The Year That Is: Up the Coast to Monterey Bay

Day One: Cruising to Morro Bay

After 8am Mass at the Chapel, the driving was to begin!

Well, first we got some breakfast and some groceries and some gas and then We Drove! Oh yes!

And drive we did... s.l.o.w.l.y through Los Angeles. S.l.o.w.l.y through northern LA County until, finally, we left all of the traffic behind. The littles were excited to be moving; the big ones were dreaming of one big nap. Sigh. I think they looked out the window occasionally when Stephen yelled at them to enjoy the beautiful scenery. And beautiful it was with rolling hills of golden grass, dotted with majestic oak trees.  

We arrived in Morro Bay in the late afternoon. Everyone was in good spirits, but needing some run around time. The hotel was situated on a golf course so there was plenty of room for giggling races. After the rooms were settled, much to the intense delights of the littles, we headed out to a local burger joint for dinner. The day was topped off with a late night swim in a huge spa. Really, I think that was the best part as it had jets, bubbles, room to swim a bit, and a waterfall!

A Very, Very Busy Day Two: Morro Bay to Monterey Bay

Everyone woke up in high spirits. Sleeping in a hotel was downright magical for the young children. Well, not so magical for Kolbe as he rather hated the whole experience, but everyone else loved it. We soothed the disgruntled Kolbe by having him sleep with me. (No worries, this definitely came back to haunt us at home.) Back to happy children...apparently happiness can be found in a snail. Obviously, we don't have snails crawling around our arid mountaintop!

We stopped first at a magical playground to get the wiggles out and view a historic one-room school house. Dominic scared everyone but himself by climbing up and over the very top arch! He's such a monkey!

Next stop was a children's garden that I had spied the night before at dinner. Thinking it was a public park, we swung by for some quick playtime in the amazing garden and natural play structures. I was a bit embarrassed to find out that it was really for a private school, however we were welcomed with open arms. They found the idea of eight children sufficiently interesting enough to let us in. :-)

Also, this day was Xavier's 6th birthday!

Happy, happy birthday my exuberant boy!

We headed over to the iconic rock at Morro Bay for some fun splashing in the water. As it was low tide, everyone was able to wade out quite far. Kolbe slept in the car so he missed out on the fun. We saw sea otters frolicking and sea birds nesting on the rock. Unfortunately, the water was too cold for any real swimming so we packed everyone back up for the gorgeous drive up the coast.

We stopped again at Hearst Castle. Everyone was excited to see a real castle in person, especially me! I love all things old and beautiful and could have spent a full day taking tour after tour. Kolbe, however, found the whole event quite distressing. He especially disliked the bus ride, but that was okay because everyone else was loving all the adventures. We enjoyed a very well-done documentary before heading inside for the guided tour. Every room was absolutely spectacular. The decor could only be outdone by views! While the crew appreciated the stunning surroundings, it was time to push on as we still had quite a drive ahead of us.

Now, we were not ones to be daunted by another three hours of driving to reach the hotel. Oh no! Elephant seals needed to be admired. It was just a quick little stop. But, then, Stephen spotted sprays of water out in the ocean. So, we pulled off in a safe cove to see if whales were truly romping in the waves. And Stephen was right! A pod of humpback whales were swimming by just off the coast. Everyone piled out to admire not only the whales, but also the stunning sun set. Dominic and Xavier scrambled down the rocks to get a better view. Eventually we managed to pull ourselves away and get back on the road.

Simply beautiful!

Finally, long after dark, we made it to the hotel in Monterey Bay. Utterly exhausted, everyone collapsed into bed without all the fanfare of the previous night. 

What a glorious day it had been!

The Year That Was: April 2014

April was a month of incredible changes. Baby goats were born, Misty left and Pippin joined the family, the burned hillside burst in bloom, and, and, and ... Did I mention that seven baby goats were born? Because anyone with eight children needs seven baby goats to keep them company.

