Big Bear

While David was on summer vacation from school we decided to do lots of little day trips to have family time together. We went to Disneyland a couple of days, the beach another, swimming, but we also took Luke up to the Big Bear cabin for the first time! We left on a Thursday early morning and left from Big Bear Saturday afternoon.We had so much fun just experiencing new things with Luke. When we arrived we just unpacked our things and got everyone settled. We hung up the hammock and Luke and Dad we just relaxing and enjoying the great weather.
Luke was just having such a ball with being able to go outside and roam around in a large yard with lots and lots of sticks. We saw tons of squirrels and bugs and other wild life that we don't get to see all the time in suburbia. I was so pleased and content that I could allow Luke to venture off and explore. Living in an apartment on the second floor he really doesn't get to do very many outside activities because there really is no outside area to just play. Then later we went to the village and shopped around. We really didn't do that much shopping, just walking around and looking at all the changes that had occurred in the last couple of years. Our site seeing came to a halt when it began to rain and we thought it was probably a good idea to head home and make dinner.

David and I thought it would be lots of fun to barbecue up there and then have smores for dessert. Unfortunately because it had just rained it made the air humid and harder for the charcoal to heat up. We had hamburgers the first night and they we cooked partially on the barbecue and partially cooked in the microwave. It was a learning experience that we will definitely look back on and remember.

On Friday we decided that we wanted to take Luke fishing! David and I had not been since both of us were very young. So we thought that we would make try make good memories with Luke. So off we went down to the KMART to get a fishing license and some bait. Then we staked out a spot at Boulder Bay and went to it. David had fished previously in Big Bear several times before and had no luck with catching anything. We were hoping for the sake of Luke that we would at least catch one fish. So there we were fishing as a family, David picked it up easy and remembered how to cast and bait the hook and all that good stuff. I unfortunately had a horrible time remembering. As you can see I couldn't cast or bait the hook, so I just sat in the chair eating Cheetos Cheese Puffs and watched David teach Luke. Luke had such a blast! He never really understood what we were doing but we made him a makeshift rod out of a stick and twine and baited it for him so he could just swing it around without hurting anyone. We were only planning on staying a little while but we were having such a good time being together and watching Luke fish, that we stayed till the weather got bad. It was cooler that day and we had an overhead cloud cover off and on and eventually it rained and we had to clean up and leave. But all in all we had a great time and plan to do it again really soon.

After we got back David decided to rake the yard and clean up a little bit. He thought it would be a good idea it being fire season and all. We just couldn't believe how many trash bags he and Luke filled up. It was probably 15 years plus worth of dead weeds and pine needles. Later that night we barbecued again and had better success.

Later that night we bathed Luke in the sink. The sink you might ask? The water heater needs to be replaced and so it is not very affective in heating the water. So if we wanted hot water to wash dishes or bathe Luke we had to heat up water in the kettle on the stove. David and I of course could not bathe in the sink so we had to take cold showers in the bathroom. The cabin is 30 years old and needs a lot of work, Tom and Monica are slowly but surely replacing things here and there. But with that being said we are still in the wilderness and there are more creepy crawly things lurking about. Such as carpenter ants that are 1/4" long and spiders, mice and rats. Things that I am just not fond of. The carpenter ants were a real problem because they were getting water from the toilet and I was terrified that they would bite me while I was going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. We also found tons of mice and rat doo-doo and so I didn't want Luke or any of us to walk around with out or shoes on. I didn't think that I am a complete clean freak but maybe I am. I definitely will bring my vacuum, duster and cleaning supplies next time we come so that I will be able to enjoy myself.

On Saturday we really wanted to go out on the lake and have some water fun. So we decided to go look at the local pirate ship. It really wasn't all that impressive and we couldn't even go aboard and look at it. But we did see a really cool school of baby catfish on the dock! Later we made our way down to the North Shore. We had decided that we would rent kayaks and have a lunch out on the water. When we got there we were advised that kayaks were not that stable and deep so instead we rented a canoe. I think that it was a great choice. Luke was actually kind of scared it was really rocky out on the water and the wind really started to pick up. It took us so long just to move maybe about 50 yards that I was already tired after a half hour and wanted to head back to shore. David being a super Dad pulled the weight for all of us and got us going. We ate our lunch in the canoe but got rocked a little too hard from the wake of a boat and we got shooken up a bit and water got in the canoe and in our bag of Cheetos Cheese Puffs! Bummer! After that we headed back to shore and made our way home.

I am so glad that we went and that we as a new family are starting to make traditions and great memories of our own.

