Bone Hunt

More cleaning from our trip. I had to bring in the tent, pack, and shoes from the rain and I put the gun (unloaded and locked thanks to me) out of reach of little hands. Getting back into a full swing wasn't as hard as I expected, but I still had a lot of stuff that needed to be done! It was good to see the boys again, and Evelyn was super excited about them being home. Speaking of Evelyn:

The Monday before we left we took Evelyn to the Dr. because she was running a really high fever all weekend. He said she looked fine and it would run it's course. Tuesday, Mom came and picked her up so we could leave on our trip. By Thursday she had to take her back to the Dr. and discovered she had a raging double ear infection! My poor baby. It was actually really great that Mom had her because Evelyn was able to get all the individualized cuddles that she wanted and needed. Evelyn is back to acting mostly like her normal self again.

In my down time I finally started making the appropriate phone calls to attempt and track down info on Enrique from the hole.  The first several people I called didn't care less. Just told me it was 7 years old and not their problem. One lady from State Farm actually tried to help me and sounded concerned but they don't keep files that long. Just as I'm about to give up (he's not listed in the national public registry for missing persons) I get a hold of Fresno County Sheriff and they take my message (not sounding like they care either) and just a couple hours later call me back asking for more information.

Turns out, there is a missing person with that name, from that time period, in that area. FREAKY!

I gave them all my information and what I knew and also Cliff's info since he knows the area so well. I don't know the whole story yet but this is getting interesting!

I actually spent almost the entire free portion of day on the phone for one reason or another (bills, sheriff, etc) or dealing with the last week of school and I have no pictures.

Fail.

Case of the Mondays- To Go!

I'm not doing anything. I'm tired. We put the laundry from the trip in, washed all the dishes (and the camelbak), set out the tent, packs, sleeping bags, and boots for drying, then did nothing. Glorious nothing.

Penne San Remo. It was good and Evelyn loved

it, but we should of stuck to Penne Cardinale

We were still in our robes when Erin stopped by to return the house key (thank you for watching the house and keeping my plants alive) and phone and brought us a bottle of wine. Bogle Petite Syrah! Yum! This of course, inspired us to use my $10 off coupon from Alex's birthday (I completed a survey for it) and get take out food so we could continue doing nothingness.

Since Cliff didn't want to have to go anywhere I decided that I would order from Buca, run to REI and return the lamp and pick up another hammock (love that thing!), and then back to Buca when the food was done and bring it home.

Only one problem to my brillant plan my car seat was busted and wouldn't adjust forward from Cliff's positioning. So Cliff had to drive me to the car parts store to get a fuse, then drive me to Buca and REI. Bummer.

Dinner was divine and afterwards Cliff changed the fuse and moved my seat forward for me (unfortunately not enough for my short legs so it's still too far back and sadly it's broken again).

 I decided to run out one more time while REI was still having their awesome sale and exchanged my beloved sleeping bag for the longer version. Petite was just not enough space for my liking when it's actually cold. Of course REI is the best store ever and exchanged it with no problems. Hurray!

I Put it Away When it Stopped Being Fun

My camera captured the colors beautifully, but it's also snowing pretty hard right now. This is the view from the tent

It rained all night long. Hard. Cliff woke up to snow and yet somehow still managed to get a roaring fire started. Maybe last night's marshmallow madness wasn't a bad thing after all. We had a cup coffee and then headed out without breakfast a little after 8am. No time to make food- the ground was a mud pit and that means that the granite face was going to be 'slick as snot'.

I'm slipping while finding my way up

We had a couple of slips, but luckily we all managed to stay *mostly* upright and on the rock where we belonged. It was scary at times, but we made it to the top of both granite cliffs in one piece. The bigger one, was only accomplished with the assistance of the rope Cliff so expertly tied before we left.

Our reward after each major obstacle (first granite face, large granite face, top of the mine tailings) was celebrating in some way. Group hug!

