Last Thursday the snow came CLOSE to home!!

View from our driveway.

View as we pull in our neighborhood.

Porter Ranch

Porter Ranch

Up by our church. Santa Susana and Topanga Canyon

The view north on Topanga Canyon

In line at Mc Donalds looking in my rear view mirror.

"Would you like a bowl of water??"

I had a frustrating day today!! I know with five kids that a lot of my days come with some frustration but today there was more than usual and most of it wasn't even their fault!
Tuesdays are very busy for me and today was no different.
My alarm wakes me up at 6:15 and I promptly hit the snooze button and semi-sleep for 10 more minutes. Somewhere between 6:25 and 6:30 I drag myself out of bed and start knocking on doors. Avery Rose's, then Aedan's, then Hannah's, then Christina's, then Aedan's, then Avery Rose's, then Aedan's, then Avery Rose's, then Aedan's, OK, you get the picture. Aedan and Avery Rose take after me!! Today was fend for yourself breakfast. Somedays I make pancakes, and at least once a week Papa (my dad) comes over to make either waffles or pancakes. I like for the kids to be heading back to get dressed, teeth brushed and hair around 7:00 then we leave at 7:30. Today I dropped the kids off in front of their school and went straight to my trainer to workout from 8-9. I then go straight home and shower so I can be at CBS (community bible study) by 10:00. Today my group were the "love ladies" which means we help with the childcare. Every Tuesday I hurry out of my house so I can drive through McDonalds to get my egg McMuffin-no meat, and a diet coke-easy ice. This morning I forgot to eat before I worked out so I was very anxious to order my egg McMuffin-no meat, and a diet coke-easy ice and drive away. While driving down Devonshire towards church I excitingly open my egg McMuffin-no meat to find that while I specifically told them egg McMuffin-no meat they gave me an egg McMuffin-with meat and NO EGG! I was sad, and hungry, and I couldn't go back without being late for CBS so I kept driving.
Every other Tuesday I also have an appointment with my counselor so I had to leave CBS 15 minutes early and head to my appointment. I had planned to walk into McDonalds and "exchange" my McMuffin but it was so crowded and I didn't have time. I was still hungry so I drove through Burger King. I ordered a Whopper with cheese meal with no pickles, onions, or tomatoes and a diet coke-easy ice. I drive away and I am salivating as I unwrap my whopper with cheese-no pickles, onions, or tomatoes. Yum, they got it right!! After eating almost half of it I got a bit thirsty so I take a big gulp of my diet coke-no ice and I almost vomit. Literally!! It was iced tea and I HATE iced tea. I seriously couldn't even swallow it and I had to pull over on Devonshire, open my door and spit it in the street. Now I am really pissed because again, I don't have time to turn around and go back!!! I make it to my counselor full but thirsty and go in and tell her about my morning. She say's "well, you must be thirsty, would you like some water?" Yes, thank you!!! She goes into the tiny breakroom where the Arrowhead bottle is and starts chuckling and yells "You're not going to believe this but there are no cups!"
She offers me a bowl and there I sat for 50 minutes drinking water from a bowl.

Day 10

Poor Bob!! So my husband has food poisoning! Up all night!!! He stayed in bed all day while I tended to his needs. Turned out it was a perfect day to stay indoors as it rained all day long!
Bob felt better as the evening progressed and we even ate dinner on the patio of a restaurant. We did go to bed early though!
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Day 9

Ok so I am going to have to give you all the "Readers Digest" version of today until I can type it out on a real keyboard.
In a nutshell we woke up, ate breakfast, walked to the dock, got on the boat and headed out to the Great Barrier Reef. Because I have been known to get seasick I took TWO Bonine tablets, 2 ginger tablets, and wore motion sickness wristbands. Guess what? I still got sick. BAD!! I threw up most of the out to the pontoon. It took about an hour and a half. Thank God there was a pontoon that was stable!! I rested for a while then went snorkeling. I was able to stay out there for about 30 minutes before I knew it was time to come in. I did get changed before I threw up some more. Here is where the story gets long but I must keep it short for now. I opted to take a helicoptor back to the dock with 3 other people. We did have to take a rowboat out to the helipad. Just as we were getting ready to get in the rowboat a monsoon hit. We got SO wet. We made it to the heli and eventually made it back to the hotel. Quite an adventure!! Bob got back a couple of hours later. He went scuba diving and saw a reef shark. We order dinner from room service and then off to bed.
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Day 8

