Trip Report - Part 2

I'm overdue for the rest of our Trip report!

So Friday morning (June 26th) we drove from my dad's house up to Ventura, where I was raised. I got to Ventura around 11:30 to meet up with my Nana. We had lunch at Mimi's. Then I took the kids on a little driving tour of Ventura, past my High School and down by the beach to get to our hotel at Ventura Harbor. We checked in there and rested up for a few hours. Then I decided to go find a park for the kids to play at, and I was trying to find Marina Park but didn't know where to find it. So we went to Von's got groceries, and then I found the park! The kids played for a while. Quinn had lots of fun on this pirate ship with a zip line. But, he was on the front of the ship and fell off from about 5-6 feet up! I didn't realize he had fallen and hadn't seen him in a while. Poor guy landed on his head, bit his tongue and hurt his wrist trying to block his fall. We went back to the hotel to clean up and rest, he ended up with a decent knot on his head! We then drove up to Oak View to have dinner at my Uncle Joe and Aunt Darlene's house. That was lots of fun, and really nice to have a homecooked meal. She even made me a cake since my birthday was the next day :) We drove by my old house, but it was dark and hard to see.

Saturday we had McDonald's for breakfast, at my favorite McDonald's on Seaward! Then drove back up to Ojai, first driving by my old house in daylight to get a better look at it! Then we went to see my Aunt Karen and Uncle Terry in Meiner's Oaks. We had fun with Aunt Karen building a train set. Then we went to see my Uncle Bob, Aunt Carrie and their kids Marty, Megan and McKenna (except they aren't kids anymore - they are all grown up!) We hung out there and picked fresh California oranges, yummy! Then I took the back road to up to Santa Barbara. Wow, I forgot how curvy hwy 150 is! We were running late to meet my friend Jennifer since we were able to visit at my Uncle Bob's, but she was waiting patiently for us at Stearn's Wharf. I promised my kid's ice cream, so we got that. Colin was at a cranky phase of the day though and would have rather been napping. We walked around and had fun just hanging out and catching up. I wish we could have stayed longer! Then we had to go up to the Santa Barbara airport since that is where Ryan flew in from Miami.

That night we took the kids to the Mall to get them some books to read and they ate at Red Robin for dinner. I was meeting my friends Melissa and Brian at California Pizza Kitchen. That was so much fun! Then we went out to a few clubs for dancing and hanging out. I haven't done that in YEARS! It was awesome being with them again. They even got me to dance, and I said I wouldn't. :) Oh, and Saturday was my birthday too.

Sunday morning Ryan took me to brunch at the hotel, Alexander's, while the kids stayed in the hotel room (Jessica was babysitting.) and that was nice. Then I think we just hung out around the hotel until we were ready to go to the BBQ at the park with my old High School friends. That was awesome! I got to see Fiona, Mera, Melissa, Brian and Christine. Everyone brought their kids and we just hung out in the park, ate and had fun! Melissa has these awesome friends, that I had met the night before, and they brought the BBQ, and shade cover. It was so nice to see everyone. I can't believe it's been 18 years since we graduated. (eeks!)

That night on the way back from the BBQ I mentioned that I hadn't had any corn burritos yet. I was going to get some at Frosty Cone in Meiner's Oaks, but we were running late on time so we didn't. So Ryan obliged me and we headed to the Santa Paula Foster's Freeze to get some. (Since we were already in East Ventura.) They weren't quite like the ones at the Frosty Cone, but it was still good. I think I might have to try and make some myself! The kids had ice cream too. I used to work at the Foster's Freeze at the Ventura Mall, before it was all renovated.

Monday morning we packed up, and we went to Foster's Donuts (Not the same as Foster Freeze, I don't think!) and got some yummy donuts. I used to go there all the time since it's across the street from my High School. Then we headed to Thousand Oaks to see my college friend, Julie and her kids. That was nice, it's been since Jessica was about 1 that we saw each other last. She reminded me that I threw her a baby shower, and I had totally forgotten that! Then we were off to Phoenix. We stayed at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass resort, on points earned by Ryan's work travels. We went swimming that night, and it was lots of fun!