If we stopped for too long our limbs and digits felt frozen so we kept moving and kept our breaks short. Navigation was difficult because the fog was so thick we couldn't see past the trees that were right in front of us. Again, Cliff's experience got us to the top in a direct route without backtracking. I love him!

Staged photo, but it shows the crazy weather on the road

We were all so soaked from the rain and snow that when we finally reached the river crossing we didn't bother to change our shoes and remove our pants we just forged right on through and then kept hiking for the next hour to keep our bodies warm. It was still about an hour and a half from the car, but it certainly made all the other puddle crossings easier. We we stopped trying to find a way around them and just plodded right on through.

It really was a beautiful sight and I probably would of enjoyed it much more if we not in such a hurry to hike up the 2000 foot elevation change to reach our car.  Bert commented about his camera and how pretty it was but that "(he) put it away when it stopped being fun". It was lovely, but the kind of experience you don't go looking for. It was very stressful at times but luckily for us the three of us make a great team.

Traditional Group photo on the way out....this time while it was snowing  in front of the weird lake....
No practice shots this time just take one and keep hiking!

We got to the car by 2pm (holy speedy hiking boots, batman!) and stopped to feast for Brunner (breakfast/lunch/dinner) at Perkos Cafe. Delicious!

We made it home before 8pm, drove up to and got the baby, then came home beyond ready for a real bed.

All the pictures from today

Marshmallow Rain

With a bag of egg powder left over from the corn cakes we turned it into breakfast burritos with the help of our extra onion and the leftover tortillas. Excellent (eggcelent) way to start a morning! The eggs were a little more rubbery than fresh eggs, but still tasty. I just wish I had brought a little salsa, then it would of been perfect!

Today we finished hiking upstream searching for somewhere to cross and fish at the upper pool. We got really lucky and found a fallen tree to cross over on so we never had to use our water shoes or get wet. The fishing wasn't very good though. Bert caught a fish on the first cast but the fish's skill in aerobatics got it free from the hook.

The upper pool. 3 years and I finally got to visit it. I prefer the lower pool...

One of the bigger falls

The noisy falls just out of sight from the pool

The day wasn't a complete bust for me though, I ventured up the hill a little ways for a beautiful view of one of the bigger waterfalls and a closer look at at the one we were fishing from that was making all the noise.
Near the upper pool we came across a very well set up camp. They had rock benches made, a good fire pit with many grates, a stick to hang their pot of water from, and a full size shovel. At first I was really freaked out because I didn't want to run into  other campers that might be thinking they were all alone and getting myself accidentally shot (crazy things happen in the woods).

Once we looked in the fire-pit though we could tell no one had been there in a long time. Turns out, they hadn't been there in many years and they didn't take any care in preserving any of their equipment, just shoved it on the dirt, next to the rock. To be honest, I was surprised they even took their tents down. They had good quality equipment and they left it all just to rot. Camping chairs (and a camping chair turned potty), fishing pole (no reels), sleeping bags, The North Face tent, food, water shoes, mining pans... the list goes on and everything was just left to rot. They didn't even have the decency to burn their trash. It's hard to go to a place as beautiful as Hell's hole and see people who've come there before you and trashed. We have no respect for our land anymore.

With the way it was left we didn't feel bad about swiping one of the (many) camping chairs and the smaller hatchet. Nobody is coming back for this stuff and chances are it will be us who cleans this campsite on another visit.

Always one to look for the best places to hang my hammock I found the perfect location. Two trees on either side of the stream at the base of the waterfall. Sadly for me, I couldn't quite reach that second tree so I had to settle for a nearby location. Beautiful, and peaceful sounding, but boy howdy is it chilly having all the water blow on you as you try to lounge. We stopped just long enough to take some pictures then pulled the hammack down and headed back to camp.


Heading back to camp we only had 2 fish but Cliff is never one to fail us (or our tastbuds) he managed to catch the biggest fish of the trip off the waterfall next to our camp. Three large fish for dinner!

