We Survived the first 36 hrs!

You would think that with all we have going on that it might be hard to deal let alone survive these last few days. I do believe God was watching over us for sure! We did alright with the first day mostly because we were on auto. Day 2 was a little more difficult because everyone was living on low energy and barely able to keep our eyes open. There's this little park right on the other side of the building next to us. We decided to take the kids over there to get them moving and the energy flowing. All was going well tell a little boy showed up. Allyson started talking to him and keep running over to me saying things like, "mom he is 10!". Then she would run back. I didnt think much of it because Allyson is really out going. Next thing I knew I saw her jump right off the top of the playground equipment! It felt like time went to slow motion. Their was nothing to be done. Her feet touched the ground, knees buckled and she folded in half, so much that her chin smacked into the ground! OH MY LORD I thought Please dont let her be broken!!!! Mike ran to her and I was sitting there in shock! Allyson let out a scream. After a minute or two my heart went back down into my chest from my throat. She seemed ok. Nothing broken. I noticed some blood from her mouth so I had her open and saw a piece of chipped tooth. Eeekkk not good but thankfully nothing looked to bad. I just looked at her in disbelief. "What in the world were you thinking? Why did you jump off the playground?". Allyson replyed, "that boy told me to do it, he said he had jumped off it before". UGH why oh why would she have listened to him. What he did was not ok but then again Allyson was the one who decided to jump. My frustration was high but my thankfulness that nothing horrible happened from this situation. She had some trouble eating the rest of the day but other then that she seems to be better. Her pain is only slight when she eats. We have already contacted the dentist to see when we can come in to have her checked out. This happened all with in the first 42 hrs so I was sure that we were in for something horrible if this was the start of our new life here in England.
But on a better note:
The day was actually really beautiful. We took some silly pictures of the kids, I mean Mike ha ha.

Allyson Pre-chipped tooth

See that playground with the red slide? Yeah she climbed to the top of that and jumped off!

Nice sunny day

mike is enjoying the playground

I think that SB kicked in

what a goof ball

Today went well we got groceries, a new slow cooker which I am already planning meals for. We ate pizza that was under cooked because the oven wanted to burn the edges before the middle was done, so thats going to be a new issue to figure out. I meet a lady staying next to us in the lodge that has 4 home schoolers and is here house hunting before they make the final move this summer, so yay for meeting new people. Everyone else weve meet seems really nice and I am having moments where I am really looking forward to living her along with the moments of still wanting to run home.

Tomorrow is another day.....will see if we survive. I am sure with coffee in hand all will be well.

Um.....?

This must be from lack of sleep!

UK here we are!

So we made it, Alive and in once....well 7 pieces (people). It was just like I imagined, overwhelming and raining lol.
I'll start from the beginning of our trip. Hope I can remember it all through the lack of sleep. I am really scared of flying so my Friday morning really started out at 2am because I could not sleep due to anxiety and nerves. Knowing that the day was going to be long already sure didnt help the fact that due to my own issues it started even earlier then I really needed or wanted it too. Once everyone else woke up and joined me we had eggs, bacon and toast thanks to my mother in law for making us a special good-bye breakfast. We did another walk through of the house to make sure we got everything in our suitcases, I still can believe we did! We ended up with 14 pieces of actual luggage and 3 car seats and a stroller! I have no idea how we managed to get it all where it needed to end up. Especially scene we got dropped off at the wrong terminal and then ended up in the wrong terminal at London. God must have been in the works for helping us for sure. We ended up having help from people all over the airports. One man at LAX just walked up to us and asked to help us. He carried the luggage that I could while holding a baby and helped mike destress over the issue. We got dropped off at noon and were just going to get set up and go eat. When we ended up being in the wrong terminal for over an hour our plans got cut short. Our tickets were booked through American Airlines, but when we finally got to the counter they said we had to go to British Airways. Ugh so frustrating. So we got help from one of the catty luggage people and headed over to the next Terminal. Once we got through all that it was about 1:30pm. We figured that they would have food places after the security line (bad move on our part) so we went through the security first. We were happy to find out that with a baby and our large family we basically got to cut through the line all the way to the front. Guess they dont want us in line as much as we did not want to be in line. We got to our gate and mike went in search of food. When he finally got back he gave us our $10 sandwiches ekk. Not even subway quality. More like home made by teenagers quality. But we werent complaining we were all just tired and wanted to get this trip over and out of the way.
I had a little melt down right before entering the gate but Mike said for how scared I was I did a really good job, Yay me lol. I do admit as soon as I was allowed I had a Jack n' coke. It really did help my mood ;)
As far as the actual plane ride went, well that was probably as good as it could have been. We had NO children melt downs praise God. Amariah was the star of the plane everyone wanted to touch her, talk to her, ask us a billion questions. This cute little English women behind us just thought she was the most adorable thing ever. Everyone was so nice and impressed with the children's behavior! AMAZING.
I am always so proud of my kids when people start telling us how great they are. I think they are great all the time, but its nice to think other people think so as well. Once we got off the plane which was 10.5 hours long the kids which probably got 3 hours of sleep max and us grown ups which were working on mere minutes of sleep. Got the joy of trying to walk through the London air port which happens to be very confusing, different, and BIG. We probably got a good 3 miles of walking done not including what we had done back in the states. Our frustration grew when we found out we were in the wrong terminal for pick up for the bus that was supposed to drive us to the base and in fact thought we were going to have to be picked up another way. Thankfully a guy going in the same direction as we were let us know that we were still able to make the bus and the air port person did not know what they were talking about.
The 3 hour bus ride ended up being the best part of the whole trip. It was a tour bus with really comfortable seats and I slept the whole ride back. Which felt so good. I was a little bummed out because I wanted to sight see as much as I could. But apparently that was not what my body wanted because the one or two times I even opened my eyes I couldnt stay awake and my brain was not even registering what I was seeing ha ha pretty funny.
We got to TLF (temporary living facility) It was around 3pm. Realized that we had no food so we made a trip to the commissary for enough food to make it tell Monday and headed back to TLF. We were so thankful to see that we are basically smack in the middle of the BX and the Commissary and can walk to both in just a few minutes. Being carless this is so helpful and a blessing.
We fell asleep quickly which was no surprise. The 1am wake up party we had with Amariah and Levi in full morning mode woke everyone else up. It wasnt bad but boring due to the fact we didnt really have anything to entertain ourselves with. We feel back asleep around 5am and Mike had to wake us all up at 10am. It was really hard getting ourselves out of bed (2am our usual time) but we managed to get it done.

