McComb Family

Friday I quickly went from being in "end of the school year" mode to "summertime/party" mode. We got out of school at 1:15 and had a staff luncheon/end of the year party/baby shower at 1:30. My aunt and uncle were expected to arrive at my house from Portland around noon, and I told them I'd try to be home by 3:00. I got home right on time and they pulled in the driveway literally a minute or two later. Talk about good timing!!! We chatted for a few minutes and then headed off to Austin's graduation party. I can't believe our "little" nephew is out of high school. And my little guy hasn't even started school yet....we've got a long road ahead of us!! Anyways, we headed back home and went out to dinner. We had a great visit, and then the next day the real party started........MY DAD'S SURPRISE 60TH!!!! I guess my mom did a great job of organizing it and keeping it a secret, but he started figuring things out Saturday morning. Rather than whisk him off somewhere, she decided to leave him home and he got to welcome all his guests as they arrived. Many people came from all over the country, so it was a very special day. Here's a group shot of most of the party-goers with the official "Partied with the Kissingers" t-shirt.

My mom went all out....she had it catered so that she would be able to enjoy herself as well. Great idea!! There were two people preparing and serving food and one guy bartending down in the cabana. Also, Devin requested a bounce house, so of course, Devin got a bounce house. He even shared with the other kids!!

The pool was a smashing success (even though it wasn't quite up to my temperature!). It didn't even matter if you had a bathing suit or not. No......not that type of swimming, but you might notice some people are fully dressed! : )

And of course, you can't have the pool without the cabana. That was a busy spot all day long (busier for some people than others, but we won't mention any names - he he!!!).

Then we had cake (one for my dad and one for my aunt, who actually share a birthday - she might want me at this time to mention that she's the younger sister!). The pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but notice the gleam in the eyes of a certain little boy!!!!

Finally, here are just a few shots of the many people who came to help my dad celebrate his special day. It was really great day!!!! Thanks to all who helped make it so memorable!

Posted in: on Sunday, June 08, 2008 at at 4:22 PM 5 comments  

I took a few pictures of Cool after the fire. What we had originally heard was that it was near the quarry, however it was actually on the other side of 49. Supposedly it started from downed power lines, moved south towards the Fire Station, behind "Downtown" Cool, and then continued burning south towards my school. The wind really whipped it up, and it quickly went from the original 3 acre fire to about 70 acres. Obviously with the downed power line we were without electricity as well as phone (thank goodness for cell phones!!). I continued class in the dark, but there were no plans to close early. The wind started blowing embers which created spot fires and it continued moving south, so they thought it was best if we leave early as well. What I did not know the whole time was.....the fire was right behind Adam's school. They had to evacuate, so the teachers loaded the kids up in their own cars and they were all brought to my school. They never actually called me to let me know what was going on since they figured they would see me at school. I ended up running into one of his teachers in front of school after I had gotten all of my kids on the buses and she told me what was going on. One of the other moms though who had to go pick up her child said it was like a war zone. There were people and equipment everywhere. She said it was so smoky she could hardly see in front of her, and days later her car still smells like smoke. Yikes....kind of glad I didn't know what was going on! : ) Here is a picture from my school. This is off in the distance, but it was definitely moving our way!





I guess if a fire is going to come up to any building, the one you want there is the fire department. Lucky for us!!





Here is Adam's school and the hills behind it.


All those people who came to ride, hike, and bike for Memorial Day weekend aren't seeing the most scenic view, but that's what happens sometimes when you live up here. A good reminder for all of us to keep that defensible area around our homes.

Posted in: on Monday, May 26, 2008 at at 2:33 PM 1 comments  

We have a wildfire in Cool burning right now. That's the big worry of living in this area. You hope it never happens to you, but it's always in the back of your mind. It was right behind Adam's school. Here is a link to a video of the fire. One of the buildings you see in the video is Adam's school.

http://www.kcra.com/video/16366768/

We lost power at my school and then ended up having school closed. Parents started showing up to collect their kids and buses showed up to take everybody else home about regular dismissal time. It was a busy, crazy day!!!

