Update on last two weeks

With summer in full swing and the Mack family on the move with multiple outings/vacations, I haven't had a chance to truly keep our blog updated. So here is an update (with accompanying pictures) of all the stuff of the last two weeks.So, Friday night, June 23rd, after three weeks of going non-stop (a week of camping, a week with my parents here, and then a week of VBS) Randy and I put Audrey and Isaac to bed, hoping to relax together, anticipating our household returning to its "normal" routine. Instead, we walked into the living room and picked Violet off of the floor, out of the puddle she was laying in. At first, we thought she'd spit up...nope, no smell. Had her diaper leaked? Nope, not even full. So why is there a puddle of water in the middle of our floor? After checking around we found a small leak behind our refridgerator, coming from our water hose that is for the ice-maker. The water had been soaking into the wall behind the fridge and kitchen cabinets (the wall shared with the living room) and into our wood sub-floor, under our carpets. So here is Randy, tearing up the carpet and carpet pad to get to the wood, a lot of which we ended up having to tear out to allow the floor to dry. He also ended up busting out drywall behind the baseboards to let air circulate up and into the wall to get it to dry. After making a call into our insurance company on Monday, we got the ball moving on starting our home repairs. It'll probably be another month until it's all done, but we'll get the drywall repaired, our living room and entryway repainted, our wood sub-floor repaired as well as new carpet in the living room and down the hall. Luckily for us, the water didn't damage any of our exposed wood floor that we just laid in the kitchen and dining room less than two years ago!
Well, amidst the chaos of our living room, Randy and I still managed to get out of the house the following Wednesday night, June 28th, for a nice dinner alone to celebrate our 9 year anniversary. We ate at a restaurant called Samba. It's Brazilian BBQ, and if you've never eaten there, you gotta try it! It was amazing! It was an all-you-can-eat feast with salad, 3 types of bread, 7 different sides and 11 different types of meat to try! Thanks to James and Marcy for watching the kids and giving us a night on our own! The next night we packed our bags and headed up the mountain again to join some friends and family for a weekend. No use sticking around our torn-up, half-dry living room when Randy had the Friday off and the kids were looking forward to camping again. So we postponed the flooring company until Monday and left to join Randy's mom and brother, my brother and sister-in-law, the McNeelys and the Schlesselmans up in Kings' Canyon.An afternoon walk up to the market for ice cream! Checking out the water bugs under the bridge.All set for a walk to the Big Trees!Enjoying a snack in their new camping chairs.
Well, the kids thoroughly enjoyed their 3 days in the mountains, and I must say it was a good break from our house, not to mention the triple digits in the valley. Luckily the temperatures were dropping when we came back on Sunday and were into the 90s by Tuesday, Independence Day. We had a full day which started at the church's pancake breakfast in Woodward Park.Here's Isaac joining in on the post-breakfast soccer game (a little World Cup fever). One more year and he can sign up for a team...he's so ready! Well, straight from the breakfast out to the Vance's house for some swimming and lunch. After that we came home to relax for a couple hours so the kids could be ready to stay up late and watch fireworks.Violet did great all day! She took a good nap in the afternoon so she was ready to go to the baseball game when she woke up! The game was a close one, but the Grizzlies lost to the Salt Lake Stingers 4-5. Audrey, of course, loved to watch the fireworks but kept her hands over her ears the entire time. Isaac did the same. Violet, however, didn't want her ears covered as she stared up into the sky at the wonderful spectacle! All of the "fun" of the last two weeks was capped off by this Saturday, as we took Violet to her first Dodgers' game! We joined 50 other Dodgers and Giants fans from our church and rode in a chartered bus to see our teams face off in Los Angeles. The morning was fine, with a smooth trip down to Los Angeles. The game was a good one, with lots of action on the field. Unfortunately, the Dodgers lost to the Giants, 11-7. Violet did surprisingly well, despite the heat. Even in the shade, we were feeling the sticky 95 degrees. After the game, we loaded back into the bus and took a short trip to Universal Studios' City Walk where we all enjoyed strolling through the shops and finding a place to eat dinner. The weather had cooled considerably by then and a breeze was kicking up, so we really enjoyed that! We loaded back on the bus to go home and settled into our seats to enjoy the air conditioning and the cartoons on the overhead TVs. We made it over the Grapevine and were descending into Bakersfield when those of us in the back of the bus started smelling something. No...not the on-board restroom, something burning, like a brakepad maybe. One of us went up to tell the driver; however, since the front half of the bus couldn't smell anything, we kept driving. It just got worse and so the driver finally pulled off at a truck stop/repair station. As soon as we came to a complete stop, you could see the smoke billow up around the rear windows. Not good. But after a quick look under the bus, we returned to the freeway. It only took about 2 minutes before we smelled it again...and this time had to pull off on the side of the freeway. The driver made a couple calls to his boss and a mechanic and decided to return to the previous truck stop. So, again, we load in the bus to go back, this time opening the front windows and overhead emergency openings for ventilation. But, since we were at the bottom of the Grapevine, and not in a city, none of the off-ramps would immediately have an on-ramp on the opposite side of the freeway...SO, we decide to head the rest of the way to Bakersfield, going about 25 mph with our hazards on. We pull off at the first Bakersfield exit and start to exit the bus. I was sitting in the front with Violet (since the smoke was mostly in the back) and was, therefore, one of the first off the bus. I get off and turn to look at the back of the bus and see two men looking at the back tire, then immediately yelling to get a fire extinguisher! Someone else shouts at the rest of the people on the bus to start getting off quicker...and Ron Bryan and Ken Ford come running back with fire extinguishers to douse the flames that are coming out of the rear tire! And here I am, looking at my husband, who is sitting in THE back seat of the bus, casually looking out his window, which is right above the rear tire, watching them spray the extinguisher. Luckily, everyone got off the bus, and the fire got extinguished before it spread to the actual tire or engine (it was the brake pad on fire...they think). The Kern County fire truck came out to look at everything and, of course, we had to wait for a new bus to come and pick us up to take us home.Here's Violet and Lizzie Alvey, both awake, at midnight, in the Jack in the Box, waiting for our bus. Well, we survived...and even had a fun adventure in the process. Randy making the most of it with Eric Halverson.