Pacific Coast

Had such a great layover in Redding with the Harpers. We had waffles for breakfast every morning and Dave's famous homemade salsa and guacamole in the afternoons. They took us out to Shasta Dam for the tour; one I took as a child with my own parents. We managed to catch the very last tour of the day, so when the security guard proclaimed that Laine would not be able to attend the tour unless she first returned her bag all the way out to the van, Dave came to the rescue and ran over a km. to the parking lot and back, nearly missing the tour himself. We gave the security guard a hard time since sweet little Laine is hardly a threat to Homeland Security. He agreed to pose for a picture, and it turned out to be his Birthday! Shasta Dam is a historic monument for my Dad as he had a very memorable experience there when he was very young. My kids were excited to hear tales of Grandpa Bambauer when he was a child like themselves!

With hugs and more prayers, Dave and Maryann sent us off again this morning, another 9 hours of travelling. (including all stops.) Our first stop was Corning, olive capitol of the world, for a picnic lunch and olives of course. We chose Steve's favorite, pimiento stuffed, and a new selection for all of us, herbed cheese stuffed olives! Mmmmm...even Laine, a self proclaimed non- olive appreciator, didn't mind them.

We reached the ocean just before dark. We had a picnic dinner, chicken and rice, hot out of the slow cooker before heading down the winding coastal highway. We had reserved a room at a motel in San Simeon that would allow us to use our own sleeping bags and squeeze into 1 room instead of 4 to a room; twice as much money. With about 70 miles to go, there was a warning sign of night time Hwy closures ahead. Uncertain of where these closures were in relation to our motel, we continued on. When we were about 50 miles past the last possible place to stay with 20 miles still to go, we encountered the dreaded sign; Road Closed. Hmmm... well, I'll tell you what we did, but you have to keep it a secret! We drove around the barricade (quite easily, I will add) and carefully drove through the "closed" stretch of road with out discovering any reason why it would have been so! On the other end, we drove around the barricade again and advised some tourists on the other side that we had not encountered any problems travelling through. We won't share this story in church! Ha ha.

After checking in at the motel and unloading all the children and suitcases, Steve decided that unpacking the sleeping bags from on top of the van was too much work; Any of you would have agreed as it involves untying, untarping and accessing the load on top of the van. So he came up with a very Stephenish idea, all 5 kids could fit sideways in a double bed. Well, I don't know if Eden thinks they fit, but there they are; Eden, Cole and Evinrude (his cat), Jalen, Zeke and Autumn, like peas in a pod!

We are all tucked in here now, Laine has a cot in the entry way. I hear a few little snorers and the furnace kicking in from time to time. Goodnight, and blessings till next time!

Slow cooked Chicken and rice

When I was a kid, my mom used to make a fantastic dish called "Chicken Hurry." I don't have the recipe with me so I made up a similar dish for our dinner this evening. Heres what I did.

4 chicken breasts, cubed

1 pkg. onion soup mix

2 squirts Worchestershire

2 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 med cans tomato sauce

1 c. rice

salt and pepper

Mix it all together and put in the slowcooker on high for 6 hours. It is helpful to stir part way through so the rice cooks evenly.