Allyson waiting to board the plane. 

Levi looking out the window at our plane

there it is! Our British Airline Plane

Levi awaiting the plane ride, He was so excited

This is Levi in London Airport. He was so tired. I was wishing I was young enough to be pushed around ;)

Anika in London, can you see how tired we are? lol

I said, "hey were in London, smile" this is what I got. Shy throw her thumb in the photo

At least one kid was excited (Shy)

This is Allysons leave me alone smile ha ha

Were on the bus! our last part to the trip

Right after this shot we ALL passed out. I should have had a pic of that. It was pretty funny

Disneyland (part 3/last one)

Its been pretty hard to remember what all happened in the 3 days that we were at Disney. Mostly because I feel like I got no sleep and my brain was on auto response ;).
I am waiting for the photos that we took (mike just hasn't uploaded them) from the photo pass that we got. If you dont know what a photo pass plus is check out; http://www.disneyphotopass.com/specialoffers/dlrppp.htm

The 3rd and final day at the Happiest Place on Earth was split into two. In the morning we decided to go to Disneyland to hit up the rides and things we didn't get done on day 1. Mike was really excited because he wanted to do the Star Tours. While the majority of the troops headed off to enjoy the ride I stayed behind with Miah and Levi.

Levi's new Buzz Toy

We got to enjoy ourselves by doing a little shopping, Levi got a buzz light year toy. (very small car size toy) Then we got to see two star ship troopers.

here is one of the two troopers. I didnt get my phone out fast enough they were posing for pics.

Once they were done. Daddy and Grandpa took baby duty and I got to go with Grandma and the four older kids to the Buzz Light year ride. Surprisingly it was fun.

inside the waiting area/ in line for Buzz Light year

I took the 3 older girls to the Indian Jones ride after this. Which ended up being a big mistake on my part! The ride was so rough I basically had to down a bunch of Ibuprofen to get ride of the headache it gave me. So while everyone else was enjoying lunch I was laying there with my head on the table! OUCH! So after lunch we did some shopping on the way out of Disneyland and headed over to California Adventure. Our main goal was to ride the car ride again, unfortunately with was shut down. So I sent mike off with the kids to do the roller coasters again while my mother in law, Kathy and I did more shopping! Who can go to Disney and not get some goodies?

I picked up a sweat shirt for all of the kids (except Miah because they didnt have any in her size, so she got a baby minnie mouse) I got a Minnie Mouse mug, and Minnie Mouse pin lanyard and a few pins, I like poke-a-dots so minnies stuff was really appealing. A Mickey mouse lap size quilt, which I am hoping to borrow Kathy's sowing machine and embroiderer the year on it. I think thats all but I honestly can not remember? After a FULL day we headed over to Joes Crab shack and ate a yummy meal. Then we headed back to my in laws house here in South California which was about a two hour drive. My poor hubby drove home while the rest of us took naps in the car. 

All in all our Disney Adventure did not let us down. I can not wait to go again one day when Amariah is old enough to enjoy it as well and no one has to actually "sit" with the baby. It most likely wont happen for at least the next four years while we live in England but it is something to look forward too. Plus you never know Disney Paris might be in our future?

Now off to our next adventure......England!

Levi and Mommy at Buzz Ride. Levi Sees the Buzz light year.

Anika and Me awaiting the Indian Jones Ride

Anika waiting in line

Shyanne doing the funky chicken? I guess whatever it takes to entertain ones self while waiting for a ride

Allyson my poser, she loves the camera

Amariah "miah" (my-aah) With her Minnie Mouse thats almost as big as she is

Daddy and Levi on the second round of Buzz.

