Lake Day

Yeah! Our family finally had our first (and possibly our last) lake day yesterday. My poor hubby has had only 3 days off since mid June and now he's back at work for another 8. But at least we got to go and play for one day. The day before that, we got things done around the house and yard because simply put: I am not amazingly talented like Karrie and there are things around the yard that I just need my husband for:). Well, the kids had Vacation Bible School until noon, so by the time we picked them up and got out on the boat it was after 1pm. Which, according to Lake Isabella time, is pretty windy. But we still managed to get some wake boarding in for Dave and Tanessa. Tanessa just loves wake boarding. She did very well. She got up every time and did fine until she came to "the bump" otherwise known as the wake. Then she would get nervous. Ali got to do her favorite thing which was zip around on the tube. We forced Spencer to go on the tube with Dave, even though he cried at the beginning. But I promised him I would go super slow and he actually seemed to be enjoying it until we hit some major waves. Then he was done. But later he said, "well, actually, I did kinda like it." When asked if he wanted to go another round, he passed. There's still hope for him, though, because when Ali was younger she was terrified of the tube, too. However the day was not lost for him because he got to do his favorite thing: fish. He was so excited about that. Even though Dave forgot to bring his tackle box. So we dropped him off at the dock to go home and get it and the rest of us putted around the lake chasing ducks. He never did catch any fish yesterday, even though the fish finder said there were tons right under us. But he had stimulating fish talk with his dad (something about treble hooks and catching trout, not catfish) and made a new friend (Pablo, his worm). We met up with our friends Tisha and Josh who were out on their boat for a little while. Dave had Spencer and their daughter, Brenna, on our boat fishing, Josh had the rest of the girls (Tanessa, Jordyn, and Ali) on his boat tubing, and Tisha and I floated in the middle of the lake enjoying the peace and quiet. It was a very fun day and the best thing is, the kids were exhausted and slept wonderfully. I love summer!

Soccer Camp

Ali and Spencer just finished a week of British soccer camp. They went for 5 days, 3 hours a night. They absolutely loved it and had a ball! (no pun intended) They got to do fun drills and games and scrimmages. And of course, who would not enjoy listening to the coaches from England talk? My kids just love soccer. It is their favorite thing to do all year long. Even Tanessa, who chose not to do soccer camp because none of her friends were doing it this year. Pre-teens!(I can still say that for 6 more weeks!) But Marcie rather enjoyed her having free time to entertain Jayda so that us moms could chat.....I mean watch soccer! Spencer's favorite game was called Scooby-Doo, where are you? He really liked Coach Lee but said that his favorite was Coach Laura. Something about her being pretty....... Even though she was only with the little kids for one whole day. Ali's favorite game was Austin Powers and she couldn't decide if her favorite coach was Coach Laura or Coach Tony. Towards the end she decided on Coach Tony......I hope that wasn't based on looks, too! The coaches combine all the bigger kids, then divide them up into teams (or countries) and they compete all week, earning points and trying to win the gold cup ( a soccer ball on a cone). Ali was on team USA and her team color was white. She scored several goals throughout the week for her team. But in the end, Mexico ended up winning. Anyway, the kids had a great time and were bummed to see the week come to an end. Now, they can't wait for the official season to begin!

Thunderstorms and the Big Flood

While everyone else was panicking about the impending flood in Lake Isabella, here's what my kids were doing: some kind of rain song and dance hoping for more rain to play in. The day of the first flood, we only got a few drops of rain here in town. But at the first drop, my kids got out their gear in anticipation of lots of rain. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the actual flood (see Marcie's blog for pics) because I was basically forbidden to go anywhere near it! Dave was working and working for the fire department, he had a heads up on the flood. So, he calls and tells me that the water is going to hit town in 15 minutes and he wants us to stay home. He tells me he knows me and how much I like disaster (what's that supposed to mean, anyway?) so I better not go driving around looking for it. Then why did he even call? I never would have known if he didn't say anything. Naturally, at this point, I'm curious and it's torturing me that I can't leave home. By the way, he didn't call the next two days so when my neighbor with the scanner gave me the heads up, I got to go be a looky-loo. I did, however, make sure to stay as far away from any emergency personnel so that I could not get ratted out!

Christmas in July?

I thought this was cute and had to share! This pic was from a few weeks ago. I'm not sure why, but Spencer was really into digging in his winter drawer and staying warm after his baths for a couple of nights. Really, I have A/C and cannot afford to keep my house THAT cool, but for some reason, he thought he was cold.

