Our summer is off to a whirl wind start!
HOUSE:
The kids were out of school mid June, but unfortunately we were busy right off with packing up our house. Our lease was up and it is time for us to buy a house. We are working on that ultimate goal, but in the mean time moved into a friend's rental house (as of June 26). We are now in the community of Rowland Heights!
Rowland Heights is a great community with lots of beautiful parks. It is hotter here than in Long Beach, but is not too far from our old home so we can still get together with our old friends. We love that! We have had a few funny moments already...
Our friend, Victor, had teased us that we would be the token white people here (Rowland Heights is mostly Asian people). We thought he was kidding!
1.The second night in the house we decided to go out to dinner. Victor refered us to a great little cafe that serves Asian food- Maxim Cafe. When we drove into the lot we noticed that there weren't any American made cars. Ours was defiantly the biggest and most American model in the entire lot. What happened next was like something out of a movie! As we walked into the cafe, all the customers and staff stopped what they were doing and watched us. Yup, we were the ONLY 6 white people in there... probably in all of the shopping mall! The waiter seated us and first thing he said was, "so, how did you hear about us?". We told him our friend had sent us in. Victor was right; the food was amazing! The waiter gave us coupons for Victor and our next visit when we were done. He was great, and we will definitely be the "token white people" when we visit again!
2.The same night we went out for dinner the girl from next door came over to "warn us she was having a party to celebrate her graduation. When she said it might get loud we had no idea how loud it was going to get!! Apparently they had hired a professional DJ and when he started up the music our house was shaking. Somehow the kids managed to sleep through it and Nate and I managed to get a couple hours sleep after everything shut down at 2:15am. We left for the family reunion at Lake Powell the next morning at 4am. More to follow on that one...
3.I have decided that fruit smoothies should make a re-appearance on the menu. That said I went out and bought tons of fruit for them. Yesterday morning I was making them with my nifty hand blender thingy (my 25.00 special that I apparently expect to do wonders). I got the kids soy smoothie done and moved on to one for Nate and I. About 1/2 way done the stupid mixer starts billowing smoke! I hurried and turned it off, but it was too late! The whole inside had melted! My little hand blender had blended its last drink...
Nate came to the rescue and bought me a new Kitchen Aid blender. A very fashionable red one! Smoothies in this monster are fantastic. Dump everything in and bled for about 30 seconds and enjoy. Now I am just trying to figure out what other things I can blend up in it!!
4.This morning I went out to push the garbage cans to the curb, as the truck was coming already. Normal enough right? As I moved the recycling bin a lizard ran across my foot and into the rose bush. Of course the normal person would have jumped and then moved on... I screamed and then continued to yell at the lizard. The neighbor came out and asked if I needed help. I said no, but am sure he thought I needed some kind of help!
FAMILY REUNION
Two days after moving we raced to Lake Powell with a part for Jeff's house boat. We made it just in time for the mechanic to fix the boat so we could all hit the lake. Jenn, Matt Holste and family were next to arrive. We set up in our assigned sleeping areas and waited for the rest of the family to make it to the marina. Everybody arrived around 10:30pm. That first night we stayed in the slip... that means all 25 people were on the boat. It was fun!
We left the dock in search of a campsite. Justin with Luke, and Matt S. with Carter on the wave runners accompanied Jeff and all the middle nieces and nephews went in the ski boat. They were off ahead of us to scout out beaches for us to use. Steve did a great job of driving the houseboat with all the younger kids and us parents. A few hours later we caught up with Jeff. Sandee jumped in the boat to see what Jeff had found. We settled into a campsite that was near a sandbar that formed a little swimming cove. Jeff managed to park the house boat in a way that would give the smaller kids a swimming pool that was protected from other boats. It was really cool! Then we set up 2 tents on the sand bar and a play area for the little kids.
The rest of the days were filled with nothing but water sports. Jeff and I went out skiing every morning after breakfast. The water was all glassy and his new ski rocked!! I was so excited to see that I have not lost all my skiing ability. Actually felt like I was doing pretty well by day 4.
In the mid morning, until the sun went down, we took turns on the boat and ALL the kids go to ride on the tube! Even the little ones took a couple rides. Ammon was funny because the entire time on the tube he was waving and saying, "hi mom!" Ressa went on a couple times, but on one trip she found out what it meant to wipe out. She was on with Lex and Jax. We hit a wave just right and the side that had Jax and Ressa on it popped them up in the air. They came down together, and I thought they would be okay, but suddenly Jax's survival kicked in and he was on Ressa's back pushing her down. She started crying, but I think it was because she was scared of being pushed under. They were both fine and ready for another run a couple hours later.
Nate, Holste and Justin were very entertaining on the tube! Sandee managed to flip them 3 or 4 times on the way to get gas at the marina. They are all so competetive that it was hilarious to watch. Nate also did some knee boarding, but seemed to just like being on the boat.
Cyanne, Heather, Natalie and Denise were fearless on the tube! Sandee is a crazy driver and on her runs we managed to launch the girls into the air. We even flipped some of the girls with Jenn, and the brothers. I went on the tube with Carla and Jenn... so I couldn't get killed. It was okay, but I think i will stick to skis!
Cyanne was the only kid to get up on skis!! She was frustrated because it took her 4 tries. Once she was up though she was pretty stable. Keeping her arms straight was the only thing that she needed to work on. Next year... crossing the wake!!
Cyanne was also a fearless knee boarder. Big surprise as she is our natural athlete! She and the older girls would have knee board wars. That was always entertaining! The last day she took a huge spill. She and Heather were having wars and she caught the tip of the board just right. Next thing we all knew she was tumbling through the water. She hit so hard she lost one of her earrings!
Foster went on the tube, but didn't seem to like it too much. He was more than happy to play on the beach, swim and jump off the house boat. He had no interest in the water sports or the boat... how did that happen? Anyway, he had a great time!
Ressa enjoyed jumping off the top deck of the houseboat as well. She thought it was great fun. When Drew gathered up all the older girls to go cliff jumping she was wishing she had gone! She kind of surprised me... under all the layers of princess seems to be a dare devil!
Ammon just loved to go on the boat! He was happy as could be watching the tubing and skiing. He adored going over the waves in the boat and was the first "baby" in the water during swimming times. He was great about wearing his life jacket all day as long as he was able to cool off in the water. He would just run off the side of the boat. He and Carter really hit it off I think. They would play together, throw rocks together and swim together.
All in all it was a fantastic trip. Elements from every family. Matt and Justin both just had new babies so their wives stayed home with the younger kids and Jeanne stayed home with Grandma Mettie. We missed them, but had a great time with thier families!!
the girls all sining to Lady Gaga
