So Blue

Today Ella is spending the day at Chloe's house, so Delia and I went on a special outing together.  Blueberries are actually the one fruit Ella does not like, but they are one of Delia's favorites, so we went berry picking!  Delia was a great blueberry picking partner and had me laughing all morning with her enthusiasm.

Though we spent over an hour in the fields, we took just over a pound of blueberries home.  Why?  Delia's picking strategy was "put one in my mouth, then put one in my bucket."  Then, when I examined her empty bucket and asked, "Delia where are all your blueberries?" she said, "Oh, I accidentally ate them." (Very Blueberries for Sal!)

Picking blueberries is actually hard work!  There are about 10 different shades of green/red/blue/purple and getting ones that were perfectly sweet and ripe was tricky.  When Delia would find, and sample, a clump of those darkest blue ones, she'd exclaim, "Mom! You gotta try these!"

It's been a while since I've shared a recipe and because I'll be using this one in the next few days, thought I'd pass it along.  For years I searched for an outstanding muffin recipe.  This one, from Jetta, is my new favorite!

Berry Best Blueberry Muffins

1 cup sugar

1 Tbs. soft butter

1 egg

1 cup sour cream

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

dash salt

1 1/2- 2 cups blueberries.

Sift dry ingredients together.  Mix wet ingredients.  Combine.  Fold in blueberries.  Pour into greased or papered muffin pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until tops of muffins are set.  Makes 1 dozen muffins.  (These muffins are best eaten warm and fresh, straight from the oven. When they rest even a day, they get a little mushy.)

Required Fun for Summer

Ever since we returned home from camping last week, Delia has been sick.  Yesterday afternoon she finally perked up and today has been back to her normal self.  Because we've been just laying around and taking it easy, we were more than ready to leave the house for a destination other than the doctor.  We're well into summer, but haven't had time for a trip to the fountain park yet, so off we went!

Though it's been summer for a month and we've already had a whole ton of summer fun, with today's outing, we kept saying, "It feels like summer now!"

Guess Who

Ella's crazy imagination + a sizeable trunk of dress up clothes =

Recognize her?

It's Candy Land's Princess Frostine, of course!

Happy Campers

From these continuous vacation posts, you are probably getting an idea of what our summer calendar looks like.  You are right to assume that we jump from one fun thing to the next with few days in between.  This week, it was our family camping trip to Pinecrest.  Since we soared into triple digits here this week, we couldn't have been happier to drive off into the mountains where it was 30 degrees cooler.

Our campsite this year was huge!  The girls had ample room to run around and one giant log provided hours of pretend play-- circus tight rope, pirate's plank, gymnast's beam. We also attracted some little neighbor campers to our site, so the girls had fun playing with some new buddies.

 

We passed lots of time playing cards, as you are supposed to do when camping.  For this stage of life, it's Crazy 8s, War, Go Fish and Uno.  I can't wait for the day when we can introduce the girls to competitive games of Canasta, Euchre and Phase 10.

I'm actually a super organized packer, but since I've packed up the whole family three times in one month now, I was a little sloppier this time around.  I ended up forgetting all the flashlights and batteries for lanterns.  When the sun set, our fun had to be done...or so we thought.  We found a very entertaining game involving a black tent, a camera flash and some surprise goofy faces.  Here's one I captured from Ella in our no-lights fun!

 The big thing we tackled this year was a hike around the entire lake.  I do mean BIG-- the hike was 4.2 miles, the longest one the girls have ever taken unassisted.  They had their moments, but mostly they were troopers and we are encouraged that longer hikes will continue to be in our family's future!

Ella found a cool walking stick and was inspired to strike some interesting "hiker girl" poses with it!

The sights of the hike made it a pleasurable one.  The terrain was varied, from needle covered forest trails to rock climbing in the sun.  Several times we had to either plan careful steps on rocks, or, like Delia, just plunge our shoes into bubbly streams of snow-melt.  A lovely view of the blue mountain lake went with us the entire hike.

Pinecrest Lake is actually a dammed river.  Our favorite was the footbridge over the roaring river that feeds into the lake.

The hike was also enhanced by hundreds of Swallowtails fluttering around.  We often plan destinations that boast migrating Monarchs, but this week in Pinecrest saw more butterflies than any other intentional butterfly hike we've gone on.  Dave said he felt like he was in a butterfly garden.

After such a long, hot hike, we enjoyed a dip in the cool lake.

Again, I'm serious about the word "cool".  The water was a refreshing 55 degrees.  You can actually see some snow on the rocks behind Ella!  How are kids so resilient when it comes to swimming in cold water?  While Dave and I could hardly stand splashing the numbing water on us, the girls charged right in and played all afternoon!

When it comes to setting up a nice camp (well, except for bringing lights for when it gets dark!) and campfire cooking, I have to say we shine.  Good thing, because when it comes to fishing, we're quite lacking.  For our 3rd try, we still didn't get a single bite!  Oh well, I guess there's always next year!

