5 girls, 1 boy, 3 pizzas, 1 mom and a whole lotta fun!

That pretty much summarizes our day Tuesday, July 29, 2008. Just 12 years ago our sweet Evelyn was born and Tuesday was her 12th birthday. Yes, I have to pinch myself as well!

Evelyn planned her entire party, made her own invitations and it was just about the easiest party ever. 4 of her friends came over, we went to Eric and Chrissy's pool to swim, had pizza, came home for presents and cake and more fun and 2 girls slept over and the 3 of them slept on the trampoline.

Here is the birthday girl with some serious morning hair opening her presents.

Here are the beloved spurs. I was trying to get creative with my photo taking. We have to get a longer boot strap.

Chrissy and the kids met us at the pool and Jake enjoyed hanging out with Greg for awhile. Eric picked up the pizza's and delivered them to the pool for us too. thank you guys! I so do appreciate it.

Happy Birthday to you Miss Evy!!
Jake and Greg enjoy some cousin time swimming.
Of course everyone has to get into the kiddie pool
And I got everyone to stop playing fun pool games for a few still shots.
Then there is Nathan enjoying his own time swimming in the kiddie pool.
The favorite BR ice cream cake with sparkly candles that would not stay lit and then not go out.
Making a wish and I am sure I know what that wish is. H O R S E shhh.don't let anyone know I told you what her wish is.

Evelyn has just the great group of friends. They all seemed to get along and have so much fun. She wanted everyone to stay over but since it was during the week, I opted for 2.


They played dark hide and seek, dare (I got a big huge lip stick kiss on my cheek from Greg which I wiped off on his hair!!), watched a movie and then set up camp on the trampoline and listened to the owls while they were falling asleep.


Good Morning sleepy heads.
Even K dog likes to hang out with the girls
Greg trying to wake up after a night of partying.

I made waffles in the morning and then the gals went home.

Easy but so much fun for Evelyn. It turned out just as she planned it too.

The rest of yesterday, the day after, we went to the dentist (no fun but necessary), went to Target to spend a gift card (yes already), played Wii, Horseopoly (a gift) and did a ton of nothing. Oh, we also had some more ice cream cake. Yummy :)

Evelyn and I continued our game of Horseopoly before bed and are no where near being done. The house is still cluttered with party and present remnants. Not ready to put it all away yet. And not to mention the Littelest Pet Shop town that is growing into a majoy city. Yes, Evelyn still loves to play with them and she even used her gift card for the Biggest Littelest Playset for her animals.

Happy Birthday our sweet girl. We love you so much and are so very proud of the young lady you have become :)

Earthquake --- we are ok!

For those of you out of the area readers, yes, there was an earthquake. We are fine. Got jolted and that's it. K dog is still antsy and gives me strange looks. I'm nervous too as I just do not like earthquakes. But keeping my happy a-ok mom face for the kids sake. Tom felt it at his work and things are fine there too.

Here are the details:

11:42 am
5.8 magnitude
epicenter near Chino Hills (it's about 30 miles from us)

I have not heard much analysis yet on the news. Just people calling in saying they are ok. I know there will be more tonight and that is when I will watch the news.

I told the kids about after shocks and what to do in case they feel/hear one. It's been a long time since we have had an earthquake and I have done drills with the kids. Today was perfect for a refresher course. Now they know what to do while mom is running around in a panic.

Here's what I was doing when it happened. A few moments before I was in the garage putting in a load of laundry. K wanted out the side door but I called her back into the house with me. She stuck to me like my shadow. I thought nothing of it. I then started to go outside to put some trash out in the barrel at the curb when I heard a very loud boom and within a nanosecond I knew what it was. Then I felt a jolt. I dashed into the house, yelled "Evelyn! Greg! Here! Now! Get here now!" or something like a drill Sargent. The kids ran to me and we ran out of the house with K. Now this was all in just a few seconds. yes, we felt the jolts. It seemed to be a long one.

