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.

Canadian Fun and Sun..... and Rain

We stayed for a month at my parents house in Canada. It was cold alot. There were only two days that reached 85 degrees, which is great. We didn't mind being cold and wearing sweaters. Of course anyone from arizona understands me perfectly. We also stayed at my sister's farm alot and the kids perfer that to disneyland. No exxageration. Cousins are the sweetest blessing ever. We were priviliged to spend alot of time with Clarissa's, ZeeZee's and Steve&Sherron's kids.

I have the sweetest grandma on God's green earth. :) No point in arguing the matter because you simply won't change my mind. Anyway, my kids love her too and we spent a lot of precious time visiting her this summer.


Sierra is an animal lover. She becomes attached to any animal she can get her hands on. Cocoa is a really sweet little miniature horse at my sister's farm. She is very gentle and good with children.



We also spent some more time in Waterton. There is a nice little spray park there. There was a cool breeze and some sprinkles of rain but the kids just don't care. I was sitting there buried in my jacket watching the girls completely soak themselves. They just loved it.



This hike around Linnet lake is perfect for Maysa's age. Its nice and flat and very short. When the girls get older we'll probably do the Bear's hump and Goat haunt hikes. They are a little more challenging.


At my sister's farm they have baby chickens. The girls spent much time playing with them. They also love driving the golf cart around. There is oodles of space for them to roam around the country side. I'm just sort of amazed no one got hurt. But Uncle Al has it rigged so that it can't go very fast.


What can I say, are there any kids on earth that aren't infatuated with kitty cats. Sierra simply begged to take one home, she named her special one Calique. (she told me because its calico aaaand its cute.) My dad almost had me talked into smuggling one onto the airplane.

At my parents farm the girls and I had daily chores which included bottle feeding the orphan calves, watering them, and gathering hay for them, as well as mowing all the grass. My dad has a terrible bad back so we tried very hard to help him as much as we could.


The girls also got to spend alot of time with their cousins Owen and Ellie. That was great because they stayed at my dad's farm for 2 weeks with us. Elena and Owen spent hours together playing lego, in this picture they are building a helicopter.


The kids planted bean seeds and they grew so quickly.


Our last day in Canada brought us a fabulous storm complete with hail. I loved it but I'm not sure it was good for my dad's alfalfa fields.


When we got back to Casa Grande we were greeted to some beautiful changes. Dan painted our bedroom, installed a door for my office and presented the fabulous new additions to our garden.... A WATERMELON!!

And... a cantelope!
I really loved my trip to Canada with the kids, I loved wearing a sweater for the entire time I was there and I loved using a feather tick at night because it was so cold in my parents basement. I am grateful my parents are so good and kind to put up with us for that long. They are so generous and kind. I know we are blessed to have a place to escape to for at least a little while during the blazing summer of arizona but it is also so nice to be home! Off to San Diego next week with Dan this time!

Waterton Canada

Waterton is my favorite place to visit in the summertime. It is always cool and usually windy as well. We love going on at least one hike and renting the paddle bikes. We always see alot of wildlife, usually some bears too but the road to red rock was closed and thats where we always see them. This year Grandma Lene came with us, we had a big day. Ice cream, hiking, bikes, and hotdog roast. Waterton is about an hours drive from my parents house. It is the outskirts of the beautiful rocky mountain stretch. This year we saw alot of snow on top of the mountains. We were only missing my sister Charlotte, cause she is living in England. Hopefully next year all my five sisters will be here. We had 8 little girls and one boy. Poor Owen, somehow he manages!