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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Make a Wish event

Chris had a connection at work whose husband used to race dirt bikes with a now professional monster truck driver. He contacted him, who contacted someone who contacted Chris who set us up with a group of kiddos via Make a Wish. We have not pursued anything like this but we were grandfathered in in a way... I guess the kids we were going with were in a chapter locally, but there were also some from Mississippi, so I'm not quite sure. Basically given Owen's heart history the driver connected us to this awesome event.

We were so excited as well...I was rallying the kids up, saying thumbs up, and Ara put all of 'em up.
 We got to the stadium early and the kids were good. They tend to behave well when I would expect them not to, which is nice!
Also, while we were waiting, Ara saw this sweet little girl and walked up to her. The other little girl knelt down and hugged her, and Ara hugged her right back. They stayed there for at least a minute, just hugging on each other. I took it in for a while, then pulled out my camera, since I was so prepared for documenting. The girls loved each other. Turns out, her name was Arabella. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? It was so crazy. What a sweet family they were. It was just serendipitous that the girls would hug it out for so long. Brings tears to my eyes thinking about it again.
 Once in, they got to meet pretend monster truck driver guys dressed as the real ones. Both kids were a little nervous of the large headed men. I don't blame them.
 Of course we all had to get in there for a picture.
 Another family photo op.
Owen had an opportunity to ride inside a monster truck. These trucks are designed to carry many kids and parents. We didn't really give him the option, and he followed me onto the truck. (Chris has been suffering from a weird vertigo-migraine thing lasting 1.5 weeks at that time so we had decided that I would ride with O). It was pretty crazy! It was only 2 minutes or so, thank goodness, as It was bumpy, windy, dizzy, wow... I was a little car sick myself. I thought that the drivers would take it easy, especially with special needs kids, but they sure didn't! It was quite a ride.


 Owen saw this monster truck driver, Nicole, and wow, he was so into her he kissed her on the cheek! He was all about it! She loved it.
 What a ladie's man!
 Next up we walked to a different part of the pits for the meet and greet of the drivers. As we were walking up, Owen spotted Cam McQueen and says "Hi, Cam McQueen!!" Cam was stoked as well, especially kinda cool that a 4.5 year old knows you by your face!


 At this point I was wearing Ara in the ergo carrier, filming with my left hand and taking digital photos with my right, as well as breaks to be in the moment. It was just AWESOME! We were on such highs, and starstruck with and for Owen.

He was just looking around the crowd, recognizing faces.
 He knows the drivers as he watched the monster truck DVDS during hospitalizations and not fun doctors appointments. That is the reason why he can recognize them and call them by names. When they drive they are all covered up with helmets and such. But on the dvd's they take their helmets off and talk about their races.

For some reason, 2 years ago, Owen decided that the truck Bounty Hunter was his favorite. Don't get me wrong, Jim Creten is an awesome driver, but for a 2 year old to say with confidence that his favorite truck (or thing for that matter) was Bounty Hunter, without even knowing what an actual Bounty Hunter was, was pretty funny. He has been his fave for years, so we were all excited to meet him. He was especially tender to Owen.

 Also pictured, Candace Jolly, one of the female racers. (yes I know most of them by name as well). If you are boggled still, think of how most kids or girls like disney characters.
Disney characters: most kids : : Monster truck drivers: Owen. Does that make sense now??
 Here is Dennis Anderson, the Gravedigger Driver. If you know one monster truck it is usually gravedigger.
 Max D driver was really awesome as well. He invited Owen up into the monster truck. I didn't see any other kid get this opportunity. Owen was STOKED!!
 Lifted him right up,
 Owen has to sit alone, there is only one seat in there.
 See through floor so they can see the ground when they are jumping.
 Damon Bradshaw, our connection and friend. He was awesome, checked in with us, and made sure we were getting great treatment. He puts on an awesome show, and he is for sure another top fave!
 Hugs from Cam

 Two happy guys!
This was a dream come true for O, so of course it was for us as well. We were all so happy and on such a high. There is nothing like seeing your kid in their element. Owen was looking around the crowd, for the next driver, so thrilled to be there, so happy to meet the people he had only seen on screen before. What an amazing event Make A Wish put together!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Vegas, baby!

