Saratoga Springs Fire

On Thursday night a fire started up the mountain right by our house. Friday morning it was burning just a little bit at the top of the mountain when I left to go workout. After I got done with Zumba and was driving on Redwood Road, this is what I saw in front of me. This is the neighborhood just north of where we live. We had to stop on Redwood Road as they were evacuating residents. People were flying out of there as fast as they could go. I started getting nervous as we drove past this.

 

 When we got home, I realized that it had really gotten out of control in our neighborhood while I was gone. This was the view outside my house right when we were asked to evacuate. It definitely made me a little uneasy to look outside and see this. That was when we thought we had better just leave, there was no reason to still be there! I asked the kids to get their duffle bags out of their closet and gave a quick list of what to pack. It was funny to see what the kids packed. Carson packed his photo albums and his books that he had got this year from his school book orders. Which is funny because he doesn't love to read that much but he packed no clothes, just books... So I had to throw some clothes in for him. Marcus packed mostly pajamas, he thinks they are more comfortable. :) Shalise packed almost every article of clothing she owns and left them all on hangers. Then she proceeded to pack as many toys as she could possibly fit! Nana and Gramps were very nice to let us crash at their house while they were in San Diego! The kids thought it was fun to sleep at Nana and Gramps house. We went to eat at Ihop the next morning, ran some errands and then headed home early afternoon. It was right about the time they lifted the evacuation notice.

 

 

 

 

After returning to our homes, this is what it looked like last night when it kicked up again. Luckily it only lasted a couple hours and then they put it out. Hopefully the fire it out now and done, that was quite the adventure! It was definitely a crazy couple days and made you think about what is really important. We were just glad to be together as a family and be safe. It is also a miracle that no houses burned, the firefighters did an amazing job! Today I am just glad to look at the mountain and see no smoke or fire. It may be a little blacker than before but I will take that over the fire any day!

 

 

Aquasport

Carson has been doing a swim camp this summer. It's called Aquasport. They go for 4 hours, 2 times a week. They get to swim, eat lunch, play outdoor games like capture the flag, sidewalk chalk, soccer etc and then swim some more. He has absolutely loved it! He cannot get enough of the water! His big accomplishment this summer is that he now goes off the high dive. He went off the low dive all last summer and this summer finally got the guts to try the high dive! He is very proud of himself. He sure enjoys going swimming at Aquasport and it has sure helped make him a stronger swimmer. I have a feeling he will be wanting to do this again next year!

 

 

 

 

Swimming Lessons

The kids have been taking swimming lessons and I am so proud of them this year! They have gotten so much more comfortable in the water. Marcus and Shalise will both put their faces in the water now and go under water. Shalise loves to float on her back. Carson is turning into quite the little swimmer. He can swim almost half the distance of the pool now! They have really good instructors and the kids look forward to going a couple times a week. This will be their last week and I think they will be sad to be done!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Splash

Every year Saratoga Springs has a "summer splash" party where the Fire Department comes out and sprays all the kids with their big fire hose. The kids thought it was pretty fun! They couldn't believe how far the hose could spray! At one point I turned around because the kids were telling me to take their picture and they were standing next to the Chik-fil-A cow! It was a fun afternoon!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soccer Camp

The week after school got out the kids did a week long soccer camp at the high school. The girls soccer team there coached it. They went for 2 hours each day, and then they split them by age. The kids were excited to go every day and the last day they got a certificate and team pictures. Here are some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carnival Maniacs!

We sure enjoyed a fun week at the Carnival this week! We got wristbands so we could go all three days. We spent several hours each day, I don't know how the kids didn't get sick of it! They were tall enough this year to go on most rides without me. I had to go with Shalise on a couple but not too many, which was good because some of those with all the spinning make me a little nauseated! We also went through some vendor booths they had there where the kids got frisbees and t-shirts and all kinds of little free things. Marcus got his face painted while I wasn't looking and the lady told me it was going to be $5! I told her I only had $1 dollar in cash, I had no cash. She didn't seem very happy but I figured it was her own fault for painting a 5 year old's face without his mom's permission! Oh well... We saw several people from Carson's school,some neighbors and friends on all the days of the carnival so the kids had little friends to hang out with and go on the rides with. We also went to a parade on Saturday, my mom went with us. The kids loved all the candy they threw out and they even got some waterbottles and T-shirts and frisbees! We had a fun time but thank goodness it is over because we are all pooped!!