Balch Family Blog

Yes, we now have a fish in our house! We went to the Pet Store to pick up some dog food and the boys love the fish! The short of it: We already had a small tank and betas were on sale. He is a deep red with blue accents and seems very happy in his new home! Camden gave him his name, as you might be able to tell, he likes rhyming right now!

I am really excited about this year! I can’t wait to watch my boys to continue growing up and having fun! We had a quiet New Year! Nathan came over and the boys played for a bit. Then we all went to Peter Piper Pizza. We played games and won useless prizes. We headed home and put the boys to bed. It was a rough night for Carsten, he was up off and on. Mark and I played a bunch of games on the Wii we got for Christmas. We did see the new year, but just barley!!

Hope everyone has a great 2008!

This is a link to a movie of the boys in their new jumper.

***I have written my Christmas blog post once and it was lost due to a technical problem.  I am going to write it again, but please forgive me if it isn’t as good as the first one.  Not that you would know anyway!***

Merry Christmas everyone!  Our family is getting excited about the upcoming birthday celebration for Jesus!  We have been teaching our boys the Christmas story about how Jesus was born.  They love to look at the nativity sets we have.  We have instated a new tradition for our family this year.  It is called Cocoa and Christmas lights.  One day each week we change the boys into PJs (or PGs as we call them) and make hot cocoa, then we hop in the van and drive around looking at the lights in the neighborhood nearby.  Camden and Carsten love this!

Camden is 4 1/2 and attending preschool 3 days a week.  He loves school once he gets there, but he is reluctant to leave at times.  He has friends at school and loves his teacher Ms. Jennie.  Camden is recognizing letters and numbers and writing his own name.  We are very proud of him!

Carsten is just 3 months shy of  turning two, but he is as determined and independent as any two year old out there!  He wants to do everything his brother does and more.  He is a great runner and climber and he makes us laugh daily!  He is not talking very much which is slightly concerning to his mother…the speech pathologist!  I am going to give him a few more months to make his big language boom.

Mark is still working for SOS Physical Therapy as a physical therapist in Queen Creek.  Their office is very busy and he really works hard.  The company has been very good to us as well.  Last weekend they took the therapists and spouses out to eat at Donovan’s and to see The Nutcracker.  It was a great evening!  Tonight is the Christmas dinner for everyone who works in the clinic.  Mark and I got to plan it this year.  It is at Superstition Springs Golf Club.  We are looking forward to a wonderful evening!

I am working just less than part time.  I am part of our Preschool Evaluation Team.  We screen and evaluate all incoming preschool students that live in our district.  I enjoy working and find the 2 days a week is a nice balance between work and staying home with the boys.

We are spending the holidays close to home this year.  We will make a quick trip to Tucson to see my mom and Ken.  Christmas day we will be with Mark’s parents.  My dad may come over for a visit after Christmas.  Mark has a golf tournament for work on New Years Day so we will probably sleep through the New Year, which is just fine with us.  Whatever your plans are this season please be safe and never forget the reason we celebrate Christmas was because Jesus was born!  Merry Christmas!

Great News!  The tumor Bailey had is the best kind of malignant tumor to have.  It is the slowest growing and does not metastasize to other parts of the body easily.  She will need her stitches out on Fri or Mon!  She is doing great!

Tomorrow is Turkey day!  Our family has so much to be thankful for!  We hope that whatever your plans are that you enjoy the day and don’t stress over anything!  That is my personal goal this year!

We are cooking at our house this year.  Mark’s parents will join us too!  This is really good because our 10-yr old dog, Bailey, just had a large tumor removed.  We should know by Friday what it was and how to treat her further, whether with chemotherapy or radiation.  She is doing well.  Her pain doesn’t seem to bad and she is back to her loving self!

We may go out this Black Friday not really to grab the deals, but just to have fun and take it all in!  Enjoy your weekend!

Mark is another year wiser today! He is playing golf with Brian and has a softball tournament this evening. We might go shopping this afternoon or just hang out at the house.

Here is a family photo taken before dinner last night!

On a side note, Happy Birthday Gma Bailey! I miss her so much! Ironically, I realized that her and Mark share not only the same birthday, but initials as well! Mary Ellen Bailey and Mark Edward Balch

I hope you have a great day honey! We love you!

