McComb Family

Since my parents are no longer having their annual 4th of July party we actually had to come up with something else to do this year!!! We had friends over for swimming (which kind of felt like we were at my parents' since we have their old pool now!!!).

Then we went to Bret's dad's house for dinner, followed by fireworks in Auburn. I have a new camera so I had to play around with taking pictures of the fireworks. There is actually a "fireworks" setting on my camera, so this is what I got. Kind of cool.

Hope everyone had a great 4th as well!! Who knows what our plan will be next year!?

Posted in: on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at at 9:16 PM 2 comments  

Our cruise was fantastic. Wow - Alaska is absolutely beautiful. I'm so glad we went with the room with a balcony. It was totally worth it. Our ship is down below docked in Seattle. Our room was on the top floor that you see with balconies, the second one from the front.

After we left Seattle we spent a day at sea on our way to Ketchican. We signed up for our excursions, learned our way around the ship, wrote a postcard to the kids, and of course ate! When we got to Ketchican we didn't get to dock. I guess only 3 cruise ships can dock at a time, so they rotate who gets to pull up to the dock. That week our ship had to anchor out in the water and boat people to shore. It was kind of cool though. Once we got on shore we took a bus to the forest and went on a zipline course. There were 7 ziplines and 3 suspension bridges between 80 and 120 feet above the ground. On the longest zipline, they said you could get going about 35 mph. It was kind of freaky, but I did it!! One of the girls in our group bailed. She made it through 2 on the ziplines and was done. They had to lower her down to the ground (which actually looked scarier to me than going along the ziplines themselves, but oh well!). Here I am in all the gear you have to wear and then going down one of the ziplines.

From Ketchican we headed to Juneau. We were one of the first groups off the ship that day and one of the last to get back on. It was great. First we headed to Mendenhall Glacier. It was pretty cool, especially since it had recently calved and the snow left behind looks bright blue. There is a trail you can hike that warns about bear encounters, so we promptly headed off there to see if we could find one!!! We did finally find one right back at the parking lot!!! Go figure. Anyway, it was up in a tree filling itself full of berries and leaves. It was about a year and a half old, so not full-grown. It was pretty entertaining to watch. It was sitting on this teeny little branch just ripping leaves and branches off of this poor tree! I got to see a bear though, so I was very excited.

From the glacier we then went whale watching, and we got the absolute best tour we could ever hope for. First off, the weather was great. The entire week actually was beautiful. We never had rain even once. How we got so lucky, I don't know, but I'm not complaining!!! We started off on our tour and came across a pod of transient orca whales. They said it was not real common to see them, so we hung around and watched them for a while.

Then we went a little farther and came across a group of humpback whales. First we saw their sprays and tails coming out of the water. Then they got closer and closer. From what they told us, they usually feed on their own. However they will sometimes come together to "bubble feed". They start rounding up the fish and blow bubbles up underneath them. This confuses the fish, so they huddle together in a big "bait ball". The whales all then come up together with mouths open and swallow all the fish. The were actually doing this right under our boat and the water around us started churning with bubbles. It was somewhat disconcerting. Then they all emerged from the water with mouths open right off the bow of our boat. It was absolutely amazing!!!! The picture of course doesn't do it justice. It was so cool though. People were just in shock that this had happened. It was an amazing trip!!!




Next we went to Skagway. We didn't do any excursions so we actually got to finally walk around town and do a little shopping. It's a cute little town with wooden sidewalks and of course totem poles. You can walk the whole thing in about 10 minutes, so we passed the rest of our time at the world-famous Red Onion Saloon. That was entertaining and we met some really neat people next to us who were actually on our ship as well.

Once we left Skagway, we made our way up the Tracy Arm fjord to see Sawyer Glacier. It was a beautiful ride through there. I have tons of pictures of the scenery - waterfalls, floating ice chunks, etc. That was one of the best reasons for having a balcony. The upstairs balconies on the ship were so packed with people you couldn't see anything, so we went to our room and had an undisturbed view of everything!! However, the one downfall of having had all that nice, warm weather was that the glacier calved quite a bit. The water was so full of ice when we got close that we couldn't actually make it all the way to the glacier. That was disappointing since that was one of the main reasons I had booked that particular cruise. It made me especially thankful that we had done the excursion to Mendenhall.