We had to have our bags all pack ready for pickup at 6:30 a.m. We once we did that we went down to breakfast. We weren't leaving our hotel until 8:30 so I had plenty of time for a little nap while Bob read his book. Actually I read AND took a nap. We were soon on our 3 hour plane ride up the coast. As we got off the plane in Cairns the first thing I noticed was the tropical feel. Humidity, yeah!! Of course it also rains a lot too but who cares if it is a warm rain! We had a really early dinner after we walked around the town for a while. Then back to the room, read some while Bob smiked a cigar then off to bed early because we have a big day tomorrow!!
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Day 7

Today was an easy day. Bob worked out, I slept in then we had breakfast then walked to the Rocks to shop. We went to the Harbour where I had more of my yummy fish and chips for the last time and Bob just had a couple of beers. We stayed in for the night to pack our bags for our plane ride up to Cairns. Bob ordered room service and I skipped dinner.
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Day 6

We got up this morning, skipped breakfast then got on our charter bus which was going to take us to the Koala Park and Melvy Harbour. The Koala Park was small but with a lot pf different kinds of animals. The first we saw was a wombat and we actually got to pet it. What an interesting creature, like a huge hampster type animal. We then went to visit the koala's. The worker brought over and sat him on the ledge and we all got to pet and take pictures with him. Very cool! We were then taken to a petting zoo type area where we walked through a gate and there we were in the midst of a bunch of kangaroos. I pulled out the bag of snacks that we had been given to feed the roos. The snacks looked like Cherrios and we just put them in the palm of our hands and the roos came and ate them. At one point while Bob was feeding them one of them came over stood on his hind legs and had his front legs resting/scratching on his tummy. Very funny. Two of them had joey's in their pouches which was really cool! At one point one of them came out and was jumping around like a boucy ball! So adorable!
Once we finished there we drove for awhile to catch a boat that would take us to Melvy Harbour. It was a family owned company that brought you back to their house and cooked for you. Very nice people and yummy food in the middle of nowhere.
Back to our hotel we went. I finished my book then we went and found a place to eat. Now we are uploading a video onto Facebook so go check it out. If I have time I will upload it onto here as well. Goodnight!
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Kangaroo Bob

Day 5

I slept in today as I wasn't feeling great. I feel much better now, so that is good. Bob was up and signed up for an adventure. He signed up to climb up the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was a 3 hour climb and he did great. He said the view was amazing! A couple of people didn't make it because they had to pee. That would have been Chris and Jerree!
We then walked around an area called 'The Rocks' to shop and eat lunch. We then came back to take a nap and read. We shopped some later then ate at "mamma's kitchen" for dinner. Tomorrow we go to the Koala Park!
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Day 4

We got up and ate brekky. We then were on standby for the Sydney city tour. We made it on and were happy we did. We had been seeing a lot of wild white cockatoos and saw a lot more today. An unexpected surprise was getting to tour the Sydney Opera House. It was way more interesting than we thought it would be. After the tour we went back to the restaurant in the harbour that we ate at the other day with the yummy pizza bread, dip, and fish and chip's. I was beat after that and since I am fighting a cold I napped. We skipped dinner and are flipping channels right now. Goodnight.
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Day3

I know I am posting this a day late but we were on the go all day long yesterday.
We got up early, skipped breakfast, got in our rental, and headed to the Blue Mountains! On our first stop we were fortunate to see 2 kangaroos eating. Then we went on a couple of good hikes. We drove a lot and walked a lot. On our way back we saw a kangroo and wombat road kill. We have also seen a lot of wild cockatoo's. They are white with yellow feathers on top. Beautiful! We ended our driving excursion with a stop at Bondi Beach. It is a beautiful cove. The sand is white and very fine and soft. We returned our car to our hotel then walked to Darling harbour to eat dinner. I had fish and chips. That is the end of our long day!
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Day 2

