Our California Adventure..

"Say Cheese"

Miss Tia and Kai

Do U See the Bear.. This was the little one..

There he goes.. Only to return later.

The Kids loved riding thier scooters..

Tatum and Charlotte


Do u think this is a problem?? Wanting to lay out at 8?

The boys rode this raft pretty far out there, we had to go and get them

Carson thought the water was to cold so he just played in the sand
Movie Time

" The Gang"
I did not get one good picture of all 3 so this is all I have..

Can u say high maitinence?? Oh, we are so in for trouble!!

what a trip.. we left on a Sunday night at 9pm and drove thru the night. Poor Jon stopped several times for coffee which then resorted to stopping for potty breaks. Before leaving we hit Dutch Bros. for a 6 shotter and then made it to Eugene for a potty break. We got back on the road and made it to Grants Pass for another 6 shotter at the 24 hr Dutch Bros. there. we also filled up on gas and pottied. We then only made it to Weed before we had another potty break.. and then the last stop was at 5 am in a motel 6 parking lot. Jon was exhausted, and he refused to let me drive. I had been up the entire time as well but was past the point of exhaustion. So we stopped and slept in the car for about 45 mins. and then headed out again. At this point we were just over and hr away from our friends house so I made Jon let me drive and made him sleep some more. I know if he does not get enough coffee or sleep he is so not fun to be around. we finally got into their area and stopped and had breakfast then proceeded to there house. ( the kids had slept the entire way and were just waking up.) Our friends Betsy had to work so Barnabe ( her husband) and I took all the kids ( all 5) and ran errands while Jon slept. After Lunch Barn and I went for a run.. it was miserable.. 6.5 miles of hills in 87 degree weather.. YUK!!! That night we got a sitter for all the kids and had a nice dinner out with our friends and celebrated Betsy's birthday. The next morning we packed up and headed to Tahoe to camp till Friday with our friends and some friends of theirs... We had a blast!! Jon is not the happy camper as he does not sleep enough and there is no fufu coffee.. ( I finally mixed black coffee with Hot Chocolate and condensed milk.. he loved it.. Lucky for us) Boy camping is always and adventure, but this was too much. The first night we are getting ready to sit down and eat dinner and a baby bear comes running thru the camp site.. Ok.. makes since since we have to keep all food in the bear lockers.. but man to see it in reality is crazy.. That night or shall I say the next morning we wake at 4am to a momma bear and her new baby cub trying to get into our bear locker.. Scary right.. well then she walks across the tarp outside our tent and is sniffing like a dog.. I am having a total panic attack and want to leave.. scared out of my mind.. Jon consoles me and I fall back asleep.. ( kids slept thru it all) So the next day we head to the beach. It is amazing.. then our friendly baby bear comes back. He still a couple bags of Doritos from some kids and runs up into a tree. He finishes off the food and then proceeds to come down the tree to the rangers.. get spooked and run back up. Then he run out over a limb.. which is hanging over our car.. I am thinking great.. how do we explain to our insurance company.." a bear fell on our car!" He thankfully went back to the base of the tree and jumped onto another car and then form that car jumped to another.. then ran up another tree and stayed there for well over an hour. He finally came down and ran into the forest.. Crazy right.. oh it gets worse. That night goes off with no visitors and we head back the beach. The kids have blast playing in the water and building sand castles.. We head back to camp.. eat,shower.. ( oh yes.. nice showers and I am not kidding) and let the kids watch a movie. Put them to bed hang out with our friends and head to bed ourselves.. What do you know around 5 we hear our locker being attacked again and then the bear walking along our tarp.. slightly panicked but better this time. He then proceeds to the dumpster where someone forgot to lock and get into it.. you can her it going crazy in the garbage.. I then tell Jon he is going ot be there eating all night.. SO he call 911.. yep.. you read that right.. It was the most hilarious conversation.. Whispering he says "can u hear me" as to not let the bear know we are awake. He then tells the operator he is camping and there is a bear in the dumpster. They get out location and tell us the ranger is on the way.. Well, 15 mins. later the ranger arrives.. While in the 15 mins. the bear has let out a huge, scary "ROAR" and has gotten into a locker a couple campsites over from us. U can hear it ripped thru there bottles and food.. The ranger arrives and scares the bear away.. they issues the poor people a $1000 fine for not locking there locker.. oh, poor people. Jon get out of the tent to talk to the ranger who informs us that the bear was 6'5 tall.. r u kidding me?? So that morning we pack up and head back to our friends house. Betsy and had pedicures and we had a " Fabulous Last Supper" and some good wine.. We headed out the next morning around 11 am.. we got to Medford around 5 and had dinner and then stopped in Eugene for Ice Cream because they had been so good!!! I cannot even express how good they were.. They all took naps, no fighting it was as if I had new children. We got home around 8 and we were all tired so we were off to bed!! We had such a blast with the Balala's and our New Friends the Lowerance's. It was so nice the kids never fought and we never heard " so and so is being mean" or "so and so will not play with me". With 7 kids all so close in age it was amazing.. ( the kids are all so close.. Tatum was the oldest, then Kai and Charlotte.. who both turn 6 on the 30th, then all our April babies.. Logan was first , then Tia who is 4, then Carson and Josie who are 4 days apart and both 3..) It was a really nice time. Now, Jon and I are off to celebrate our anniversary in Vegas next week!! Four days of relaxation!!! We so need to recover from all the drinking.. I forgot how mcuh you do that while camping.. especially when you are putting Bailey's in your morning coffee.. I will say that I was the responsible parent who did not drink out on the beach, but man once we hit that camp sight and I saw the wine... hmm I am thinking Vegas may not be the best place to regroup.. I better detox this week..