Sunday's Shenanigan's

1- I LOVE that you have been so awesome getting ready for our move

2- I LOVE that you have bonded with people at Papa Bears shop

3- I LOVE that we got to take you places in San Francisco before the move

4- I LOVE watching you play

5- I LOVE that you so easy going.

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S- Mama Bear LOVE'S You!!!

Five for Friday

1- I LOVE that you are just as excited about our new home as I am

2- I LOVE that you have helped so much with our PCS move

3- I LOVE that your work threw you a great going away party

4- I LOVE that you took Harley and Baby Bear on the big move to SD and hauled the trailer.

5- I LOVE that you are such a great daddy to our Baby Bear

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S.- I LOVE you!

Sunday's Shenanigan's

1- I LOVE watching you learn new things

2- I LOVE spending time with you

3- I LOVE Your smile!!

4- I LOVE how much hair you have

5- I LOVE knowing that you are in my life and will always be my Baby Bear!!

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S- Mama Bear LOVE'S You!!!

Five for Friday

1- I LOVE that you have so much fun on your deployments and make the most of where you are

2- I LOVE that we have both fallen in love with the same home for when we move

3- I LOVE that you made the entire long drive to SD so I could stay in the back with Baby Bear the whole time.

4- I LOVE that you took me to my DZ Akins for my favorite meal

5- I LOVE that you drove the whole trip back so I could once again take care of Baby Bear

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S.- I LOVE you!

Sunday's Shenanigan's

1- I LOVE How you are such a show off for the camera

2- I LOVE that you are cool with hanging out at work with Papa Bear

3- I LOVE when you snuggle with your Mama Bear

4- I LOVE that you are so adventourous

5- I LOVE holding you!

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S- Mama Bear LOVE'S You!!!

Update #4

Well we are currently in San Diego hunting for a new place to live. Our trip down was good. It took a lot longer than Papa Bear had thought that it would....but we finally made it just in time before Baby Bear had a little melt down. lol And we barely missed the dreaded Carmageddon. We did hit some heavy heavy traffic, and we even heard that they had shut down the 405 early.....but we made it through. Why hasn't anyone invented the flying car yet?!!! lol




So our first day here Papa Bear decided to go play with the boys at the gun show. But he left poor baby bear behind. I thought that was pretty shady!!! I mean all the boys went to the gun show....how come baby bear didn't get to go? lol



Our second day we saw two places that were just not us. I was feeling pretty down about the whole thing, and feeling more and more stressed about our move. Last time when we had our 10 days of house hunting and went to San fran to search for our home.....we could only find one that was even worth renting and even though it turned out to be an awesome home....I've been scared that this would be a repeat.


Our third day of house hunting we found a place that sounded to good to be true. It was a house in fallbrook for only $1600 a month. And it included utilities. So I gave the number a call, and the person was located in Iowa. He said he would see if the person living in the guest house would be available to show us the property. Unfortunately he wasn't calling me back within the hour it took us to get to the house. He had given us the address so we opted for a drive by of the property. When we got to the house the person living in the guest house came out to greet us and show us around. The house was in pretty bad shape, but they are replacing the carpet and painting the house. The house is amazing. The house is 1,650 s.f. and is huge. It's about 700 more s.f. than we have now. so it really did seem to good to be true. There is a very large living room, with a separate dining area. A large kitchen that is very outdated, but somewhat workable. Large widows throughout the house, and 2 very large bedrooms. The master Suite is amazing. It has 4 extremely large closets, and a vanity. A separate 2 car garage is off of the master with a washer and dryer inside....and tons of storage!! Papa bear and I fell in love with the place, but it just seemed to good to be true. After we saw the place we headed over to our old landlords place where we looked at another property to rent. Her place was good, but it wasn't great. It would work for us if we needed to rent it, but it wasn't very big and I wouldn't be able to have anywhere to put my crafts. Next we saw another property just a few blocks away and neither Papa Bear nor I cared for it. After that we had to go feed baby bear or he was going to have a melt down. We talked to the landlord for the first place and started to talk about renting it as we both wanted it.

We convinced the landlord that we were the best tenants for his property and proceeded to get references for him, and fill out the paper work he wanted. Within 24 hours we had rented the property and were packing up to head on back to Walnut Creek to prepare for the move. Our drive back wasn't to bad, but it took forever. We didn't get back home until about 2 a.m.!!!