As I sit here on the back patio and the boys play in the sand wearing shorts and t-shirts without shoes, I am shocked it is November! How is it possible that I glance at my weatherbug and it reads 91 degrees at 5pm on Nov 6th. Wow! Can we say global warming? I realize we live and the southwest and it is generally warmer then other parts of the country, but usually by this time we are wearing long sleeve shirts at least.

Halloween was fun, but hectic! We went to our Fall Festival at church. I am so thankful that Mark’s mom joined us because she was so helpful with the boys. The church changed things this year and had all of the volunteers create a game for the children to play, instead of just handing out candy. This kept Mark and I very busy. Brian helped part of the evening as well. I will say that next year we might just walk our neighborhood or go to a park.

We are exited about the holidays coming. We haven’t decided what we are doing for Thanksgiving yet. We might stay home and hang out. Mark and I have always wanted to try frying a turkey, so depending on how things go, we might try it this year. We have been brining our turkeys for the last couple of years, so we are ready to take the next step.

Camden is doing great at school. He enjoys his friends and loves his teachers. He is excited about Christmas! That is so much fun as a parent! He is taking a drawing class through Young Rembrandt’s. It isn’t his favorite, but when he is there he does well.

Carsten is turning into a little boy. He is teething all of his molars right now. He has been a bit cranky the last couple of days. We have started hearing some more words from him. He is saying Camden, mama, and just started to say uh-oh. It is quite cute!

Here is a picture from Sea World.

Saturday October 20th

We loaded the car and headed towards California. Our drive was uneventful. We stopped at the largest indoor play area in Yuma. The sign made it seem much more impressive then it actually was. After a bite to eat we were on our way again. We tried to make a bathroom stop in Jacumba, and all I have to say is DON’T! We traveled a bit further before finding a more suitable place. We arrived at our hotel in Cardiff By The Sea about 6:00pm. We checked in and went to the beach. Camden and Carsten wore their jackets to keep warm. Neither one of the boys cared for the water much and Camden HATED the seaweed! We had dinner at a little dive diner off the beach. There was a bakery next door so we each grabbed a treat for dessert. Then we went back to the hotel to turn in for the night.

Sunday October 21st

We woke up early and grabbed breakfast at the hotel. We got the boys dressed in their swim suits and I remembered I had packed water shoes for the boys. That really helped them to walk by the seaweed on the beach. We set up our blanket and got out our sand toys. The beach was very open. Our spot was great because there were showers and bathrooms just up the hill. We made sand castles and race tracks. We ran from the waves in the ocean and once we got Carsten in the water he didn’t want to leave. He was the one who got the most wet! He loved every minute of it! About 2:00 we decided to head north to our resort in Escondido. My dad called to say there were some wild fires burning in southern California and asked if we knew anything about them. We had not heard about them so he said we should watch the news when we get to our room. We stopped by a grocery store to pick up a few things including a frozen pizza for dinner. We watched a bit about the fires on the news. Then we went for a swim at the pool and then went to bed.

Monday October 22nd

The day our plans changed!!

We woke up planning to go to Legoland. Anyone who knows me knows what a planner I am. Well, we watched a little more news and found out the fires were getting worse because of the Santa Ana winds. Legoland was closed, but Sea World was open. However, the road we needed to take south was closed because of the fires so we went north and west then south to Sea World. It was a nice day there. Not very smokey and quite empty. We saw most of the shows, checked out the starfish, penguins, sharks, and flamingos. Many employees were walking around with face masks on to help them breath. We never felt that it was difficult to breath. It was interesting because nothing was open in the middle of the park only main stores and some of those were closed too. To avoid rush hour traffic we stopped at Red Robin for dinner. We were in contact with my Dad to determine the best route home. We were supposed to have lunch with my friend Shari on Tuesday but she called to say she couldn’t make it down with the fires. It would take too long and the client she was going to see was closing. She did mention that we could stay with her if anything happened or if at anytime we felt uncomfortable. As we drove home we could see lots of smoke and some areas that were glowing orange. We checked with the security guard at the gate and he said we were not in any danger. Mark and I talked about what our planned would be if we had to evacuate. Then we went to bed.

Tuesday October 23rd

3:30am Carsten woke up, as he had been doing about that time since we started our vacation. I went to get him and brought him to bed with us. My throat was hurting, it felt like it was burning. I chalked it up to being at Sea World all day yesterday. I checked the parking lot to make sure it was still full of cars.

