Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

Join us for a quest for a Christmas tree!

Painting

Here's the a couple of die-hard painters who just love undertaking spur of the moment tasks.

Shredding good time

Check out this great video, please press on the thumbs up!

Read Your Rights

Halloween is quickly approaching and the Clark's have done things a little differently this year. Instead of Mer spending countless hours sewing and perfectly assembling a rich collection of costumes, we went out and purchased some over the internet. Here is Officer Clark talking about his favorite aspects of the job:

The Penguins of Sea World

Zhu Zhu Pets

For those of you who didn't see this on facebook:

'Ready to Forgive'

A little video for your viewing pleasure. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

California

Here are some more shots of lovely California:

This is Monterey Bay. So beautiful. We ate at a Mexican food restaurant here tonight. Had a very entertaining waiter that reminded me of how the Mexican people are willing to 'encourage' you to eat and drink far past your original intentions.

The Bay is wonderful, took this one while lagging behind the group with the younger kids.

This is one of the managers at the restaurant. She is a couple of days away from having her baby. This is the margarita machine that she's mixing up. It takes 12 bottles of Tequila, 3 bottles of Triple Sec and then a box of sweet and sour mix. She says they go through 1 or 2 of these on a Friday night!

The big surf crashing into waves as we traveled along the Big Sur.

Please don't worry I am in no immediate danger as this picture was being taken. This is an example of the terrain that we were dealing with as we traveled along the Big Sur though.

The kids did not remain as alert as I was along this crazy drive!!! That Gravol really helps keep a peaceful drive though.

The California Coast

We continue our journey up the California Coast these past few days. It has turned out to be quite the adventure. Today we drove 'The Big Sur' a death defying drive beside crashing waves and incredible cliffs. While driving over one of the bridges the van was actually splashed by a wave!!!

We took it easy though and successfully made it to our destination for tonight: Salinas. It is close to the aquarium that we're taking the kids to tomorrow. The Monterey Bay aquarium is world renown for its spectacular aquariums and open ocean viewing room. But here are some pictures to 'tide' you over:

Here's Hugh on Avila Beach. We had a wonderful time on the beach here the waves were huge for us, but not that big for California. The kids were amazed by the undertow on the waves that came in.

This picture is taken in Solvang CA, sounds like a place that Dracula goes for vacation, but it actually was a beautiful little town with Danish roots. The town was known for its wonderful bakeries and wine tasting. I think the people were a little annoyed with how touristy the town had become as there were some seemingly grumpy people.

Here are some more of the waves at Avila Beach. Owen, Gemma, Joseph and Lucia were the only ones brave enough to take to the surf.

Like father, like son eh?

Is that Andrew or is that David Haslehoff? I'm not sure, we'd have to take off his shirt and see if he has a hairy chest!



Okay, maybe David Hasselhoff looks a little diferent.

Alright, this kissing thing is just getting carried away!

What to post, what to post???

On Sept 28 we decided to take a break from the regular scene of sight seeing and hotel pool fun and went out to the 'ol ball game' to see the San Diego Padres take on the Chicago Cubs. It was so much fun and like most things, I had to practically drag the kids to the ball field. The satisfying fact was that I had to literally drag them from the game home they had so much fun. We all practised 'Take me out to the ball game' before the show so that we would be ready for the show. But, we have to run, so thanks for the updates from home and enjoy the pictures. Love Shaun

Happy Hour

The hotel that we stayed at in Anaheim for Disneyland had Happy Hour three nights of the week. During that time the hotel would serve free beer, wine, and snacks like meatball sandwiches, hot dogs and chili. It was great and we really enjoyed having a free meal or two thrown in the mix. The lady that was serving the alcohol was about 70 and was the sweetest lady in the world. She would always complement us on our kids and have questions about how our day was at Disneyland. She kind of reminded me of Betty White. So here we are in the 'Sun Downer' area. By the way, the glow on my face is from the warm emotions found because of her company, not the free beer.

Tower of Terror

The Tower of Terror was my favorite scary ride in Disneyland. Very scary, but very well done. No amount of attention to detail was spared. It is an elevator that takes you to the top of the "Hollywood Hotel" and then drops you several stories in a hurry. You come right off of your seat as you plummet to the ground. Here is a video I found that shows you what your eyes see as you experience the ride. It doesn't really give justice to the feeling of you stomach in your shoes though. Enjoy!!