We waited on the grass for a few minutes and then went back inside. Greg said he thought someone was in the house. Evelyn heard her closet doors rattling. K, well she was, and still is, freaked out. She looked like she would have bolted down the street if I didn't have hold of her collar. She is not the bolting kind of dog unless there is another dog down the street that she wants to push around.

We have not felt any aftershocks and sure hope we won't. We are going on with the rest of our day as planned. I'll get to that one later tonight I hope.

Hope you are all doing well.

check..............check

A couple more things got checked off my list today. And a few less things to wait for. Some great news today. But I am not going to let you in on it.....yet. A few more weeks, hopefully sooner. And I do hope sooner. But I am being patient. Not a patient, but patiently waiting. That's it.

Took the kids and a friend each swimming today. They had so much fun. Me too watching. I forgot to change into my bathing suit as we were hurridly getting ready. No problema. I like hanging out in a lounge chair.

Hey, it's getting closer to Friday! Got a long trail run tomorrow morn. So it's an early night tonight. the kids are pretty tired so will shoo them off soon. Well, after dinner. Steak is on the bbq. Taters are done as are the beans. Oh, I smell them and they smell so very yummy.

Waiting in Limbo

Just waiting and waiting and I can't do anything else........in Limbo. I am a patient person but I don't like to wait too long for something that I am excited about. But I am in a holding pattern and can't do much else but wait. Wait. Waiting for other people. But when it happens I am sure it will go quite quickly. And it may be better to wait till after vacation.

I am almost ready for vacation. That's good. Just a few more things to pack up and then pack up the clothes and figure out how to get it all in the car. We are going camping in Yosemite with Tom's brother and his family and some friends. Then driving up to Oregon to visit my dad, DD. I can't wait to get back to Yosemite. One of my favorite places! And can't wait to get up to Oregon to visit my dad. We have less than 2 weeks but much to do in that time as well.
For now, I wait for the potatoes to boil. I need a shower. I am sweaty from running. Potatoes are for dinner. This super amazing recipe from my friend PW. If I get around to it, I'll post the recipe. Or you could just come for dinner, but I only have 8 small potatoes. Going to bbq steak too. Gotta clean out the fridge, freezer and pantry. It's a good thing.

But for now, I must wait. And be as patient as I possibly can. Wait. Patience. Limbo. Focus on vacation for now. Oh, and San Diego baseball tournament this weekend and a 12th birthday party for a very special, not so little anymore, girl. And try to think of an awesome birthday gift. Any suggestions? I am at a loss. Waiting for the perfect gift idea to pop into my head.

Book review

I just finished another wonderful book by my best friend in the entire world.. Liz Curtis Higgs. This book is "Grace in thine Eyes". It's the last book in the series that I read out of order. I actually read this book about a year or more ago and loved it just as much reading it the second time.

Visit my friend Liz. Oh she is a wonderful author. I signed up for her newsletters and she sent me a ton of stuff in the mail and a personally signed card :)

Read on, dear reader:

