NYE Camping–#souzascampingfun

Another GREAT trip camping…

PROM

Being 5 years apart and meeting IN college, I never got to do the whole Prom thing with Yosh.  And we have been teaching high school together for 11 years..still never been to a prom together….until this year!! Yosh was SO excited that I signed us up to chaperone the prom…in Long Beach! heehee.

I was excited!

Drove out to Long Beach and got there WAY early. So we had a drink and app in an Irish pub, met up with some friends and wandered around the convention center a bit.

So Yosh and I got stuck at the check-in table almost the whole time. But it was kinda cute to see how excited and NERVOUS a lot of the kids were.

We got out and had some fun seeing some of our students

Oh how times have changed from our prom days!! Thank god those are over!!!

Paul’s Hummingbird

Like I said before, this year my brothers anniversary was extra emotional. I’m not sure why, but it was!  Is anniversary is end of March and his birthday is April 19th…makes for a sad month or so.  But we have to add in happiness with Owen’s birth and usually Easter…great distractions but this year it didn’t work.

Again I woke up on Pauls birthday feeling extra emotional again.  But went to work as usual.

After our 3rd period, I was walking in from the blacktop and my friend Mark and I saw this hummingbird just laying on the ground.  My heart started racing when I saw it.  Ever since Paul passed away we have always felt his presence in hummingbirds. They appear in times when we know Paul wants us to know he’s around.  Even the day I moved out of my parents house a hummingbird FLEW into my parents house!! That doesn’t happen very often!!

Anyway…it was so ironic that ON Paul’s birthday there is this tiny little bird…needing help! 

I ran into my office and grabbed a paper bowl…needing to save this little birdie. The lunch bell was about to ring and he would get trampled. Once I got him in the bowl I had NO clue what to do next. Luckily a few students had seen the bird as well and went to get gloves…so they came and brought the bird to the Harp’s science classroom. PERFECT person for this bird…they had birds growing up and they would know what to do!!!

When I got back to my office, I started crying. And could NOT stop. It was the weirdest thing.  I just cried and cried. I changed my clothes and went into the weight room, as I do everyday…and again could NOT stop crying.  So my workout buddy, who is a man…also kinda shocked that I was crying over a little bird…but yeah I cried and worked out…for like 45 minutes. I have no clue what it was. I guess I just needed some emotional destress this year. Maybe I’ve been bottling a lot of my feelings about my brother up lately because I just let it out!! 

And to make this time of year even harder…my best friends little sister…who is like my little sister passed away at the age of 30 to alcoholism. Tragic loss and it was so sad!!  So emotions were funning high!!

So getting “the sign” from my brother on his birthday meant more that year. I miss him so much. I miss our life back then. I miss the happy memories and not having someone to share them with anymore. I miss the idea of what our life COULD be if he was here.  Yeah. He’s a piece thats gone…and I’m still very angry about it.  And now my best friend has to deal with that piece of her heart missing as well!

And…for the record. Mr. Harp told me that they give the little bird some sugar water, warm lamp for a bit. Then started moving around…the kids let him outside and he flew away!!  ((my heart))

Happy Birthday to Me

Another year for me!!! I love getting older…I mean, I love the idea of being older, alive, healthy and here!! There was a time when I was scared that I wouldn’t make it much longer…those long lonely chemo days were the ones when I was think about IF I were to die, when i would die and what I would miss out on!  All real feelings I had.  So now when I have a birthday and I’m alive and healthy, I’m happy and very grateful!!

This years birthday was another one that fell on Friday the 13th. I don’t know if any of you remember my last birthday that was my “bad luck birthday”…you know…when I was 25..went to laughlin, got a speeding ticket, boat broke, everyone got food poisoning, my birthday present died (our puppy Hiro)…yeah it wasn’t fun!  So I was a little anxious about this birthday. 

I woke up to the cutest handmade cards from my big kids!!! I love them.

…and Daddy’s perfect present!!!

So off to work I went.  Only thing that was REALLY REALLY bugging me was my shoulder. I was having shoulder/arm/chest/neck pain. Wasn’t sure if I injured it working out, slept wrong or what. But I was in MAJOR pain!!  But the day went on. 

I came home to my favorite homemade cake made by my favorite person..My mama.

Dessert before dinner…totally allowed on birthdays! Then off to my favorite place for dinner. Good ol’ Outback!

Got home and in bed early. I was coming down with a cold AND my shoulder was just so painful.  No drinking, no partying, no dancing, no nothing. I just wanted to sleep. Its crazy how pain can drain the hell out of you!!

All in all it was a decent birthday…considering my darn shoulder pain!