Tuesday we swam in the morning, hung out by the pool, ordered lunch poolside and enjoyed relaxing. Ryan went golfing in the afternoon (in 112 degree heat!) and I went to went to my friend London's house. Our kids played video games and played outside. Her hubby grilled us burgers and we just hung out and had a good time. I left to go pick up Ryan from Teakwood's with some of his friends, one of his old hangouts when he used to live there. Wednesday we were going to go swimming again in the morning, but there was some rumbling in the sky so we decided to head to the movies. We ate some yummy Mexican food, and then went to see Ice Age 3D. Then we met London again at the mall to play with our kids in the splashpad and playland. Did a little shopping, Colin got his first Build A Bear! Quinn got a new skateboard - thanks to his dad. Jessica got some new shoes.

Thursday we left Phoenix to head home. We met up with my friend Dawn at a McDonald's in Tucson on our way through. It was great to meet her after knowing her online all these years! Then back on the road. We ended up staying in Fort Stockton that night, we were going to try and make it all the way but it would have been 3 am Texas time, and you have to drive slower at night anyway. So we made it home Friday around 1 or 2, and as much as we loved the trip we were all so glad to be home! Colin did really well again driving home, except for about 2 hours from home he got fussy and then fell asleep 1 hour from home!

It was awesome to get to see so many people! Friends and family both. I counted that I met up with 16 people from Facebook, but add in everyone else, and their kids and it was probably over 30 people! I feel caught up now, it had been so long since I had seen some of them and even that was only for a few hours at my Grandpa's 80th b'day 2 years ago. Some people, like Julie, Jennifer M, Brian, it had been anywhere from 10-18 years!

Thanks to everyone who met up with us, accommodated us in their homes and fed us! We had a great time.

Part One Summary of our Vacation!

I almost don't know what to say since it's been so long since I was here!

We just spent 13 days on the road to and from California and Arizona.

Here is a fast recap of our trip: (Part one!)

Friday night, June 19th, Ryan took me out to dinner, and during it he said "I'm worried about you driving that far by yourself." I was like, "uh - ok? But we're leaving in the morning!" So he offered to drive with us, and I would take him to his LA office on Monday or Tuesday, instead of him flying into LA on Thursday and me picking him up at the office on Friday. But adding this to our schedule made us have to scramble a little bit.

Ok so Ryan now had to do laundry and pack so we could all go in the morning. So we got mostly ready, and Ryan packed up the car Saturday morning. We headed out to do tons of errands at 10 am, picking up the mail, dropping stuff off at people's houses, running back home since there was a package at the Post Office and we didn't want to take it with us (this was all stuff that Ryan was going to do after we left!), returned something that needed to be returned within 30 days, and Ryan had to go to the AT&T store. Finally - at 12:00 noon, we grabbed lunch at Chick Fil A, Ryan got some glue for my window seal on my van and we were on the road!

I was glad Ryan was with us. I might have stopped in Deming instead of making it all the way to Willcox Arizona. It was 12:30 am Texas time, but only 10:30 local time when we stopped for the night. We stopped in Las Cruces for a McDonald's dinner, running around a playland and getting some new games at GameStop. Kids did REALLY well! Colin surprised me. We spent 14.5 hours in the car the first day, including the 2 hours of errands.

Sunday morning, Colin was ready to "go on our trip!" We packed up the car and he wanted to get in his carseat and didn't want to go back inside to eat breakfast. We were on the road by 8:30 on Sunday. We stopped for lunch in Phoenix at In N Out - yummy :) We got to Garden Grove, where my dad and step-mom live by 5:30. It was a nice relaxing night, burgers on the grill and just hanging out. I think they might have swam that night, can't remember!

Monday - My Step-mom has to work til noon, and Ryan had a call in the morning. He also worked most of the day off and on. Mostly we swam, played, relaxed, hung out, talked, etc. My dad got Colin a ride-on tractor, and that was a hit! He got Quinn a RC truck too. That night I got to celebrate my birthday early with my favorite Chocolate Cake from Costco and gifts! That was so nice of them to think of me :)

Tuesday - I drove about halfway to LA to drop Ryan off at a Starbucks, and a co-worker picked him up. My grandparents showed up in the afternoon and we enjoyed spending time with them. I took the kids to a park to run around while my grandparents checked into their hotel and rested for a while. Kids swam more, I swam with them. Ate more BBQ.