Examine the Genesis 34 story of Dinah through a 19th-century Scottish lens...
Davina McKie is a bonny lass of seventeen, mute since childhood and fiercely guarded by her belligerent twin brothers, Will and Sandy. When the lads are forced to depart the glen, Jamie McKie escorts Davina to the Isle of Arran, where her lively cousins, Catherine and Abigail, make her welcome at the manse.
One moonless eve Davina blithely entertains the gentry of Arran with her grandfather’s fiddle, unaware of the dramatic turn her life is about to take.
A story of passion and revenge, of lost innocence and shattered dreams, Grace in Thine Eyes explores the sorrow of unspeakable shame and the gift of immeasurable grace.
A young woman trapped by shame.Two brothers bent on revenge.Can her father rescue her?Or is there only One who can set her free?
P.S. If you've read Thorn in My Heart, Fair Is the Rose, and Whence Came a Prince, I hope you'll enjoy meeting the next generation of the McKie family. But if a series isn't your style, here's good news: Grace in Thine Eyes is a stand-alone novel, written with new readers in mind. If that's you, sis, get ready for Grace!
From the Publisher, WaterBrook Press...Grace in Thine EyesA timeless tale of passion, revenge, and redemption When Liz Curtis Higgs emerges from her writing studio after long months absorbed in 19th-century Scotland, she’s often surprised to find modern cars in place of carriages and falling leaves instead of the blooming spring flowers she’s just left in her imagination.Critics are impressed by the emotional intensity and depth of research found in her historical novels, based on biblical stories and reset in 18th- and 19th-century Scotland. Readers of her three recent bestsellers have embraced Grace in Thine Eyes, a stand-alone novel introducing the next generation of the McKie family, even as it parallels the tragic, yet compelling account of Dinah from Genesis 34.Pitied by some commentators as a victim, chastised by others as a disobedient daughter, the biblical Dinah is a woman whose story is cloaked in mystery. Was it defiant curiosity that made her stray from home, seeking out the “daughters of the land,” or was it simply youthful innocence? When her brothers exacted their revenge, was Dinah greatly relieved or deeply grieved? Did she live in shameful seclusion or was she restored to society? Does her story end in disgrace…or grace?Not one of those questions is answered in the biblical account, in part because neither Dinah’s voice nor her viewpoint appears in the narrative. Grace in Thine Eyes explores those unanswered questions from Dinah’s story, yet without tampering with Scripture, moving this dramatic tale to the Scottish Lowlands of 1808.

And here is what I started reading this afternoon. The last book in the Bad Girls of the Bible series. I have already read the other ones, last year. Liz takes bad girls of the bible and puts them in a modern day setting and then goes back to the discuss them in biblical times. You can see them all on her website.

Happy Reading :)

4.2 hilly miles

That's what I did this morning. I ran the entire way, even up the big hills!

I am taking a running boot camp called EZ8. I was searching for work out boot camps and found this one. Julie is taking it with me. We are having fun too! We meet at different locations in MV and RSM and run. Sometimes we do conditioning drills and the majority of the time we run, even trail runs which are a lot of fun. The shortest run would be lake MV which is 3.1 miles.

We meet M-W-F at 5:30 am which means I am up before 5 am to drag myself out of bed and get dressed. Normally each morning I have to talk myself out of bed and keep wanting to hit the snooze button over and over. But at least I am up, had a good work out and ready to go for the day. yep, I am tired in the evenings and am usually in bed around 9:30. But the good thing is that I am getting lots of sleep. It's hard to get up early and run when you have not had very much sleep.

Today we did the Melinda run. If any of you live around here, then you know the Melinda hill from Olympiad to Santa Margarita Pkwy. We start at Flo Jo park and run UP the hill. It is a climb up that hill too. Then it's a downhill stretch only to go up another hill. And if you head through the neighborhood, even more up hills. Another up hill on Alicia and then from there its pretty much all down hill to the park. I like that part!

One of my goals doing this running camp was to run the lake, that is Lake MV. I have done it before and can still do it but have to walk up those hills. Well, now I can say that I can run the lake without walking any part of it!

I've met so many nice gals who do EZ8. For some it's their first time, like me, but many are long time repeat offenders. There are those who run for leisure (if you call it that) and that would be me and there are those who train for marathons and half marathons and triathlons. I just like to run. And I am listening to my orthopedic surgeon and keeping my runs short. 5K and 10K max are what he prefers. Its easier on the bones. I do agree!

After my run, I walk the dog as she is anxiously waiting my return. Tom says sometimes she just lays by the front door waiting for me. I shower, eat breakfast and am good to go and it's maybe 7:30. I even try getting up early on my running off days to get in my own early morning run.

I really want to start running 5K's again and now feel I am able to do them again. Yea! I also can't wait for next June as I want to do the Mud Run in Pendalton.

Well, off and running (ha ha) as usual. Greg is still sick and now he has a terrible cough and sore throat. No baseball camp for him today. He did go 3 out of 5 days which is fine. Evelyn is at her last day horse camp. She wants to sign up for another show series so need to see if we can get her in. She was telling me last night how much she loves riding horses and how good she feels when she is riding and just around horses. Oh I wish we had a ranch so we could have horses!

