Street Fair?

 That's what they call it anyway.  So the little town we live in has a "Street Fair" every year.  It's not what I would call a "Street Fair" there are a few vendor's selling stuff but it's not a lot maybe 4 or 5 people really selling stuff the rest of the people there are trying to get your business like the New Window Company, or the Contractors, we have private schools out and lots of Churches vying for you.  To me it's quite overwhelming.  IT should be called a Business Fair.  We don't come often because of this, but this year I forgot what it was and invited my sister down to come with us.  Seeing how she's lived back east for several years and told me about their "Street Fairs" I thought oh this should be fun.  Well the most fun we had was watching the kids look through the SWAT truck and the Fire Truck.  We got to see what my sister's company makes for the Fire Department which was really neat.  We went we saw and we came home.   I think next year we'll skip it.  That is unless my sister has an unbelievable desire to go back next year......

 Checking out the SWAT Truck!  

Wiggles trying on their helmet and gas mask.

 

Get ready for some SOCCER!!!

 I know you were probably thinking Football, and in some parts of the world it is called football. Just not here!  So again this year I waited and hoped another would volunteer for banner mom.  To which no one did, so I volunteered again.  I learned a few tricks from last year but also from a high school friend who makes them for her kids. 

I had less time to get the banner done by opening day for several reasons, a holiday weekend, power outage, not meeting the coach or getting the uniforms early.  These did not scare me though.  I got it done the night before our first game and with minimal glue sticks which seemed to double in amount.  Thank You God!  Our team color is Orange and not any orange neon orange.  Monkey can wear this shirt at night and I'm sure we will see him even if we are out in the desert camping.  No reflectors for this kid his shirt will do that.  Our team name Tigers! 

Here is the finished banner.  Oh did you notice that too yes I'm the assistant coach.  It will be interesting.  I'm looking forward to this though.

Because of when our team was finally contacted we were not able to have a practice just for our team. The power outage day was to be our first practice but that didn't happen.  SO we were not sure how the kids would do since none of them have really met or played with each other.  

Wow did they surprise us! They did amazingly well in fact we won our game! Our own bull dog scored too.  I'm so proud of our budding soccer star. 

Monkey running back to our side. 

 Taking his turn at a throw  in. 

Helping our team take the ball to the goal. He's a great attacker.  

 

And the lights went out in Georgia

So where were you when all of Southern California went black?  We (Wiggle, Monkey and me) were at the dance studio waiting for Wiggles ballet and jazz classes to start.  At first we just though oh the lights went out no big deal it should go  back on.  The owner went out to see what was going on and then walked back in.  His wife got a call from a friend saying her electricity was out, only she lived up the coast a bit.  So we all looked at each other and started calling friends to see how wide this was.  Being that it was so close to 9/11 our first thought is this is not good.  Is this a terrorist attack?  The owner went out to his truck to see what he could find out on the radio stations but they were all off line, they had not been able to get their generators up.  That was really eerie too.  We started to figure out how wide this was: South Orange County to Ensanada, Mexico out to Arizona.  Oh man not good we still had soccer practice and we had to get there with no street lights. If you know where the dance studio is you know that's not an easy task even when they are working....  Our original plan was to drop Wiggle off and go get Monkey ready for soccer and feed him dinner, then we'd pick up Wiggles have her eat in the car on the way to soccer.  No such luck we were stuck at the dance studio until Wiggles was done.  Trying to get info was difficult since no one really knew what was going on.  As traffic got worse and dance was ending we decided to just go home and see what we could do.  Make sure things were unplugged and try to save all the food that was just bought.  I had just done a HUGE Costco run since school was starting and I'd be making lunches for 3 people sometimes myself if subbing.  Anyways we limped home though we were better off then most since I had just filled our 4runner up with gas that morning.  Most at the studio had only a 1/4 tank of gas.  Most were going to get it on the way home that night. It was a God thing that I stopped that morning, cause I too was just going to get it later that day.