Last year this time we were experiencing so much anxiety and stress... Owen was scheduled for heart surgery 4/1. When we were in the hospital we decided we were going to go to the monster trucks world finals in Las Vegas, as the 2012 & 2013 world finals DVDs had gotten owen through so much... He would watch them during hospital stays, appointments, usually reserved for those not fun times. 

The trip was planned. The Britton clan all have time shares so they agreed to come and share their space with us yet again. We have our own place with a space for the kids to be at night, which is quite awesome!

Another note... One of Chris's friends at work got word we were coming to this event and her husband used to race dirt bikes with one of the drivers.... she hooked us up with Damon Bradshaw's PR person who hooked us up with a make a wish group for a Wednesday meet and greet event! It was through make a wish as Owen qualifies but not really associated with a chapter or anything. It was a smooth way for Damon to hook us up with an existing event. Stay tuned!

This boy is an easy rider in the car. He colors, draws, and plays learning games on the kindle. If the batteries weren't dead in the DVD remote he would have watched a movie on the "only for road trips" DVD player but I didn't remember to get a new one. 
This girl is not a great traveller. But I don't blame her. She's used to running around 2.5 acres every day so to be confined in a car for 12 hours is pretty brutal.
I've always wanted to stop at this random rest stop before the windmills off of 58. I'm so glad we did! There were so many birds, which was a hit with both kids but especially Ara.

The flowers were all in bloom, way ahead of nor-cal.

Sis was stoked to watch me blow dandelions and making wishes.

There was a peacock and chicken cage which provided entertainment for all. We were running around while Chris was changing arabelle's seat forwards. She had been backwards, I read a study that recommended backwards until 2, but we were getting desperate for a little bit of calm! 
Sis giving loves to a rabbit statue.
She was a little happier facing forwards... For a few minutes...
We've been up 2-3 times per night here but we are happy. 

She was cracking me up. We were cuddling and she went back to sleep. She actually stayed asleep so I could go grab a blanket and just made me laugh out loud when I returned.. Haha first night in Vegas was rough:). 

This is our 4th road trip over 7 hours in the last 6 months. The irony is the view from our balcony is the airport. With kids you "need" extra stuff, and we had the time for driving, but man, I'm just laughing still that the airport is right outside our door yet we drove 600+ miles in 12 hours.... All part of the adventure!




Thursday, March 12, 2015

Signs of spring


It's no mystery here in Cali that spring has sprung... Here are a few shots over the last few weeks I've taken on the prop.

Laundry and apricot blooms
The hens started laying regularly! This is BIG! You know how eggs are expensive? Well so is feed! Especially organic feed... It kinda evens out when they are laying but otherwise it's just part of the animal feed budget!
I found this pot behind some taller ones... Score!!! 
Buried bulbs
Tulips
I started clearing out the big garden area with the kids but we kept finding little snakes... So we stopped... We found 3!
We had so much fun filling the bird feeders up this year, and O made one at school as well. 
The plums and cherry trees in bloom make us all dream of sweet treats!

I always think fall is my favorite season... Until spring comes!!!




Friday, March 6, 2015

Gadzooks!

I can't believe the time! It just passes. So much for weekly posts... Yipes! 

Alls glorious here. Kids have colds, hopefully not too bad. I've been cooking, canning, and needing to finish a sewing project. Chris has been burning some old burn piles, finished installing the free play set from nana and papa, welding a chicken gate, administering our llama medication, and repairing the zip line. The homestead is a fun place to hang... Good thing!

Worm hunting 
Mustard greens eating kids 
Power wheels shenanigans 
Play set and mud fun 
Beef stew, kale soup
And lots of chai concentrate... So so good!!!