Trivia Thursday

After I posted my first Trivia Thursday post, I got to thinking.... What am I doing? Can I keep this up? Do I really have time and do I really know that much information? Well, I thought and I thought and decided this: 1. no time, 2. yes, I can do it 3. no, I really don't know that much but it will sure be fun to come up with things.

Now this post I actually thought of last Thursday as I was reading this blog http://zacsunderland.com/. This is Zac Sunderland. He is sailing around the world, alone, he is 17. He wants to be the youngest circumnavigator. I googled the word and got this from http://www.freedictionary.com/

cir·cum·nav·i·gate
play_w2("C0366100")
(sûrkm-nv-gt)
tr.v. cir·cum·nav·i·gat·ed, cir·cum·nav·i·gat·ing, cir·cum·nav·i·gates
1. To proceed completely around: circumnavigating the earth.
2. To go around; circumvent: circumnavigate the downtown traffic.
circum·navi·gation n.
circum·navi·gator n.


So my way to define this is that he is going around the world. Simple. I was right.


Another thing came to mind. Zac talks about knotts. Not like what you do to your shoe laces. But wind speed. Then I thought, how many miles is a knott? Hmmm. No clue there. So again, I used my friend google and found this:

This is from http://www.disastercenter.com/


KTS to MPH

5 Knots = 5.8 MPH
10 Knots = 11.5 MPH

Using my handy dandy calculator, I determined that 1 kt is about 1.16 mph. So if the wind is blowing 2 kts, Zac will travel about 2.32 mph. Not very fast at all. Try driving your car 2.32 mph. That's just a slight breeze. Not very good kite flying weather. Not good for when you are trying to get to Hawaii and your parents and friends and well wishers and especially fresh food and water! (and he made it there last Friday)

What's the trivia here? You now know the definition of circumnavigate and how to convert kts to mph. And you can also follow along on Zac's journey. Go to his route and download Google Earth to see where he is. Google Earth is another very fun place to visit.

He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.
— Confucius

Just in case you are wondering.....

That area where the dead skunk was.....well, it still smells over there. The smell is not as bad as it was on the 3rd and the skunk is no longer there. The kids always have a comment to say whenever we go by.
And I forgot to add this fact: 2 summers ago, our K dog decided to salsa with a skunk in the early morning hours and got a does of skunk-fume. Gag! She smelled for months. Even had many tomato juice baths. She has not gone down that road since then. Thank you K - dog.

Greg: he is much better. Has been eating and even went in the pool for a bit. That's my boy! He snaps back to himself real quick. And I also know he is getting better because he is arguing with me.

Evelyn: rode a new horse at camp and had so much fun. Now she is at lessons. Horses twice in one day. yee-ha!

Sleeping under the Stars

Saturday was a much needed lazy day for us. Greg stayed the night at his best bud's house. Tom had to leave early to go to MX. 4th time this week. One of his companies customers was having problems. Hopefully this is the last time he has to go for awhile. I took the dog on a nice long walk and Evy slept in late.

So, later in the day the kids say they want to make a fort in the living room. Nope. So instead a fort was made on the trampoline. Then the kids decided they wanted to sleep outside on the trampoline.

Tom and I started watching "61" and the kids joined us about 1/2 way through. It's a movie about Roger Maris and Mickey Mantel battling it our to break Babe Ruth's home run record. Remember when Mark McGuire beat Maris' record? One of Greg's coaches played one of the Yankee players in the movie.

Evelyn still had her hopes up for sleeping on the trampoline. Greg was not so certain now that it was actually dark. But when I agreed to sleep out there with them, it was ok with Greg. Tom was so tired that he opted to stay inside.

So, me the kids and the dog, got comfy on the trampoline. Of course the back lights were on and we had flashlights and our guard dog, and we zipped up the door to the enclosure. K was happy to snuggle up with us and finally found her spot by the door. I was amazed at how well I slept. When we finally got up it was just about 8:30! These annoying birds woke me up around 5 am but I sure was not ready to get up.