Well that is all for now.
XoXo-Andrea Carla

Update #3

So getting back to the story about the KitKats……..The guy at the shop is in the Navy and is the Doc at the shop and so everyone calls him Doc. I didn’t even know his real name until recently. Lol I have always heard him referred to as Doc. Lol So at the BBQ I found out that he brought me back KitKats from Japan. And these aren’t just any good KitKat……these are bad bad KitKat’s! Here are the flavors: Wasabi, bitter strawberry, green tea, and mochi………..Yah I know you all just cringed as you heard those names. I mean why would anyone in the right state of mind take the goodness of a KitKat and make it fowl with those flavors!!! So everyone was trying to get me to eat them, and I wouldn’t do it. I don’t know if I will ever be able to do it. I mean it’s wrong. Papa Bear did eat one of the Wasabi ones and said it wasn’t bad at all. I had a small amount, and it was great white chocolate but then the foulness of the wasabi hits and Nasty Nasty Nasty!!!! I am afraid of the others!!! Ha ha ha So thank you Doc. I am sure in your twisted and wrong mind you think they are great, but you shouldn’t have…..no really. Lol I know what’s wrong……it’s because he is in the Navy! Lol J/K
So our moving date is approaching fast. Soon we will be heading to the San Diego area to look for a place to live and then the chaos of moving will begin. We have contacted our old Land Lords from the Fallbrook area, and are hoping we can rent from them again as we like and trust them. But who knows where we will end up. I am sad that we will be leaving our friends and family in the Walnut Creek area, but I love that we get to see our friends and family again in San Diego. ;0)
So earlier this year my Grandma passed and left her grandkids an inheritance. I don’t want to waste the money, and I really don’t want to spend the money. Lol But if and when I do….I want it to be on a purchase that I will always be able to remember her by, and that will be fun and amazing for me and my family. I don’t want to waste it on something that I will never see, or on something that won’t benefit us. So I have narrowed it down to 4 things I think. The first thing is the Viking Ruby. I really want the Viking Diamond, but that one is normally $10,000 and that just seems a little much for an embroidery machine. The second item is a Harley Davidson so I can go riding with Papa Bear. The third item is a camper we can pull behind our truck or Yukon. And the fourth is a Tiffany diamond ring.
Now the reason I have thought of eliminating the Viking….is because I am unsure of how much I will be able to use it. I am not sure of the Ruby’s capabilities, and so I am not sure if I will like it as much as I am in love with the Diamond. And is that something that I want to always have to remember my grandma by? The reason for eliminating the Harley is that how often will I be able to ride it? I mean to be able to ride with Papa Bear we would have to drive Baby Bear to our friends house about an hour away then drive back and go for a ride for maybe an hour, then drive back to pick up Baby Bear then drive back home. It seems like an awful lot of driving just to spend an hour or so on a cruise. And how realistic is it to think that we will be able to find the time to do all that driving and then ride and then do m ore driving. Now I think the bike would maybe be something fun to remember grandma by, but again is it realistic? And so that brings us to the camper. I want to have fun family time. I really want Baby Bear to grow up with campouts like I did growing up. I want him to have experiences of exploring the woods, and making mud pies. Lol I want him to make smore’s around a camp fire, and tell ghost stories. Now the downside to this is…..will I be able to find the camper I want for the price I want? Will Papa Bear ever actually take us to places with the camper? Will he take the time to camp out with us? And is that something to remember grandma by? And lastly number 4…..I have thought of buying a Tiffany diamond ring. This is something I could give to Baby Bear when he proposes to his wife, or to my first grandson. It could be something I could pass on from generation to generation with my family. It would be something amazing to have, to wear, and to be able to pass on. The only problem is………It will not bring joy right away to my family. Of course someday it might to some girl who gets it……but that is a ways off. It will not bring them closer, it will not give us family time or togetherness. So I am not to sure what to do. Hmmmmmm Any insight is welcome. ;0)
I have really been having a lot of fun with cutting vinyl lately and making some craft projects. I don’t know how great they look, but it has been pretty fun. And even though I don’t get a lot of time to do these things……it is sure fun when I do.
Well I am not sure what else to tell you. Not to much is going on. I will try to keep you better updated from now on. Life has been very busy lately so that is why there has been a lack of updates.

