Bubble Run 2019 (Sept 7)

I had decided to sign everyone up for this event as it was going to be in and around the Anaheim Angels baseball stadium.  But this was before knowing that we would have gone to a ballgame in July for Charlie's birthday!  In any case, it was still a fun day!!!

First order of business, sun screen!!!  I love how Graham was "rubbing" the sunscreen into Daddy's cheeks :-)

Graham was obviously attracted by the bubble machine so he went to explore while we waited in line to pick up our t-shirts.  Can't believe they made us pay for these on-site!  It would have been free if we picked it up from the Dick's Sporting Goods the day before but the store was about 1hr away!

Anyway... we are here and already having a "bubbly" time!

I saw some photos from previous Bubble Runs and some kids were wearing swim goggles.  Thought it was an excellent idea!

Just hanging out by the ticket booths for our time slot:

I couldn't find my cellphone clear protector so I opted to use the plastic bags that our shirts came in.  Now if I can only keep that bag out of the way when I take photos:

Go team Go!

The Start Line - you can see the bubble foaming from a machine hanging above:

Here goes!

I did not go directly under and went around instead, so I only got my shoes foamy. Ha ha!

We continue going around the track laid out in the parking lot.  Graham is happy jumping over cones:

Double foamer!!! Graham is going back in for more!

Gosh... makes me wonder what chemicals they use to make these colors!

We are heading into the Angels Stadium!

Family we-fie on the baseball grounds!

Looks like an Angels pitcher is on the injured list and just practicing instead of traveling:

Graham decides to say hello and the pitcher's training buddy decides to give us a baseball!

It's actually a signed baseball and the guy told us who it was, but I couldn't really hear him.  And so now we have a mysterious signed ball because we couldn't find a #32 on the Angels roster!

The boys were so excited to see themselves on the Jumbotron!

Okay,... back outside and I have decided to go directly under the foaming machine:

You know, it doesn't really stick if you are under it.  But if you actually go through it... like Graham... LOL!!!

Again, this dye is making me worry!

So glad Graham had his goggles on but Oh My Goodness!!!

Blue dye, red dye, and green dye... oh boy, oh boy!

We are back at the next level up in the stadium.  The boys' shirts are completely soaked at this point compared to Bobby and me:

Who knew there was all this stuff up on this level:

This is a pretty nice stadium:

Wall of fame:

Okay, on last bubble foaming station!  I am so glad the boys didn't get trampled over.  You literally could not see them once they were under/in that foam:

Ha ha,... Graham and Charlie cleaning each other up:

Homestretch:

I think it took us about 1.5 hours to get to the finish line!

Yay! Everyone gets a medal!!!

Graham is still not quite done with the bubbles:

But everyone is shutting down now.  Not sure if we would do this again next year though.  It was fun but I think the mud run was a lot better.  Bobby and I both agreed that the grass and greenery beats the concrete.  But, if we do decide to do this again next year, I told Bobby he needs to dress up like these men:

And oh, 3 weeks later and this green dye is still embedded in some parts of my feet!

Fun day at the Bubble Run!  Definitely one to remember :-)

Sewing projects - Body pillow and shorts

Here are a couple of sewing projects recently.  For some reason, perhaps because Graham and I have a body pillow... Charlie also wanted one!

So instead of actually going out and buying one, I had some leftover fabric after making the chair cover.  And I also had some leftover "stuffing".  See... it does pay to hoard sometimes :-)

Charlie LOVES it!

I am calling it the Expandable Body Pillow, as I had tied a knot on one end.  This way as Charlie grows, we can add more stuffin' into it :-)

And I also finally made the matching dinosaur shorts for Bobby.  One more pair to make for myself so we have family matching shorts!  Photos to follow later...

Downspout to rain barrel

We are suppose to get some rain this weekend so I finally got my act together to fix up our downspout to the rain barrel.  The rain barrel had been sitting underneath one side of the roof where there are no gutters - catching rain water when it did rain.  And then, recently with all the dew in the morning, our gutter is actually leaking so I moved it to catch some of the water that has been dripping from the leak:

So yet again, another project that took longer than necessary as there was more than one thing to get done.  I had to clean out the gutter - quite the pile of roof shingle granules!  And then, the old caulking was peeling off so I had to remove those and go out and buy more caulking... and then, I used the magic "as seen on TV" spray to make doubly sure that the water was not going to leak through!  Had to fix up 4 seams so we'll see how it all holds up when the rain does show up!  In the meantime, we are collecting water from the dew in the morning!