Wednesday - spent the morning with my grandparents before they left. My kids really enjoyed that. Great-grandpa is great, he even plays on the DS with them! They left around 2 I think. Later my dad took the kids and me to The Block, and watched the people at the Skate Park. Then he played video games with the kids. Wednesday night I tried to get mostly packed up since we were going to be at Disneyland the next day and leaving Friday morning.

Thursday my step-brother signed us into Disneyland! He's a survey taker there. It's awesome to get in for free! We had just gone to Disney World in November, so Colin remembered a lot of the stuff! We got in there around 9 am. We went on Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Haunted Mansion and the Pooh Bear ride first thing. Then we stopped for treats. I got the best Red Velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting! Kids got krispy treats. Then we went to California Adventure. We went to the Bug's World, and Colin loved that! Then saw the new Aladdin show, which took forever to wait in line! But it was a really good show. Then to a Monster's Inc ride, which I had never been on. Then we went all the way to the back of the park to go on our favorite ride - Toy Story's Midway Manina. That was our longest wait, 40 minutes. But the kids loved it and we were glad we went. We also did the bread and tortilla factory tours - free samples :) Then back to my dad's house to meet Jennifer Call and her boys. Also to just rest and eat some lunch/dinner. We went back to Disneyland, and tried to go on Fantasyland rides, but it was packed. We did see someone propose in front of the castle though! So we went to Toon Town and played around, I saw Roger Rabbit and the line didn't seem long. I forgot how long the line is INSIDE! So we did wait for that, about 25 minutes. Then we tried to see Fantasmic but it was packed, so we were going to go on Pirates, but it too was packed. So we decided to just wait for the fireworks. We waited forever, and I tried to find food but only saw popcorn nearby. Colin fell asleep during the fireworks. So after that we went to see Fantasmic and that was crazy. People were pushing, trying to step over my stroller with a sleeping kid in it and I was like "no - my stroller is here." Quinn got grumpy and we almost just left. But he napped while we waited and finally watched the show. Kids still had fun. They got Mickey Ears, they look cute :) And they got these really cute Mickey Monsters. Jessi got the purple one, Quinn got the Ninja and Colin got Murff. Colin stayed asleep through the tram ride and on the way home. Long, full day - and lots of fun!

Whew - that brings us to Friday morning and I think I'll take a break :)

Working Hard in the Yard

We've been working on the yard all weekend - and it's really coming together nicely!

We had the borders put in last summer, but now we're filling it all in. We put weed block done earlier in the week. Then we had mulch delivered on Wednesday for the playground. Friday, crushed limestone was brought in. Ryan and his brothers moved our playground to the back corner of our yard and then we filled it all in with "kiddie cushion" mulch. We are putting the rock around the side of the house by the gate and all the trashcans. It will be less muddy now and serve for drainage we hope.

I rolled out weedblock in what will be mulch and some flower gardens. I hope to get some bird feeders and houses in that area as well. We still need to lay down the weedblock in the back part of the yard where there will be more mulch and where our container gardens are. I got some dirt Saturday morning for 2 of the beds, there are 2 more to fill. I have vegetables on the deck in small pots and I look forward to moving those and planting more. Then hopefully getting some wildflower seeds out in the flower beds.

I'm looking forward to the finished project! Ryan has been working hard on it. He also enclosed our deck so that it isn't open anymore - no more lost toys and weeds showing. I hated going under there to get missing toys and cups! Later this week we might attempt to stain our deck, but that depends on the weather.

Today was a beautiful day, we sat out this evening and enjoyed the weather and nature of our own backyard. I'll be sure to put up pictures when it is complete!

A Grand Slam and A Pinewood Derby

An update on Quinn - two exciting things this past week.