We saw lots of bald eagles along the way, but I was especially happy with this picture. Between the boat and the bird moving, it's hard to get a good shot. I was thrilled with this one though.From there the ship docked at Prince Rupert, Canada. We were only there from 5 - 10 p.m. and since it was our anniversary, we stayed on the ship and had a nice dinner. We didn't feel like battling our way off the ship with 2000 other people anyway, so it was nice and quiet onboard. Finally, we headed back to Seattle. We did one last tour in Seattle before going to the airport to fly home. We took a tour through the city by bus and then went to the Space Needle. What a great view. I really enjoyed Seattle. It's a beautiful city. I'd love to go back when I can stay longer.

It was a great trip, but it was nice to be home (especially after having just gotten back from our other trip!!!). It's amazing how much changes in just one week - the chicks grew, the tomato plants grew, the kids grew!!! Now reality sets in and it's back to the grind!! : )

Posted in: on Thursday, July 05, 2007 at at 1:56 PM 4 comments  

Last week we were at Disneyland, and we had a great time!!! The kids absolutely loved it. We rented a minivan to drive down there, so the kids were set up. They had their DVD players, toys, snacks, etc. all within arm's reach. Adam kept saying how much he loved the "new car". He'll be disappointed to have to drive around in my little car again now that we're home! Here we are having arrived at our room at the Disneyland Hotel. The sliding glass doors open up to the outside with only this teeny tiny patio to stop you from falling 12 stories down. It freaked me out. I swear our room was scarier than some of the rides at Disneyland!!!

Here is Adam and I on the Buzz Lightyear ride. How he knew how to shoot the gun and what the targets were, I have no idea, but he beat me (and Briana too)!!

We ate breakfast at Goofy's kitchen. Here we are with Pluto. We also saw a few other characters who came and signed the table and visited with the kids. They also got to get up during breakfast and dance and bang on pots and pans. They thought it was great fun!
Here are Bret and Briana on the rockets across from Adam and me. We took pictures of each other! Adam thought this was a pretty good ride!
On Tuesday Briana's friend Emma and her family came to Disneyland for the day, so we met up with them. Here are Adam, Briana, Emma, and Abby.
One of our favorite movies!!!
Wednesday we took a break and spent the day at the pool. Swimming and being out in the sun can be exhausting though, so sometimes you need a little nap!
Unfortunately the first day we arrived at Disneyland was the opening of the new Nemo ride. They converted the old submarine ride to a Nemo theme and the park was absolutely packed all week!!! Monday when it opened the wait was about 5 hours. Thursday was our last day there, so we decided we better just do it. First thing when the park opened we got in line. Unfortunately everyone else had the same idea. We waited about 2 1/2 hours, but by afternoon the line was considerably shorter! Oh well, what can you do!!?! It was pretty neat. Not worth a 2 1/2 hour wait, but I'm glad we did it.
Emma's family was staying in Palm Springs at a time share and invited us over, so Friday instead of heading home like originally planned we headed over to Palm Springs. We stayed for 2 days with them and had a very nice time. Of course, it was Palm Springs, so what can you do besides sit in your air-conditioned room or be in the pool? Nothing! Needless to say, we spend most of those 2 days at the pool which included a water slide. The kids had a ball!!! Here are Bret and both kids coming down the slide.

We had a great time. One of the greatest things was having high-speed internet all week. Boy is that the life!!! I needed it to get this post up and going (instead I've spent days here at home because it keeps disconnecting, having all circuits busy, etc.). Bret and I fly out early Saturday morning for our cruise to Alaska. I've been trying to get this last vacation posted before we take off on the next trip. Look for Alaska pictures soon!!

Posted in: on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 at at 5:31 PM 0 comments  

Bathing beauties!!

Here's Brie and her buddy Allen.

Sunday we head out for Disneyland. It will be the kids first time there, so needless to say, they are very excited. We'll post pictures when we get back!!!

Posted in: on Thursday, June 07, 2007 at at 7:35 PM 0 comments  

Months ago I thought we couldn't possibly get sick anymore this year. I guess I was wrong....the kids now both have chicken pox. I can't believe it!!! They had the immunization, but knowing our luck that didn't stop them from getting them anyway! Being as next week is the last week of school, Briana is very upset about having to be out of school for several days! Looking on the bright side though, we are leaving for Disneyland next weekend so it's better for them to have it now than next week!! Could you imagine!? Sorry kids, no Disneyland, you have to stay home sick with the chicken pox -- yeah I don't think so!!!!