Juan Berto's

Okay, here is the video from the restaurant tonight. It was sooooo good. Totally authentic and delicious Mexican Food. A real bargain too. You'll have to check out the fun we're having below:



So anyway, we're heading to Sea World tomorrow to check out some wild sea creatures and other things. Hopefully we'll be able to pet some Dolphins and get splashed by Shamu! Although I think the kids are really starting to miss school...not! It is going to be soooooo weird to come back to Powell River and be in October. Not to boast, but it is so much like summer here. The temperature is so nice and the beaches and pools are completely ruining out ability to adjust ourselves to the Sunshine Coast Autumn. But I guess there are worse things to deal with!

We really miss all of you who are reading this blog though. It will be nice to see all of you again. One last item that I wanted to share with you is the wonderful sunset that we enjoyed from our hotel room here in San Diego. This is through the Palm Trees right outside of our window:



Okay take care all. Thanks for visiting the blog and please leave a comment if you have time we sure miss hearing from you all. And we always read every comment several times. God Bless!!

Sept 27 - San Diego

Hello all you faithful Clark Family Blog readers! Thank you for your loyalty in keeping current with the blog. Our time with Mickey Mouse has come to a close. We have enjoyed a great deal of fun and excitement at Disneyland and have concluded our stay in Anaheim. The latest destination, San Diego. We finally met up with our friend the Pacific Ocean. Here is an inspiring video of our re-acquaintance:




We went to mass again this morning at St. Justin Martyr parish in Anaheim. It was a nice service, but some definite abnormalities. I just get a weird feeling when the priest begins changing the liturgy and adding and taking away from the wording of the mass. When we were leaving though I saw one of their magazines on the back counter of the church it was 41 degrees Celcius outside. It was difficult to walk and think at the same time. Luckily the church was air conditioned, so we hustled to the shelter of the van and turned on the A/C when it was over. Had to get gas before town and so I took this little video:



So now here we are in San Diego. Our Holiday Inn hotel is just great. We had a nice swim in the pool. It's an outdoor pool and its a cool 30 degrees here. So much nicer to not be so hot! The hotel was actually hosting a Retrouvaille convention at the hotel. We met some of the people that were just leaving. I met a guy named Acadio that couldn't stop raving about how wonderful the weekend was. He truly inspired me to look into a similar conference in BC when we get home.

So after a nice swim in the pool and a cold beer we plugged in Mexican food into the GPS and headed off to Juan Berto's Mexican Restaurant. It was a small restaurant just ten minutes from the hotel. I have a little footage from the restaurant, but I'll have to post it below as apparently this post is out of room.

Malificent

The only update I have time for tonight is a failed attempt at getting a little affection from a well known Disney villain. At first I thought she was into it, but as I leaned in I felt her icy cool stare. She made me feel weird inside, and I have to admit I chickened out from laying one on her. But hey, maybe tomorrow!!!

Miniature Wunderland

Here is a really interesting tourist attraction in Germany. Talk about attention to detail. Pass this along to anyone you know travelling there. A must see:

I just can't get enough of this guy, he is awesome. What a talent and talk about a cool idea. A real youtube star!!

Sept 20 - Disneyland!!!

We have reached out primary destination and have completed a successful day at Disneyland. What a place, and wow, what a lot of people. This shouldn't have been a surprise to me had we not expected fewer as it is September and a weekday. I was told later by many that this was in fact slow and that there are much greater crowds in July and August.

Here are some pictures and a few videos. We are exhausted man!

Here's Lucy on our first ride: It's a small world.

Here is the crew following our first roller coaster, even Andrew went on it - pretty scary. We also met Minnie Mouse right around here.

Here we are at Cinderella's Castle. Very pretty.

Here's Andrew giving Mr. Toad a snack.

Owen is trying to get into Alice in Wonderland's door.

Here are the kids enjoying our pool at the Barstow Hotel.

This pic was taken at Calico, just outside Barstow, it is a ghost town. Used to be a silver mine there. 1200 people and 22 saloons.

Gemma enjoying the cool of the pool.

Calico, the ghost town.

I couldn't resist posting this one. So weird. Don't really know what this was even about, but there was a guy/zombie in a case and you could plunk a quarter into the machine to "watch him suffer." SO BIZARRE!! I watched some people put a quarter in, but he didn't do anything. So strange man.

A pretty desert flower just outside our hotel in Barstow.

This is the view from our hotel, so dry and barren! Saw some sort of animal, looked like a large cat running from bush to bush yesterday afternoon.

We finished up in the Desert today and headed west to Anaheim. It was just so beautiful and so hot in Barstow. We went to the 11:30 mass there. It was a teaching mass, so before each section, like the opening prayer a man from a side microphone announced what was going to happen and he explained why this was done. It was very interesting and I had never seen this done before. So much better than saying to a new Catholic, "you know the part in the mass..." "this is what that means." This way the people learn about it in the moment.

