Apples, Pears and Pumpkins

A beautiful and warm sunny day spent apple and pear picking in Julian!

Can't think of a better way to spend a Sunday than as a whole family...

Our final loot...What to do with all of it!?

Afterwards, we stopped for lunch and then made a quick pit stop at a pumpkin patch on the way home...

San Diego Summer Adventure - Balboa Park

While Joe was still working in Bremerton, the girls and I began to explore our new city. We were looking for fun and low-budget activities.

Balboa Park - Spreckels Organ Pavilion: A perfect spot for four energetic, wildly
animated girls to run off their energy by
singing and dancing...

No one was around - as the concerts don't start until later in the afternoon - so the girls put on a show for their mommy!

Striking a pose...

We're baaack!

Lot's of catching up to do since our move...but in the meantime, here are the 'hot off the press' pictures we took this morning.

Calling the Police...

I was laying in bed at 11:00 last night watching t.v. when I heard a sound from downstairs that sounded like someone was trying to open my front door. I turned down the volume to listen a little closer. I KNOW I had checked all of the doors and windows downstairs before I went to bed, as I do every night...especially since Joe has been gone for so long.

Sure enough, it sounded like someone was trying to put a key in my front door and open it...again...and again...and again. We had changed our locks when we moved in, so only Dan, our handyman, and Joe and I have the correct key. Our upstairs phone was currently plugged in downstairs, but I had *luckily* remembered to bring my cell phone upstairs with me. I decided to call 911.

As the operator answered and I told him what was going on, he claimed that he could not find my address in his system. What?! He was asking me about cross streets and such and I basically yelled at him that we had just moved here, I wasn't sure what he was asking me and could he just get someone here quick!

He had to transfer me over a county 911 operator. Not sure why or what it all meant, but the woman who answered was very helpful and found my address in her system. She assured me that officers were on the way and stayed with me on the phone until they arrived. And yes, all this time, the key was still going into the lock and someone was still trying to get in the house.

You can see the front door from my bedroom door, as I am at the top of the stairs, so I watched the front door while on the phone with the operator. She let me know when the officers were at the door and they knocked for me to come and answer.

Apparently, a man was in town for Comic-Con this weekend and was given a key to come and stay at his college friends' home. He thought that my house was his friends' house as this is where his GPS sent him. He couldn't get the key to work and didn't want to ring the bell to wake them, so he just kept trying the key.

The police questioned him and ran his name for any warrents but the officers assured me that he seemed legit and they were going to follow him to the proper house.

Before he left, the officer told me that he just had a conversation with the gentleman and told him he was lucky that I did not come to the door with a gun. I had to laugh and told him it would have been a different situation if my husband were here...

It took me awhile to fall asleep last night...

Joe...I miss you! One more month!

Sunny San Diego - Part One

A warning to those reading...this is a long post...without any pictures of the kids!

I am writing a re-cap of our trip down to San Diego and our first few days here, mainly as a memory for us, but also to fill in friends and family. I have not had the camera out at all...been a little busy.

We started our journey last Thursday afternoon. Joe got out of work at noon and we were on the road by 2:00. I went back inside the house one last time to check the locks on the doors and it all hit me. I stood in the kitchen and looked around at "our first house" and became really sad that we were leaving. I am excited for a new adventure (especially to a warmer, sunnier climate) and am used to moving, but so much has happened in that house. It was the first place we ever lived as a family that was ours. Emerson was only 3 months old when we moved in and it is the only place Abigail has ever know. So, I was a bit emotional.

We headed out to Roseburg to spend the night and arrived about 8:00. We made a quick pit stop for a snack and got to say hello/good-bye to Auntie Rae Rae.

Friday morning arrived bright and early and we were on the road by 8:30. We originally intended to only drive 7 hours, but the kids were doing SO good that we just kept on 'truckin. We would stop every few hours to stretch our legs, use the bathroom and eat. You could tell when they were getting bored as they would tell us they were hungry...even though they had just eaten an hour or two before. We finally pulled in to Le Bec, CA at 9:45 and just as Joe was checking us into a hotel, the meltdowns began. Four girls crying in the back of the car...ready for bed. A long, but very productive, 12+ hour day!

In hindsight, we are so glad that we decided to make Friday a long day as Saturday would seem quick and easy in comparison.

We ate breakfast at the hotel on Saturday morning and started back down I-5. It should have only taken us 3 hours to arrive in San Diego, but Joe graciously agreed to make one pit stop for me along the way...



I am a huge fan of reality tv, so I was hoping to spot Tamera, Vicki, or Jeana...but no such luck! We were allowed through the gates, though, as there were some open houses, as it *is* an incredible neighborhood with its own equestrian center, school and convenient store! We stopped for an early lunch with the girls at a strip mall right across the street from there....still no sightings for me...although I did realize how under-dressed I was in jeans and a t-shirt! :-)

We FINALLY pulled in to our new house at 1:00 and the girls were so excited! They ran through it and were hooping and hollering! We had the carpets cleaned and the walls painted before we arrived and Joe and I were anxious to see the color combinations.

This house was a short sale house, so we bought it "as is". It really was in great condition, but even as I entered it that day, my heart dropped a bit. It still seemed like "their" house and even smelled like them. For the most part, it was clean, but I should have had a cleaning crew come in before I moved in. The kitchen was dusty and dirty, the floors were filthy, the windows and sills have not been cleaned *ever* and I am finding long hairs all over the place. Soooo....I lost it.

I had a HUGE breakdown and started sobbing...so much so that Joe was concerned and called my mom. I think it was a combination of things...the reality of leaving Port Orchard and all my friends, the fact that we were transitioning to a new place and starting over and just the fact that I was moving into someone else's dirt. I really had not shed a tear up until that point (unless you count saying good-bye to Nikki...when the waterworks began!) so I think it was a release of everything.

Through my crying I told Joe I had to get to the store and buy cleaning supplies to start scrubbing. I think he was so freaked out at that point that he would have done whatever I asked him to do. We went to the local market and I bought cleaning supplies and started working on the kitchen....the tears still flowing. We put Abigail down for a nap and he took the older three for a walk. During that time, I called my mom and had a heart-to-heart with her. It made all the difference.

Joe had to leave the next afternoon to fly home to Washington, as he must work through August. I did not want our last days together to be miserable, so I finally calmed myself down and decided to spend the rest of the day as a family. We headed out to dinner and Target...nothing like a trip to Target to get me in a good mood!

We camped out in our new home Saturday night and all slept together in our bedroom...a great first night in our new home!