Uncle Drewy....

Dan's little bro came to visit us for a week in September. We just LOVED having him here and visiting with him. He played with the kids all the time, so that was really great for me. I started to call him the Manny which I'm not sure he was keen about. But he is so good natured, he's just a big teddy bear. I'm not sure he'd like that either. Drew and Dan and Elena hiked picacho peak one day, then they went golfing the next day. Then he celebrated his 27th birthday on Friday. He bought a killer leather jacket at the flea markets. We baked pineapple upside down cake for breakfast then he and Dan had all you can eat steak and cheesecake at the golden corral that evening. What a day. For his last day here we took him out on the boat on canyon lake. It was a fun day and the water was wonderful as usual. Here are some pictures with Uncle Drewdy Drew (as Sierra calls him.)














We miss you Uncle Drew, please come again real soon!!

Children's Museum

Its a good day to blog. I love general conference, but we don't do much else on this day so I needed to catch up. Thats just a picture of the girls working on their conference packets that you can print off the LDS website. I LOVE THOSE! Not a whole lot has happenend since school started, we ended up going to the children's museum on Labor Day. It was crowded, nothing AT ALL like I expected. The kids loved it, Elena was a little bored. But seriously, I was thinking we were going to see like sculptures of the easter bunny, tooth fairy, santa claus, that sort of thing. Maybe some antique toys. NO clue. So I was suprised when they told us the kids were allowed to touch and play with everything in the entire museum. Its kind of just a big fun house. A room where the kids can play store, a room where they can build forts, ride tricyles, an arts and craft room and a monster tree house they could climb around in. I was impressed that most of the projects and contraptions were built from recycled materials you would find around your home. Anyway, I would totally recommend it, I think Dan had just as much fun as the kids, but it was a one time thing. I don't think we'll be going back any time soon. SO here are some pictures of our fun day.






I wanted to add in this last picture of our one rainy day, cause it was such a glorious experience. Everyone from arizona knows what I'm talking about. The whole neighborhood gets together and does the rain dance. Its awesome>!

First Week of School

Well, the first week of school in the Brinton home was fun and a bit frantic. A while back Dan brought home 2 hamster cages from a garage sale across the street. I looked at them and thought Oh NO. So one night a couple days before school started Dan took the kids out. When they came home they suprised me with a box. I thought it was donuts and when I looked in and saw two little mice my heart stopped and I screamed. I was informed they are NOT mice, one is a hamster and one is a gerbil. O-Kay. So the gerbil lasted 5 days. The poor unfortunate thing had a heart attack from too many kids coddling it and possibly Maysa holding it by its tail and running away with it at least 3 times, -that didn't help.
But the hamster is still living... However on the second day of school Elena decided to open the door and just see what it would do. It immedietly ran out the door and stayed under the couch for a good half hour. We kept trying to coax it out with a piece of cheese but it was having way too much fun eating little bits of popcorn and nuts and raisins and whatever else treasures are under our lovely couch. So I finally told Elena to go get ready for school right now and I will catch the dang thing. Twice it came out from under the couch and I could not talk myself into grabbinh it. I'm telling you, it looks exactly like a mouse. Finally it came out again and I grabbed it and maybe sqeezed it too much cause its eyes were bulging, the whole time thinking (THIS IS NOT A MOUSE)and put it back into the cage.
So the same day, we get a call from the school informing us that our neighbors have a killer bee nest in their yard so I should not let the kids walk to and from school. So I've been driving them as well as having nightly nightmares about my kids being attacked by killer bees. So anyway
The kids seem to like their new teachers. They don't have any of their church friends in their classes so thats too bad. Elena's best friends weren't at school this week because one went to Disney and the other is attending Legacy school now. So she spent the recesses reading her book. Sierra is still the social bug, she does well.
Our house continues to be the neighborhood open house every day after school. The neighbor kids start poring in around 3:30 and I think they really love Dan. He entertains everyone ( cuz he's still a big kid at heart) and I hear constant giggles and shreiks until 5 oclock when everyone gets sent home. We then eat dinner and kids do homework and chores till 7. Its been really great to get back on schedule. Even though this first week has been hectic its also been fun.
We are now in the process of planning another trip to Canada for fall break in October. Dan's little sister Cindy will be getting married in October. SO from now till then we have to scrimp and save every little penny we can manage. We'd REALLY like to fly.
I've been enjoying my time with little Maysa all week, she gets bored without her sisters so she clings to me all day. I've been taking her to the kids club at the gym, library, visit teaching, Mcdonalds play place and shopping. Looking forward to having her in pre school!
Also this week I've been trying to enforce healthier eating habits in our home. Since most of the summer we spent eating pizza and ice cream and all sorts of other rubbish. I'm tired of forcing my children to eat veggies so I've been cleverly putting veggies into smoothies. They really love drinking smoothies. SO yesterday they had spinach, avacado, orange, blueberry and strawberry smoothie with their dinner. Did they know it- nope. Dan said he would NOT drink it, but he did try it and totally suprised himself. He loved it and wanted more. hmmmm