Hello my names Heather and I am a fabric-aholic

I love crafts! On of my favorite crafts includes fabric. To the point that I always have an eye out for fabrics I like. 
My mother in law has a house full of quilts. So when I first meet her I got very into quilting.
This visit isn't any different then any other visits. She blessed me with a $100 gift card to a fabric store here for Christmas. So I used opportunity to spend it and start a new quilt.
I love colors and wanted this quilt to be the most colorful I could make it.
In between visits, Disneyland, and random what nots I've been quilting away.
This has also helped keep my mind off things that have been bothering me like the idea of flying.  This has been pretty helpful.
So after two weeks. Maybe three real quilting days total.  My quilting top is finished!

Disneyland (part2)

The second day of our 3 day Disneyland trip was spent at California Adventure! I knew that I really wanted to go to California adventure for my son Levi. He is really into Cars, Toy Story, and anything at all Super hero. So this was something that I was really excited to see as he realized what was going on around him. Including Mickey who was also going to be present there as well.
The first day, when we were at Disneyland it was nice and warm, but the second day was overcast and cold. In fact it actually sprinkled on us! I was so worried that we might get rained out. Luckily the drizzle that was off and on didnt do to much damage and we still got the chance to enjoy the day.
First we hit the fast pass line so we could get tickets to see the world of color. This was not going to be until 9pm at night but we had heard from everyone that it was well worth the show and wait. After we had tickets in hand we headed over to Cars Land. If you haven't been to California Adventure scene they put in the cars land you sure are missing out. It was by far worth the time and trip. They made the exact (pretty much) replica of the Radiator Springs on the cars movie. Including the Cone hotel, and Gas station and fender lined canyon in the background. I think I was really impressed by this because if you allowed yourself to forget about the surrounding areas it sure felt like you stepped right into the movie itself! Levi Loved seeing Lighting McQueen and Mader. The other kids were impressed as well but I know that their joy level was not as high as Levi's. We did this really fun ride that was kind of a mix between the tea cups and one of those mixer rides at the carnivals that spin you around so fast you end us squishing the person sitting on the outside of the chair. I dont know if you know what I am talking about but it was really fun.
Then we did another ride that was like Air Hokey and bumper cars in one. It was ok. Later that day we got fast passes to do the cars ride (race track or what not, I am not sure what the name of the ride was) It was where you get to sit in the car and you basically get to drive through the canyon and race another car. It was BY FAR my most favorite ride. I think that if I would have stood in the 90 mins or what ever it was wait I still wouldnt have been disappointing but I am sure glad that we got to speed through it. So nice and at night when all the lights were on it was really pretty.
Allyson my 6 year old actually went on the tower of terror and LOVED it! I was so shocked. Who knew that she was going to be a roller coaster Queen as my Mother in law put it. Allyson even braved the upside down California scream roller coaster and again, Loved it!
We did the carnival type rides which was fun. Then we saw the parade which was short but very upbeat and fun. Levi was happy to see all the toy story characters and the incredibles. We ate at this cute little Italian place and Shyanne and Allyson decided that they wanted Corn dogs from the stand outside. All in all the food was really good and was not as pricey as we thought it would be.
We braved the colder weather and were surprised to not have crabby, cranky, worn out kids as we waited all the way up to the 9:15pm show of the world of color. I am not going to lie I didnt think it was as wonderful as people made it out to be. It could have been mostly because it was so load I was worried about having Amariah (my 4mo old) pretty much under the speaker and it was starting to rain! Also I thought it was going to be more of a water show. Don't get me wrong there was lots of water. But they basically made a water back ground which they then placed a projection of different clips from Disney movies onto the water. It would have been more enjoyable if we werent tired and cold I am sure.
We waited for what seemed like forever at the bus stop, while we tried to get back to our hotel. Climbing into bed at 11 or whatever time it was sure was not in the plan. Feet in pain and ready for bed we said good night to night 2 of 3 of Disneyland.
Heres some pictures to enjoy:

 This is a bunch of Cars land Photos!

This is me getting rained on

Lightning McQueen

Shyanne in front of the tower of tires

My Love and Myself enjoying Cars Land

Anika waiting in line for a picture

We are waiting for a ride on the bumper tires (or whatever it was called)

This is my Father in Law Bill. You cant see her but shyanne is on the other side of him, see that pink shoe!?

Allyson and I on the bumper tire

Levi, Shy, and Anika with a tractor

its not me, but I was looking for a hat to keep my ears warm (I never found one I wanted )

Anika and California Adventure

Parade, buzz light year

Toy Story in the Parade

This was the farres wheel at night during the world of color show 

Yeah thats Mike ;)

Mike and Me

Daddy and Levi waiting for the World of Color show to start

Allyson, who pretty much lived on gold fish that day (yuck)

Shyanne & Mommy on the tractor ride.

This was that ride I was trying to explain (that blonde lady is my mother in law, Kathy)