Ghetto Fab Christmas

I have decided that I have no problem acting like a trailer park A-hole out here in the wilderness. The only thing missing is a speed habit...but it is to late to start that now....

May I present to you, our Brody proofed Christmas.

Okay, so yes, this is last years tree....and yes, we have had this sitting in out weed pile for a year now, so one side is completly flat, BUT - we get to have a Christmas tree.

I am sure the fire department, who patrols regularly, will not be happy about the lights I have added....

A life ends...

So, I have a bunch of updates but dont feel like dealing with pictures, besides...this seemed more relevant...

Our foreman on the last 2 jobs I have worked on passed away Sunday night. 51 years old. I have worked with him for 5 years on the jobsite as well as his son whom I was really close to. 51 years old and died of a heart attack in the middle of the night. His son who is maybe 28? 29? was supposed to meet him at their carpooling location and he never showed up so Chris broke into his house, and found him dead....

I am so shocked, and saddened.

He was a good worker and good guy.

Here is to you Bill!

Apparently you can't live on beer and cigarettes as he did...time to rethink....And no, that wasn't a joke.

Who needs a Baby Gate...

When you can have the above installed in your house?

Get through THAT B!

Typically, M and I are the ones who spend 101% of our time outside. We are so bad that when we were in the process of putting the underside cover on the deck, we were thinking while we were at it, maybe we should install stereo controls on the wall by our table. Apparently walking 4 feet into the front door is to much, and instead we should cut through some stucco and wire up a control so we never have to enter the house.

When we speak of remodeling the house, the joke is always that we just rip down all the exterior walls so we are all outside.....

Ironically, as much as we try to figure out ways to bring the inside out, this time we did the opposite.

But, I have to ask.....how many people do you know that have a wrought iron gate installed in their house?

Just a Quick visit to the ER

So, after all this flu business, B hadn't gone potty in quite some time...so I call my Dr. just to see whats up...and she says, take him to the ER now. What? He was acting normal, just not peeing....but she says, he needs fluids now, no wet diaper in 12 hours, is concerning....She asks me if he is drinking...and no, he is not. Usually he drinks and drinks, but he wouldn't touch a cup or bottle of anything really...So, off the the ER for B.

We get there and 5 minutes later, we are back with the dr. who I can tell is looking at me like I am one of those freak out over a small cut moms...but I am so not. The poke him and go through the whole routine..rectal temperature, the whole 9 and B just hangs out, until they tell me to sit him on the scale to be weighed. He proceeds to freak out like a crazy person....I am thinking he may have a fat person complex or something...well, of course, he cries tears, so the Dr. said that was good...They recommended not doing an IV of fluids although he would have felt instantly better, it is quite a procedure. So, I chose to take him home and watch him for a few days before having dr.s give my 1 year old an iv.

And may I add, I am not too happy with my Pediatrician and her method of telling me to head to the ER.....I mean, better safe than sorry, I suppose, but the ER dr. says 1 wet diaper in 12 hours is something watch, but 24 hours is more an ER visit....

Needless to say, the pics above are of my little B this morning.....what a shit?! A 50$ ER co-pay and all this nonsense later, and here he is with a grin and 2 cups of nonsense to drink...

Happy Halloween

At least I am posting, even if it is out of order...

We went on our new annual camping trip to Vail Lake for Halloween. This year, Jennifer and Donny joined us. We have camped with them a few times and love them!

As did 1 friend for each of the older kids. We love Vail lake because it is close (40 minutes), and the kids are safe when they are not within eye site - amongst other things. But it is nice to give the kids the freedom to take off and know that they are ok. And just the same, it is nice to not have them in my hair 24 hours a day wondering what they are doing....

We had a HUGE bee problem at our site, oddly, J & D had no issues whose trailer was about 15 feet away.

We had a ton of fabulous decorations, and a great Elvis greeting everyone at the front. There were a bunch of co-workers kind of...camping near us. Louie says there were 60 of them. I knew maybe 10, but they would stop by every now and then, Johnny Pinner, Jeff's brother Tony and sister, don't remember her name, but we were bonded for life every time she came around...how horrible...

And of course, B got to trick or treat this year, unlike last year which he slept through.

This year was so much fun, we already made reservations for next year. And I am so excited to be so efficient, that today 11/12, I have finished unpacking the trailer from out trip 2 weeks ago! Good for me!

Back Again..

What an anniversary.