Quinn got a Grand Slam in the baseball game last weekend! I wasn't there, I was at the Race for the Cure. But Ryan texted me while I was walking it, and then called me later with the details. It was last inning, 2 outs, 2 strikes and Quinn's last pitch. They were behind by 1. Bases loaded. He hits a Home Run and scores 4 runs off it! If he had gotten a Single, they would have just tied - but he nailed it! I was so proud. Tonight at scouts 3 of the parents on our team said "So how about Quinn's big play Saturday?" I missed it but I was still so proud :)

Then tonight was the Pinewood Derby for Scouts. Ryan and him have been working on this car for weeks. They've had fun painting it and sanding it and waxing it and adding weights to it etc. Tonight Ryan added some coins to make it 5 ounces on the nose and I guess that was a good thing, because he was in the top 4! All the cars in the top 4 were exactly 5 ounces. In the final 4 races, he got 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th - so him and the other kid tied for 3rd. In the semi-final races he won 3 out of 4 races, and the only one that beat him was the kid that got 1st place in the whole event. He was pretty proud. It was fun :)

Here's a pic or two -

Day in the Life

I spent a day taking pictures of Colin, my 2.5 year old, for "A Day in the Life." Here are the results.

Colin slept in on Friday, which is rare. I was downstairs getting brother and sister off to school. When I came back upstairs, he was being very quiet in bed with Dad. I wish I had my camera for that!

He sits on the potty.



When I was done getting ready, I came downstairs to him playing games on the iPhone



And then I made him breakfast. Multigrain Cheerios and Yogurt Drink.




Playing with his Little People Airplane and watching some TV.




Time to go upstairs and get dressed.




Almost ready to go - need to get shoes on.



He wants to wear his Monkey backpack. Let's go get in the van. (I took the backpack off before I buckled him in!) It was a little chilly this morning.



We are meeting our friends at the zoo! Here he is climbing the lion statue and watching the monkeys!



Tantrum #1 - for not being able to push the stroller



Tantrum #2 - for also being told to go look at animals and not push the stroller. But it was over when I suggested he "Run fast!"



He says, "Ok fine, I'll look at animals." And then I gave in and let him push the stroller.



Looking at the construction they are doing at the zoo. Almost more exciting than the animals!



Tantrum #3 - I think it's lunch time!

After running around with his friend Jeffrey, he fell and hit his face on a fence! Oh no! Yup, that's gonna leave a mark.



So let's go for a ride on the train before we head home.



Driving home, must have glasses - and falling asleep in the car.



He actually stays asleep when I put him on the couch at home. Normally I'd put him in his bed but we only had about 50 minutes before needing to leave again, so I thought on the couch he'd sleep lighter. I was wrong! You can see where he hit his cheek.



Picking up sister for her Dentist appt. He was very good in the waiting room.



Home for a bike ride on the sidewalk. Then he changes his mind and wants to ride his scooter instead. Riding the scooter requires his helmet.





All that action, he needs to go potty. We don't make it to the potty in time, but he sits on it just in case there is more. Nope.




Back to ride the scooter more. But up the street some kids were riding an ATV in the street, and Colin got freaked out! He was scared!



How about we go in the back yard and have a snack instead?

Another diaper change.



Missing socks and shoes, they are outside! Time to come in, more snack, a drink and time to chill at out home. He plays bristle blocks and watches Max and Ruby for a while.



Tantrum #4 - I don't remember what this one was about. He has quiet tantrums, they really are just all drama and fuss.



Daddy's home! Time to wrestle, be tickled and play with Daddy!



Play puzzles and then some more blocks with brother.



Making silly faces with Daddy.




My husband and I went to dinner while my daughter watched the boys. I asked her to get a picture of dinner, and anything else he did after dinner. She forgot. Oh well :)

Ready for bed - chilling on the couch with Mom and Dad before bed.



Bedtime!



The End - I realized later I had none of me in any of them! I'll have to take some pics of us sometime.

Hope you enjoyed a typical day for Colin!

Back to real life

It's the first day back at school, and for me that's always been more like the "New Year" than January 1st. Going back to school means that real life has begun. It means I should probably put away these Christmas Decorations! I used to be the kind of person that took them down the day after, but ever since I lived in Logan Utah and was around my Aunt Linda's wonderfully decorated house, I've held off until the New Year to take them down. My decorations aren't as gorgeous as her's were, but seeing them up remind me of her and I like to stretch the Holiday season a bit longer now. Even though we live in Texas and there isn't any snow outside, I still like to feel the Christmas spirit through New Years. However, Saturday was 80 degrees and I have to admit the decorations were starting to look more like a neglected house instead of festive! So today is the day to finally get them put away, or at least started. It does seem to be a 2-5 day project in my house!




