Spangler Family Communication Center

Well everyone here is a short run down of all that is going on. As most of you know we bought a new house and have moved in recently. We are still making several repairs and ran into some mold last night. I think we can easily take care of it. Mark leaves on Monday to TX and the military has informed us that they are taking some money we were expecting and "stronly suggesting" that the families remain in PHX. If we do move to TX too he will still be required to stay in the barracks. Please pray for us because this all happened so unexpectedly. We don't want to be a part for 2 years but it is also expenxive to live in TX especially if we can't live together. It stinks, but life could be worse. We'll keep you posted.

well, I think keeping the money in the account would be a fine idea, but we don't have to decide now. We could all hate each other by the end of this vaccation. :) :)
This is Jess by the way. :) Incase anyone had any doubts.

Mike,
I think the devotion is for Christmas. Like reading the Christmas story or whatever you think would be great to remember Christ's birth. Someone can add to that or correct me if I'm wrong.

I know i haven't contributed much. but i think that the $500 deposit could be used for fuel on the return home.

Also I have a question about the "devotions planner"
Elaboration needed

Mike

Well here is how things look if we get Temecula

10,000 total budget
3,492 House
500 Deposit
1,250 Airfare
550 Gas
1,650 Food
1,200 Events
1,358 Remaining for misc or extras such as spa and golf or whatever else we decide on. Also I believe the deposit is refundable so we should figure out how to work that.

Check out this page of golf courses. I loke the Redhawk and the Temeku Hills courses. I REALLY need to practice some more before this goes down. Maybe we should consider an executive-length course, since most of us are duffers at best. But, I'll leave it to Brad and Mark for that call.

All,

Has everyone who wants to subscribe, done so? If you haven't, please sign up soon. I want to take the sign-up off the blog at the end of the week.

P.S. Remember that what you post on the blog is for public consumption. I will probably need to sterilize old posts soon, as we move foreward.

Greg

Correct me if I'm wrong. We are trying to book Temecula for the dates Dec 19-26th. Sarah is working on that ASAP along with Julie who will pay the deposits. Mark and Jess are going to open an account for us all to begin depositing money into. More details are coming about this in the near future. Everyone's responsibilities are posted already on the blog. Any questions? Jessica (again)

We should probably get a professional family photo done while we are all together. It has been brought to my attention that Greg get's more and more professional at photography every time we see him. We were thinking that maybe he can take our professional photos this time if he had the right equipment. Greg let me know what you think. The benefit would be that we all have copies of them. We will most likely be bringing a laptop with a CD burner so we can get the pics to everyone that week to take home and get printed. Greg is the man at photography and I think he can get it done in the best way possible.

P.S. In case anyone was wondering how Greg would take the pics I was hoping he could use a remote or a timer or some such thing. He's a genius so I figure he has some swell idea.

P.P.S. This is Jess typing from Mom's name. Sorry

Mom and Dad
Food and Groceries


Greg and Niki
Logistics
Pictures and family picture


Mike
Christmas Day Event and Devotions Planner
Games around house


Brad and Sarah
Itinerary

Mark and Jess
Treasurers
Video Taping

Jess and Julie
Spa

Brad and Mark
Golf

P.S. I'm not sure how this got so spaced but I can't fix it can someone else fix it maybe.

Jessica

http://www.closetothebeach.com/viewListing.php?floorplanid=10&imageid=508

I found one, I don't know availability but the calendar on the page is open. Also the price range is from 2650 to 6000.

I found one, I don't know availability but the calendar on the page is open. Also the price range is from 2650 to 6000.

These may not be exact but they are what the prices are right now without finding coupons etc.

