Miguel's Report

Hey everybody, it's me Miguel. While we were at Aunt Natalie's house she gave us some homework to do. The project was, at first to write one full page of what we did while at her house. Then, we agreed to make it a blog on my Mom's site. So, here you go, Auntie!

On Monday, the third, we had a choice. Either we could spend the night at a hotel somewhere up north and the next day go to Disneyland, or, we could spend that time at our aunt and uncle's house. Karizma and I made that choice pretty quick. ( Now, for those of you that know us well, you are probably thinking, " They picked Disneyland for sure!". You are wrong!) We chose Auntie's house.

We arrived at Auntie's house around 11:00 A.M., with enough stuff for people walking by to think "Are they moving in?" After saying our goodbyes to Mom and Dad, we hung out for the next few hours. Later that day we decided to go for a walk. After 15 minutes of preparation for our voyage, we were ready to go with our 2 strollers and 7 small children. We walked to Lindo Lake, which is very near to their house, and let the kids race each other to certain points around the lake. "Oh , we'll get them in bed by 7:30-8:00", we were thinking. While on our way home we were told that we would eat Auntie's lasagna made from scratch. The plan of attack was for K to give all the kids a bath, while Auntie, Walker,Tristan, and I would help with dinner. Well that didn't work. What actually happened was Auntie and I made dinner while the kids went crazy in the playroom. The kids must have been hungry though because sitting them down for dinner was relatively easy. Then I had the BEST lasagna I have ever tasted! (by the way, thanks again Auntie!!!) After dinner I helped to do the dishes while the kids played with each other. Then when Uncle Dan got home I was talking to him about unroasted coffee beans in his garage and he said "Do you want to help me roast some?" And I, being a lover of anything that has to do with coffee (Shh, don't tell my Mom), said yes. So we turned roasting coffee into a science lesson for the kids. Uncle Dan got the older kids (Tristan, Walker, Christian, Skyler) to sit down in the kitchen, and it turned into the "Uncle Dan The Science Man" show. While I prepared to roast beans in an air popcorn popper, Uncle Dan told the children all about the coffee bean. Then after roasting (which is very easy) we let the kids see coffee beans go from green (before) to brown-black (after). The kids loved it!. Then we turned the kids loose so we could watch the election. I must admit, I was sad when Sen. McCain gave his concession speech, meaning Sen. (now President-elect) Obama had won. The kids went to bed around nine that night, while Auntie and Gracen and I stayed up late anticipating a yes for prop. 8. But to no avail, as we would have to wait until morning.

On Wednesday we were served plain and peanut-butter pancakes with sausage. Yummy! Uncle Dan got the day off so we contemplated what to do. Then Uncle Dan said that he wanted to drive to an open-trail wildlife preserve in Santa Isabel. So while everybody else got the kids ready, and food packed, I decided to do something nice for my Mom by washing her van which Auntie had gotten vacuumed the day before. After drying the van off we were ready to leave, but not before checking the news to see if Prop 8 had passed. And, Praise God, it did. We were all so happy.

We left for Santa Isabel with Auntie, Karizma, and our kids in one van and Uncle Dan, their kids, and I in the other. We then stopped at a nearby gas station, where Uncle Dan treated us to Coke and sunflower seeds. While opening the seeds, he told me to get 3 cups from the trunk. He than proceeded to pour seeds in 1 of the cups, and give me 1 empty cup, and 1 with seeds in it. What was the empty cup for? "It's your spit-seed cup." The other was his "spit-seed cup". Thanks, Uncle Dan! We than drove with K-love (a Christian radio station 100.1, FM) playing on the way to the preserve. On the way there, Uncle Dan kept commenting on how beautiful and scenic the drive was. Then we got lost. After ending up in Julian, 2 miles away from our destination, and getting gas, we finally found the preserve. When we got out of the car we realized it was pretty cold, so we got the kids dressed while uncle Dan made PBNJ sandwiches for everybody. Then we started our hour long trek. On the trail we crossed a stream, saw wild turkey, and contemplated bringing one home for Thanksgiving dinner, and even saw wild cattle. The kids had so much fun running around like crazy chickens, screaming and laughing the whole time. But, of course children have limited energy bursts and they got tired pretty quick. So we had to take turns carrying tired kids. At one point, I was carrying Sonoma in my left arm, and Zack in my right, with my hands clasped together for support.



And we took this picture with wild cattle in the background, which I am not sure if you can see in this picture.



After putting all the kids back in the car, where they fell asleep within 10 minutes, we drove to Julian to get some Mom's apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Then we were on our way home. We then had chicken for dinner and popcorn and a movie 'til Mom and Dad got home. I have to tell you though, I really enjoyed the time I got to spend that day with Uncle Dan. We got to talk the whole time about stuff, random stuff, but it was really cool to hang out with him. I mean it was just me and him, chewin' and spitin' seeds, and just talking. I mean, what 15 year old kid wouldn't love spending time with one of his uncles?? I know he enjoyed the time too, because he told me that he wishes that I could ride to work with him just so we could have our "car talk". I even gave him a mini Bible quiz. Uncle Dan, if you are reading this, I just want to say I love you, and I hope we can spend more time together. I had an awesome time with you!!

So that concludes my report. Thank you, Aunt Natalie and Uncle Dan!! I love you guys!!! Also, thank you for taking the time to read my blog entry.

Until the next blog,
Miguel