I hope that stand holds up too!  The ground is not very level there, so I put a couple of fig tree branches to even it out and also put some bungee cords around the post. I hope the rain barrel doesn't topple over and take the post and roof down!  Only time will tell I suppose. Ha ha!

And oh, now that part of the downspout has been removed and the wood post is exposed, I need to sand it down and paint too!  See... never ending with this house!  But it's our house :-)

Trampoline pad replacement project

So I should have guessed it wasn't going to be this easy.  I had ordered a new pad for the boys' trampoline weeks ago.  The old one was literally flaking apart!  And I had tried to fix one part of it and then more of the other sides were not holding up anymore, so I figured it was time we did invest in a new replacement pad.

Before:

Looking pretty sad!  Before replacing the pad, I had to first trim off the fig tree that was getting too close to the trampoline.  As I had mentioned in my previous post, the figs are dropping and the juices are dripping and it is making a mess everywhere!

Before tree trim:

After tree trim:

I actually trimmed off a big chunk of a tree limb on this same tree today.  I will be re-purposing the massive branch for something else.  Will keep you posted.  He he...

And oh, in desperation I also have cut up garbage bags and put it along the cement wall on the other side of the fig tree.  Not looking the best but for now, it will at least keep the juices and figs away from the water sprinkler faucets!

And then, I had to pull out the blue tarp that we had used underneath the trampoline as weed control.  It actually worked really well!  The ground was really bare with hardly any growth of anything. The tarp was nasty with figs too so I had to throw that one away.  I did get the idea of putting plants underneath the trampoline instead of just mulch.  Looks prettier :-)

Thank goodness for an old pair of knee pads which helped a little bit.  As you can see, it's not even on my knees!  The knee pads kept slipping and it was also quite tricky carrying large bags of mulch underneath a trampoline:

And speaking of mulch, looks like I will need more of it!  And Graham suggested I put pavers and gravel down as well, just like on the other side of the yard.  Phew! Looks like I am not quite 100% done yet with this project!  But in the meantime, I did have Graham paint a few slices of tree bark as stepping stones.  We picked these up from the lady whom we picked up fire wood from this past summer.  Might have to go back and get some more!

So finally, I am able to get to the trampoline pad.  I cut off one side and just started rolling it up.  Thankfully it fit in a large black garbage bag with no issues:

The new replacement pad is just one big circle and I thought I could try and get it on without removing the safety net.  I had Graham help me in getting it on from the bottom of the trampoline.  A bit tricky with the new plants in place and after a couple of minutes, I realized it wasn't going to work.  Bummer!

The next day... I had to remove the safety net of the trampoline.  And while removing the net, I dropped some nuts that had to go back onto the screws at the top of the poles, so that was another delay in the project:

And of course, the triangle shade came down as well.  But at least the new pad is on now and it looks great!!!  Love the bright colors - thought it would be something different for the boys.  Supposedly they can play games too using the different colors:

And I found a tear in the safety net so I had to get that repaired.  The orange netting is actually from my bags of mandarin oranges from the supermarket.  Re-using and re-cycling!  I tried to use a black marker so it wouldn't be so orange but nope, no workie!  I'm sure eventually we will be replacing this netting too in the near future so not going to worry about it too much:

I also bought a new step which was not included when we bought the house.  Hopefully that will help the kids get up and down the trampoline more easily and not rip up the new pad too quickly!

And finally after another day (today)... Ta da!!!

Looking pretty sharp!  Not sure if I am going to put the triangle shade back yet.  One of the poles is actually slanting pretty badly.  I discovered that the previous owners had repaired it with a tree branch!  I might have to do the same. LOL!!!

I am just really happy that I didn't fall off the ladder or electrocute myself during this whole ordeal.  There was a wire quite close to my head by one of the trampoline poles.  Obviously I wasn't going to try and figure out if it was a live wire or just the telephone wire.  No injuries and one more thing that I can cross off the to-do list.  Yay!!! :-D