We ended up at the lake after church and had a fun afternoon swimming. When we got home Greg was just not himself. No wonder, his temp was 100.5!!! He slept on and off and missed dinner completely. Took a bath to relax and then back to bed. He woke me up around 12:30 am and ended up getting sick but went right back to sleep. His temp is 99 this morning. But he is up. He spent the first hour laying on the couch but is now playing Wii. He has to miss his baseball camp today and won't be at practice tonight. I am out of Tylenol so hope his temp stays down.

Evy is in horse camp this week, Mon-Fri. She is in heaven!

Have a great week everyone!

Trivia Thursday

Ok, why not. Let's go with it and see what happens.


Do you know how long a dead skunk will stink? Oh, I do. And I will tell you.


6 days. Maybe more.


Last Thursday, July 3, on the way to get the kids from summer school, I drove past a dead skunk. P U! totally! On the way home we had to drive by it AGAIN. P U! This dead skunk was in the lane closest to the curb and right where I have to turn to get into our neighborhood. So, I had no choice but to drive over it without actually running over it. Stunk up the entire car.


Friday, driving around. Still smells. Saturday on the way to and from Chino Hills. Still smells. Sunday again to and from Chino Hills. Still smells. Get where I am going here?


Tuesday morning, I get out for an early run. I'd say it's about 6:10 am. What do I smell when I leave the neighborhood and get to the main street. No, not roses or stinky running feet, but skunk. PU! Just the thing you want to smell while running. Tuesday afternoon on the way back from summer school.........the skunk was finally gone. No more road kill but the smell still lingered. Oh yes it did.


I did drive by Thursday morning and no smell.


Now aren't you happy I gave you this tid bit of trivia? I thought you would be. If you have any you want to share, would love to hear/read it :)P

Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it.
— David Starr Jordan

4th of July weekend baseball tournament day 2

Part III of the weekend and day 2 of the tournament.

Guess what time we were up? 5:15 am! Had to leave at 6:20 in order to make a Starbucks run and get to Chino Hills at 7 am. Our game was at 8 am. I cooked up some eggs and toast for breakfast and we were out the door in time. Starbucks sure did taste good at 6:30 am!

We left Evelyn sleeping as my mom came over bright and early to hang out with Evelyn while the rest of us were gone. Lucky girl. Got up at 8:45 and at that time we were already well into our game.

We started off this game with a 1-0 lead. It was back and forth and we ended up loosing by 1 point. Again, the game was called at 1 hr 45 min which is the time limit that a new inning can not start.

How did Greg do? He walked twice, took a nasty hit to the shoulder and got on base by a HP (hit by pitch), stole home. Let me repeat that, STOLE HOME! He pitched 1 1/2 innings and played the rest of the time at 1st. One inning he threw 8 pitches. First batter hit on the first pitch and was thrown out, another batter struck out swinging and the last pitch to the last batter was a clear strike for strike 3.

Check out this video. I love it.

And here is another video I took. It's after Greg was hit by a pitch. Starts off with him on first. Watchit to the end.

The rest of our day was spent doing some errands and relaxing. I even got in a short nap. There is nothing like a weekend filled with baseball. It was fun and I love watching the guys play and gaining more confidence playing Pony baseball. Our next tournament is at the end of July.

This the last post of our long weekend. Until next time..............Have a great week!

4th of July Weekend - Baseball Tournament

Part II of our weekend takes us to Saturday, July 5.

We are finally able to have a sleep in day. I was up around 7, Greg 8 and Evelyn 9:30. Tom was up earlier as he likes to get up and read the paper while it is still quiet.

We were able to take our time getting things ready for our day at the Chino Hills baseball tournament. Greg is on the MV Sox which is a new (er) travel Pony baseball team. The team was formed for the tournament we played in over Memorial Day Weekend. We have 4 new players who did not play with us in May as some of the boys were not able to play this weekend.

We had to be at the park at 1:45 for our 3:00 game. We headed out around 12:30 and it sure didn't take us long to get to Chino Hills. This is a new park with 6 fields and very nice!