Seaworld 563 (with military disc. maybe 351) We may also be able to find discount tickets for everyone else @ 45 per adult so it could be as cheap as 261 for all of us to go to Seaworld

Lego Land 550

Sandiego Zoo 327.50

Wild Animal Park 291.50

Sandiego Zoo + Wild Animal Park Pass 557.15

Sandiego Pass (Seaworld, zoo and wild animal Park) 1125.50

Balboa Park Passport unlimited attractions (13 in all) for seven days 330

Balboa passport and Zoo is 605
check out www.balboapark.org/bestofpark.htm

How or if to pool $

What House do we want

do we want 4 bdrm or more

When and how much for deposits and tickets

Here is what we have so far:

12,000 total budget
1,250 airfare
550 gas
1,650 food
1,200 events

Costs

Sea World 457
Lego Land 550

In a little over an hour, we are chatting together. Mark is making the calls right now.

that would be 5pm CA and AZ time, and 8pm for Indy and CT.

The chatroom password is: spanglerfest

I don't want to rustle any feathers, but I still really like the temecula house. The size of it is amazing, the amenities are way cool and the location seems pretty decent.
As for the commute we would have to get places, that doesn't seem all that big a deal. I am sure it is all freeway and the times of day we would be on it I'm sure we could get around OK. Also there have been many times that we took Ali on 45 minutes to an hour and a half car rides after long days doing stuff and she always did good. So we are not afraid of that either. SO we are cool with what the family wants to do but we still like the temecula house.

I propose a chat this weekend at either 12 on Saturday,or 2 on Sunday. Let the blog know if this will work. ( All times are based on phoenix times)

Let's reconsider the first one on the orginial list...Encinitas?
It's the duplex work of art! But looking at the map, it is a lot closer. Yes, it's pricey, but way worth it! Also concider the thought that we can bring a couple of blow-up matresses with us and Dad and I can be in a living room. It really is a good idea for us...because dad ALWAYS wakes up early and we won't have to be stuck in a back room.

Jess and I prefer to stay mostly around the house and have a couple big days into San diego. I think it will be better for the kids and way fun for everyone. Also I wanted to check you math to see where the 875 came from. Because we only have 9 adults so that's 3 extra and 75 dollars a day or 525 for the week. Is this right or wrong?

Well, we would like to be closer to San Diego at least by a little bit. A 30 minute drive would be way better than a 60 minute drive!

It would be great also to find a place with more bedrooms, or at least a separate room for Mike from the kiddos.

As far as how we spend the vacation days- we think we should expect to spend a lot of time at the house since there are so many young kids. Our idea for scheduling is that we spend two days on big all-day events (Sea World, the zoo, or whatever). Though we only have one kiddo and she is still little, I think all-day events will be exhausting for everyone (but still worth doing!) so we should limit them. HOWEVER, on the other days, it would be great to be close enough to San Diego to just do one smaller thing (a little shopping, or out for lunch, or the beach, and a MUST- the carousel at Balboa park- the kids AND grown-ups will flip). Spending 2-3 hours at some great San Diego place is do-able if we don't have a long drive to get there. Being closer to San Diego gives us the opportunity to do something on the "stay-home" days, but just for a few hours, so the kids don't lose it.

Thanks Sarah for all the work on looking at houses- I'm still optimistic that we can find one closer.

That's our two cents- for what it's worth.

Is four bedrooms enough for all of us? I noticed you said the Temecula house only had four, but maybe there are other rooms that would work for the kids... Sarah, did you talk to the owner? I'm not trying to be a pest with all these questions, just want all the info if we decide on this house. Thanks guys!

-Niki

In regard to the Temecula house and driving in to San Diego... I have a question for the more experienced moms in this family. Will a one-year old be OK driving an hour to get to the park, then after an exhausting day at the park, be OK in the car on the way home? I have no idea what to expect. If you guys, who have way more to handle in the kids department than I do, think it would be fine, then I can deal with it. Wanted to get your input on that!

-Niki

We agree wholeheartedly with brad and sarah. We think that we could make the most of all the time we have together. and being in one cool place would be very relaxing. And since Brad and sarah are in, and Mom and Dad are in, I think #1 and #3 are just going to have to accept it and conform. J/K The only other thing I have to say is that Jess and I call the Spa first.