XoXo-Mama Bear

Update #2

I only had a few days alone before Papa Bear came back from Staff Academy. I wanted so badly to be able to go to his graduation…..but alas I have to admit I wasn’t sure if Baby Bear could handle another long car ride so soon. But we were lucky as one of our friends was able to make it to Chuck’s graduation in San Diego, and took him to Downtown Disney afterwards for lunch. ;0) Yah I admit I was insanely jealous!! Lol Papa Bear got Baby Bear a shirt in Downtown Disney that has Mater from Cars on the front that says “Who Backfired?” lol Yah….leave it to Papa Bear to find the one shirt that talks about farts! Sigh!! For those of you who don’t know…..Downtown Disney is a long, long stretch of stores and restaurants pretty much all Disney or kid related right outside the gates of Disneyland that lead to the Disney Hotels. There are some pretty awesome shops there.
Papa Bear came home the day after he graduated so he wouldn’t be driving all night. The day he was on his way home Baby Bear had a follow up appointment with his OT. She really didn’t do anything and just reiterated what we needed to be doing. I’ll tell ya what….for $500 I am not sure what she is doing. We have seen her twice and I don’t think she has helped at all. We are supposed to make two more appointments, but I am not going to waste my time, her time, or TriCares money. The only great thing that I got out of the appointment was that Baby Bear had gained a pound since our last appointment! ;0D yeaghhhhh!! After our appointment we hurried home and Papa Bear was there waiting for us. Of course Baby Bear is such a ham that he was happy to see Papa Bear but it took him maybe an hour or two before he really started to recognize him and remember who he is and then Baby Bear was all about laughing it up and being a ham for Papa Bear! It was cute because he sure does love his Papa! It was a relief to finally have my family all back and under one roof. And after some serious persuasion Papa Bear let Mama Bear have a few much needed nights off to rest.
Papa Bears first evening back we went to the park and fed the ducks. Baby Bear had such a great time and got super excited about the whole thing so much that he slept 6 whole hours that night!!! Woot woot!!!!! Yah Papa and Mama Bear were pretty happy!!
We didn’t do to much in June. In fact we really didn’t do anything at all. Papa Bear went back to work and started playing catch up with all the things he hasn’t been able to do since he’s been gone since April. But I really can’t think of anything that we have done in June. We got to go to a friends house for a BBQ one night, and that was pretty fun. And the criminal that I am…..I brought back sparklers from Utah and so the kids had a blast playing with them. Lol
July somehow snuck up on us. And for the first time in years Chuck and I got to spend the Fourth of July together. We went to a BBQ at 1st Sgt’s house or as Baby Bear calls him Uncle Mike and Auntie Jen! ;0) We had fun visiting with everyone and the food was majorly yummo!!! The heat however was less kind to us and after a while Baby Bear was sweating and fussy and we needed to call it quits on the fun time. But while it lasted it was fun to get out of the house and socialize. ;0) At the BBQ one of the guys from the shop had just returned from taking a short Vacation to Okinawa, Japan. He loves it there, and so vacations often in the area. Well while he was there he posted a picture of different flavors of KitKat’s that they have on his facebook. I thought it was flat out all sorts of wrong that Hershey would make a Wasabi flavored KitKat! I mean really people that stuff is horrid!!! To give you a little background on my experience with the stuff I will tell you all a little story……
Once upon a time there was a very innocent unknowing girl named Mama Bear who had never tasted or even heard of Wasabi. And when she was talking to an old friend named Clint who had served a mission in California he told her that Wasabi was great and that she should try it. So years later down the road of life Mama Bear found herself in a Sushi infested restaurant and found herself some Wasabi. Mama Bear thought Sushi was disgusting and fowl but as she hadn’t ever tried it before she agreed to give it a fair trial. So she went through the buffet style restaurant and picked out some different types of sushi that didn’t look or sound or smell like they would be to bad….and put them on her plate. She also found some Wasabi and remembering what her friend had said got a huge glop of it on a spoon and spattered it on her plate. She sat down with Papa Bear and started in on all the new things. First Mama Bear tried an imitation crab one that wasn’t to horrible bad. Next she trustingly grabbed a glob of the wasabi and devoured it. Instantly Mama Bear knew it was a bad idea…..but she was in a restaurant and couldn’t spit it out. She didn’t know what to do…..Her eyes were getting bigger and bigger and tears were starting to run from them. It was all sorts of awful! Finally she did the only thing she could think of and grabbed a few napkins, and then politely and daintily as she could spat it into the napkin. The tears were streaming by now it burned and was terrible. Papa Bear was crying as well but it wasn’t in sympathy for Mama Bear. Nope……Papa Bear was laughing hysterically. He was gripping his sides and could hardly act civil he was a goner! After that I was afraid to eat anything else. ;0( You see Mama Bears friend Clint LIED to her. Wasabi is bad!! BAD BAD JuJu!!!!!! The End.