Misty, the lovebird, was Olivia's first birdy love. She was so pretty and sang such lovely songs, but she had a really nasty habit of trying to devour anyone who came near. So, Misty found a new home and Pippin, the green cheeked conure, arrived! He has a much nicer disposition and can often be found snuggling under Olivia's hair while she does her school work.

Lent, Holy Week, and Easter were celebrated with joy. 

And, I managed to blog about it: Lent & Easter

 On Holy Saturday, the first set of triplets were born. I cannot even begin to describe the elation and the fear that accompanied their births. However I do have pictures, lots and lots of pictures, which I will save for their very own post.

 

Gracie started writing her first novel at the age of eight.

This was our burnt mountainside one year after the big fire caused all the mayhem. I don't think I blogged about the fire, the evacuation with animals in tow, or the crazy trip down a fire road because it really wasn't such a lovely memory. However, it makes for great stories with the children along with their fond remembrance of the hike up the tippy top of the hill a year later. I stayed in the car with wee little Kolbe and took pictures while Daddy and company trooped to the peak. They were all so proud of themselves. Hurrah!

 Kolbe turned six months old in April. Baby Love!

Summer Fun

We have already started school and are in full fall mode. I really want to share our school pictures, so the summertime photo march continues! I will finish this, I will!

Independence Day 2013

We had our annual red, white, and blue photo under the oaks. This year the boys desperately needed haircuts. Quinton's bright idea was to leave them cut at the mohawk stage and spray on some patriotic color. Xavier was all in, but Dominic shied away from the sticky gel and color. That was definitely too much for his sensitive nature.

Besides the water slide, the other yearly highlight was the cake walk. Personally, I cringe at the whole event as the cakes are generally those super bright grocery store cupcakes. I could not fathom what was in the frosting that would make it that red! Still, the kids were free to choose as they wish and Xavier went straight for Martian Red. Yuck! That stuff even stained his skin for a few days. I think he would have glowed under a black light. The happiness factor was pretty high, so I guess it is worth it.

Summertime Bingo
One of our 'new to us' summer activities was bingo. This was a highlight as the kids cleaned out drawers and did some fun and some odd jobs around the house to earn their bingo. They could then choose a prize. I think nearly every drawer in the house was vacuumed and wiped out. How cool was that? One of their fun activities was face painting which had spectacular results. Marie Claire just could not get enough!

Summer Camp
Our year is divided into the time before camp and the time after camp. Before camp, the children talk continuously about last year's fun. After camp, they talk non-stop about this year's fun.

Olivia and Collette headed off to Big Bear with the Sacred Heart Sisters. These amazing sister just exude pure joy. As this was Collette's first year, she was excited but definitely a little nervous at the thought of being so far from home for a full week. Fortunately, she ended up bunking with a sweet friend from our homeschooling group. All was well, home sickness stayed at bay, and she looks forward to another fun filled week next summer.

Quinton returned again to St. Michael's Camp. Oh, how he loves the abbey! Frater Vianey led his council in what he considered the best camp yet. That is pretty high praise considering that the Father in charge named everything for the week after cheese. (He's from a Wisconsin dairy family so I guess that is far more exciting than, say, a week devoted to the Hobbit. :-) Again, this is a place of pure joy. Those boys play hard and pray hard, a perfect combination!

Stay-cation
Another new event for us was a stay-cation. As we live in southern California, the vacation destination of so many, thus we thought we should take advantage of some of the sights- the inexpensive ones. So, while we did not venture anywhere near an amusement park, we did have a an absolutely wonderful time riding the ferry to Balboa Island, eating on the pier while watching a shark hauled up, playing at the beach, riding the trolley, chatting with the sea lions, exploring a new children's museum, and sharing root beer floats in old town. Somehow, I think we did something else but, for the life of me, I can not think of it now. Oh well, it such a lovely break from our usual routine. I can't wait to do it again next year!

On to the summer birthdays!

