Things are looking up

It's not looking like the fires will head our way. We are getting a ton of smoke and ash, though. It's only been in the 80's, but the air is so dry that it feels hotter. The ski is one big smoke cloud. Sounds like the majority of the fires around here (Temecula, Fallbrook, Camp Pendleton) have been some what or all contained.

Last nights sleep was pretty bad here. R woke up, the dogs were on alert all night, so they were in & out. I think L was the only one who got a good sleep.

Nothing really new here otherwise. R had his music class this morning. Afterwards we went to Target for a few things & then back home. I didn't let R play outside today obviously. So he ran his energy off inside & the house shows it.

Once I figure out how to make a section just for pictures I will include the ones I have taken from the fire.

Just in case...

We are to the east of all the fires. As long as the winds continue blowing to the west we're good. Right now the two closest are Rosa and Rice. There is a fear that the two will merge. I ran out this evening to the mall to pick up something. I made it up the street and looked to the left before turning. No cars were coming, but I saw smoke just over the mountains. The first picture is a view of the Rice fire from my neighborhood. It's still far enough away to not worry too much, but I only had to go a block to get the picture. The 2nd picture is the smoke from the Rosa fire. I took that while I was at the mall. On my way home, it was dark, I tried to get pictures of the Rice glow but the street lamp messed all my pictures up. You could see it pulsating.

Here is one of tonights sunset...



After I get R down for bed (it's already late for him), I'm going to pack us each a bag. I'll load it in the car with some important items. I need to make a list. I don't think we'll have to leave, but I want to be prepared. I don't want to have to pack last minute & forget stuff or feel rushed. I just want to toss the kids and dogs in the car. Side note, the winds seem much calmer tonight. Our tree in the back is pretty beat up. I have a few windows open to cool the house down, but there isn't much of a breeze. I guess that's good. Surprisingly we haven't smelt smoke since Sunday when Rice started. I guess that's another good sign.

Good news, the in-laws house is safe. So are the houses of everyone else we know down in that area. The fire never crossed the street. They moved back in this morning. MIL said the gardener was there working when they came back. They were also surprised at how good the air quality was.

Enough of the heavy stuff... this morning the kids and I attended the MOMS club Temecula South Halloween party. It was a good time. Would have been even better if this one particular mother would watch her child and discipline him (instead of every other parent there having to do it) when her child would push other children down. He did this a handful of times. R was one of his targets. :( L was a ladybug. A super cute ladybug, too. She reminded me of the Anne Geddes ladybug. R was a pilot. Hopefully over the next week I can get some better pictures of them.

I'm going to go head off to pack a few things and go to bed.

Vegas anyone??!

I'm sure all of you by now have heard about the fires going on here. Yes, they are close to use, but we aren't in an danger... yet. I don't think we will be either. There are over a dozen fires going on between San Diego and LA. We're in between both those places. In fact the closest fires are about 10 minutes away from us in both directions. I believe those are all 100% contained. The winds here ares still going strong. It's like hurricane weather minus the rain. This is what I woke up to this morning, it's our backyard...

I had to take A his flight suit in just in case they had to help with the water dumping. Fallbrook, the town we go through had to evacuate & then they closed the highway. Luckily there was a very back roads type of way for us to take. By the time A was let out of work that was all closed. The only open highway was I-5 north & EVERYONE was taking that, so it's bumper to bumper. The exit off of that is farther north than us, near another fire. That road, 74 is under construction. Parts of it goes down to 1 lane for 2 ways of traffic. Not good in this case. He says he's barely moving & it will take him hours to go home. I think it's going to be a soup & sandwich night. IF we have to evacuate, my plan is to go to Vegas. Might as well have some fun, right??!! LOL It's about a 4 hour drive. Hopefully that's not where everyone else decides to go, too. The in-laws have been evacuated. They were going to try to come up here, but with the highway closures they could only go south. Hopefully their house is ok. MIL said they were going to try & go back tomorrow. If they can't get back in they might try to come up here. A is suppose to fly out tomorrow. I hope he can get to the airport. WOW, the winds are starting to really pick back up. Some how the weather people seem to think that we will only have these winds for another 24 hours. They don't normally have the best track records. I don't think I will get my trip to Vegas. I'm just hoping for a better nights sleep. The wind scared R, so he ended up in bed with us. He flops all around.

L had her 4 month check up today. She's average for height & weight. It's neat to compare R & L. L is 24" tall and weighs 13lbs 4oz. R at this age was 24" tall, too, and weighed 13lbs 12oz. I was pretty sure L would weigh more than he did. Dr. R gave the go ahead to start her on rice cereal. He said in a few days I could introduce a food if I wanted to.

I'll update when I know more.

If you wear a wig, today is the day to tie it down...

'Cause it's insanely windy out there! We've been here for about 3 years now & this is the 1st time we've had wind this strong. You can hear it inside the house. Sounds like wind you hear at the beach from the inside of your hotel room if you have the sliding glass door cracked. This isn't good for the fires. We are about 2 hours south-east of the Malibu fire & about an hour north of the Ramona/Julian fire. It was very smoky here this afternoon/evening. A just came in from out back & said the wind is so strong that it's breaking branches off of our big tree.

This morning we (the 4 of us) went to Bates Nut farm. L is super cranky right now, so I'll write about that adventure tomorrow. I need to give the princess a bath & get her to bed.