So after Mass we hit the trail and said goodbye to the 38 degree heat. We gave our car's air conditioners a little break too! Arrived in Anaheim at 3 pm after the GPS led me on a scenic tour of the city. Meridith calls this me getting lost, but I call it the scenic route. We brought all of our things up into the rooms and got settled. John and I hopped on the pedal bikes and headed to the Disneyland front gates. A leisurely 10 minute ride. Our plan is to drive there in the morning, drop everyone off, then drive back to the hotel, park and ride our bikes there to save on parking. $15/day/vehicle - you do the math on 5 days and 2 cars.

We're continuing to have a great time, no one is showing any signs of fatigue so far. We'll have to wait and see how things are after Disneyland as it is the highlight of the trip. The Webbs continue to help us out greatly in keeping the kids fed, supervised, entertained and spoiled! Thank you sooooooo much!!

The other thing you will notice is the kids bravery in the pool. This is all thanks to Nana and Grampa Clark's persistence with taking the kids to swimming lessons. After a full day of the desert heat the kids were just dying to get in the pool. Owen went running in with no life jacket or toy and jumped feet first into the 5 foot section of the pool... Owen has not mastered swimming. I think he temporarily forgot that fact and began frantically dog paddling to the edge of the pool!! I was there to pull him out though, but he did swim a good 4 feet on his own. You will see that I got some pretty good shots of them having fun round our amazing pool amidst the Palm Trees and desert heat!

Anyways I will let you go, hopefully I will have the energy after tomorrow to let you know how our first day went. So stay tuned!

Lots of love,

Shaun

One Man Band

Mojave Desert

We made it the Mojave Desert on Friday and are staying at a town called Barstow. It is hot, supposed to get to 39 degrees today. Its just beautiful here so many different looking plants and all of the Joshua Trees. On the drive in we saw many windmills all lined up along the hills of the valley. The pool here is really nice with Palm Trees lining it. There is a sheltered spot with a BBQ, so we're going to get some steaks and have a pool side BBQ. The kids are having a blast. Going in the pool at night has been their salvation. The driving has been quite manageable; thank God for A/C.

Hope all is going well at home today, we sure miss everyone. Too bad we can't see you Ali, hope the coffee sampling goes well. Mom and Dad we miss you!!!! Can't wait to tell you more about our trip and to see what you guys have been up to. Dean and Rachelle hope you guys are doing well looking forward to seeing you soon. Miss you too Nana and Papa. Oh ya, we miss you too Rob. Everyone else, thanks for reading the blog, hope to see and talk to everyone of you soon! God bless from the South USA!!

Sacramento Adventures

Here is the beautiful Sacramento Capital Building. We were frisked as we entered. Inside there were some lovely sculptures and ever county in the state has its own little "shrine" for lack of a better word.

The outside of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Surprisingly the bathrooms and all sections of the Cathedral were open to the public. Must be a good section of the town. Andrew peed on the floor which made for an interesting event.

Lucy really liked the Palm trees. This was the first one that she saw. She went running over to saying, "My Palm tree!"

The Golden Bridge

Joey and Gemma mid exchange at the Rattlesnake rest stop.

The public transit system in Downtown Sacramento. They are all trains that run back and forth on the tracks.

Sacramento

Here is the rattlesnake warning sign at one of the rest stops that we were at just an hour or two out of Sacramento.

This is the historic part of Sacramento. The other side of the building had a sign that was painted on to the side of the building that read, "Free Crab, Tomorrow!"

Here is waiting outside Governor Schwarzenegger's office. The guard was very friendly. The bronze bear was not.

Tis the morning of Sept 17 and we are getting set to leave the beautiful city of Sacramento for Barstow California. Our hotel, as we have been told, is situated in the most beautiful section of the city. A couple blocks to the river lies Old Sacramento, where the historic section of the town is located. A couple of blocks the other way lies the city's cathedral and the capital building, where Governor Schwarzenegger performs his state saving work. We got this picture, although the video equipment was all setup, it was unconfirmed if Arnie was going to make an appearance that day.

We have to go now, so I will post a few quick pictures and try to explain.




Here is a picture from inside the Cathedral that we went to. It's name, you guessed it: The Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. When we visited the Blessed Sacrament was exposed too.

Here are a happy pair, Auntie and Nephew!

Andrew having soooo much fun.