This is Greg warming up. I like getting pictures of him in action and warm ups is the best time. Those buildings in the back ground are part of a huge horse stable. Evelyn wanted to go over there so badly. And it sure did smell like horses. It was hot and there was just enough breeze to blow the aroma our way.
We played a team from Chino Hills for our first game. We were home team and I was the score keeper. The ump kept asking me questions, like "Young Lady, what is the score?" "Young Lady, how many outs?" He kept me on my feet and always called me Young Lady :) I had Tom help me out the first inning by keeping up with the count. Pony moves faster than little league and I had to make sure I had all the SB's (stolen bases) and runners on the correct bases. Mid inning I was doing ok.


Greg played center field the first game. He did great out there. He even raced to right field to get a few balls that came that way. This team kept our outfield busy, in fact, our entire team busy. Game was called due to time, 1 hr 45 min and we only finished the 3rd inning.


Our next game started right away, 5:15. It was hot and the guys drank so much water. I was glad we put that extra case of water in the car. Tom hauled it in between games and most of it was gone by the end of the 2nd game.

We played a team from Corona for our 2nd game. Did better but still did not win. Greg played first and even pitched. He did a great job at both positions. Greg didn't get any hits in either game but did get on base each time he was up as he was walked.

A little side stepping action at first base.
Waiting for the throw to pick off the runner who was trying to steal from first to second.
Here is a series of pitching pictures. I like to get each part of the pitching motion. Ready......
Set..............
Pitch............... This looks like such an awkward position if you would just see this picture. But it's all part of the pitching motion. That's "dog" at second base. He and Greg were in the same kindergarten class at our old school. They have played against each other over the years and were on the same All Star team this year and "dog" has joined our Sox team. Don't know why they call him "dog" . These guys acquire so many nick names over the years!


I have a friend from High School who lives in Chino Hills. I emailed her during the week to let her know we would be there for the tournament. Carolyn was able to come over for our second game and brought her very handsome boys too. They don't live to far from the park and her oldest plays at the same field. It was so great to see her and catch up. I do admit, Carolyn looks great and hasn't changed much at all from our HS days. We played VB and BB together and later on were even room mates for around a year or so. And wouldn't you know, did I get a photo? No. Too busy chatting and keeping an eye on the game. Ahh! Well, I have photos in my memory and that's good :) Thanks for stopping by Carolyn :)

Stay tuned for part III. I took some videos of Sunday's game. Hope I can upload them here.

4th of July Weekend

PART 1


Our, well my, weekend started bright and early. I was up before 5 am on Friday for my EZ8 running boot camp. We meet MWF at 5:30 am! Luckily 3 of us carpool or I would be sleeping in. This morning we met at Flo Jo to run the lake.It's 3.1 miles around. And it's up and down hills too. That would be Lake Mission Viejo. I can do the lake but I always stop and walk at certain parts. This time I was determined to run it all the way. And I did! Julie and I agree that it is better to run in packs than solo. Although there were times when we did loop (front of the group loops to the back of the group) and I would walk some of these.


Home to walk the dog, shower and get ready to head to the Reynolds for breakfast and the Lake Forest parade. Evelyn spent the night there. Tom wanted to sleep in (he is up early just about every day) so Greg and I packed up the car, parked as close to the parade route as we could, loaded up our wagon, dodged the folks walking or slow jogging the 5K route and finished our walk to the Reynolds. I did a lot of walking this day! We enjoyed a very nice breakfast in their back yard then took a short walk to the parade route. Thankfully Diane had put out blankets early in the morning so we had a nice shady spot for the parade.


Every year I say I am not going to take pictures at the parade, but I always do. Same things each year. But this year not as many.

Here are the kids. Greg. Evelyn. Marissa. And Chance, he's a cute little dog who loves to lick Greg's hands.
The police always start off the parade. My favorite are the horses.
The fire trucks usually follow the police. This is a truck from the Lake Forest station.
This is Freddy. He's a cute remote controlled fire truck. He even squirt water at people and did wheelies. This is the first time I have seen this guy in the parade.
There are always a lot of bands in the parade. Church bands, marching bands and just regular bands. This year there seemed to be a lot of "old fart bands". This guy was riding his skate board, playing guitar and singing! This band was not too bad.
We didn't have a parade program this year so I am not sure who this group is, but they were dressed in Colonial wear playing drums and the flute. I like these costumes!