Del Mar Fair

Well, I had the goal of getting caught up on posts before the wee bairn was born in October. It seemed reasonable when I started a couple of weeks ago. But then we started school and that seemed to be the trigger for massive contagious illnesses to enter the home. So, while I try to school and waddle around with three small children crying/clinging to me and feed my starving husband dinner, I may find that I do not have as much time or energy to get this done. I'll try, but the slow and steady approach is going to have to be sufficient, I hope.  Anyways, on to the fair...

The Del Mar Fair has become a much anticipated annual event for my family. My father so generously hosts the excursion and we always have the best time! This year everyone was captivated by the butterflies. Now this did not look promising when we entered the dilapidated tent with our expensive q-tips, but those poor sugar-drunk butterflies were really enchanting. Everyone wanted a butterfly mustache after Olivia started sporting hers. So my little ones chased after and hunted down every crook-winged insect that couldn't teeter off fast enough. Poor things!

Now while everyone enjoys the endless varieties of rabbits and goats and chickens, the rides are the key to the fair experience. Even the thrill of seeing the world's largest crocodile could not hold a flame to chill-inducing excitement of the giant slides. My littles love any and all rides. Cars with bubbles? Yes! Farris Wheels? Oh, Yes! Vomit triggering spinning contraptions? Give me more!

After awhile even my kids needed a little break from all the crazy spinning. So we headed over to the hysterical racing turkeys and kid farm zone. If they couldn't be riding jerkily on a roller coaster, then milking a pretend cow and riding on mini tractors was the next best thing. The girls got the biggest laugh out of dressing a scarecrow up like Miss Laine. She is truly serious about staying out of the sun and they captured her perfectly - much to their amusement!

Xavier thought the best part was filling his hat up with beans and then dumping them on his head. He must have done that a hundred times.

After some quiet time and greasy fair food, we headed back to the rides, of course. If there is anything better than rides during the day, it is rides during the night. Something about the sparkling lights in the darkness just makes everything more exciting.

The big kids were really starting to enjoy the challenge of the scary rides. Quinton was brave enough return to the tower of terror. Stephen and grandpa went, too. The rest of us just watched in amazement as the seats climbed higher and higher before plunging back to earth. I did it once last year and was quite pleased to have pregnancy as an excuse to not indulge this year.

As a last hurrah, we stopped by the games for one more bit of fun. Nothing like racing to pop balloons with water to top off a day at the fair. My little family filled up every seat! Someone was guaranteed a fuzzy duck hat. Don't they all look intense?

Until next year.
Thanks, Dad!

Off to Disney!

For Christmas, my parents and grandmother once again gave us the gift of Disney. We had so much fun last year that they could not resist another day. This time we headed off to Disneyland's neighbor, California Adventure. My neighbor had warned me that it was small, unexciting, and not worth devoting a special day. Was she ever wrong! We had a great time! True, it is smaller but the amusements were great and the children had the opportunity to ride their favorite rides over and over again. In fact, the big kids loved Ca. Adventure even more than Disneyland. 

Thinking that we were old pros at this after our one excursion last year, I failed to really think ahead and plan our day with the same careful precision. Instead we just pick a free day on our calendars and headed over. Now, while it was not crazy crowded, it was grad night and the park was filled with celebrating families. In spite of all this, we still enjoyed ourselves immensely. The Car's ride, Tower of Terror, and roller coaster thrilled the older children. While the water rapids, Mater's Adventures, and play land captivated the younger ones.

Well, Marie Claire was really not captivated by any of it. She decided that all rides were torture chambers and would wave her little hands and scream 'no' as soon as we came close to one. The one ride she did like was the caterpillar train which moves at a whopping 3 mph through a bunch of giant food. That was just her speed. Spinning lady bugs? No way!

Grandma did not attend with us as she felt it would be too much. So, we made sure to snap some photos for her to enjoy from afar. I love our outings. Disney is exciting for the thrill seekers, imaginative for the younger ones, and pure eye candy for me. Due to #8 happily growing inside, I did not join Stephen, my mom, and the big kids on the exciting rides. However, if we are blessed again one day, I will definitely be right there with them, screaming away with Olivia. My, that girl can holler!

Thank you, thank you to my beloved family.

 We had another magical day!