tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18845310245142795482024-02-20T23:41:52.447-08:00What, ME Blog?~~mama verbage from a still-hippie~~Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.comBlogger221125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-51885457766837107652020-02-04T14:52:00.001-08:002020-02-04T14:52:48.582-08:00Joshua Tree
Last week, we were having a new floor put in and needed to get the dogs out of the house. So, the kids and I packed ourselves...and both dogs into the RV and headed NE. We landed in Joshua Tree. The national park and the quirky little town.
interesting sights to visit.
Eclectic ness abounded.
Joshua Tree National Park
Add caption
On the Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-63613964428600975292020-02-02T16:27:00.001-08:002020-02-02T16:27:29.748-08:00We've been busy! Drifting back into documenting our lifeWe have had many changes since I last blogged about 4 years ago.
We've moved back into the US, Southern California, and are adjusting (happily) to that.
We've had many travels and done many things. I will try to post about them all.
For now I think I'll settle down with some of my work buddies and catch a bit of the Superbowl between San Francisco and Kansas City.
TataMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-76753912586377122732016-04-24T08:26:00.000-07:002016-04-24T08:26:11.557-07:00Birthday Party!!
Luckily we live in a community that has a great park and pool combo.
Perfect for a birthday party.
Got a rental of tables, chairs, tent, and inflatable water slide.
Leigh invited her class from school and some neighbor kids.
Most of her classmates were there and they all had a blast.
Gigantic pizzas completed the picture.
Kids spent a lot ofMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-38182254415635319402016-04-24T07:52:00.000-07:002016-04-24T07:52:49.046-07:00Second Birthday in Mexico
Leigh's second birthday in Mexico was different in that she spent her whole birthday IN Mexico.
Say of her birthday, she had school (which was REALLY different from past birthdays.)
She picked out her pinata for her party
For her birthday dinner, she picked this little hamburguesa joint down the street in Rosarito Norte that serves the best combos for cheap. (El Carrito - The Cart) Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-19080504890786675812015-11-04T04:20:00.001-08:002015-11-04T07:33:05.745-08:00Halloween-ie
For Halloween his year we went to a party with the kids homeschool group that they are still involved with. Fun times and trick or treating.
Quite the spread!
Leon
Mama's costume...Can you tell what it is?
The pre-teens
Disco Deer
Most of the kids
That night, Leigh had a friend come back home and attended a clinic the next morning in Tijuana with the rescue Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0Chula Vista, CA, USA32.6400541 -117.0841955000000232.5330761 -117.24555700000002 32.7470321 -116.92283400000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-50496621176105281052015-11-04T04:20:00.000-08:002015-11-04T04:20:00.766-08:00Another YearBirthday number 9!!
We celebrated in typical traditional fashion with dinner and birthday ring at home and then out with fiends the next day for a movie (Goosebumps) and dinner (Soup Plantation) and a stop at Gamestop.
I'm Nine Today!!!
Hot Chocolate!
Mine craft-wear
Drone!
Leftover cupcakes from school
"Graveyard" Cake
Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0Rosarito, Baja California, Mexico32.3661011 -117.0617553000000232.1514961 -117.38447880000001 32.5807061 -116.73903180000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-11532804674050947432015-05-04T04:43:00.002-07:002015-05-04T04:43:13.320-07:00Lunar Eclipse
We had an excellent view of the lunar eclipse from our roof top deck!
It has been a little bit since then but the pictures were too excellent not to share.
The kids were not as excited as Bryce but they did bring blankets out of bed up to the roof and check it out...for a little bit anyway.
Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-83831822030772888502015-05-04T04:30:00.000-07:002015-05-04T04:30:04.218-07:00California Dreaming
One day when the kids and I went up to a homeschooling event in the states (and left daddy in the other country...) we visited the cute little beach town of Imperial Beach. It is very close to the border and because it was a very turbulent sky, it was basically deserted. It was the funkiest little town and I think we will visit again
Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-10254193229458262672015-04-27T05:22:00.001-07:002015-04-27T05:22:30.976-07:00Family Celebration of Life
We stuck with our tradition of celebrating with our birthday ring
and dinner chosen by the birthday person.
Leigh chose angel hair pasta.
There were two number '1's on the ring this year!
Then for the gifts. There was one special one that she had REALLY been hoping for
but was still surprised to see.
Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-58675736061614709192015-04-27T05:14:00.000-07:002015-04-27T05:14:32.855-07:00Another year in the life
One more year for Leigh!
She planned her birhday party with homeschool friends at a park in Chula Vista.
She chose a spring theme and planned a game of pin the flower on the stem
with snacks for all
Excellent fruit cake made by Rose, mom of one of the homeschooling families from Tijuana
yellow and blue cupcakes
and finished up with a pinata filled with all sorts of Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-73131275647268345562015-03-26T16:02:00.001-07:002015-03-26T16:02:38.102-07:00Hi this is another guest post my me, Leigh and i am goin to blog about a AWESOME weekend i just had
Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-25991643108094285292015-02-22T09:53:00.000-08:002015-02-22T09:53:21.886-08:00A measure of Goodwill
A good will wedding!
Two of our friends who are avid Goodwillers, decided to get hitched at Goodwill in Tempe
This past week. (on Valentine's Day actually)
They sent out invites to a "scavenger hunt" and after the teams were divied up and everybody had their items collected and the winners were announced....they broke out the news that there was going to be a wedding!!
(I had Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-53972131941969205852015-02-22T08:43:00.000-08:002015-02-22T08:43:31.665-08:00Fog along coast
A couple weeks ago we had crazy amounts of fog for about a week.
