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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