I slept for 11 hours and 45 minutes last night. Yeah for me! We ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant then headed out to Darling Harbour. We went straight to the Sydney Aquarium which was awesome! After that we went next door to the Wildlife park. I got my picture taken with a few koalas and even got to pet one. I did land up waking it up and he looked a bit bothered when he turned to look at me! It is funny because I have seen koalas and kangaroos several times at the L.A. Zoo but seeing them here was way cooler! We also saw wombats, platypus, and Nemo. Once we finished there we explored more of the city then came back to the hotel to veg out for a bit.
We ventured out for dinner and found Mamma's Kitchen. To say the food was yummy is an understatement! We both got pasta dishes and in a blink of an eye our bowls were empty. Bob asked if I thought it would be rude if he licked his bowll. I told him yes so he ordered 2 canolis instead! He said they were homemade and amazing. We are going to bed early tonight as we are getting up early and renting a car to drive to the blue mountains which are 2 hours away.
G'day mates!
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BobHarborBridge.jpg

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We made it down under!

After a fourteen hour flight we arrived in Sydney this morning. It is Sunday here. That means we totally skipped over October 4th. Its almost like we went on a time machine.
We arrived at our hotel about 9 this morning and our room wasn't ready so we had the breakfast buffet at the hotel restaurant. Once we were finished with breakfast we only had to wait about 30 minutes for our room which wasn't bad. Once we got into our room we took about a 2 hour nap.
We then left our hotel to explore. The first thing we did was walk to the Sydney Opera House. As far back as I can remember I have wanted to see this in person. There Bob and I were taking each others pictures in front of it. We then walked over to a little Sunday street market. It was fabulous!! They had the coolest things! They even had a kangaroo leg back scratcher AND kangaroo balls bottle opener!!! Go figure! By the way we did not buy either! We passed by a store that sold Uggs the fur inside the REAL Uggs is way thicker, so pretty much we in America are being jipped!
Once we were done shopping we went back to the Harbor for fish and chips which were yummy! Our appetizer was pizza bread with three toppings. Olive tampanade, sundried tomato paste, and goat cheese!! Amazing!! Remember with me it is all about the food!
I fit in more here than let's say Peru or Spain as there are a lot of tall people. The things I notice.
You all are sleeping now (lucky) and it is 6:30 p.m. Sunday evening here. Bob and I will walk around a little more then off to bed early!
Thank you for all of your prayers! Keep them coming!
Jo
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The L.A. County Fair

Baby Maddie

My friend Jenn has THE CUTEST kids! Asher, Lizzie, and baby Maddie. The other day we went out to lunch and I was holding Maddie on my lap. All of a sudden Jenn starts cracking up laughing and wouldn't stop. I asked or yelled to her "Why are you laughing??" She then informs me that I had dripped Ranch dressing on her baby's head. Oops!! Sorry Maddie!

Maddie who is looking a lot like her big brother Asher here.

Me trying to take a picture of her head with my phone.

Big sister Lizzie took these last two pictures.

Getting my Maddie fix.

Go Dodgers!!!!!!!

Please go all the way!! I am very excited that the Dodgers have made the playoffs but I am leaving for Australia October 3, so the only way that I will be going to anymore games this year is if they make it all the way to the World Series. You never know!!!
Congrats to the boys in blue I will be watching from the other side of the world!

Avery Rose is a funny girl!!

I picked up the kids at school the other day and as they all pile in the car Avery Rose says to me:

AR: Mom, did you hear that I lost another tooth? (She has lost more teeth than Aedan and Hannah who are 2 years older)
Me: Oh my gosh, you lost another tooth??
AR: No.

Beach Wednesdays!!!

Avery Rose, Madyson, Brooke, and Calleigh.

Avery Rose, Madyson, and Brooke

Avery Rose, Madyson, and Brooke

Grace

Madyson and Avery Rose

Reagan and Hannah

Colin

Calleigh

Jackson

Lizzie

Lizzie

Colin

Lizzie

Carson

Reagan

Hannah

Maddie

Reagan