year old niece eat a cricket and she has a leg hanging out of her mouth, it is kind of hard to forget! 

She loved them

The girls all ate every kind of bug and my Mom ended up eating quite a few as well.  Hubby ate a boxful without even thinking about it.  I ate one cricket.  Go me!

So even though the actual beach was pretty much a bust, Uncle D made sure that the girls will never forget that trip!  It was a very relaxing couple of days with our family that we don't get to spend nearly enough time with!

Road Trip, part 2

Tuesday morning we were up bright an early again.  And we spent the day on the road.  That about sums it up.  It seemed to take forever to get anywhere.    

I do have to say that for this trip and the one home, the girls did an amazing job.  Hubby and I had talked to them about maintaining good attitudes throughout the trip even though they wouldn't necessarily feel like it.  We told them we expected them to behave with love and respect for each other and that we wouldn't tolerate any ugliness or hatefulness just because they were sick of being in the car, and they did not disappoint.  That was probably helped by the money that Mom brought to bribe them with.  Basically they started off with a roll of coins and every time they were hateful or asked when we were going to get there they lost a coin back to Grammy.  I don't think any of them lost more than 3.  Well, except #4, she should have lost all of them probably, but she does get away with a little more since she's only 3. 

Speaking of Mom, I also need to say that the trip would not have gone nearly as smoothly as it did if she had not been with us.  Number one, she sat in the back the entire trip which saved me from sitting back there and getting car sick.  I felt bad, but in the way that you feel guilty but also secretly happy.  Yeah, I can say that cause she already knows it.  She also dealt with the girls so that I didn't have to as much.  Mainly because she was the closest adult, but also because that is the type of Grammy she is.  It made Hubby and my's life much easier.  I don't know if she enjoyed herself as much as she thought she was going to, but we really enjoyed having her along!

 That is #4 stuffing her head, arms, and legs into her pillowcase.  We might have let her stay like that for a while thinking we were playing hide and seek.  Don't judge, it was the only time she quit talking that entire day!
 
So we got in to Flagstaff, AZ Tuesday night and we were completely wiped out.  The late nights and day long travels had finally caught up to us.  The nice thing was, because of the different time zones, we actually got in at 4 instead of 6 that night.  So I got the brilliant plan that since we were all so tired we would eat right away and go to bed at 6:30, which would be the girls' normal bed time in our time zone.  Great plan, right?  We're all exhausted and should fall asleep immediately.  Except for the sun that was shining in around the window curtain making our room look like it was lit up with a 60 watt lamp!  OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but I can vividly remember #4 whining because she couldn't go to sleep while the sun was still up.  Sharing a hotel room with children is so much fun!  She did finally conk out and we were all able to catch up on a little bit of sleep.

We had plans of making it to Tulare, CA in time for church Wednesday night.  That is where Hubby and I lived for the first 2.5 years of marriage and we wanted to see our family and friends at church.  But that plan was formed before traveling in the car for 3 and a half days.  We were so tired and too drained to try to make it in enough time to shower and change for services.  So we took our time getting on the road Wednesday morning and didn't get in to Tulare until around 7.  Turns out, even if we had left when we originally planned to we wouldn't have been there in enough time to go to church anyway thanks to the speed limit dropping to 55 and 65 once we hit CA.  I know they do that so you can enjoy all the pretty scenery. In case you didn't catch that sarcasm, picture those scenes in  movies when someone is out in the desert and it shows a shot of them looking in to the distance and there is nothing but wavy lines showing how hot it is?  Yep, that's what we were looking at.  We did get to see a few windmills though so that made it worth it!

This is the crazy that happens when you're in a car for three days

We did stop at one fun place for a potty break.  It was just a random fruit stand place that Hubby remembered being there when we lived there.  It has turned in to quite the attraction now.  No one else was there when we stopped because it was at 4 pm on a Wednesday, but they have a huge building full of produce you can buy, a play area, and a little petting zoo.  The zoo wasn't open, but we were able to look at all the animals.  We got to see peacocks, several of whom opened their tail feathers for us to see.  I always forget how vivid the colors on their feathers are.  Beautiful!  Also, did you know that a peacock's cry sounds like they are yelling "Help!"  Yeah, I didn't either until I heard them doing it.  It would freak me out to hear it if I thought it was a person. 

We also got to stop at a Del Taco for dinner.  Forget In-N-Out Burger, we love Del Taco.  Mainly their chicken tacos.  I think we ordered 18 that night.  It wasn't the last time we ate there on this trip either!

We finally got to Hubby's brother's house and got to see D, M, and their two kids.  Hubby's parents and other brother and his family also came by after church to see us briefly.  Which was nice since we couldn't have moved after we sat down if the house had been on fire.  We stayed up late again.  I know, you would think we would learn our lesson, but these are friends and family we don't get to see very often so we have to cram years of visiting into just a few days.  So we'll sleep when we're dead!  Which is actually what I slept like when I finally did go to sleep!