Just Add Water: February 2009

The big move...not really...

A couple weeks after all our family left, we moved into a new home on Jan 24th...it is less that a mile away, so not a very big move at all! :) We have been trying to short sell our home before it forecloses, but the banks are being quite difficult and we still (as of Feb 26) don't know if they are going to ever come to an agreement. But anyway, we needed to find someplace to rent and God totally provided much more than we imagined! We found an amazing home almost the same size as our old one, with a pool even (the girls had been praying for that :) ! The home is even painted in my color scheme of chocolate and beige. The price is incredible, and we feel so thankful and blessed! So here are some pictures of moving day and our new home!

We had lots of friends come and help and we were so thankful because we have some really heavy furniture...we are not sure if they want to be our friends anymore :)

The part of the wall I never painted because it was behind the entertainment center! lol

After the home was all cleaned out, we took our kids back to say goodbye. We got to pray together and just thank God for the 2 years He gave us in that home and for all the good memories. We realize there are so many things that we God gives us to enjoy for a just a season, and we are thankful even when that season is shorter than we expected!

Our new home!

This is the front fomal living and dining as you come in the front door.

The family room has an opening to the office, which is a little funky, but maybe someday I'll put some interior shutters up.

I didn't take pictures of the upstairs, but there are our room which is huge with a 5 piece bath, the 2 girls rooms and a play room. We even have a guest bedroom downstairs again! It is really a wonderful home.

My grass..err, weeds :) We will need to get a lawn mower again, as our old home had no grass, poor David, he now has to mow this small patch of grass! :(

New Years Trip: Sea World

On Jan 1st, after Legoland, we drove down to San Diego to go to Sea World on Jan 2nd...this was where Rebekkah was so excited to go! The hotel that night was ridiculous! Doug and I thought we could save an extra $10, and wished in the end we had spent the extra $10. (We are the planners in each family, so good or bad the blame goes to us!)

There were people outside and in the rooms next to us yelling into the night. Most of us were asleep (all 8 of us shared a room) ...but it was bothering Rebekkah and so she started yelling about the people yelling and about how she couldn't sleep. Well, of course that woke more of us up!! She was so freaked out, and just as I would start to doze off again, she would yell about it again! (This went on for quite some time) Oh my goodness, it was hysterical (well, not that night, it was irritating, but the next morning we were all cracking up)...so the room is totally dark and I am trying to turn on the fan by the window so that there will be some "white" noise, so we can all go to sleep and not hear the people. Doug and Nicole's i-phone was in reach and so I was trying to use the light from it to find the switch for the fan, so I wouldn't wake anyone up further with turning a light on. I tried to explain to Doug what I was doing, but he was out of it, and when I gave him the phone back, he promptly set the phone to making "white" noise....which sounded like the hideous static on a TV, and very loud. This woke more people up... and I am trying to ask him to PLEASE turn it off, and he keeps thinking I just want a different noise .... and David keeps waking up and asking, what the heck is that noise? It was a zoo...!! The only person who slept through it all was Nicole...she must have been deaf!

So anyway...back to Seaworld. It was very cold that day, unfortunately, but we did all the shows and fed the dolphins and pet the rays...etc.

The shows were pretty good, I seem to remember them being better when we went to Orlando, but that could be because it was the first time I went, or it could be because we went in the summer, and they do more in the summer time.

We went to a show later in the day that had been recommended to us, and we ended up enjoying it the most. There were all these trained pets, of course dogs...but then there were also pigs, and cats and ducks...who knew you could train a duck?? The picture below is a cat on a tight rope.

I don't have any pictures, but at the end of the day everyone decided to go on a roller coaster that had a log type ride at the end....so it was in the water. All the kids were cold and we warned them they might get wet, and we were driving home that night, so wet clothing might be uncomfortable. They went anyway and loved it, and they didn't get wet (the first time)....so they went about 5 more times in a row....of course on the very last run they all got soaked! Abigail, is so upset and wants to find someone to blame it on, so of course that person is me, good old mom! " Mom, why didn't you tell us we would get wet??" "What? I did!, you didn't listen" "But Mommmm, you didn't tell us it would be this wet!" "Abigail, the ride is in water...of course you can get wet!" Hello??? It took her awhile, but eventually had to deal with the fact that it was her choice to go on the ride!

New Years Trip: Downtown Disney and Legoland

On Dec 31 we piled all 8 of us in our SUV and drove to Disneyland for New Years Eve. Since Downtown Disney is free, we decided to go there and have dinner and then watch the fireworks from the parking garage. It was quite cold and we were seated outside for dinner, much to my frustration...and of course it was Disney pricing...not cheap! The kids had a great time in the stores and then we headed over to the garage. We were all so tired that we watched the early fireworks, pronounced it a Happy New Year (because it was somewhere...like in New York...) and then went to our hotel to get some sleep.

Playing red light, green light while waiting for the fireworks

The next day, New Years, we drove down to Carlsbad and went to Legoland. Hannah and Micah are both into Legos and all the kids had a great time. We were pleasantly suprised by the lack of people at the park, so the kids got to go on certain rides over and over. Their favorites were the roller coaster and the "jousting" arms.

These roller coaster pictures made my laugh hysterically, notice David and then Nicole grabbing his arm! I hate heights, so I just take pictures...no roller coasters for me!

Then here are the kids on it for the first time, it cracked me up, notice the dread and pain in their faces...then of course they get off and exclaim that it was sooooo fun and run to go on it again and again!