Feb-March...Whew!

The last month...plus...in review.  It's been so, so good...I've had to be resting on all our downtime!

Week 1, Valentines Day Weekend

Happy Valentines Day Camping Trip to Santa Barbara...and the first camping trip in our new van!

Here's their little snuggle spots, Kaila on the ground and Josiah on the front seat. Ryan and I sprawled out in the back. So cozy and...easy! That was the best part!

On a hike, with our sweet friends RJ and Anna (unfortunately not pictured). We love them!

Ending the camping trip with a quick stop-off at the Santa Barbara Zoo...

...not surprising these two fell fast asleep as soon as we started the drive home.

Week 2-Parents in Town, on both sides!

Such a full-of love week, not many pictures, but lots of memories! Time at the beach with Mom and Dad Lucio and time at the Lily House and dinners with Mom and Dad Hayes

Weekend 3- Adults only escape to Bear Valley

Lyndal's good friend Taylor let us stay at her cabin in Bear Valley, and us and two other couples cozied up in the cabin in the snow for two days. Ryan and I spent all day together cross country skiiing on some great slopes, all groomed for skiing! It was awesome!

Weekend 4- Lovin Home

Biking to the local coffee shop...

Outdoor movie night at our house with our Bible study...12 adults and 13 kids under the age of about 8! Snuggling under the stars on a warm A-town night, watching a movie and roasting hobo e'claires...how much better can it get?

Week 4- First Week of Pre-School

 Yes, Josiah is in socks. We were in a rush and his shoes were in the car. I just like to focus on those beautiful smiles. They go four half-days a month, every other tuesday and thursday.

Week 5-6-Prayer

Our bible study had a tragedy, one of the families lost their sweet boy in a tragic accident. He was only about 3 1/2 years old. I would be remiss if I didn't write a note of the event that is still heavy on our hearts and playing a part in our daily lives.

Week ?- The things that keep me busy in-between...

One day, I thought the kids were all napping, and I laid down to rest. From my bed I heard a clucking in the hallway, that's right, a clucking right outside my bedroom door. I jumped up to see Kaila with a very-put-out chicken in her arms. She was in socks, so she graced the house with a trail of leaves that marked her path from the chicken coop, to the kitchen (why??), through the living room and down the hallway. Then the chicken freaked out and made a mad flap-dash for it's life. (I can't say I blame the thing. Kaila is kinda terrifying when it comes to small animals. She just loves them so much that she's always threatening to hug them..to death.) Anyways, Kaila gripped that chicken's leg and shielded her face with one arm as it frantically flew in a half circle around her head and body, raining down feathers all over the hallway. I couldn't be mad. I helped her secure the chicken told her to freeze while I ran and got the camera.  I snapped this picture then made her carry the frazzled chicken back outside...and then I vacuumed.

Weekend 7-March 14-16- Camping Trip to Big Sur

With an 80 degree, sunny weekend and good surf on the horizon, Ryan and I packed up and headed up to Big Sur to go camping. It was, by far, one of the best camping trips we have had in a long, long time. We relaxed, we surfed big waves, we slept well, the kids frolicked and played on the beach and on the grass at Plasket Creek Campground...No complaints at all. It was even easy packing and unpacking due to our new van. In and out. Simple.

Week 7- 8 Year Anniversary

Ryan and I celebrated 8 years on March 18th. Lyndal came and babysat while we went out to a nice dinner and then took a hot tub under the stars. This picture above is actually an engagement picture. Seeing us surfing together, younger and a bit more carefree, actually reminds me of how Ryan and I felt on our camping trip just two days before. I am soooo lucky to be married to such an amazing man. This picture reminds me of the joy and love we have for eachother, for God and His amazing creation, and for riding the wave of life together as we grow with our kids, our home, and our memories. 

(sorry for the sappy refrence, but it's true, it really does remind me of that ;)

I am behind posting on two fun weekends, and we have another one coming up so I will be posting pictures soon. However, right now I'm procrastiniating working on school work so wanted to post this conversation I overheard this morning that accurately distinguishes one of the many differences between our little boy and our little girl.