We decided that it was our last night before hiking out (the weather was starting to look very threatening) so we feasted on our remaining food (and marshmallows) and did our end of trip cleansing fire. Of course, the sugar high from the marshmallows just started the wackiness. I started sacrificing marshmallows into the fire just to watch them explode and that started a marshmallow spitting contest. How far (or high) can you spit it? After all the marshmallows were gone Cliff went into productive mode and he broke down all our wood and stacked it even though we only needed enough for a fire for the morning.

I was so tired on the hike in I knew I needed sleep to hike out so I went to bed early and the boys stayed up playing cards. When it started raining they didn't run into the tent and hide, they made a makeshift fort (they hid under a tarp) and finished their game.

Unfortunately, it never stopped sprinkling. It did however, turn to total downpour and those clouds just opened up and dumped rain on us. I'm very thankful for Cliff's expertise because earlier in the night (when Cliff said he didn't think it would storm, just sprinkle a little) he decided that it was better to be safe than sorry and he tied our tent rainfly down (bad things could of happened without it) and dug a trench around the tent so we didn't end up a soggy mess. Needless to say, it was a VERY good thing he prepped the camp so well.

All the pictures from today 

Sweet Corn Cakes

Late start this morning but somehow we still made it up the hill in time to find fish for dinner. Mother nature got up close and personal with us this trip. On the hike up to the river we came across a pair of alligator lizard and as we picked our sections of the river to fish from Bert nearly stepped on top of a water snake.

You could see the fish in the water, but they didn't seem to care what we threw in the water, they weren't about to bite. Bert had a HUGE fish chase his kastmaster lure once, but it never bit and it didn't chase a second time. I was successful at catching 2 fish, but they were both small and we threw them back. The second fish almost didn't get off the hook and I decided I was done picking on baby fish for the day so I moved on to picking on other wildlife.

It's hard to see the small picture, but his tongue is out

Cliff came across another water snake so I made my way up close to it and took it's picture repeatedly until I was able to capture it with it's tongue out. Small victories.

Since it was already late in the day we decided to head back to camp and hike to the upper pool tomorrow.

Another delicious meal of fish, rice, and fresh steamed broccoli followed by a new treat from Cliff: sweet corn cakes. Oh my, those were YUMMY! They didn't even survive long enough out of the pan to cool, we were gobbling them up so fast. We will be hiking with that recipe again!


All the pictures from today

Dutch Oven Bear-ey Cobbler

Big scary clouds in the sky had us prepping for stormy weather today. It never came, but we were ready for it if it ever did.

 We were all still a little tired from our hike down so we chose today to be a lazy day. Cliff made a glorious fire-pit and then made a shower for us. We live in luxury down here! I adjusted the hammock and gave it a good tryout and Bert was messing with his fishing gear. Great lazy day.

Eventually we had to get dinner so we ventured down stream, just to the rushing water pools looking for fish. We had a few possible bumps, but nothing biting so we had to find our fish at the main pool by camp floating worms.

On the way back to camp I found the perfect place to set up my hammock. It was WONDERFUL! Right at the edge of the pool, in front of the waterfall, super peaceful! We all took turns relaxing for a bit, enjoying the gentle motion of the rocking hammock.

Good news for us- we caught enough fish for everyone meaning another tasty dinner of rice, fish, zucchini, and onions.

As an extra surprise Cliff made us blackberry cobbler in the dutch oven I hiked down. Cliff tended to the coals the whole time and it was such a wonderful smelling treat when we finally got to open it. Cliff, as usual, finished first and went to the 'kitchen' to wash his plate only to come crouching back telling me there was a bear across the river- I should get my camera. Camera?! Get the gun!!!