In other news, I survived 5th Grade Camp!!! Almost two weeks ago now we took all 60 +/- 5th graders down to Fort Bragg. We stayed at Van Damme State Park (a beautiful place to camp if anyone's interested!!) and visited Glass Beach. It was great fun, and I even tried abalone for the first time. One of my students went abalone diving with his dad and not only fixed it up for all of the kids Thursday night, but also went out again Friday morning and sent each of us teachers home with our own!!! I cooked it up for the family Saturday and it turned out mighty good if I do say so myself!! I'd love to go back again, but this time with about 58 less kids!!

And.....you'll never believe this, but while I was gone, yes, the chicks got wiped out again! Thank goodness it wasn't on my watch this time!!!! So, we're now on our third batch! I told Bret we should take the hint and realize we shouldn't try raising chickens. I think the dogs are starting to think we replaced their normal dog food with chicks! Yikes!

Hope everyone had a nice Memorial Day weekend. We sure did with all kinds of fun parties and BBQs going on. Unfortunately we probably exposed people left and right! Whoops! ; )

Posted in: on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 at at 4:47 PM 0 comments  

We finally got organized enough to have a belated birthday party for Adam. Okay, it wasn't that organized....I was still calling people to invite them on Thursday!!! I did buy the invitations about a month ago, too bad they are still sitting here in the package unopened. Maybe we'll use them next year! : ) The kids had a picnic out on the driveway -- good thing it's paved now, that wouldn't have been too nice on dirt!

Then we had cake and ice cream. I made the cake and asked Adam if he wanted a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. "No! Locolate!" He definitely knows what he wants. (Not that he always gets it, I made a marble cake!)

Then we opened presents. He was a happy boy!!! Nothing like stretching a birthday into a birthmonth!! : )

Posted in: on Monday, May 14, 2007 at at 8:58 PM 1 comments  

Adam's birthday dinner was sadly interrupted by Kayla breaking into the garden area and getting all the chicks. : ( So, if anyone is looking for a new dog I think Bret has one to give away!!!



The next day or so we came home to find 6 new chicks back in the tank. Needless to say he's a little overprotective of these now. So he wasn't too happy when one of them got soaking wet and trampled by the other chicks. I came in to find it laying on the bottom of the box Briana had put them in to carry around ("Just in case we want to take them camping." Whatever that means.). I called Bret in and he took all the chicks out of the box, and I thought we'd be going out to bury the last little guy. Somehow Bret brought the thing back from death's door. He put it under the heater and blow dried its feathers. It's now running around with the other ones like nothing ever happened. Crazy! These chicks are turning out to be way too much work!!!

Posted in: on Wednesday, May 09, 2007 at at 6:01 PM 1 comments  

Today Adam turned 3 and he was a happy boy! "Me the birthday boy!!!" He brought M&M cookies to school today to share with his friends. They made him a crown to celebrate his special day. Then tonight we ended up having an unplanned "party". Here are a few pics of the big event!

Posted in: on Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at at 9:21 PM 1 comments  

The first event we had to get there in time for was the Mutton Bustin'. OMG....it was hilarious. I asked Briana if she'd like to do it next year, and she said no way, it's too dangerous. Later when the kids were close to us and she saw that many of them were smaller than her, she thought maybe she could do it! They were just adorable! The National Anthem was pretty cool as well. They pulled a big boot out into the arena and as the song was played a horse and rider carrying an American flag came up out of the top!

Posted in: on Monday, April 30, 2007 at at 7:05 PM 3 comments  

Last weekend was the Father Daughter Dance. It is put on at school by one of the local Girl Scout troops. Briana was so excited about it, and of course drug Bret there. I'm sure the dancing was fun, but mostly I heard about all the different desserts that were there!! We know where her priorities are!! : )

Here they are before they headed out! They also ordered a corsage and boutonniere which they picked up there. Very cute!!

Posted in: on Sunday, April 29, 2007 at at 8:57 PM 1 comments