California and a blown engine

I believe I mentioned before about a Mexican Vacation. Due to Passport issues, (which I later figured it was Gods will to keep us out of Mexico, so thankful He always has our backs) we changed our plans to 7 days in California and a night in Seattle with my sister and brother-in-law.

It turned out fabulous. We had such a wonderful time in the sun, and a nice break from our kids, housework, work and just the day in and day out stuff.

We stayed in Oceanside California in a World Mark resort. Cant say enough good about it. We had a full kitchen stocked with great cooking tools, a grill on the lanai, and a washer and dryer in our room! SO handy! I really get sick of eating out on vacation (I am a VERY picky restaurant eater) so it was very nice cooking several meals from all the FRESH and cheap ingredients I found in Cali.

We enjoyed the beaches, went bass fishing at El Capitan Lake, enjoyed a wine tasting at Long Shadow Ranch, went to a HUGE antique mall, my husband went go carting, walked on the longest pier on the west coast, laid by the pool, played basketball, sat in the hot tub and chatted on the lanai. All in all a wonderful and VERY VERY relaxing trip!

I am VERY thankful for the opportunity to get out and enjoy my husband’s company in such a beautiful place.

Drive to Anchorage Airport…beautiful year round!

Morning cup of coffee on the lanai

Oceanside Beach, just below our resort.

Fun little walk

Pelican on the Oceanside Pier

Long Shadow Ranch and Winery

AMAZING wine, I bought TWO bottles of Chardonnay… which are both gone now. *sniff sniff*

We ate fabulously….notice the glass of Long Shadow Chardonnay

Oh yeah, we also had a fireplace in our resort! So homey and romantic

El Capitan Lake, it was a cold day fishing 9 hours, but we enjoyed it!

The catch!

My handsome husband burning it up at the go-cart place

View from my lanai, Oceanside harbor

We had a BLAST in Seattle with my sister and brother-in-law! So good to see them and a perfect way to end our fabulous trip.

But….that wasnt the end.

I was told last summer my engine in my 03 Mazda 6 was about to blow. We decided to drive it until that happens.

On the way to Anchorage I drove myself to the airport and I prayed the whole way my car wouldn’t decide to die on the way up.

Well I made it safely.

When my husband and I got to Anchorage and started it up it wasnt sounding good and continued to sound worse and worse until it almost hurt my ears the clunking taking place in my poor little engine.

We made it to our town a couple of hours away, barely, and picked up the kids. At this point we were AMAZED we made it that far. (about 140 miles)

We live 3 miles from my in-laws where our kids were staying and about a 1/4 mile from our house my car went CLUNK CLUNK BOOM and that was the last time my Mazda 6 will ever run. It was weird. I have put about 120,000 miles on that car. I bought it as a senior in highschool and it has served me well. Never had to fix anything and always ran like a champ (until last summer that is). I will miss it.

There we sit in the dark (it was after 10pm) so my husband and son run down the road and grab the truck from our house. My daughter then starts bawling saying she doesn’t want to die. {I’m worried about her in a few years when the hormones kick in…she is already a little drama queen haha bless her heart}

I explain to her we are nowhere near death and told her we just need to push the car home and we will buy a new car. That kind of settled her down but she was so tired at that point we just dragged her inside and sent her to bed.

So my husband shows up with our old purple ranger, I throw my car in neutral and we push our junker home with our still running junker.

To put it lightly, that was quite the wake up from our vacation haze. What a dose of reality eh?

So we are looking around for a new car, we really like living debt free so we might buy something older so we don’t have to get a loan but we will see. I really prefer to live within our means but financing a littler nicer car we can pay off real quick seems smart too….less upkeep and then I can drive it another ten years. But we are praying and searching.

Never a dull moment.

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