It was the thickest fog I had ever seen. Every morning, driving in was an adventure.
It varied also where I saw it. Sometimes it would be thick in Mexico going up the Libre
and sometimes it would be light in Mexico and then thick when I got into CA.
Unpredictable.
These are all from the city that I work in. The fogMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-1321594402997749992015-02-22T08:20:00.002-08:002015-02-22T08:20:52.942-08:00Saturday morning Uno gameMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-49010111994922350582015-02-01T20:52:00.001-08:002015-02-01T20:52:22.292-08:00No Staging...everThis is what a typical Sunday morning looks like in the Bartley house.
This IS what our house looks like.
I did not arrange anything or set it up to look like anything other than our daily life.
I didn't even crop any of the photos....Happy Sunday! Hope everyone enjoys the superbowl!
Pancakes on the griddle
Moogly watching the pancakes
Kids on Lego Digital Design, Bryce Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-59976732655337266682015-02-01T00:29:00.000-08:002015-02-01T00:29:50.069-08:00Giving Back
Mexico is a very poor country in many places....VERY poor.
Devastatingly poor.
Mexico poor make our poor look middle class.....
There are many opportunities to help in Mexico.
You could help daily by just handing a few pesos to a beggar (thousands of opportunities for that)
There are a large number of American supported charities also.
Flying Samaritans is a group of Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-68043608600175576212015-01-27T21:47:00.000-08:002015-01-27T21:47:09.758-08:00Kelsi to the Baja
**This post is a copy of the post that Bryce posted on the Facebooks...**
Kelsi Bartley Little wanted to visit family in Baja California, Mexico.
She was never
healthy enough to make the trip.
We take Kelsi with us in heart and
spirit every where we go.
Today we scattered some of her ashes in the
tide of the Pacific ocean.
An important ceremony for us as we Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-26371861175185861092015-01-10T18:53:00.001-08:002015-01-10T18:53:26.350-08:00New Addition
One of our friends, Judy, is involved with a rescue here in Tijuana.
Consequently, she herself has 7-8 dogs at any given time...
One of those dogs from the rescue that she has been fostering
is a little black bundle of love, Moogly.
So Moogly started his life by being tossed over a fence in Tijuana.
We're hoping to give him a little bit better existence than that.
He's already Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-85121360828169293932015-01-06T13:04:00.003-08:002015-01-06T13:53:17.984-08:00Spending the day with Aunt T
While in Austin, Aunt T was also visiting. She was glad to be there to support 'Kelsi Little Day'
and visit with her niece and nephew.
We decided to take a day away while she was there and went down to San Antonio to explore.
We went to the Witte Museum , where they had several exhibits that really appealed to our kids...
(That's Carson virtual jump roping and Aunt T trackingMichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-5082413900356959022015-01-06T13:04:00.000-08:002015-01-06T13:04:26.303-08:00A great loss
During my spell of not chronicling our lives, we had many changes occur.
At the end of August, my former employer offered to have me come and work again for them for a little bit; back in Mesa.
I was hesitant...I mean, leaving Mexico (79 degrees temps--beachfront) to return to the desert?
Also leaving my family for a few weeks?
Without any other solid work choices on the horizon,Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-87258860939513598192015-01-06T12:31:00.000-08:002015-01-06T12:31:31.556-08:00Friends visiting
The temperature here has been UNUSUALLY freezing cold...
Houses here typically don't have heat (or AC) because you really don't need it.
We have two portable heaters; electric and gas; which crank out quite a bit of heat.
After the cold of the night, the sun of the day will mostly heat house back up also.
So we pretty much just use the heaters before we go to bed.
Anyway, friends of ours Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-4912041122840312522015-01-04T10:56:00.000-08:002015-01-04T10:56:55.520-08:00Ending a year.
So, we celebrated the New Year ringing in with friends from Rosarito and Tijuana.
We went to a family friendly party not too far from our casa and ate good food and hung out
until 1207. Then we headed out in the cold back to our place.
We've spent a lot of the last month just settling in and doing things for our home.
We had to get Christmas together in our house and the kids Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-76006978482050846832014-12-07T20:58:00.000-08:002014-12-07T20:58:45.446-08:00Back in the Baja!
Swimming at sunset
It has been 4 months today since I last recorded any of our life events. What a difference four months can make in a life.
I will post more of the details of our travels of the last 4 months in a future blog.
Let me just say how happy we all are to be back. I don't know if we realized how much we missed being here until we were not!
Our Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-60148038414853020672014-08-07T15:19:00.003-07:002014-08-07T15:19:35.041-07:00Getting around in Baja
Because Bryce takes the car everyday to work,
we have had to rely on other forms of transportation.
Sometimes we have friends give us rides,
but mostly we taxi it.
Taxis in Baja are CHEAP
And by cheap, I mean 11-13pesos each way (about a buck)
Leigh has become proficient in her Spanish to be able to get us where we need to go
There are taxicabs (cars) that are a bit more, you pay for Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1884531024514279548.post-82258804320339805322014-08-07T15:07:00.000-07:002014-08-07T15:07:01.567-07:00Tubing
Ack! Sorry for the delay in posting.
We have been busy with doing stuff and also our WiFi has been wonky to non existent
I did receive a phone that has 3G (more like 2G in Mx)
and international texting and that has been helpful
Thanks Babe!
Recently on a trip to CA, the kids purchased pool tubes
and have been loving them!!
Michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15226661369337001142noreply@blogger.com0