Here is a picture of my tree:
















My older kids got back from a week in the snow. They were delayed by a day due to the snow but they finally made it home. I think the prayed for snow a little too hard this year, because Spokane had a bit too much snow! They had fun, made snowmen, had snowball fights, built forts. Quinn got to go skiing for his first time. Jessica read all her new books and knitted. We missed them while they were gone, and Colin was super happy to go get them at the airport on Saturday. (Although he was disappointed that he wasn't going on an airplane too!)

It's quiet in my house today, just Colin and I waking up and starting our day. A new day, a new year!

Happy New Year

I figured I'd get in one more post before the year ended, with a goal to post here more often! I now have installed my Google reader, so I keep up with other blogs more easily. I just never got the hang of Blogger after doing LiveJournal for close to 4 years now!



Christmas was great in the Murphey house. My parents visited and the kids had a great time. Quinn and Jessica are now at their house in Washington enjoying the MASSIVE amounts of snow that they are getting! Quinn went skiing for the first time yesterday and from what I hear he had a blast.




Earlier this month Quinn was baptized, and that was another special day to have as a part of our Holiday season. He was very excited and proud. I think he offered to say the prayer every day since his baptism!



Ryan, Colin and I are enjoying a few more days before life gets back to normal - meaning school and all the day to day stuff! We are having some friends over tonight for a low-key, kid-friendly, New Year's Eve party.

Here's hoping you have a safe New Year's Eve and a very Happy, Healthy 2009!

Facebook and Halloween pics

I am so loving Facebook right now! I am finding all these people I went to church with way back in the day - like 1980's, early 1990's! It's been fun. Also am keeping up with moms in my local playgroup, sending each other hugs and gifts. Found a few other family members as well. I even convinced my husband to join! I need EVERYONE to be on Facebook - that would rock :) But then again, I would never get off my computer either.

I know - I need to update here more. I have my personal journal that I have been good about writing in. Too many places, too much info!

So for your viewing pleasure - here are my kids at Halloween.

Hippie Jessica


Ninja Quinn


Monkey Colin


Monkey Colin

We had a great Halloween week - a week full of parties and pumpkins and painting!

Random has turned into rare

This was supposed to be my "random" thoughts about motherhood and to give updates on our life. Well - 5 months later.

I haven't gotten into the flow of writing here. I have a private journal and I think that must be less intimidating. I go there first to write about illnesses, messy houses, rotten kids and all that. I write about the good too. Maybe it's just having two is the problem, I should just write in one place - and then that would help.

I left off updating about Ryan. I guess that means I should update about me now. But that's hard to do - talk about myself! I will do another quick update about Ryan though. He is now Vice President of Data Center Management at his company, and it was a huge surprise for us for him to get that promotion. He is part of his company's executive team, and we were invited up to Vancouver Canada to be welcomed to the team. It was a great get-away while the kids were at my mom's. I got to meet a few new people at the company and I enjoyed the trip very much.

Kids are back in school and I'm home with the toddler, Colin. I'm currently sick though, kids bring home viruses and I'm the one who suffers! Oh well. Hopefully it will pass quickly.

This post did turn out random, and I hope future ones aren't as rare! I do like blogger and have other friends out there on here. So I should get to it more.

What we've been up to - Ryan

I guess I should give somewhat of an update of our lives. I'll start with Ryan. He is the Director of Operations for Peer1 Networks, based out of Vancouver, BC. They offer Managed and Self-Managed (Server Beach) Server Hosting as well as Co-location. He works at the local Server Beach office here in SA. He travels a lot, as they have 14 data center locations throughout the US and Canada. On a good month, he's home 3 out of 4 weeks, but he'll average 2 out of 4 weeks traveling.

Ryan still enjoys video games, and our house now has an XBOX 360, Playstation 3 and Wii. The kids sure don't argue about dad's hobby! However, he has taken up some more grown-up endeavors as well and is learning to play golf. Ryan has always been handy, and has completed many projects in our new home. He built our deck, installed a sprinkler system, built custom garage shelves, built and installed our island and is always on hand for all the little projects that come up!

Here is a picture of Ryan and the boys this past Easter.