Needless to say I stood there useless, Cliff and Bert got cameras and took a few pictures, then grabbed their guns and fired a few rounds into the air scaring away the bear. It was actually pretty funny, the first fired shot scared him so much he fell onto his butt in a daze. By the second shot he was back to his feet and running up the hill (away from us) faster than Cliff was able to empty the chambers (again, to scare, not injure). Last years rattlesnake hill, this year a bear.



All the pictures from today

Bear Poo, Mule Bones

*Since this week was spent in the middle of no where I had to type it when I got home*

We left Alex's birthday last night and went home to pack. Unfortunately we were already tired and easily distracted so we didn't finish until nearly midnight giving us only an hour to sleep before we had to leave.

Cliff and Bert split the driving (thank you, gentlemen) and we got to sawmill flat only to discover that once again, it was snowed over forcing us to drive to our newest parking location. Bad news this year is that we had to park even further away, but it didn't seem to matter much since it really wasn't that far in the grand scheme of things.

I was sleeping too

Never to take life too seriously the three of us  spent some time after the river crossing posing for the camera.The hike went pretty easy (until I got stuck in the snow and sprained my ankle-then the hike was a bit painful) but we were so exhausted we ended up taking a few mini naps during a few of our rest stops. 

Quite the exciting hike down this trip. We passed ridiculous amounts of bear poo on the trail and also came across a full mule skeleton. On top of the granite face we came across 2 hiking boots, boxers, jean jackact and wind breaker, a shirt, a belt buckle, and a pair of pants with a car keys and a pile of decaying papers in it. From the paper we were able to make out an insurance card and some money (no longer spendable). Kind of freaky so we kept the insurance card to find out more about it later.   

The rest of the way down went smoothly although we did get to camp later than we hoped simply because of how long it took us to hike. Not too late for Cliff to catch our first fish of the trip, though!

Cliff picked me a wildflower glass beach  bouquet

All the pictures from today

1st Decade

Casual day at home. Cliff, Burt, and I leave for vacation tonight so we're busy packing and Alex has been trying out his new presents before we head to dinner tonight with his mom.

I jokingly told Alex that we forgot to buy presents this year and he said he didn't care, he just wanted to be with his family (that's mah boy!). Of course, we did have presents for him and he seemed to really like them. New clothes, new swim trunks, new card game, and a new camera. Mamaw came by to pick up Evelyn for the week and also brought a present: a deluxe lego set- he's putting it together now.

Happy 10th Birthday, Alex. We love you very much!


*Waiting on any picture, from anyone. He loved his cake (it even tasted pretty good), and the restaurant thought it was so awesome that they actually took it to the back to show everyone-and many of them later came out to give compliments and ask how it was made.*

Poopy Day

Too much to do today. And, if we're being honest, yesterday, and the rest of the week.

We're leaving on Tuesday and today I was trying to get all the last minute stuff done. Finishing the house so it would be clean when we came home (and for Erin who's staying here to cover Cliff's absence at work), picking up the last minute items, baking Alex's birthday cake-which was a bust.

He asked me for a nintendo DS cake or a lasagna cake, and he wanted it to be carrot cake. I could of done a boring DS (I'm not artistic enough to draw a game being played so it would of been a DS turned off) and the lasagna just wasn't going to work with carrot cake.

In my searches however I came across a Fondant wrapped Garfield cake that I knew I could make look nice and Cliff had the idea to make a kitty litter cake so I was going to put Garfield in the kitty litter.

Well, last night Isaac kicked our sprinkler pipe and burst the line so we had no water while Cliff had to get the parts to fix it and then wait for it to dry. All this, plus 10,000 other things I was doing, really left me little time to do the Garfield (fondant doesn't sit well in the fridge and carrot cake is a nightmare to shape) so after showing Alex the litter cake he got really excited and we chose to just do that. With the poop of course.

Today, Erin arrived, I got all my errands completed *mostly*, and I made the cake. It looks like poo. Perfect.

For....5k

For a new body.

For my wedding. 

For a happy heart. 