The next day, Bernie came over and let me and Yosh go on a day date. I really wanted to paddle board BUT my shoulder wouldn’t allow for that!  So we went down to the beach…visited the American Junkie for bottomless mimosa’s and lunch. 

Went to the beach to sleep off the brunch!! haha

As we were at the beach we had some friends say they were going to come over…that ended up turning into 4 families coming over to show me some love for my birthday. It was the most last minute little party ever and it was great!

So my “birthday” turned into a 2 day celebration…which was kinda nice!  Here’s to 36…officially almost late 30s! lol

Mission Bay and Owens birthday

It was kinda nice having Easter at the very start of our Spring Break.  That way we got it done and then had a week to really relax!  We were camping at Mission Bay RV Resort with lots of friends, more #souzascampingfun. Had never been there but it was easy to get reservations and ended up being great!!

Big group of kids being the Parkers, Browns, Manleys and Cildermans (minus Matt since he was working).

Arrival day is always the crazy day. Getting everything set up while keeping kids safe and entertained. I think Yosh and I are getting better at our system…well kinda. haha  Evenings were spent around the fire or watching movies in trailers.

Even the adults got lots of time around the fire!!! Love having down time!

Mornings are my favorite while camping. Yosh always cooks us the best breakfasts!! Eggs, sausage, bacon, burritos..yum!

We got ready and kids played but were heading to Sea World. I always laugh because I’m always finding my kids in other peoples trailers. haha

Maggie even realized she liked the bed in Heathers rental trailer more than her own bed! haha Made herself comfy.

But we headed out for a day at Sea World. We usually go at least once a year because Sea World offers free passes to teachers! My kids LOVE it there so its awesome.

It was fun to watch Maggie. She was fascinated at every tank we went to. Shamu, dolphins, sharks, fish, penguins, ANYTHING.

These kids had a GREAT day.

And then we headed to Pizza Port for dinner to meet up with the rest of the campers for some dinner.  ANd Maggie was asleep before we even left the parking lot of sea world.

Heather found a cute photo opt that evening…

The next day camping I decided to throw Owen a birthday party. Since all his best buds were there, we made it happen while camping. He’s really in to Fortnite the video game so I did my best to bring that to Mission Bay! lol

My big NINE year old.
Its crazy he’s already 9 years old

Owen wasn’t due until the end of April and decided he wanted to make an appearance earlier! Seems like a lifetime ago…laboring at work all day and not even realizing it…then for 30 more hours at Kaiser…to end with a c-seciton but a very healthy happy 7lb 11oz blonde little man! Now now…hes still happy and healthy…and still blonde! lol

Unfortunately it was chilly this day…but San Diego is always freaking cold.  But here are some of Owen’s best friends…since birth of each of them!
Wyatt (7 years old), Owen (9 years), Ryland (9 years), Logan (3 days before he’s 9).

And thank you etsy…and Staples printing for me to be able to make this Fortnite shindig happen!

Making the boogie bombs…I will never make water balloons one at a time every again. These things are awesome!!

Birthday boy!

He was happy to have all his friends here with him celebrating!

Balloon toss….and yes I made the parents partner with their kids!! haha They loved me for that. And then it turned into a war and if they got hit with a water ballooon they had to do a boogie dance! It was hilarious!

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Then it was lunch time!!!

Happy Birthday time!!

Present Time!!

These pictures were taken of Logan and Owen on owen’s birthday a few years apart!! These boys are 3 days apart and have no other choice but to be best buds since their Daddys are best buds toO!!

Thanks to all our amazing friends for helping make Owen’s camping fortnite party fun!!! We are lucky to have friends who are practically our family!!! We Love you!

But after the “party” was over we continued our usual camping fun. Games, playing, bike rides, wiffle ball games, water/sand play, etc.

Kan-Jam…one of our favorite games thanks to the Lopez’s

Ella isn’t happy to play with Maggie the Monster…who recks everything.

We rode our bikes, Moms and kids, all the way around the bay area. Its sad though…there is an abandoned mobile home park…I get sad seeing empty houses for some reason. I think of all the good times people probably had in those houses and no longer can relive those memories. Someone was saying those empty mobile homes have been empty and like that for years now. Sad. What are they doing with that prime real estate?!?  Oh and we found Heather’s photo tree spot and got all the remaining kiddos on there for a pic…Heathers crew had already left to go home.

While big kids and parents played wiffle ball…my littles played in the murky bay water!

And that evening it was more adult fire time…and Cards Against Humanity!! Oh it was so funny.  Only DOWN side to this campground is the curfew. Its VERY strict.  We would just be laughing and chatting and security had to come over a few times and give us warnings. boo. lol  Next time we need a site farthest away from the guard shack! lol