We spent the Saturday prior going to Black Angus for dinner...no kids. With a regifted gift card (thanks mom) and coupon (thanks mom & dad). It was nice to have no kids for the weekend. Sunday, we woke up and Mike actually had a good idea! We went to breakfast at Trilogy and had fabulous breakfast burritos and a bloody mary.

The actual day (yesterday) I can't speak as highly of. I woke up Monday night throwing up into a trash can, followed by Mike running to the bathroom.....We checked the kids who were annoyed that we would think of waking them up to see if they were okay. I called my mom to ask is she might be able to come over to help take care of B in the morning. My dad was getting sick! Mike and I lay in bed taking turns laying on the bathroom floor wondering when we would get sick again. 1:00am, Jesse is in the bathroom. I woke Janee up and gave her a trash can telling her this is for when she is sick..and looked at me like I was nuts, but then about 2:00am, there she went.

I was a little freaked in the morning as to how to take care of B. So, I went in prepped with clean hands and a bottle of Purel, and holy crap! He was sick too! What a nightmare....

Now today, my mom is sick!

Happy Anniversary C & M!!!

And the Grand finale -

I LOVE Janee on the last day of the camping trip.....

Campland San Diego

Obviously, we were going ot be on the road again. We knew the minute a tornado hit 5 miles from our house and the hail and rain began that it must be time to start packing up the trailer. Luckily, Mike had only loaded up about 5 pieces of firewood so the rest of it had a chance to get soaked prior to leaving.

Another fabulous part of this trip in particular was that we invited the kids 3 cousins down as well.

We thought, how great! They are moving out of state soon and we are camping at the beach! We will set them up in a tent and there you go, a special weekend for the kids!

So, it POURED like I have never seen it pour all the way down there. We stopped at Home Depot so Mike could buy rain gear on the way out so we could set the trailer up. I was stressed out trying to figure out where the hell I am going to put 6 kids and us in the trailer for 4 days.

Well...............amazingly enough from the time we checked in until the time we left, it did not rain, despite the weather report which said rain all weelend........In fact, it was gorgeous!

Jesse caught a sting ray, which was his weekend goal once he found out it was possible. He, of course, brought it back in a bucket and wanted to take it home as a pet.

Right.

He was sad to lee it go, but seriously....we are not bringing home a stong ray!

This campsite was quite the scene. It seemed like there were about 700 campsites shoved into an acre of land.....We had a nice view of a green fence about 7 feet high and on the other side, the restrooms. This is not the place to go for a killer campsite, but the kids had so much fun. I think I saw them a total of an hour of 2 the whole weekend becuase they were always off doing something.

Other than Mike trying to talk us all into packing the trailer up and moving to Vail Lake Sunday morning, I think everyone had a good time.

A Few Random Tidbits...

I have to update with our latest camping trip, but thought I would keep in order..so I should give this info first...

Besides, it is fairly funny to me at least....

We have daddy and B with their remote controls...

A picture of Mike working on his invention that will save the world, but he glued his fingers together with superglue so he had to take a break.....

And my personal favorite.....a picture of what Mike's alarm clock looked like after it went off on a Saturday night when he did not have to get up the next morning.....

And as a special bonus, I am including Rich and Mike and our new oven..............

2 Posts on the same day

We just returned from out trip to Redding to visit the family. Holy Crap is that a long drive. The drive there was not so great for me. Luckily my kid sleeps through the night now, so I could catch up on some sleep once we got there. Oh wait. I think he is teething or something.....because neither of us got sleep. But, all in all it was a good trip. It is good to see family.

We got a chance to go to Shasta Caverns which was something I had never done before.

Everyone had a great time, at least on our end. I am picturing the family toasting the silence they have after we are gone and I would do the same!

As of today:

Tooth count for Brody: 0
Plane tickets booked to MO for Summer: 2

Still Behind

Back to my dad's birthday....

April 5th. We took the trailer out again to Temecula. Here are some notable moments. Actually only one. I wasn't so good with the camera. Happy Birthday Dad!

Behind again....

Lets pretend it is March....

We just got back from our first successful camping trip with no weather issues! We forgot bug spray, but who cares.

75 degrees, sunny, but our campsite was in the shade, campfires, ect. The kids set up a rope swing from the tree. And everyone had a great time.

We were able to set Brody up outside in the pack n' play so even HE was not trapped in the trailer which he has always been in the past, which then meant, I was not trapped in the trailer either. I am now seeing hte fabulousness of having a camping trailer.