We got home about 5 mins after daddy got home.  When we pulled up Daddy was pulling the water jugs out of the trailer to fill them up with water before the water supply was polluted.  We managed to make the situation fun.  Though the kids didn't quite get why we couldn't watch tv or play the Wii.  We figured out what we could eat for dinner.  Chili with squeeze cheese and crackers. (Squeeze cheese is not that great in chili MHO)  Since we have an electric stove top we went to the trailer to cook dinner and since the house was blazing hot we ate in the trailer.  Just gotta say I'm so happy we have our trailer parked in our front yard it is so helpful.

After dinner we needed to figure out a plan for the fridge.  We did turn the fridge on in the trailer but it just wasn't getting cold enough so I was a little worried.  About 5 years go my Dad gave us a small generator that was to charge our trailer batteries when camping.  We found that it just didn't work that great so we had put it in the garage. Well my sweet husband got it out and tried to start it with some starter fluid it started and then he ran an extension cord to the fridge.  It was loud and smelly (yes, the generator was outside the entire time) We did take most of the freezer food out to the trailer freezer and some of the fridge food out to the trailer too just in case.   We managed not to loose much food at all.  The electricity came back on at 2:30am Friday.  I know this because the backyard light was left on so we would know when it came back on.  And we knew cause it popped on and shined right into our bedroom, it was like a flood light shining us. 

Since you've stayed with me this long here are some pictures:

A flash is a magical thing this was taken in the dark. 

A reminder to all not to open the fridge (we had not gotten the generator out yet). 

The orange cord is coming from the generator.  It's plugged in. 

Dinner out in the trailer. We never used the Velveeta maybe we should have. 

Again the electricity is out but the flash is amazing. The kids watching a movie on Dad's i.pad.

BACK TO SCHOOL!

 Well it is that time of year again where the kids have to go back to school.  This year both kids are in school on the day school side.  As I type this I've just realized I forgot to have the kids hold up the special papers I had with their grades on it. :(  Oh well maybe one day I can photo shop them in to the pictures.  not!  Maybe though.
So the time has come that both my babies are in school and I have my days free. Well sorta.  I'm going to be subbing at their school when and if they need me.  I'll also be volunteering and doing BSF again this year.  

Monkey (K) and Wiggles (2nd)

We stopped off in Wiggles class first since we just had to drop the supplies off. 

Here is Monkey in his class.  I needed to help organize his stuff and put his supplies away (well in the stacks with the other stuff)

Two happy kids after school on the first day.  What more could a Mom want right?  You might wonder what I did with my time on the first day of school.  I worked on a soccer banner.  Look for that post later on.

Our last weekend of Summer

 Okay I know it's not the real last weekend of Summer, is next weekend.  It was the last weekend for our kids since they went back to school on Tuesday.  For our Labor Day weekend we planned to have a blast.  We had a bit more down time then expected but it all worked out.  We drove down to Sea World for one last look at the sea animals and we went to a friends for swimming and playtime.  Over all it was a great way to end the summer.  Just wish we'd had more time to visit with more friends. 

The top picture is of us taking the aerial view ride so we got to see the bay and the rest of the area.  The second pic is a view of how far up we were and how beautiful the day was.  The last picture is showing  Wiggles going on a ride by herself again. She was so excited to show off to her Dad that she can ride by herself and does not need an adult with her.

 Get ready get set GO!

The two pictures above are priceless.  Trying to get all the kids lined up to jump together into the deep end.  The dad's graciously going in too just in case a kid needs help. 

All the kids are out of the pool and ready for some good eats. 

 After awhile we had dessert fondue.  YUMMM.....

 The adults did Gourmet for dinner kinda like fondue but different.  We had such a blast, just didn't want the fun to stop.  We also had fondue but, with all the yummy chocolate and goodies I forgot to get some pictures. Trust me it was amazing!

A visit from Grant

The week before school started it was a busy week.  My cousin called to see if we could get together. We were available but just one evening. So after work their family drove down.  Grant sure loves brooms and maybe mops now. Thanks to our little kid cleaning toys.

The broom is about his height but that didn't stop him. 

Here's Wiggles and Grant facing off with cleaning toys. :) 

Still dragging around the broom but he did like the mop too.  

We had a great visit and then went to El Torito's for dinner. We all had a great time and Grant was such fun to watch and play with. Thanks for visiting us!

Angry Birds with Papa

While Wiggles was having tea, Monkey was playing Angry Birds with Papa. 