Scene:  Kaila was peacefully playing with her doll house, making the little boy and girl walk around the house and drive in the car, go to the doctor's office...etc etc. really sweet and cute taking care of the little people. Josiah joined in the fun and Kaila gave him the boy.

K- (moving the girl around the house) "Gett'in in the car, drive drive drive...oh, let's eat! The girl is hungry, sitting at the table. Muah! Kiss! Ok, she neets to go potty. There, now cmon boy, let's go eat dinner..."

J- "Yea, yea, the boy is too, he is in the house.. . (pause) AHHHH AHHHH AHHH, his legs are on fire! His legs are on fire! Swoosh!! (boy appears to fly/jump from the roof in an attempt to extinguish the fire on his legs..I think it worked because he then replied). Ok, Im coming for dinner!"

Rain

I don't think K even knew what rain actually was before last Thursday, when it finally rained. I couldn't help but think how nobody was singing that song "Rain rain go away, come again some other day..." Nope, around California that song has been banned, just in case it works. 

As soon as I saw the sprinkles I ran to the back of the kids closets and dug out every piece of rain gear they had. Boots, jackets...well that's it. The boots and jackets. I hyped it all up saying "cmon kids! Its raining!! We get to wear our rain gear!! It's raining! Let's wear our rain gear!!"  I was so excited about the rain, I kept thinking about how it may be the only day it rains all year, the only time they will be able to actually use their rain gear. 

 I'll admit. I felt kinda pathetic making such a big deal out of  a few hours of rain. I felt like a dieter who just cracked and stuffed a dozen donuts in their mouth. But it was sooo gooood!  It didn't stop me and I'm not ashamed. I dragged the kids out into the rain  heavy mist and took this picture.
We're still prayin' for a healthier dose of rain this year!

The Break In

Something broke into our house last night. Kaila noticed it. 3:15 am she stood in the hallway and began to sob, alerting us of the intruder.  Jolted out of our slumber by our screaming daughter we scooped her up from the black hallway where she stood, in tears, and we frantically asked...

Ry- "What is it Kaila!? What's wrong?"

K- "It's scary....Scary....sooooo scary..."

Ry-"Yes? What's scary Kaila?"

K-"A turtle. A turtle in my room"

A turtle. 

They'll do it every time. 3 am in the morning, that's what I always worry about. Turtles in my room. 

As I lay there trying to fall back asleep, I started imagining this dreaded turtle, climbing the wall of the house,  breaking in the screen and opening the locked window, then replacing them all so nicely that you couldn't tell anything had happened, and I realized...it had to have been a 

Ninja Turtle.

 Then I had a bit more compassion on Kaila, I mean, c'mon. Ninja Turtles are definately more scary than regular turtles, plus they tend to be Teenage and everyone is scared of Teenagers. 

The good parents that we are, we rid her room of all Ninja Turtle-paraphanaila (ie her little pink blanket that was all humped up in a small mound in the corner of her crib). Then we did the sleep dance when K. came out three more times wanting to "(s)nuggle" instead of sleep for about an hour. Exasperated, I lay there and began to wonder about the purpose of turtles and couldn't they just not have been created. They don't even seem that important on the food chain. I would be perfectly happy if turtles had never existed. Then I would still be asleep at 4 am. To be honest, I finally fell asleep at 4:30 a.m. thinking...

"damn turtles."

Look at that cuteness. It always amazes me how our children can keep us up at night and make us so tired and frustrated, but when they toddle out in the morning, all R and I can do is smile and they are instantly forgiven. Don't get any ideas. If you do that, we are never inviting you back over to spend the night and you may even be crossed off our friend list. Unless, of course, there is a turtle in your room then K. would stick up for you and we'd be forced to keep you around.

Conversation of the Morning

              8:20 a.m. on Saturday

             Conversation of the morning...

Me: "J, don't eat your mocos (boogers). That's yucky. (We're working on this)"

J: "But mommy, I was still hungry from breakfast, that's why I was eating my mocos."