KQ Ranch and San DIEGO!!

We had a very nice relaxing week staying in a cabin in the mountains near San Diego. This was our first time staying at KQ ranch. It is an RV resort that is part of our ownership in the Colorado River Adventures. I'm not sure you could call it camping because it was so comfortable and we even had satellite tv. But our nice little (and I mean little)cabin was nestled right on the outskirts so all we had behind us was bush and trees. The resort itself is wonderful. There is mini golf, kids club with crafts and fun games, bubble bounce, fishing pond, swimming pool, playground, bike trails, tennis, basketball courts, horseshoe pits and a dog park and the weather was PERFECT!! No mosquitoes either. So anyway we stayed mostly at the ranch but we did drive into San Diego on two different days so we could play at the beach. Coronado beach was nicer and more family friendly than mission beach but both days the high only reached 70 so we absolutley froze. Dan and the girls swam in the ocean but I hardly put my toe in. What a wimp I've become. Maybe its my old age. So here are some pictures of our adventures this week. You might think I posted too many pictures... you are right. BUT I still had so much more I didn't even post.!

This is our little rental cabin. We loved how it was far enough away from everything to feel secluded. We had our bikes to get around so that was nice.

An inside view. It had a full kitchen and room to sleep 6 people comfortably.


The living room....


This is a scenic view from the other side of the ranch. Isn't it great.


THis is our backyard. We BBQ'd alot and made s'mores at night time.

We spent a little time visiting the town of Julian, which was a couple miles down the road. It is a historic mining town which is now a big tourist attraction. They claim they are world famous for their apple pies. Well, we had to find out what all the fuss was about. It was easily the best apple pie we've ever had. $14.00!!!

Just taking some photos around the ranch, it was really beautiful there.

This fishing pond is always stocked, we will bring rods next time we come.

We spent alot of time at the pool because the highs usually reached 90 during the day.

Dan and Sierra doing their water ballet. It was cute.

We loved Coronado beach, but I just about had a heart attack crossing the huge rickety old bridge to get there. Sierra buried in the sand, she loved it.

Dan loves building sand castles just as much as the kids.


Elena got the hang of boogie boarding after a while.

Maysa buried in the sand.... it didn't last long, I snapped the picture real quick.

For breakfast every day we had pancakes with cream and apple butter, sausages, eggs and orange juice. What else is vacation all about!

Mini Golf.... Maysa.... "how the heck am I going to get that ball through the tunnel"


"Oh ya, now I KNOW!"

I thought this was hilarious, the mini golf course had a bunch of antiques for decoration and when we came across this "washing machine" Dan said, "hey this is what we used growing up." I said you can't be serious, so I'll have to check with his mom if its really true.


This was the view outside my window every night. This picture does no justice. The full moon looked so much bigger.

I LOVE SAN DIEGO!
Well, if you read this far then you are a true blue friend.