For a hot mama body. 

For my daughters wedding. 

Walk it or run it, you're stronger than you think.

Weight Watchers Walk !t challenge 2011.
Mom and Debby signed up to attend but Debby couldn't get out of work so I went with mom. I figured even though I'm out of shape I could still walk 5k no problem. Might of been easier if I had worn my tried and true shoes instead of deciding to break a new pair in. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

All the same, I had a really good time.

Teresa

There was a hoard of people from Teresa's tribe and I think we became honorary members. She walked up to us (we were NOT in her custom black and pink tribe shirt) and had us sign-in in her book and made mom hold the sign directing everyone from her 'tribe' to where she was. Pushy group, but very peppy and maybe that works for most people, just not for me. It did become fun people watching the mass of tribe members though.

Over 700 people

We finished before this but then
I got the idea to run back and take
a picture-but then the SD card was
full.... It was a fiasco, but I got a
picture close to our actual time.

Apparently you could custom design your shirts in advance, and it was a lot of fun to read what had been put on their shirts as we passed them
(some I remembered quoted at the top of this post). We finished it in 57 minutes, which was good for our first race and the crazy large crowd.

I did however, gave myself a blister from my shoe and mild shin splints (that will teach me to not stretch) but the important thing was that I had a great time with my mom.

End of the World (as we know it)

At 6pm rapture began and judgment came lifting faithful followers up to heaven while everyone else was left in torment while the earth violently shook with earthquakes.

Oh wait, that didn't happen, silly Camper. You're getting senile in your old age.

She opened these bubbles and blew them all on her own

Relaxing, tired from running around the bounce house

Another beautiful day (that will be followed by a beautiful tomorrow) and we got to spend it on the ranch with the Stone's for Olivia's birthday. The kids had so much fun running around and playing in the bounce house. They also had a small toddler pool and all the kids had so much fun splashing in it then running through the bounce house.

Alex was such a great big brother. When he was playing in the water Evelyn REALLY wanted to join him so he came and carried her (she was afraid of some of the other kids and wouldn't walk) to the water and played with her. What's more, every time someone would splash or jump near her he would protect her (by shielding her or lifting her out of 'harms' way) and tell everyone to be more careful because "(his) baby sister is in the pool!". It truly warmed my heart.

The little kid thought it was funny to splash or spray people and Alex was trying so hard to be nice and not bossy towards him.  With Isaac's help, Evelyn was saved and had a great time playing in the pool, even solo. 

We had great food (divine deviled eggs), plenty of fun sugar for the kids (snow cones, cotton candy, brownies, rice crispy treats). We all had an awesome time!

Of course, more pictures are here.

I'll Make a Fan Out of You, Giant!

Look, it's baseball and yet he's still smiling.

Cliff got a ticket for box seating to watch the Giants vs. Athletics at the new AT&T Park.  And, since he was one of the first 20,000 fans that night, he even got his very own Giants snuggie. Oh joy...

Promotional Picture

Let me just say I am happy for him, because what an awesome experience it is. Let me also admit that my jealousy is through the roof. I LOVE the Giants AND the Athletics and last year when I tried to get him to go to a game with me he told me it's lame, baseball sucks, and IF he actually wanted to watch a game the Rivercats are closer and cheaper. Guess who's singing a different tune now.

I planned on listening to the game on the radio so I could hear about all the action Cliff was witnessing but I just didn't have the time... and as it turns out there really wasn't much action. Horrible game with no real action but lots of stupid errs (like hitting the batter). It went into extra innings with the Giants scoring the winning run at the bottom of the 10th for a final score of 2-1. Lame. Cliff left earlier in the 10th but heard all the whoops and hollers from the parking lot.

Cliff sported my pretty pink camera so that he could take all these lovely photos. 

I found out there was an agreement made at the park that whatever team won the game Cliff would start following. We now have a second Giants fan in the family.

