California

We just got back from California, visiting with B#1 and his wife.  We had a good time and hopefully didn't overwhelm them too much by adding 11 extra bodies to the mix.

 

It was a tiring ride for the kiddos.

 

Our first day there after traveling we went to church with them. It was a nice little church. The pastor is a very genuine man who loves the Lord. We were excited to meet him, knowing how much he prayed for Mark before, during and after his surgery. As a matter of fact, he told us he is still praying for Mark. The Lord must have told him that although Mark is mostly better he still has some bad days where he feels like he hasn't made much progress. It was amazing to know that their pastor was awake before the sun was up on the morning of Mark's surgery texting us to let us know he was praying for us.

 

 

We went bowling while there. The kids really enjoyed that and I got to bowl using bumpers since I was on their lane!

 

 

The day after that we went to tour the Jelly Belly factory. I really enjoyed that. Maybe it is the homeschool mom in me but its great when you can learn something and eat candy at the same time.

We enjoyed having a picnic lunch outside. The Lord blessed me by taking away the 106 degree temps of the previous week and giving us low 80's while we were there.

 

 

After leaving the Jelly Belly factory we decided we still had enough energy to go see some of Old Town Sacramento. The guys went to the California Railroad Museum which they thoroughly enjoyed while we girls(and B#11) walked around the shops.

 

 

While we were walking around we spotted Danny's Mini Doughnuts. Can you say Yum??? So of course we decided we needed to stop in. The young man making the doughnuts made the experience fun for us and they were very yummy. We bought 48 mini doughnuts!

 

 

 

B#6 got to put the sprinkles on the chocolate doughnuts.

 

B#3 got really into shaking some doughnuts.

 

B#1's wife got to do some shaking too!

 

 

I liked this sign..if you are going to go to a saloon it should be a coffee saloon!

 

Our last day there was spent packing, shopping for food for the trip home and visiting a fun park with places for the kiddos to play in water. As you can tell B#11 loved it. He is a little waterbug.

                                                                             
                                                                     B#10 loved it too!

                                       These two thought they were just too cool to get wet!

And then we headed out...bright and early. Our first rest stop of the day had this Rattlesnake warning sign...Ugh! Kids stay close!

 

We decided to take a detour on our way home to visit Crater Lake. It is the deepest lake in the United States and the clearest in the world. Which, I think, is what makes it so very blue. It added a bit to our trip home which made it a little harder for the kiddos but in the end I think everyone thought it was worth it to see. Apparently it is a volcano, boy I didn't realize that when I committed to the side trip. Heights and kids make me nervous. But we all survived. Isn't it beautiful?  Our God makes amazing things, doesn't he?

                                          How's your summer going so far?? Any great plans?

 

A Rocking Chair

An example of how God meets our needs, even when they may seem small....

B#11 is a terrible sleeper, always has been. I rely hugely on my rocking chair in his room, sometimes I even sleep there. It is pretty much the only way I can get him to sleep in the evening and back to sleep when he wakes up many times during the night.

We are going on a trip to see B#1 and his newly pregnant wife and the thought of not having a rocking chair to use for B#11 was a huge issue to me. I woke up one morning after very little sleep and told DH that I couldn't possibly go with them because I would have no rocking chair, weeping as I said it.

I don't think I mentioned that part to my daughter-in-law but we did joke a bit about tying my rocking chair on to the top of our huge red van. Well, today after church she texted me and told me that her church was letting her borrow a rocking chair from them for me to use while I am there. I don't think she quite realized how emphatic I was when I replied "Praise the Lord" or just how huge this was to me. But God knew how huge it was to me, even though it may have seemed small to everyone else.

FYI

The melting point of children's plastic magnet letters is approximately 200 degrees. Ask me how I know!

Lavender or Snakes

I do not like snakes, even Garter snakes...B#2 was always our snake catcher. Anyway, we have been having a snake issue of late. All it takes to get the kiddos to start screaming is to hear mom screaming when a snake slithers near me. So I consulted the Google, which my girls tell me is a legitimate thing to do. Apparently snakes like bushes and tall grass. DUH! No wonder it is hanging around my deck. So I had a choice...live with the snake slithering around where B#11 crawls, in and out of my lavender bush or cut down and dig up the bush. It doesn't sound like a hard choice, but I LOVE lavender. I counted my bushes recently and I think I counted around 30 bushes and this particular bush was a gift from the kids and we brought it from our old house to replant here. But I love my little one more so I chose to chop it down and will work on digging it up as soon as my hands recover from the chopping part.

On a side science kind of note, once I started hacking away we found the skin that the snake had shed as he got bigger. Ugh!