I'm thinking, "So darn logical, but what, because waffles, sausage and eggs and bannanas weren't enough for you? "

K: (In a self-righteous tone) "I'm not eating my mocos mommy, ...pause....only a little bit (smacking her lips)."

It started with a dream...

It started with a dream, then we made it happen. 

We bought a little red, 4 wheel drive pickup, with 135,000 miles on it for $4,000. It was dinged up, the upholstry was ripped, it only had a tape deck...it was perfect. Ryan custom built out the back for sleeping and storage, I made curtains and we traveled and camped in the back of our little red truck countless times. To date, the truck has over 200,000 (rough) miles on it and is goin strong.

Somewhere in Baja..

Then we had kids and bought a house. A three-seater truck wasn't working for us anymore and we needed the truck bed for home improvements etc. So we took the camper part apart and now we use it around the house.  

Pretty soon we were having those discussions that almost all my friends with (multiple) kids have...

Tent or Trailer? Van or SUV? 5 seats or 8?

Enter...the CamperVan

They offer the upgraded convience of a trailer and the seats to bring friends.

No, I don't mean this kind. 

Honestly, I'm too prideful to be seen picking my kids up from school in this. Plus, I want my kids to have friends and I don't know if parents would let their kids get in this van.

Actually, I don't know if these vans are even allowed to lurk wait outside schools looking for kids.

Then there's the classic California VW.

As surfers, Ryan and I love the "stlye points" that the VW Campervans have. They have great seat layouts and a ton of cool ammenities. However, they have a terrible reputation for breaking down and being expensive to fix (you can only buy their parts from special dealers). Not ok in our world. We want vacation to stay vacation, and we don't want to worry about our car breaking down.

Then there's this...

 It's the Sportsmobile. Built in the body of a full sized van (your choice of several vehicle types), it's been called the "Ultimate Adventure Vehicle." This would be our car of choice. When outfitted, you can rig it to be a sleeper, have a 4 wheel drive, stove, fridge, sofas, tables, whatever you want. The problem with this? The price tag. Think $30,000 to $110,000+, used.  No Thank You. 

That started the dream.

The Sportsmobile is often built on the Ford E150-350 van body. These vans are full sized, they carry 8 to 15 people, and they get from 12-18 miles per gallon. They are reported to be lasting in the 200,000-300,000 mile range. They're dependable, inexpensive and easy to fix, when necessary. We have dreamed of getting one and outfitting it to be our poor man's version of a Sportsmobile.

Now we're making it happen. 

Yesterday, we bought a Ford E150 8 passenger van in perfect condition with 100,000 miles, racks and a tow package, for a measely $6,000! Here it is.

The goal?

 To create a camping car that will make camping even easier and more fun, and to have a car for special occasions so we can take our kids, friends, and family in it. It's kind of like our family-version  of our little-red-truck dream.

Check out the trunk space with 8 seats in it! Think, two bench seats w storage against the sides and a table that converts down to a bed in the middle...

 Probably one of my favorite parts about this is Ryan and I dreaming together. We are now in the process of dreaming up interior layouts and adventures to have together with our kids and our new van.

It started with a dream, and now we're making it happen...again ; ). 

No Proof

It is Jan 5th. Today I have no proof. I have no proof, no pictures, no texts, no facebook updates...there was no room for these things. 

I laid on the beach and did a devotional alone while listening to the crashing waves. I shielded my eyes from the sun glistening off the baby blue and teal water of the ocean while admiring the seals and pelicans as they looked for food. The kids and Ryan joined me and we jumped in the waves. Ry and I screamed just so that the kids would look up at us and then scream louder, laughing as the frigid water splashed up our bodies.  We made dozens of sandcastles, watched the waves tear them down, jumped on them and we kissed cheeks, hands and heads. 

Ryan and I knee-paddled around and surfed tiny waves with no wetsuits on (briefly, it was cold). We put the kids on the board and told them they were surfing as they held Ryan's hand. The wave moved the board an inch or two off the ground for a few seconds and the kids screamed... "We're surfing!" They believed us.

I have no proof. No texts, no pictures, no instagram, no facebook..there was no room for these things. 

But I was there. We all were there, wholly, completely, 100 percent there.