Side Effects

I've been sick for the last 4 days. Not fun stuff, but after talking to my doctor yesterday they thought it was caused from my new prescription so they told me to quit it immediately. I did, and amazingly I got better almost just as quickly. Score. As a result of my sickness I've hardly eaten so this morning I was starving! Seemed like a good day to treat myself to Panera's Spinach Artichoke Souffle. Yummy! Surprisingly enough Evelyn even loved it. It was so nice just relaxing in Panera with Evelyn with no place to go. She was such a sweetheart and so much fun.

And for the first time ever, I let Evelyn have her own cup of iced tea (non-sweetened). It's EXTREMELY diluted with water, but she thought it was the best thing ever.

Somehow I even managed to catch her on video telling me all about a car that seemed to rub her the wrong way. Or maybe it was me who rubber her wrong for not knowing the car she was talking about.

Blame it on the Boogie

Play night number two!

Most the classes and dances tonight had props. Seriously cool, but I couldn't help but wonder why I didn't notice any props last night. There were basketballs (to the song space jam- fun piece), hats, bubbles.... It was a really fun to watch. We didn't get to the school as early as we did yesterday so it was a little harder finding a place to sit, but since I've been quite sick for the last 4 days we chose to sit in the last row anyway in case we had to cut out right after Alex's dance.

Yesterday, Cliff was on picture duty and I filmed it. Tonight we switched.

Alex did a great job and the whole class was a lot of fun to watch. Poodle skirts and swing dance lifts. Pure awesomeness! Alex looked like he was having a lot of fun, but true to form he still didn't smile. It's a family trait.

After the play, just like yesterday, we went out to get our shopping done for our trip. Daddy is way more fun than Mama and let Evelyn ride on the front of the cart. Not IN-ON.

Don't need a Riesen to hold on

Best seat in the house

More pictures from the two plays

Disco Ducks

Every year the school does a Tony Crane Dance performance. It's pretty cool watching the choregraphy and it's a way that all the kids in the school get an equal chance to participate on the stage (vs. traditional plays where those children who have better stage presence get lead parts and those, like my own kids who may be a bit more shy, would be a background non-speaking tree). Everyone has a lot of fun and they split the show to two days so it's not super long to sit through. Unfortunate though, when you have kids performing on different days like we did. Lady Ryder was really grumpy all day long, but she did really well considering she had to sit there early when we got our seats (and took Mr. Edward to practice with his class) and through the different classes. She was a little fussy and couldn't make up her mind who to sit with but finally started to get into the music and dancing by the last few songs. 

Mr. Edward's Class were the Disco Ducks. 

The whole class was absolutely adorable and they did such a great job. Mr. Edward was so excited about doing his dance and told me afterwards how he wished he could do it again. I had a couple thoughts about the dance: #1, why put the tallest kids in the front of the class. Mr. Edward was dwarfed by Jess, and Brian was dwarfed by Mr. Edward. Weird line up #2, no matter how much fun they are having neither of our kids smile on stage. Have to work on that one. Maybe this year Mr. Mann finally smiles. We'll find out tomorrow.

Lady Ryder insisted that we take her Dora backpack to the play. It was a nuisance trying to walk in with the crazy line of people, but leaving to say goodbye to Mr. Edward I realized it was rather adorable. 

Don't Try This at Home or What Time is it?

Lazy Saturday morning spent cleaning up the house and in the process Cliff finds a glove and resist the urge to put it on his head and make the kids giggle.... followed by my stern warning about how dangerous and stupid putting anything, especially plastic, over your head is.

We used the afternoon to help the boys finish their homework. There's something about homework on a Saturday that brings out the rushing. Isaac knows his times but this is a copy of one of the last pages he did (the other pages were all right).

90:12 is that am or pm?

Zero o'clock

Bert joined us for dinner (chicken tacos) and we made plans for our backpacking trip and played canasta. Great fun, even though he whooped our butts. Great day.