Tea with Grandpa

A couple weeks ago Wiggles and Monkey went to Nani and Papa's for a weekend visit.  I dropped the kids off on Friday morning and we picked them up Sunday afternoon at Daddy's grandparents house.  The kids had a great time with Nani and Papa, we had a great time going out and exploring our home town and going out with our friends.
While we were visiting with Daddy's family Wiggles decided to have a tea party, with one special guest.  Grandpa (this would be Wiggles Great Grandpa).  They had so much fun.  Check it out for yourselves.

Tea for Two.

 

Bull Dog is BACK!

Yes you read right it's soccer season and Bull Dog is back in action.  We had an all division practice for the last two weeks and Monkey was back to his tricks.  I'm thinking of taking an old tie and tying down Monkey's arms so he understands that he can't use his elbows.  Not sure if that's a good idea or not.  But they did tie the princess to the chair in the Princess Diaries.  Same idea, kinda.  We will see how it goes like I said earlier I'm an asst coach this year. I'm still making the banner which I need to get back too but thought I'd try and get caught up here. Love distractions.....

 

Oh the sports we will play!

 Well it's that time of year again.  Back to school which also means back to sports and practices galore.  So Wiggles will be in ballet again and this year she is picking up jazz! She will start this week and is totally excited about it.  So will will drop her off for her 1.5 hours of dance classes and then once we pick her up we will do the 3 mile dash over to soccer practice for Monkey to which I am the asst coach.  Yes you read that right!  Look for some other blog entries about soccer cause that will be taking up or weekends here very soon!  Wiggles will have to take some pics for me if I can't get Auntie Glitterbug down to do the job.  Otherwise you will have to wait to see Bull Dog back in action.  Just wait till you see Monkey's team color. All I have to say is you will want to wear your sunglasses for that post!  

Vacation

We had planned to do a 3 week vacation this year but we just didn't have the time so we did our fall back plan...  Yosemite!  We were able to get a campsite for 7 days the max.  We  have gone we think for the last 5 years and it has not gotten old at all.  This year we went to the big trees, did an 8 mile hike round trip, went on several bike trips and each kid went rafting with dad.  We never got bored once.  We even saw one of Wiggles friends from dance.  How weird is that!  With the rangers cracking down on illegal campers we sure had a great week watching.  Our highlight on illegal campers was the night a couple came in about 9pm and emptied their car in the campsite next to ours.  Once the car was emptied they moved their car out of the campground.  Then they pitched their tent on the other side of our campground site in the next campsite that was occupied (no they didn't know each other).  They pitched their tent down by the river.  So when morning came they kept their tent up but went on with their business as if they belonged they did leave early but left their tent.  Well the Ranger was notified.  They kept watch and then just tagged the tent.  So a couple hours later they come back and start picking up their stuff quickly never going to there car the same way twice.  So we tried to get the rangers back but the couple was watching and it took a bit for the Ranger to get there.  Once the Ranger got there they waited and waited with the illegals not coming back the Ranger collected what was left and left a note under a rock for them.  Later that day they came back asking about their chairs of all things.  So our neighbor informed them that she thought the Ranger took them but left a note for them. :)  In order to get their stuff they'd have to go to the Rangers to get it.  Um I doubt they went back to get them. Memorable for sure.  We saw no bears but we did see lots of deer.  The weather was WONDERFUL!  Perfect weather not too hot but warm enough.  The nights were cool enough that we weren't sweating too.  We were truly blessed this year. 

 Monkey getting a new toy to work on while driving into Yosemite! 

  Daddy and Monkey looking at the river.  

                                                                          

                                                                                                              

A hiking we will go!

The big trees. 

More hiking!

Son Surf Beach Bash!

 This year's theme was Son Surf Beach Bash!  A beach/surfing theme.  IT was so much fun too, and all I did was work all week with the gals setting up snack for 260 kids. 

Wiggles 

Wiggles and Monkey before VBS. 

We all had so much fun playing and meeting new friends at our now church.  We've been going to their VBS for 3 years.  The energy there is amazing I've never seen that before and all the kids have a spectacular time.  The most important part is they are learning about Jesus everyday.