XoXo-Mama Bear

Update #1

Wow it’s been a while since I last blogged. I apologize for that, but we opted to get rid of our Internet because Earthlink is a horrible company and charges your credit card without permission. Also our PCS move is coming up so we weren’t sure if we should get service with someone else, or just hold off until after the move. Papa Bear researched it and we opted to go with AT&T…..but then should we go with U-verse or just the net? Well as it turns out since we are so busy getting things ready this month that it is smarter to just go without than pay for a month of service. So unfortunately that means no blogging for me for now. But I will do my best to catch you up on all the happenings that have been going on.
So on May 27th I think it was…..Baby Bear, Mama Bear, and Gramma Bear piled back into the car and headed back to California. Grampa Bear helped me pack the snail (cargo on top of car) the night before, and he really secured that thing for me. He even put a ratchet strap on it to make sure it wasn’t going to go anywhere. He packed that thing to the top, and then some. Poor Lola (cars name) she was a little overloaded!! The morning we left, we finished packing up the car and said goodbye to Grampa Bear. I was a little sad I was leaving as I didn’t get to do half the things I had wanted to due to Baby Bear getting a fever shortly after we arrived. With all the problems he has had I didn’t want to risk him getting even sicker, or getting someone else’s child sick. So we became home bodies the entire time. I did get to play in Logan a few times, but I usually didn’t have Baby Bear with me or was on a very short schedule. I do feel bad that I couldn’t take him to meet Chuck’s side of the family. But I felt it was risky with how Baby Bear was feeling. And one of his siblings just added a new little baby to the family and I don’t think I could forgive myself if Baby Bear got a newborn sick. So no visits this time. Hopefully we can visit for Christmas and Baby Bear can make his appearance then.
So when we got ready to head to Idaho we had a small snafu….. When everything was all packed and ready to go…..We got in the car, said a prayer, and what do ya know…….the car wouldn’t start!!! That’s right….the battery was dead. Go figure. I about died. I couldn’t believe that it would happen. I mean for real this is just my luck!! Or lack there of if you really think about it. So I ran next door to the Bulgarian neighbors and luckily the wife and only one who speaks English was home, and she got her father to come out and jump the car. Aughhhh something always happens to the car when Papa Bear is gone….it never fails to happen. Lol It’s now becoming a joke….because after 4 deployments to Iraq and several others to other countries…..it never fails that the car somehow has something go wrong or break. So you have to ask yourself….why would this be any different?!!! Well after a short delay we were up and running and on the road. I ran to Lucky’s (grocery store) and while I left the engine running, Gramma and Baby Bear stayed in the car and I ran in to get zip ties for the cargo on top of the car and Kinders sauce. Yum yum. I had Onstar do it’s diagnostic of the engine and car and they said all was well with it….so after about an hour of it running we felt good to shut it off and eat some McyD’s for lunchy munchy.
So that was our story to Idaho……and you know why shouldn’t our trip back to California be just as eventful right?!!! Yah the car has performed fine the entire 20 hour trip to Idaho. It performed fine the entire time I was there……and the morning I am going to leave to go home…..Yup the battery is dead once again!!! I had even made sure that no interior lights were left on when I went to bed. So what do I do? Grampa Bear took Gramma Bears car to work, and she can’t find the keys to the truck. So we have nothing to jump Lola’s battery. I looked everywhere for Grampa Bears battery charger but alas couldn’t find it. We couldn’t get a hold of Grampa Bear because he was in surgery and couldn’t be disturbed. So I tried calling Papa Bear but he was in class at Staff Academy. So I called the duty phone to Papa Bears work in Concord. I didn’t know who had it, but I figured that it was the best option I had at the moment. They couldn’t help me, so I called Masterson the guy who Shares an office with Papa Bear and the best NCO I have ever met in the Corps. He is the type of leader that the Marine Corps needs, and he is going to make an amazing Staff NCO. He walked me through what I needed to do. Yes folks that is right…..I can change the oil in my car, change a tire, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to jump my car. To be more specific I wasn’t sure which went on first the positive or the negative…… lol Yah I am a nerd. So Gramma Bear called a neighbor and they came to help. We got Lola’s battery jumped and we were on our way. We stopped in town and picked up some dry ice to keep my ice cream frozen…Yah I bought a ton of ice cream Monkey and Moose bars that I can only find in Utah. Now you ask yourself what’s a ton right…..? Well I bought a case of each. Now you are asking well heck it still can’t be that much right?......Nope it’s more than a lot. I bought a plethora of them. Each case had 200 in it. So I brought home maybe half of it……half Moose (chocolate) and half Monkey (banana). They are a Popsicle but with ice cream. What’s the technical name? So I loaded the ice chest, and we were off on our adventure. We noticed that Lola was making a funny sound while we were driving. Gramma Bear was convinced that it was the front right tire, but I was convinced it was the Scargo on top of the car. Well after an hour or so of driving and the roar it was making in the car I couldn’t take it anymore…..So I pulled over on the freeway and took the ratchet strap off. I was scared that we really needed the thing, but I figured it was what was causing that horrid sound. Sure enough it was, and once I started driving again it was gone. Phew! I am very pleased to say that the rest of the trip was not to eventful. I did pull over in Nevada and push the OnStar emergency number once because a car had just rolled over into the median and was resting on it’s roof. I reported it, and waited until help arrived and then we left again as we did not witness it and everyone seemed fine so I didn’t need to get out and help. I once again became a real mountain woman!!! Yah it was about 3 a.m. we were in the mountains in the middle of no where and there was snow, and I had to pull over to pump and….I had to go super bad but there was no town or bathrooms nearby. So I braved the 30 degree weather and snow…..and didn’t get eaten by any wild animals!!! Lol But it sure was chilly! Lol The trip home this time took 18 hours….yup I managed to shave off 2 hours from the trip! Woot Woot!!!
Gramma Bear stayed with us for a week and helped me get a handle on things, and……catch up on some sleep. We went to a book signing for my favorite author and I found out Melissa Marr is also a Marine Corps Wife!!! I was so shocked and excited!!! Well her husband just retired from the Corps….but she is still a Corps wife! ;0) And…..she wrote Wicked Lovely at Dell Mar Beach on Camp Pendleton!!! That is so AWESOME!!! Okay I geeked out big time! But Gramma Bear and I had such a good time!! Gramma Bear bought Baby Bear a book, and in keeping in tradition with our family when we give books to each other…..she wrote in the cover of the book for him so he will always know when, where, and from whom the book came from. I also found a book from a set of authors who I love and I love their artwork. So I bought it for Baby Bear and I as well. But Gramma Bear and I had such a great time. It was funny we were so tired as we climbed into bed that night, but we were still laughing about our fun evening and actually got into a girly giggling fit with each other as we tried to calm down to sleep. It was really funny and special to be able to have that moment with her again as we haven’t done something like that since I was a kid. It was very special for me and I will always remember that! After a week I had to take Gramma Bear back to the airport so she could get back to her busy life in Idaho. We were sad to see her go, and I am sure Baby Bear misses her. Thank You Gramma Bear for putting up with us! ;0)

