The Devil's Plant...and DISNEYLAND!!!

The Devil's Plant (Jabba the Hutt)

Well, I told you the other day that we were headed to Disneyland but before I get into that you have to hear about the most awful plant in the world!!!  The Cactus!  Brian's Grandma asked that if while we were here we would take care of this little problem she had...little did we know that the problem was not so little it was actually a huge problem!!  So we went to Downey last week with work on our minds and got busy!  This cactus has been growing for forever (or at least it seems forever) and it was huge!  When we first started Brian took his machete and started chopping, the scary thing about this cactus is that if it had been cut off at one time, it started growing in a new direction, I tell you the Devil's plant.  So we were chopping away and we start seeing spiders everywhere, and these weren't just little spiders, these were black widows...BIG black widows! Eek, I hate spiders! I eventually had to get over the spider fear and kept chopping! Another problem was that Brian's Grandma had planted a blackberry bush, and if you have never dealt with a blackberry bush consider yourself blessed.  They grow like vines, and they are covered in little thorns!!  So we not only had to worry about the cactus, we had to deal with the blackberries also...HORRIBLE! We really had a hard time after we chopped most of the new growing cactus because after it had been chopped once it died it petrified and was just like trying to cut through wood.  So Brian had to put up the machete for now and we had to saw through it and this was awful because the cactus was growing through each other weaving in and out....huge mess!!  Well, (I am tired just telling you about it) after we cleared out most of the plant Brian, Doug and I were just pulling and cutting and pulling and cutting then all of the sudden this little white face pops out!! There was a baby possum that had been living underneath the cactus!  

So gross!!! While we were trying to get rid of all of the cactus the possum kept going deeper and deeper into the cactus and as Brian was trying to get it out it started hissing at him...I hate possums!  We finally got him out and he went to a new home inside all of Grandma's other plants!  Ugh!!!  So we finally were able to get the rest of the cactus down, and only shared a little with the neighbors over the fence...on accident!!  When all was said and done we had a huge pile of cactus back in the back and a huge pile of cactus and brush in front of the maverick, many cuts and scrapes, a new pet, and a huge feeling of accomplishment!! Every time I see a cactus now I will have to run the other direction, really fast!!  

Brian and Doug with one of the smaller limbs they pulled off!!

I pulled a root!!! Woohoo!

Here is the after picture!  Notice the full trash cans and the huge pile of horribleness!! (The corner is where the cactus used to be)

 This is the one pile in front of the Maverick (we had already filled up both dumpsters)

This summer the Cole's found Disneyland tickets for 3 days and I was 3 times as excited! I love Disneyland!!  So Tuesday was our first trip and we thought we had planned it to where it might not be as crowded, boy were we wrong!!!  By lunch time the park had reached maximum capacity and we could tell!  It was shoulder to shoulder people and every ride had an hour wait at least!!  But no matter how crowded and how hot it may be Disneyland is always great!! Brian, Doug, Amanda, Katie and I went up early that morning and Jenn and Julie met us for lunch. We thought that after lunch it might settle down, but I was wrong, again!!  But we did some pretty good people watching while we were in line and hopefully our next day will not be so busy!!

Talk to ya soon! Brooke

Quick Hello

Good morning!!! I just wanted to say hello and give you a little taste of what is to come!! We are headed to DISNEYLAND today and I am so excited!!! So I will let you know about that tomorrow! I will also post about our adventure at Bob's house (Brian's Grandma), here is a picture for ya!  Just imagine that horrible thing and all the horrible creatures that live under it and I will tell ya more tomorrow!!! It was bad!!! Talk to ya soon!! Love, Brooke

WE'RE BACK!!!

Well hello blogging world!! We have missed you!!!  There is so much you have missed so I will try to catch you up in a cliff's notes version!!!   Right now we are in Temecula visiting Brian's family and we are having so much fun!!  We brought sweet Riley with us this summer and it has been nothing short of an adventure!!  But to start back since we have last visited we need to go way back................

Lets start with April/May time!!  I was ending the school year, finishing track season and just getting everything ready to leave for the summer!  I had a little taste of success at the City Track Meet this year, my 8th graders placed 3rd in the 800m Relay, and one of my 7th graders placed 3rd in the 400m Dash!! I was so proud of them, they worked hard....well sort of, maybe we were just fast!!  But as the school year came to an end I was a little sad to see my 8th graders go, and really I was sad to see most of the 8th grade class go!  They were so much fun!!! During these months Brian was finishing up his semester of methods and not without a ton of stress to end the year!  He actually made it through with more sanity than I can remember finishing with!!  So now he is waiting to take one more summer class and then student teaching!!!  

So now we can head into June which has been super busy already!!  The week after school ended I worked the Monterey Basketball Camp for a couple of days and then we loaded up the car and headed out to sunny California....which turns out to be not so sunny...yet!!!  On Tuesday night (or morning if you want to be technical) we got the car ready, got the dog ready and we left Lubbock around 1:00 am!  We decided that it would be better to get the night part of the driving out of the way first so that when we were most tired it would at least be daytime!!  So we left Lubbock, Brian..Brooke..Riley..little Mazda..18 hours non-stop. Riley was a little anxious at first!!  I guess if I was a 60 pound dog shoved in the back of a car in the middle of the night I might be a little nervous too!!!  But really and truly as soon as he realized that we weren't stopping he settled down and just relaxed the whole way!!  The only thing we were worried about was that he would not go potty!  We would stop every once and a while and let him out and nothing!  So finally we were either in New Mexico or Arizona, who knows, he started whining and pacing in the back seat so we knew we had to stop so I pulled of (yes I was driving) and we just let him out, no leash no nothing, and the poor guy ran to some grass and let loose, and we probably stood there waiting for at least 2 minutes...I felt so sad for the poor baby!!  Since we have been here we have been pretty lazy! Riley met Denver (The Cole's dog) and they seem to be better friends now, we have decided that Riley kind of annoys her (he is two and she is 12ish). He also met Phyllis (The Cole's chicken...no joke)  but they are not allowed to hang out together...Riley thinks she is a running, squawking toy (not so good for Phyllis)!! Riley was accidentally let out in the backyard with Phyllis one day and when Katie looked outside Riley had Phyllis in his mouth, luckily she looked out when she did because he might have had Phyllis for dinner!!  As far as the cats go, I don't think they have officially met, but I don't think that is part of the plan!! Poor Riley, he just wants to be everybody's friend!!  

Since we have been here it has been pretty gloomy.  Everyone keeps saying "oh ya, June gloom" but I am saying sad day for cold weather!!  I have had to wear jeans and a jacket at night so no beach for us, at least not yet!!  Oh, but it was so cute the first day we drove in it had been thundering and lightening all morning and Julie (Brian's mom) was telling us the cutest stories from her kids that morning.  They don't really have thunderstorms here so it was quite exciting...and scary for her kids, most of them cried all day, and some would not even go to the bathroom!! So cute!!!

Well, I guess that is all I will bore you with for now, I will try to keep you updated as our trip goes on! So glad to be back with you in blogger world!!!