FIRE, FIRE, FIRE !!!!

 
As you all know we have been fighting the summer time fires again this year. I have to say this has been one of the worst years for our little town of Acton. The winds blew the fire north over the Angeles Crest right into the back of Acton. There were evacuations for those people that live at the base of the mountain, but the phone call went out to all of the residents. That made for an interesting night. Phone calls every hour on the hour. The streets were filled with fire trucks from as far away as Utah and Wyoming. We had highway patrol up and down all of our streets because the wonderful people from the surrounding areas felt they needed to loot the houses that were evacuated. Because I live one of the main roads I got to see everything. Caravans of police, firetrucks,bulldozers, motor homes, and horse trailers. It was a very busy weekend. We could see the flames from our front yard and as you can see I took many. Saturday was very strange because there was no wind to blow the smoke out of our little valley, it was if a camp fire was built inside my house as well as in the front yard. Ash covered our cars for two days and we lived in an orange haze. I kept waiting for the rain to fall because it was so dark. The smoke made for some gorgeous sunsets however. We had friends that had the firemen camped out in their front yards and some that just took what they could and prayed for the best. Thank goodness for the town sheriff being one of our friends we got to know all the inside stuff. As of today 18 houses were lost in Acton and a few deaths. Two of the death were of some local firefighters. They were running away from the flames and their truck went off the road, killing both of them. Please send a little prayer for their families one was going to be a first time father in about 3 weeks. His wife is a teacher in the district that I work in. Today the roads are empty only a few fire trucks around town and tomorrow the super scooper's will start to drop water. They do not feel the fire will be contained until Sept. 10 due to the fact the mountains are too steep for ground crews to get up. They have to fight it from the air. Thank goodness for all the people, pilots, firefighters and policemen that have kept our little town safe.

PCH

 
We took a drive along the PCH.. it was a perfect day, well any day at the ocean is perfect. Just a few pics.

OFF THEY COME

 
Zara on her bike with training wheels, she finally asked to take them off
 
Jeff taking them off, she is a little unsure
 
There she is ready to go for her first ride with no training wheels
 
One of Zach, just being Zach

Well she had good intentions. No training wheels, this coming from the girl that slams on her brakes on the second wheel rotation because the bike is going to fast. Nothing has changed except now she has to drag her feet to keep from going to fast. It is a little difficult to ride a bike if you wont let it gain any speed. We started out, for our around the block ride, with the sun up and got home in complete darkness. Crazy kid. Some day she will figure it out.

A LITTLE LATE

 
These are just a few of the pictures I had of Zach and Zara for this year. I love them all but my favorite one is of them bach to back with the I am not giving in face. This is something I see often from them. It is not easy having two very stubborn children.
 
Fourth of July in Utah. Mom the kids and I all stuffed ourselves into the little rental car, mine was in the shop, and off we went. Everything was so stuffed in we couldn't unload the suitcases so I drove straight through. It really wasn't that bad. We got there at about 4:30 in the morning and after a long nap I was ready to go. We were crazy busy doing stuff with the kids. We really didn't have time to see the family, which kind of sucked, but next time we will plan to stay longer. We went to the copper mine, Wheeler farm, Wanship, mom's old neighborhood, the cemetery to put flowers for grandma, grandpa and Uncle Mingo. Fireworks were the best this was the first time Zara got to light her own. Dom was really good with her and wouldn't let anybody help her, it was kinda of cute. Oh and he got to meet her sister, whose name is now Zoey. The parade and carnival were so much fun and the night fireworks started so late we didn't get home until almost 1:00 am. I forgot it doesn't get dark there until really late.
 
So many funny stories and good memories. We saw baby beavers and prairie dogs, the kids thought it was funny to try to chase them. A fish scared Tristan to death. Zach locked the keys in the truck, that was interesting. Zara milked a cow, we couldn't find anything to eat because it was past 8:00. I almost forgot we went to see the church mom got married in. It is now an historical place, is that good or bad. Oh so much, these are just a few of the very many pictures I took, but they highlight the trip.
Remember to click on the collage to make the pictures bigger
now it is back to work for me on Monday and the kids in September. I can't believe my summer is already over.