Arriving at Sacramento

Well here we are at Sacramento, had a really good day of driving. Sacramento is sunny, clear and 30 degrees Celsius. I'm a little tired right now, so here's a little video:

Yreka II

Here's a little video from Yreka just before we left this morning. Had a great trip down to Sacramento, more to follow in a bit.

Yreka

Yep, Yreka. We think its pronounced similar to Eureka, but we're still not sure yet. Just about to head out for a day of travel. Going to Sacramento today and will spend 2 nights there. It will be a welcome break from all of this driving as it has been a little tough on the kids. They have faired very well so far though. Really no major incidents to report so far, just some minor things that the kids have said and did. The walkie talkies are working out really well Dad. We bought some pay and talk cell phones at Wal-Mart, they were $30 and they come with 300 minutes! Crazy how cheap some things are here.

We also stopped and got a little booze. An 18 pack of Bud, bottle of wine, 500ml bottle of Bud with lime, and a 2L of pop, the total, $23. It's amazing there aren't more alcoholics here. The guy at the beer store was quite amusing and reminded me a little of Mater off of the Disney movie Cars. Referring to us drinking all of the beer he said, "Now don't do anything that I wouldn't do, but if you do, take pictures and brag about it."

Anyway we have to run, I'll write more in Sacramento.

Bob's Burgers and Brew

Here's a little shot from the restaurant we went to in Tulalip. Lots of fun, had some great burgers and a little brew.



It was a busy, but successful day today. We took full advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel. Then we got our swim suits on and played around in the pool for several hours till we had to leave. We then drove across the boarder and down to the restaurant. We stopped at a big Wal-Mart Super-centre and got some essentials like this 750 Ml can of Fosters. Good day mate!



We are getting up early and driving 7 hours to Yreka, California tomorrow, should be quite an undertaking. Hopefully not too stressful on the kids, but a few well positioned rest stops will hopefully make the difference.

Hugh has been doing really well on the freeway. He has fussed very little and everyone seems to be in good spirits. The pee-bottle has only had to be used once this entire trip! LOL. God willing, we will make it through our trip tomorrow safe and sound. So have a great day and we'll update again tomorrow night!

Shaun

PS Found out that the male voice of the GPS has turned out to be a disaster. He definitely lacks some intellect. When the destination is straight ahead he will instruct us to turn "reft". I believe this is his way of telling us to turn right and left at the same time. If you think about it the two instructions should cancel each other out, so really, what am I complaining about? For now I will stick with "Samantha" she is definitely a little more head-strong.

Sept 12 Vancouver

Well, all finished with the travelling for today. Fairly uneventful, Blaise found $1.25 of change on the ferry, Owen thought the wrapped toilet paper was a present for the first person who used the bathroom, and I made some SWEET videos. The trip was fairly rainy all day, it will be nice to dry out in the heat.

I am writing this as Mer tells a story to Andrew as he is far too excited to go to bed in this hotel room. Something about a grasshopper who sings opera.

Tomorrow we have a few errands to run in Vancouver then we head south of the boarder to Chehalis Washington. We've have a few coupons for Bob's Burgers and Brew, http://www.bobsburgersandbrew.com/ so we will stop there on the way south.

Anyways, its been a tiring day and I think the tales of the grasshopper are concluding. So until tomorrow, have a great Monday and God Bless!!!

Hugh Driving??

So we decided that the kids were accumulating too much knowledge too quickly in school, so it was determined that we need a little trip to keep things fresh. Just as the trip go under way I fell asleep at the wheel. Luckily Hugh jumped in to my rescue and took over for me. See below for more coverage of exactly what happened:

The Ironing Board

Andrew's First Day

Andrew had his first day of pre-school today. He joined Lucia (now a third year senior) in the pre-school ranks. The kids had a difficult time falling asleep last night as they were all very excited. A more accurate reason was that Andrew was so excited and was keeping them all awake.

Andrew has been going with Mom or whoever to pickup Lucia from pre-school all throughout the past two years. He has dreamed of this day when he could walk through the doors and play with any of the toys that he desired. He was quite content this morning to leave Mom and Dad and go off with the kids to the fun of school.

I decided to let him ride the bus as Auntie Yvonne came to help out. So Andrew boarded the bus with the others as I took pictures and then met them at the school where we all walked to class together.

He went straight in and was as comfortable as ever as Danielle showed him toys and painting supplies and all of the other fun equipment that he needs for his education.
He is sitting beside me now as the school day has ended. He is content and looking forward to tomorrow!





His ears are a little sensitive; he didn't like the bus' big engine!