Take me back to the beach

Oh my heck! It is so hot here. We just got back from the beach Tuesday night around 10pm and I wanted to turn around and go right back. It was 101 when we left Bakersfield after dropping Tanessa back off at her dads. At 9:00 at night! But back to my story. We were lucky enough to get to spend a few days over at Pismo with my very good friend Tisha and her family. They are camping over there for 2 weeks and invited us over for a few days. How could I resist? We left Sunday after church and arrived a few hours later. Of course the first thing we did was head to the beach. The kids got to put their feet in the sand and water. Didn't spend too much time because it was getting close to dinner. We did, however, see this huge jellyfish. It had to have been at least 2 feet around! Then we walked down to the little store, came back and had dinner. After that we just hung around the camp for the evening. The next morning we went hunting for shells and sand dollars. I totally lucked out because low tide wasn't until 8:10 am so I didn't have to get up at 5! The kids totally lucked out because they found buckets of sand dollars and shells. No, I am not exaggerating. Mostly sand dollars, but every kid had their bucket full. And we had to tell them to stop picking them up because there was no more room. We went back and showered and went to Morro Bay for lunch. We ate at the Otter Rock Cafe which was really good. Then I spent $100 dollars on sweatshirts.(choke, choke, cough, gag!) See, usually I overpack and am extra prepared for anything to the point where everyone makes fun of me. So, this time I tried to pack as light as possible and brought the kids only 1 sweatshirt each. Well, that morning they wore them to the beach shell hunting and they got soaked and muddy. From now on, let everyone make fun of me! I don't care as long as it saves me money! At least the girls say it is their favorite, most comfy sweatshirt they have ever had. Are they just trying to make me feel better? Anyway, we went walking around and went to the Morro Bay Aquarium to feed the sea lions. I ran into my brother's friend, who lives up here, and was just hanging out for the day. That was kinda funny. Then we went to the San Luis Pier. No rides or shops just nasty smelling fish and the fisherman catching them. Tisha's husband Josh rented a pole and let the kids take turns catching fish. They were just little mackerels and we gave them to one of the guys with a bucket. Let me just tell you that this made Spencer's day. The kid loves fishing, so to get to fish in the ocean and actually catch something was like a dream come true for him. We also saw some guy catch a sting ray, unhook him, and throw him back without getting stung. That was cool. When we finally pulled the kids and Josh away from fishing and we went back to camp. Tisha and I ran to get food and firewood so the kids could roast marshmallows and make smores. Then Josh got the kids all worked up about going on a snipe hunt. He tells them that they are these huge, ferocious birds, and the only way to get them is shine the flashlight right in their face and cover them with a big bag. He took them down to the beach on their hunt after dark. They weren't gone too long. The big girls had the little ones really freaked out. So, they came back. Ali and Spencer were really bummed that they didn't get to catch a snipe! And the next morning when we were woken up by the crows, Ali thought it was a snipe. Actually there was this HUGE bird up in the tree. Something you'd normally only see at CALM! By the way, Ali was sure that was a snipe, too! That day, we spent the whole day at Avila beach because even though it's only a couple miles from Pismo, it was sunny there instead of foggy. The kids had a blast. Tanessa boogie boarded as long as she could handle the cold water. Ali made an attempt that didn't last too long. Her and Spencer mostly played in the sand. They were trying to did a huge Kenny hole! Tanessa got her first bee sting. Poor thing! At 3, the wind really started picking up so we packed up and headed back for camp. I repacked the car, we all took showers, we hit the drive through, and headed home to the heat! We had a great time, even if it was a little short. And seriously, I want to go back!!

Happy 4th of July

Fourth of July is definitely my favorite holiday. Christmas is a very close second. But there's just something about Independence Day.......it just drives that patriotic feeling home. Makes you really think about how lucky we are to live here and why our country is what it is and what drives our country. Did you know that many of our founding fathers were Bible believing, God fearing people? Those are the standards and principles that our great country was founded upon. Good thing they are not alive today to see what a downslide is happening to our country. Gay marriage, for starters. Moving on, I just love the summer nights, fireworks, friends, family, and of course the food. What would the 4th be without a barbecue? Friday night we went to Bakersfield College to watch their annual fireworks show. It is the best I've ever seen! They shoot 'em off to patriotic music and it lasts anywhere from 20 to 25 minutes. The finale is unbelievable! And they always have some sort of pre-firework show. This time was a Christian band called Sanctus Real. I've heard them on the radio. They were really good. Ali and Spencer had a ball! Although, speaking of balls, Spencer was really bummed that one of the beach balls they were bouncing around the stands didn't come his way. Tanessa isn't with us this weekend. She's with her dad for 2 weeks. But she does get to go to the beach with us this week for a couple days so we're excited about that. On Saturday, July 5th we had our local fireworks over the lake. True the fireworks don't compare to, well, to many, many other fireworks but we did take the boat out so we were right under them. We have done this every year for the last three years and the kids just love it! Luckily, Dave managed to get the day off. With all these crazy fires, he has been working a ton of over time. He had worked 11 days before Saturday, had that one day off, and is working for another sixteen. Anyways, we all had a really good time out on the lake, which we deserved because we worked our behinds off around the house getting things done all day. My mom came with us and our good friends Brett and April and their three kids. We were so close to where they were shooting the fireworks, that we saw the guy running up the hill after he lit the grand finale. Then it was so bright, I think I was temporarily blinded for a split second and it was over. Seriously, you blink, you miss. Then we just floated around till 10:30. We always wait till everyone else is off the lake because the docks can get kinda brutal with everyone fighting to get there first. But oh well, fun was had by all! Happy 4th of July!!