McGrath Family Farm

On Saturday the 29th of August we were able to meet one of my friends from highschool, her special guy and their cute son. Emma, Jake & Jackson were visiting Simi Valley for a family reunion and squeezed us in for breakfast. We ate at a great little resturant "Eggs 'n Things".

Then we were onto the McGrath Family Farm in Camarillo. The McGrath Farm, is a certified organic that has its own fruit & veggie stand, stands at about 7 Farmers Markets and delivers to local resturants. The farm offers tours of their farm as long as your have a group of 3 or more, well we are 7 so we passed :) We got a one on 7 tour by the manager. He was so knowledgeable and let the kids pick strawberries, tomatoes, pumpkins and flowers. The kids pick beautiful tuberose flowers for me, bad thing, those flowers give me an instant headache. We had such a wonderful time. It was over 100 degrees, so we were HOT. The farm has about 20 full time workers. Aidan and Coda think that with our family plus a few more people we could take care of that big of a farm. I am not so sure. Dillon was sad at the end, he saw now cows. He was not understanding that it was a fruit/vegetable/flower farm, not a cow farm. It was neat to see all that they could grow with the amazing weather that blesses Southern California. They can grow strawberries ALL YEAR LONG! We are hoping to visit a citrus and avocado orchard while we are here also.

Setting Out On Our Big Adventure

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind. Nick returned from a month long working stint in Alaska on August 13th, just two days before my sisters wedding. We spent the next two days celebrating with E (my sister) and Sergio (her now-husband). It was a wonderful two days, filled with family and friends, laughing and crying and the most beautiful wedding I have ever seen. Sunday was spent saying good-bye to our Church family. Next was a day and half for Nick & I (and Jericho) to have some special bonding time. Then it was onto Monday afternoon when we began the craziness of packing up an entire house, selling furniautre, deciding what to store, what to bring and what to give away. Our deadline was Friday night as we needed to be on the road Saturday morning to head to Southern California.

While Nick was in Alaska we prayed, talked and then decided that we were a family, a family that was meant to be together. The job opportunity that Nick has right now, is a travelling job, so we decided we would go with him. It was not an easy decision to leave home, our family, our Church family & friends, but we wanted to be together. We are crazy, we know it. We have five children, 7 and under, dedided to pack everything we need into Nick's cargo van and we go carvaning down the highway. We will stay in most places 5-6 weeks, but it could be longer or shorter, just depends on the job.

So Saturday morning we left, our goal was to make it to Lompoc (about 1 hour north of Santa Barbara) where Uncle Bobby lives. It is a 9 1/2 hour drive WITHOUT stopping. Well we had to stop, if I remember correctly we stopped 4 times. It ended up taking us 12 1/2 hours. It was a long driving day!

Sunday we woke up hung out a bit, went to breakfast and then set out on the last two hours of our drive to Oxnard, CA. The drive was beautiful. Through Santa Barbara, along the coast, Ventura Beaches, just amazing.

We had an awesome family evening of a picnic dinner, playing on a pirate playground and walking along the beach. Sunday night we stayed in a hotel in Oxnard. We planned on beginning our search for an apartment or Extended Stay on Monday.

Due to a huge miracle, we found an amazing apartment...it was the first place we looked at and it was just perfect. Two bedrooms, one bath, furnished, rented by the week (which we need as we could be moved at any time), attached to a beautiful inn in a small town about 15 miles from Oxnard, so we have a pool, get clean towels and sheets as often as we need them.

Since then we have spent our time exploring Santa Paula, Ventura & Oxnard, visiting beauul parks, figuring out how to let Nick sleep (he works nights) and spending each afternoon by the pool.