I've heard that it has spread quite a bit further and jumped that dirt road than when that video was filmed. I'll be interested to see what town looks like tomorrow. I'll keep you posted if I hear anything else!

Posted in: on Thursday, May 22, 2008 at at 5:16 PM 0 comments  

My cousin Mary graduated from UOP this weekend with a degree in Civil Engineering. Oh boy, now we've got another engineer in the family -- he he!! We missed the ceremony because we were at Briana's softball game, but here are a few pictures thanks to Michele. We did make it down for dinner at Macaroni Grill with everybody. When we heard it had been about 150 degrees out and all 10,000 people were trying to crowd under one tree, we were a little relieved we had missed the ceremony. : )
Congrats to you Mary. We know you'll make a fantastic engineer!!!

Posted in: on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 at at 7:09 PM 0 comments  

The Cool Cats season has come to a close. We played our last game last night against the other two teams in our league. It was an interesting game -- we played outfield one inning, sat on the bench the next, and batted in the last inning. We also did coach pitches so that the game moved along a little quicker, and the girls thought that was fabulous because they all got to hit. We ended with pizza and trophies and called it a season. Now on to the next thing....

Posted in: on at at 6:45 PM 0 comments  

The other night we had Jordan and Kelton over, and it was about 100 degrees, so they all decided they needed to go swimming. Since I was home by myself with 3 non-swimmers and 1 okay swimmer, I nixed the pool idea and got out the slip and slide. Briana, Jordan, and Adam started have a great ol' time. Kelton promptly took his swim suit off, tossed it on the grass, and stood in the little pool of water at the bottom of the slip and slide.
Then they got bored with that and filled up the dogs' water bowl and decided to use that for a mini pool.

Here's the 2 little ones hanging out "poolside".

Then Briana and Jordan got the idea to put the masks on and see how it looked under water. First they checked out the dogs' bowl and then graduated to the pond.
Here's Jordan right before he plunged into the pond. I tried to tell him he was leaning out a little bit too far, but....!!! Good thing I was right there to pluck him out. I'm sure the fish got quite a surprise!


And finally here's a short video of the nudie boy. They were all definitely having a good time!!

Posted in: on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at at 8:20 PM 1 comments  

Adam had his first "friends" birthday party, and we had it down at Chuck E. Cheese's. They had a great time!! And it was great for us, because the kids could run around and have fun and we didn't have to worry about them. Keeping 3, 4, and 5 year olds entertained and busy for two hours is quite a feat! : ) They all got tokens when we got there and started off by playing the games. Then they ate, met Chuck E. Cheese, and played some more. Finally, they had cake and opened presents. Both our kids fell asleep in the car on the way home, so that's usually a pretty good indication that they had a good time!!! : )

Posted in: on Sunday, May 04, 2008 at at 3:08 PM 3 comments  

Last night was the annual Father Daughter Dance. Briana and Bret went on a double date with her friend Taylor and her dad Nate. Taylor's mom and brother and sister came to our house, and we had a girls' night in!! They went to dinner together and then off to the dance, where I hear they had a great time. There were tons of people there, and they got to hang out with lots of their friends.

Posted in: on at at 9:08 AM 2 comments  

The family came over last night to celebrate Adam's birthday. He had a great time and made out like a bandit!! He requested chocolate/strawberry cake, so that's what he got! My mom picked up the cakes, and they were adorable (and yummy!). Here are some pics from the big event!!!

And it wouldn't be a true McComb/Kissinger party without some kind of drama. My mom ended up getting a kidney stone on the way to our house. She was not a happy camper. I'd like to say she was just being a baby, but having had one myself before, I know she was in a LOT of pain. Her and my dad finally left for the ER about 11:00, and it turns out her stone is enormous. I guess she was justified!!! : ) They'll figure out how to get it out after more tests tomorrow. Luckily Adam was oblivious to the whole thing -- he just had eyes for all those fun,new gifts!!

Posted in: on Friday, May 02, 2008 at at 8:46 PM 1 comments