This guy is always in the parade and one of my favorites. I love this motorized plane with snoopy in the front. His picture was even in the paper.
A lot of churches are in the parade. Here is ours. Santiago de Compostela. In the photo below you will see some of the youth music group members and our music director, Vanessa. She is the one waving her arms.

Waste Management, our trash company, always has an entry. A nice clean trash truck and the trash can drill team. Some time they do dances with the trash cans. Clean ones of course.
Elvis was a new entry this year. He was going a pretty good job singing Elvis songs.
Here are some of the Rivera Riders, where Evelyn rides. Evelyn was so excited to see them. Taylor and Nicole spotted Evelyn sitting along the curb and called and waved to her.
Did you know that my car is in the parade every year? Unfortunately I don't get to drive it in the parade but I always get a picture of it. Ok, this really isn't my car but I can dream. I really really want this Chevy surf wagon. I just love them. When Evelyn gets her license, my plan is to give her my car and get me one of these! Can't you just see me driving around in one of these? I sure can!
Pirates for Hire. Arghhh! They look so like real pirates. Even a great Jack Sparrow look a like. Even sounded like him. Wonder if it was really Johnny Dep in our parade? Nah.
Oh I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, that is what I truly want to be-e-e. Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener, everyone would be in love with me-e-e! This was the first time I have seen this one in our parade. I wanted to ride inside. The seats looked like hot dogs and the Oscar Mayer theme song was playing. Fun!
Can't have a parade without the US Marines and their big ol' trucks. I think those tires were bigger than Greg.
This was a new one too. This dad dressed like Fred Flintstone and decked out his convertible beemer to look like the Flintstone car. All he needed were feet peddling the car. Even had a bumper sticker that read" My other car is a dinosaur"
The fire brigade complete with these beautiful horses and men dressed like authentic firemen from the early days of the fire department. The fire stations were actually called fire barns as the horses stayed there too. (trivia info thanks to DD)
We always see so many people we know at the parade and in the parade. Here is cousin Sam on her roller skates. She used to swim with the Lake Forest Dolphin swim team and now she coaches.
If I can't get my surf wagon, I wouldn't mind this car. Maybe not purple, but it will do.

After the parade, we headed back to the Reynolds, cooled down a bit and then the kids and I began to short walk back to the car. We chilled out at home for awhile and then took off to see Indiana Jones. It was good and the kids really liked it too. I have to admit, I did fall asleep for a little bit. But it was because I was so tired, not because I was bored. It was nice to be in a cool movie theater and not out in the heat of the day.

Before we left for the movie, Evelyn and I tried getting a picture of us in our matching shirts. Well, our attempts were not working so Tom snapped this picture of us. Besides going to the parade every year, we also get new t shirts for the 4th. Evelyn thought it was cool that ours matched.

I can't leave out our 4 legged furry family member, Kaydee, aka K dog. Here she is at her gate watching her own parade. Or waiting for her own parade. This is one of her favorite places to lay and keep an eye out for what is happening outside of her gate. Notice, I keep saying her gate. She guards her gate and she is good at it too. She loves to lay there with her chin rested on the bottom of the gate and her feet stuck out under the gate. I was finally able to get this picture of her before she noticed me and jumped up to greet me.
The rest of our day was up in the air until we confirmed what time we had to be in Chino Hills Saturday for the baseball tournament. As our game time did not change, we decided to stay close to home and accepted the Strauss' invite for dinner. We had several this year and Greg wanted to see one of his friends and I wanted to be home early as I was tired. We had a great bbq, fruit and yummy home made ice cream sandwiches for dinner. Thank you Strauss Hauss.

We had to drag the kids away to get home for fireworks. As we drove over Vista Del Lago, it was already packed. It's a great place to go to watch fire works. Not only can you see them from our lake, but other cities as well.

The kids and Tom climbed up onto the roof to watch the fire works from the lake. I stayed grounded and sat in a chair. We could see most of the fireworks over the hill. They were spectacular as usual.