4:45am Camden woke up, so I went to his room to sleep with him. Parking lot was still full.

7:00am Carsten and Mark woke up. They were hanging out. Mark had gotten Carsten his morning milk and he decided to check out what was going on outside. Mark noticed a lot of smoke. He walked outside and down the back of our villa. He was thinking we should leave for the day because there was so much smoke. Mark saw the sky was orange and then he saw a guy going to each door banging on them. He was saying, “You have five minutes, get your stuff and get out.” There was also a truck driving around honking his horn.

7:30am Mark came running back and woke me up. We packed everything up and got the kids and we were on the road in a matter of minutes. Loading the car you could see ash falling down. It got difficult for me to breath and I started having a coughing fit. As we drove out the entrance the security guard instructed us to head north on I-15.

7:55am We called my friend Shari and told her we were on our way up. We also spoke to the Reed family (Brian, Carrie, Nathan and Donna) as they were scheduled to meet us at Legoland on Thursday after their day at Disneyland.

We drove and drove through a lot of traffic and about 4 hours later we arrived at Shari’s house. Shari and Ted were wonderful hosts and put us up for the next two nights!

2:30pm We met my Dad at Balboa Lake Park to have a picnic lunch and watch the ducks. Then we went to watch model airplanes. It was a nice afternoon.

4:30pm We decided to go to Universal City Walk. It is a great shopping area with neat stores and restaurants. The boys liked the giant King Kong and Guitar. We had crepes for dinner and a nice evening. We drove back to Shari and Ted’s and turned in for the night. We had decided to go to Disneyland with the Reeds the next day.

Wednesday October 24th

Disneyland!!! We weren’t planning to visit this park but it was fun! Dad bought our tickets and dropped Betty off. Dad is not a fan of Disneyland. We were off. We met up with the Reeds. Camden and Nathan are the best of buds, although Nathan is much more adventuresome then Camden. It was a nice day. The park was not very busy and we walked right on to most rides. Camden did ok with the rides but he didn’t care for the loud noises and dark tunnels. It was nice having so many of us there so we could trade kids and everyone could ride what they wanted. The parade was great! Disney always has awesome parades! Camden spent 45 minutes exploring the island with Mark and I let Carsten take a little nap.

Thursday October 25th

We decided to have a relaxing day. Mark wanted to play golf and Camden wanted to see trains. We had planned to go to the Model Railway Museum in Balboa Park, but we didn’t think we would make it. So we found Travel Town in Griffith Park. This was a great museum with real railroad cars and a miniature train we could ride. Dad, Betty, Camden, Carsten and I all went there. We met Mark in the afternoon back at Shari and Ted’s place. Dad and Betty headed down to Escondido and Mark and I took Ted and Shari out to dinner to say thank you for letting us invade and take over nearly every room in their house. After dinner we went back and got the boys ready for bed, loaded the van and returned to our resort in Escondido. The drive was quick without much traffic.

Friday October 26th

We finally made it to Legoland! This was Camden’s favorite place! He loved Miniland and looking at all of the buildings built with Legos! Carsten had fun playing at the splash park. We was dunking his hair into the water, turning on flowers to spray water and even rode in a swing. Mark, Camden, Nathan and Brian built Lego cars and had races. We watched The Big Test, which was my favorite. It is a little show about putting “the wet stuff on the hot stuff and put that fire out!” Legoland gave everyone who came a free ticket to come back before March 08 as an apology for being closed all week. We are already planning a return trip!

For dinner we went to a great seafood place called King’s Fish House. It was very yummy!

Saturday October 27th

Sea World part 2. We met my Dad, Betty, Brain, Carrie, Nathan and Donna at Sea World. Since we had already been there we took our time and did the few things we didn’t see on Monday. We watched the Pets Rule show twice. That was a favorite of both Camden and Carsten. We found a great play area with sand and trucks and a visit from OP Otter. We were all exhausted and wanted a sit down meal at a good price. We went to Chili’s! We said good-bye in the parking lot and we all went on our way.

Our only complaint about our vacation is we did too much! We would have liked to sit by the pool and rest some; it just wasn’t meant to be. Our prayers are with those who lost their homes in these fires, those who have to put their lives back together. We only had to change our plans. Quite insignificant when compared to those around us!

I have hurt my back, so probably won’t get to posting details till later in the week.