Need a Tree

There just isn't enough shade in our back yard. It's a very tiny yard to begin with and there is no tree. We need a shade tree. I made lunch for the kids and the three younger ones wanted to have a picnic in the back yard.

They started out on the lawn but said they were toooooo hot so moved to the little table in the only shade they could squeeze themselves into. They then gave up and ran into the house to finish their lunch when a huge green beetle started flying in their faces.

Once inside the younger one gave us his usual happy face.
The older ones continued in their places as TV zombies.
The two middle ones tried to cool off as they played a game of UNO.

Papa and Pepper just enjoyed the a/c.

The train to nowhere...........

So a couple we are friends with asked us if we'd like to ride out to Campo and take a ride on a historical train.
Campo is a 45 mile ride from us. There is NOTHING in Campo but weeds, dirt, a few old run down buildings and this old train museum. It is only ONE mile from the Mexico border. In all the years we've lived here we've never been there.......now I know why!

We looked on websites and it said there was a 90 minute ride on an old historical train through the old tracks and we thought it would be a fun way to see how it was on the old train rides.


There is a huge barn which is a museum of old trains. We bought the tickets, $10 a piece to see the museum and ride the train. The museum had three full size train cars in it and we were able to go inside them and see how they were many years ago.
We were anxious to go on the ride and see the old tunnel and how the old train worked.

THEN THEY DIRECTED US TO THE TRAIN CABOOSE...........riding on the caboose was going to be fun...........we got inside the caboose and found THREE seats two windows and doors............connected to the caboose was the engine car..........NO OTHER TRAIN CARS WERE ATTACHED..............humm??? this started to seem strange to us.......we were told it would be alright to stand on the outside of the caboose if we wanted to see better while riding......ahhh, ok? We heard the engine start! We wondered how the caboose would ride and what we would see......the engine was loud.........The caboose and engine started to move...............forward.............then it stopped a few yards ahead...............backwards..............then it stopped a few feet behind..................forward................then it stopped a few yards ahead.............backwards...............WAIT A MINUTE! WHAT IS GOING ON??

So we asked the man who was on the caboose.......the volunteer train guy with the train hat on.............."what is going on? Are we just going to go back and forth?" and he replied "yep, there was a fire on the tracks a few days ago and we can't go on the normal ride anymore". WHAT???????????????????

"so why weren't we told this when we bought the tickets" we asked him.............his reply " it's on our website".

This was the extent of our train ride ........these tracks....................

Now I looked online at a few websites that talked about the places to see in our area. Places to go and things to do sort of websites........they ALL said this was going to be a 90 minute ride through old train track sights............

BUT THE ACTUAL MUSEUM WEBSITE DOESN'T SAY THAT............here.......check this out for yourself...............does it explain EXACTLY what type of ""ride"" you will be going on? I hardlly call watching the weeds go back and forth a ride! Here is the link to their own website......

http://www.sdrm.org/

So after 20 minutes of watching the same things going back and forth past the windows of the caboose we walked back out into the 92* heat to our car and drove to the Casino 30 minutes away!

We didn't win anything but didn't loose either. Broke even. Had a good meal at the buffet. Got to see another person win $23,000.000 on a PENNY machine!

Needless to say we won't be recommending the train ride to anyone. Definitely not worth the HOT ride out there!

3 years old

Today was Conner's birthday party! He is now officially three years old!

Family gathered at a local park. It was HOT but everyone enjoyed the party.

There were a lot of really cool presents!!!!

The older boys brought their bikes and rode the park ramps.

There was a water balloon tossing contest!

Yes, sweet lovable cute Conner is now three years old! Even with cake and dirt on his face!

BUSY DAY SO FAR

KYLE BROUGHT OVER SOME MODELING CLAY TODAY.

DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT WE HAD TO USE OUTSIDE IN THE BACKYARD.

VERY CREATIVE LITTLE MINDS HARD AT WORK ON THEIR PROJECTS.

MESSY BUT FUN.

KYLE DECIDED TO MAKE A LITTLE BOWL. AFTER IT DRIES HE CAN PAINT IT AND PLANS TO GIVE IT TO HIS MOM AS A KEEPSAKE.



SINCE THEY HAD CLAY ALL OVER THEMSELVES BY THE TIME THEY WERE DONE WITH THEIR CREATIONS WE FIGURED THE SLIP & SLIDE WAS THE BEST WAY TO CLEAN IT OFF.

AMAZING WHAT SOME SUNSHINE, OUTDOOR ACTIVITY AND CREATIVE PLAY WILL DO!

Too close for comfort.

