Temecula, California 2014

I took a three month break from blogging because once the end of May hit my life was non-stop fun, games and traveling.  Shortly after we hiked Mt. Whitney, I took all seven kids down to Temecula to visit my best friend, Marie Wallwork and her three kids.  The next ten blogs, at least, will be our summer in chronological order.  

I've know Marie now for about 13 years.  We were pretty good friends when she lived here in San Jose but when she moved down to Temecula, we became even closer.  I guess distance made our hearts grow fonder.  I love Marie so much and I'm often thankful for the friendship that we have.  I  think our relationship is so great because as we've raised kids and lived life there has been an increase of growth, understanding and love on both of our parts.  As a matter of fact she loves me so much that in the last two years for my birthday she did a whole blog post dedicated to me.  So you can imagine a little disappointment when on the arrival of my birthday this year I checked all the social media we share, to find nothing about me!  I gave her a chancy this time because she's in school full time, up to her eyeballs raising kids and her husband started a new career that takes him away much of the time.  :)  

But, really the best gift of all was being able to be with her for a week after my birthday and have all of our kids under one roof.  It was a fantastic time!!!!!  Here are some of the activities we accomplished in five days.  

The beach. Of course.  This is Ethan, Reece and Nathan.  Ethan and Nathan are cousins.  

Lila was kind enough to pull Reece out of her wet suit that she let him use.  :)

Shane and Kaitlyn.  Kaitlyn is my niece.  She and her mom live in Poway only about 35 minutes from Temecula.  They met us at the beach.  

With a wet suit, Reece will stay in the water.

Emry got the Geo Cashing App for her iPhone and we did a little treasure hunting.  They found it every time.  

These are friends, cousins and family.  Mass kids were in the house this trip.  Oh and Bru-dog is this picture. Can you spot him?  I can't forget about him, he's the favorite.  :)

 Does this look like a lot of kids?  No way!  I should have had at least three more!  This is all of my kids plus Marie's three. 

I warned Marie about Summer and the warning was coming true in this picture.  The Tumsy is so cute but she's also a leeeeeetle bit challenging.  Just a little.  :)

 Backyard fun.

Nathan or better known as "Nate-dog" was my right hand man.  He loved my kids so much and was such a good friend to them, especially the babies.  He was so nice to let the younger ones climb, jump and trample all over him.  

Sweet Marie took us to the beach twice!   She was a great host and gave us everything we wanted.  :))))  Love you Marie.  These kids were hilarious playing, "what's the probability?"  

Emry is doing her dare by the tree, not sure what she was doing but she was cracking herself up.  :)

 Speaking of cracking up....

Finally a nap.

These guys were pro tight rope walkers and were kind enough to set up and let all of the kids try it out.  It looks so easy......it's not.  

Thank you Wallworks, for having us and sharing some great times.  We had a blast and we love each of you so much.  And to the beautiful Marie, you are always on my mind and my heart bursts for you.  I love, love, love you...always.   Klippels+Wallworks=Forever.  xoxoxoxxoxox