I had to play the part of the mean mom and get the kids into bed. We had a busy weekend ahead of us and I needed to get some sleep.

Stay tuned for more weekend updates. It's too much to put in one blog post!

Hope you all had a great 4th!!

Happy 4th

Hello everyone and a happy belated 4th. Hope you all had a great day. We sure did. I'll write about it later.
As for the rest of the weekend, we are headed out to Chino Hills for a baseball tournament for Greg's Sox team. Game at 3 and 5 today. Then Sunday games depend on how we do today. Let's hope we win so we don't have an 8 am game. We are not staying out there but driving back and forth as it's not too far.
So, time to get dressed and lunch for the family. We are shooting to leave at by 12:30.
GO SOX!!!

Bossy is my friend

I have to ready Bossy every day. She makes me laugh. But then just this morning, I discovered that Bossy is one of my new best friends. She, too, likes Starbucks. At first she was overwhelmed to go into Starbucks. I was too. I don't drink coffee. But after I overcame my Starbucks fear of finding something to drink off the wall menu, I discovered the caramel frapp. Now I have moved on to my beloved Chai tea. Hot in winter, sometimes in summer too. And of course iced in summer.



Now my kids are turned onto Starbucks. It started with an apple juice or an organic milk box, sometimes chocolate. Then as I gained more confidence in ordering at Starbucks, so did my kids. A kids hot chocolate minus with whip. But now, it's no longer apple juice or hot chocolate. I frequently hear "Mom, can I get a frackachino?" "Mom, can I get a flappacino?" "Can we go to Starbucks to get a frack?" Or now just, "Hey Mom, can we pleaseeeee go to Starbucks???" And this is like every day, and all the time.



What they, well Greg, is really asking for is a caramel frappacino. We all know what he means by now and I do think Evelyn is tired of correcting him all the time. I guess I need to figure out how to blend these babies up at home.



Now, head on over to Bossy and enjoy some reading.



Chai!!

Freaked me out......I tell ya

I had been working on reports all morning long. Had to go to the bank. Stomach was growling with hunger. (Ran almost 4 miles this morning). Finally decided to take a break and head to the bank then get some lunch. I thought I deserved a lunch out.

Got to the bank, gathered my check book (yep, has been found!!), purse, keys, looked to my left as I was about to open the car door and Holly Cow! Freaked me out! This woman was standing there with this very sad face and holding something up to my car window. After my heart began pumping again, I looked at her sign, it was a small piece of cardboard with words on it. All I was was "refugee".

I then knew why she was there. She wanted money. I shook my head. Her face got sadder and she pressed the sign against my window. I shrugged my shoulders, and shook my head again. If I could have driven off I would have. But my keys were in my hand and there was a parking curb in front of me.

Thankfully she walked away. I sat for a few seconds, scanned outside my car and watched the lady in the car beside me bolt from her parking spot and speed away. I dashed from my car and raced into the bank.

I scanned the parking lot before dashing back to my car and quickly locking my doors. I didn't see this woman anywhere. Whew. Wonder how many other people she freaked out today.


Drove through the parking lot and thankfully welcomed the long line in the Taco Bell drive through. I got to engross myself in my book and occupy my mind with Jamie, Leana and Rose for awhile and forget about being freaked out.


Now, please don't get me wrong. I am not against charity. But this woman really freaked me out, standing right there by my car door. Yeeks! I know these people lurk around parking lots trying to get money. I have seen them before and been approached by them before. I don't give them a thing. Never have I had one right outside my car door. I wonder if I could have even gotten out.


There are charity's I contribute to. Legit ones. Here is a good one http://www.freethekids.org/ Project Espwa (meaning Hope) in Haiti. I have 7 bags of clothes in my garage to get to church to add to the collection. Save clothes all year long. They are collected during VBS, sorted, counted, and set aside to go in a shipping container which is sent to Haiti. Many other necessities are sent as well.

Back home now, working on yet another report, with my ever watchful, ever present, K dog snoring at my feet.