This was Easter weekend so the kids were able to have their Easter Egg hunt, and my parents stopped by for a BBQ.

We had such a great time, we booked 3 more trips to come back before we left. FINALLY!

When is the Tornado?

So, when we first bought the trailer, we were told the first trip is the worst.....but after that, apparently, everything is smooooooth.



Ok.



So, I guess because we are us, this does not apply......



On the way back from KQ, we drop the trailer off at Rancho California (where my parents stay). Mike's "boss" generously let us borrow his lot while he was out of town. How fabulous!!! Right??



We invite out our neighbors, Rich & Christina, and my cousin and her friend, and we are going to have a good adults weekend...(with the exception of Brody). BBQ, cocktails, and good conversation.



Cousin J and I get there first to set up while Mike is at work. He will be joining is later as well as everyone else. After dealing with setting up in the what seemed like 600 mile an hour wind, which in reality, was probably really 60 mile an hour, but whatever....still hell, we see the rain clouds coming in. My parents decide they will not be uncovering their BBQ since the rain is coming and ask if we can BBQ for all 8 of us at our place. Of course!!



So, everyone arrives and what do you think happened? Not rain. HAIL! So, here were are, all 8 adults shivering and huddled under out tiny awning.

Everything went fine considering......

But really? Why havent we thought of checking the weather BEFORE a trip?

Note to self: We have the internet, and weather.com is easily accesible.

Home from the Ranch

Minus the wind - the weekend was pretty fabulous. I am not sure why none of us bothered to check weather BEFORE making reservations.....Next weekend, while Mike and I are in Temecula it is supposed to rain...so at least we are keeping a good trend going.

The campsite was gorgeous..and even though we just drove through briefly, I am in love with the town.

Brody went on his first bike ride, and fell asleep immediatley..so in my book, that means he LOVED it!

On the Road Again...Almost

I am hoping I become more efficient with updating this thing, otherwise, what is the point?

We are back from Temecula. It rained and rained and rained and then we had a dose of crazy wind. Not ideal camping weather. We were concerned because we had some friends coming out Saturday to meet us and the boys were going to golf....it was not looking promising. But, we awoke to a beautiful day Saturday.

After the day came to a close, we felt pretty confident in leaving our awning out and our propane heater table and barstools out (yes, we trecked that whole ensemble there...). However, at 12:30 am, I woke up to the trailer shakign from wind. Woke up Mike and in the rain and wind, we had to break down our set up.

Then in the morning, set it up again in hopes of it drying enough for us to pack it back up again.

Like I said, I have heard the first trip is the worst.....and with the weather, especially, I think this is true. AND if it is true, we handled it beautifully and were every well equiped.

All and all a sucessful venture.

Tomorrow, we begin the packing for this weekends trip to KQ Ranch, Jullian. I hope things go as good minus the weather.

Getting ready to go anywhere is a pain in the ass. We have known we are leaving now for 2 weeks....yet, of course, we leave tomorrow and we are nowhere close to being ready to "hop in the car and take off at 11am" as Mike says.

It sounds good though. Just being able to hop right into the car.

But me? Queen of having to pay the extra heavy suitcase fee for a WEEKEND trip to Vegas....it not quite the hop in the car and go type of person.

I cant stand not having things I need and so I tend to bring everything I have ever needed in my life because...what if? But, I do have my cinnamon scented Home Depot $5.97 candle already to go.

What makes this trip even better is the 50% chance of rain. I mean, how much fun does it sound like to load up all the athletic gear, bikes, golf clubs, ect for a weekend of playing and then instead be trapped inside a travel trailer with 3 kids, your husband, a dog and a cat.

I always hear the first trip is the worst, and that it gets easier with time and that is promising considering we have 6 trips planned from now until July :)

(I am making a note to myself: Bring camera cord) I am curious how ridiculous my mind is now to remembering anything so I am using this as a counter.

True Hillbillies Again

We have a Recreational Vehicle parked in our driveway again.

We have upgraded from tents.

We upgraded to the "prevent the kids from fighting model". This consists of 2 sets of bunk beds in the back which means, they can BOTH have a top OR bottom bunk at the SAME time! This is key. At least, until B is old enough to care.

And I have a queen size mattress, not full of air, which fabulous in my book.

http://www.jayco.com/php/products/floorplans.php?id=144&mod_id=695

This is ours. I am not sure why the picture shows a pop out tent...we do not have this..it is a slide rather, but the floor plan is the same.