"Brush fire in Santee knocked down
Firefighters have knocked down a brush fire in the San Diego River bed near Magnolia Avenue and Chubb Lane in Santee this afternoon, according to a Heartland fire dispatcher.
Firefighters were called just before 4 p.m. and knocked down the flames about a half-hour later, the dispatcher said. Crews are expected to spend some time taking care of hot spots and making sure flames don't start by a nearby mobile home park.
An estimate on how much acreage was burned was not immediately available. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Temperatures in the area reached 100 degrees today, according to the National Weather Service."

Above is a news report I copied from the website is about a fire just about 130 feet from our home. We live in the mobile home park it is talking about. We were about to leave to watch Nathans baseball game and as we started to pull out of our garage we see red flames shooting up over the brick retainer wall onto the trees. Sirens are all around us and neighbors are gathering.

We got out of the car and watched the helicopter dropping the flame retardant over and over again until the fire was in control. On the other side of that retainer wall is a river bed full of trees and bushes. The wind, dry hot wind, was blowing in a way to direct the fire in the path of that bed. It was close enough to our mobile home park that one roof caught fire along the edge and was quickly put out by the fire department.

It is now three hours later from when the fire trucks first got here and there are still about six out there checking the area for hot spots.

Fires is always a definite scare around here and now with the degree of heat rising into the 100's and the dry wind ...................well this was just too close for comfort.
I thank God for watching over us today.

A pain in the............toe?

Ignore the terrible pedicure!

Just notice the swollen, discolored little toe.

The photo doesn't show how exactly how discolored it is or how it "feels"!

Amazing that such a small thing on one's body can mess up a persons daily routine.

Yes it hurts. No I cannot bend it.

So I'm wondering how fun it will be this week to try to take the kids to the pool. I can walk on it so today I'm going to try to go to a store and try to find a pair of those water shoes to wear to support it and keep it from getting bumped.

I'm also very irritated that when we got the Wii three weeks ago I started the Wii Active 30 day challenge exercise program. I'm three weeks into it. I plan to try to do what I can but I think the jogging in place part will have to wait!

Not to mention that my leg aches along with the foot and it gets difficult to find comfortable positions to sit with your leg elevated all the time!

Well, I've said before that we need to focus on the blessings and not the negative. So I am blessed that I didn't break the foot or worse.

Hey, my hubby is at this very moment in the kitchen making a complete egg and potato breakfast and won't let me get up to help him. That's a blessing right!

Earthquakes, Ladybugs and Squids

Well how are all of you guys today? Any strange occurrences in your area?
I guess we had a 4.0 earthquake this morning but I must of slept through it because I didn't know until Lisa asked me if I knew!
It was centered in La Jolla which is the beach area and about 10 miles from here. So on the news today it says that just after the earthquake dozens of giant squids were flapping around on the shores of the La Jolla beach ! People were trying to push or throw them back into the water to save them from the seagulls that were trying to eat them!
And now I just read on a news link that Jackson County Colorado was invaded by giant swarms of ladybugs which covered the trees and houses!

Just last week they had to stop the Padres baseball game because they were invaded by a swarm of bees!

Jim and I went to the pool today for a swim and there were two TINY baby lizards swimming in the pool! They were only about an inch long!

Hope that next we don't see any frogs falling out of the skies!

Cold now!

Our house is now nice and cool again! It cost $99.95 in labor but with the heat of summer in this area it is a no brainer to spend the money to fix it.

I have to say we are very blessed. We live in a area that is very sunny most of the time and has the choices of either going to the mountians, desert or the beach. We DO pay the price for these choices. The cost of dry dusty days and the fear of fires or earthquakes but what area doesn't have fears? We also have the $$$$ of a high cost living area.

Whatever the pros and whatever the cons WE are not in control of them and need to count the daily blessings given to us.

a/c woes

I have the a/c woes. It's hot here. In the 90's and today the a/c decided to stop working. As the sweat started rolling down my forehead I checked the thermostat to discover that the temperature in the house was rising instead of lowering. I check outside to find the unit is making a weird buzzing noise instead of the usual humming.
So now we have all the windows open to allow the warm breeze to flow through the house with the fans all on.
We are lucky that the company we bought the a/c from four years ago is able to come out tomorrow morning to check it out and I pray that whatever it is will be covered by the warranty!
In the meantime it is a reminder to be thankful for the blessings of appliances that we have and take for granite!

I've been invaded !

Today I was invaded by SECRET AGENT NINJA SPIES!!!



They came into my house and were ready to attack.










I said I was not their enemy and please don't attack me!


They weren't too sure if they should believe me and gave me the evil eye...













Then their powerful leader walked in and saved me and we all became friends!