2008 Summer Recap

This summer has been so much fun! I had the opportunity again to watch Megan and Camryn Vallely. They are such sweet girls and huge help to me. We had a pretty eventful summer which included Wild Rivers, Sea World, Tanaka Farms, Tide Pools, Beach Club, Ladera Ranch Water Park, Bowling. . . lots and lots of FUN! Wild Rivers and Sea World we got annual passes. We spent almost every Wednesday at Wild Rivers and Luke loved it! We spent a lot of time in the lazy river going around it at least 4-5 times. We would go down slides and play in the water walk. On our first trip there we decided that we would go on the kiddie mat ride. Needless to say I came out of that ride with a huge war wound right under my left buttocks. The mat got away from me and I slid across the bottom of the slide that was not smooth but rather like rough gravel. We did not go on that ride again the rest of the summer. Other than that we had an awesome time and we never ran into TLC once. Luke asks constantly about going back to the Water Park! Sea World we went only 2 times. It was lots of fun but the drive and the cost of getting down there (gas prices peaked at $4.35 + a gal) was just too much. We went with The Dunyon Girls and the Rawson Family to Baby Beach at Dana Point and the tide pools one day and that really was such a treat! We saw lots of crabs, sea anemones, shells, muscles and other such sea creatures that I just don't know the names for them. The kids had a great time, it was difficult for Emma and Luke to climb on the rocks (very slippery and unstable) but Megan being the great person that she is stepped into help and even Camryn was trying to carry Emma a couple of times. Thanks Girls! Maybe next time it would be better to have the Dad's there to help. The Beach Club is such a favorite place for us to go. I feel so relaxed and at ease there. Luke is so content in playing in the sand and just wading in the shallow water. We went a few times with the play group and a couple with Jen Proffit. I wish I had a membership! With the play group Lindsay Brewster was able to get a key to the Ladera Ranch Water Park! Luke had a ton of fun, except when he tried to catch the water in his mouth from the HUGE red bucket that sits at least 2 stories high and dumps 300 Gallons of water. I tried to rescue him but was afraid myself of getting caught under the down pour of water. Luckily he got knocked to the side and missed the mainstream! It was a learning experience for him and I don't think he will try it again. One thing that was really fun this year was that we did the Tanaka Farms Watermelon picking tour. It was really neat this year because Dave actually got to go with us and spend some of his summer vacation with us. I really enjoyed the Watermelon tour this year they changed it from last year and liked how they had different fruits and vegetable to try. They had some new interesting facts about growing things on a farm. One thing that I thought that was interesting was that it takes 18 months for a banana to grow. From the time that the tree sprouts a flower to the banana actually being picked and sold in the market. That is a really long time! Another cool thing that Tananka Farms had was yellow watermelon! At first it kind of tasted the same but after a few bites it definitely has its own taste. Dave, Luke, Megan and Camryn didn't like the yellow watermelon very much, they all preferred the traditional red watermelon. After we got to try other types of melon and cucumbers grown on the farm we got the opportunity to pick our own watermelon. Everyone got a red watermelon but, I chose a yellow one so that I could show it to Grandma-ma. I knew she would appreciate it for its uniqueness. As we were walking back to the tractor Camryn once again just like last year dropped her watermelon. We tell her every time to pick one that is a reasonable size to carry. But you know how kids are? They have to have the best and the biggest. Luckily one of the workers took pity on us and ran back to get a Camy another watermelon, with this one though David carried it to make sure we did not have another fatality. One of the last things we did this summer was go bowling. It was Luke's first time and he had a blast! He was so cute in his bowling shoes. The smallest size they had were size 9" They were really to big but we had to have him wear the bowling shoes to get the true effect and experience. He was so excited and was really getting into it. I was having a hard time relaxing only because I was worried about his fingers getting smashed together by the bowling balls and him ruining other people concentration. (There were a lot of leagues practicing.) We decided to have the bumpers up and a special caddie to help Camy and Luke get their bowling balls enough momentum to make it to the end of the lane. At the end of our hour Megan Won with the highest score with me trailing behind her and to our amazement Luke actually beat Camy! But who was really keeping score anyway?

All in all we had a great summer! Filled with lots of memories and laughter.

Staying Home

For the last six years I have been working for the SVUSD as a manager for the TLC program. But as of today I am officially a stay at home mom! I have waited for this day for a long time. I have had to put Luke in child care since he was 5 months old and it was the hardest thing I have had to do the last 2 years. I look forward to being here at home with him and getting to catch up on the things that I have missed as a mom.