XoXo-Mama Bear

I am still alive!!!!

Hey everyone....I know that it has been ages since I last blogged......but promise I will catch you all up on he happenings shortly.

We are currently house hunting for our big PCS at the end of the monh.

Talk to you all soon

XoXo-Mama Bear

Five for Friday

1- I LOVE that when you are deployed you make it a priority to call me one to two times a week and for 15 minutes each time.

2- I LOVE that you take tons of pictures while you are deployed so I can experience your deployment

3- I LOVE that you find souvenirs that we both love to always remember the trip

4- I LOVE that you will take turns at night getting up with Baby Bear

5- I LOVE that when I really beg you.....you will give me a night off so I can sleep.

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S.- I LOVE you!

Sunday's Shenanigan's

1- I LOVE how amazing you are

2- I LOVE that you are ticklish

3- I LOVE how you talk..your silly gibberish is awesome

4- I LOVE you so much

5- I LOVE that you put up with your Mama Bears silly ways

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S- Mama Bear LOVE'S You!!!

Five for Friday

1- I LOVE that you are positive when I want to be negative

2- I LOVE that you always take out the garbage for me

3- I LOVE that we share such a love for Harley

4- I LOVE that we LOVE our baby bear

5- I LOVE that we have our funny little shows that we love to watch.

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S.- I LOVE you!

Sunday's Shenanigan's

1- I LOVE your personality

2- I LOVE how bold you are to try new things

3- I LOVE how good you are at church

4- I LOVE spending my days with you

5- I LOVE you and am so thankful you are a part of my life!!

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S- Mama Bear LOVE'S You!!!

Five for Friday

1- I LOVE that you want to share Guam with us

2- I LOVE that you get to travel the world

3- I LOVE that you Love your Job 364 days of the year

4- I LOVE that sometimes you will sneak chocolate cake for breakfast lol

5- I LOVE that you get me to try new foods when I would normally stick with in my comfort zone.

XoXo-Andrea Carla

P.S.- I LOVE you!