Train Day

Just as we look forward to our day at the beach, we also love the tradition of Train Day.  This day is spent taking an hour long, open air train ride, through the Redwood forest, down the hills to the Santa Cruz boardwalk.  The girls love the excitement of riding the train with their friends and the sights and smells of the boardwalk, I love the peace of 2 hours of riding (there and back) to just sit and chat, or watch the sun shift through the trees.

I've been saving some news about what made family camp extra special for us this year-- Jeff, Amy, Jonathan, Grace and Benjamin were able to come at the last minute!  Though we got to see them continuously throughout the week, we made sure we spent Train Day with Amy's family.

I was excited for Teri and Amy, two of my best friends, to finally meet.  We enjoyed the company of these two favorite families on this day.

On the boardwalk, things were a little different this year.  Having just done Disneyland, I didn't really want to buy all those tickets for the girls to ride the little boardwalk rides.  We spent our time just strolling around and taking it all in.

The girls used a little Mount Hermon cash Gramma Jean had given them to pick just one ride. They decided to ride the helicopters together and spent the whole time making it jump up and down with the controls and shrieking with laughter.

Mount Hermon did something new this year too in giving us Boardwalk Bucks-- vouchers we could spend on food.  Since this is a special day, we decided to have ice cream for lunch!

Mount Hermon does its best to wear us out!  By this time in the week, I always love the opportunity to just chill on the train and have some quiet time on the ride back up the hill.

Beach Day

As we do every year, the girls and I joined our friends in an afternoon off Mount Hermon property at the Santa Cruz beach.  This trip to the beach is designed to meet up with Dave and the HiCampers, so we enjoy spending some time with him.

What fun we had this year!  I hardly had our blanket and chairs spread out before Delia was buried.

A game of "You can't get me!" was played with the waves, Delia always running the entire stretch of sand to dramatically escape.

And the hunt for sand crabs was on.  We filled the giant bucket with hundreds of them!

Since the sun was sizzling and the girls seemed up for tackling all new things, we actually ventured into the icy ocean for a while.  The girls jumped waves and tried to stay on their feet as the surf came crashing in. 

After we left, Dave was swimming when a seal popped up right next to him!  For our few hours at the beach, though, the sand crabs and pelicans were the only wildlife we spotted.

We love our day in the surf, sand and sun!

Banana Slug Love

Besides the fellowship, another thing I love about Mount Hermon is the cabin we always stay in, which is a complete retreat in the woods.  I've written before about the bubbling brook that flows right beneath it, the sound of which soothes us to sleep each night.  I love looking out our wall of windows and seeing nothing but giant trees.  On the path up to our little cabin in the woods this year, we found the infamous Mount Hermon banana slug every day.

I believe banana slugs are only found in this coastal region of California.  They are fat and can stretch out to several inches long, or squish up into a ball.  They are bright yellow and secrete a substance a lot like rubber cement.  They are fascinating and always a treat to find! 

It is known around Mount Hermon that if you are to spot the special banana slug, the thing to do is kiss it!  Since we were finding so many this week and getting braver about touching and holding them, slime and all, Ella decided this was the year to take the dare! 

Yes, Ella is now a member of Mount Hermon's "I Kissed a Banana Slug Club"!  She thought it was hilarious that she did such a crazy thing and proudly brags about it now.

To remember our year of abundant banana slugs and Ella's oozy lip lock, the girls got some chocolate slug suckers from the bookshop.  Oh, the things you'll do at summer camp!

Mount Hermon 2011

In The Fountain Ice Cream Shop this week, Ella found a new favorite flavor-- heaven.  It's actually called heaven and is vanilla ice cream with peanut butter swirls and chunks of brownies.  Ordering even just a kiddie scoop of this was a tremendous treat. 

At our end of the week communion service, we were encouraged to reflect on how God has worked in our lives during our week at Mount Hermon.  I thought of Ella's kiddie scoop of heaven.  Mount Hermon is as close to heaven as I can imagine-- breathtaking creation, sharing meals with brothers and sisters, total security that my kids are safe and happy even when they run around without my supervision, hearing sermons and singing hymns that make me cry at the depth of God's grace, meeting fellow believers, sharing our stories, laughing, hugging, feeling so connected to one another and God.  The week flies by, but the kiddie scoop of heaven that Mount Hermon gives me, Ella and Delia leaves us longing for next year and eventually for eternity when we'll get to enjoy more than just a taste of this.

So, here are some pictures and favorite memories that were part of our scoop of heaven this week:

At the carnival and BBQ the first night, Ella had the "I heart Mount Hermon" painted on her face that she decided on a long time ago.  This year, Delia was "brave of bouncy houses!" and kept returning to jump without fear.

This was my most different year at Mount Hermon.  A lot of Mount Hermon in the past has been about juggling the girls' needs on my own and surviving the inevitable fatigue.  But, the girls' older ages and 4 years of experience brought them so much more independence and new opportunities this year.  Ella was old enough to try the Discovery Grove Ropes Course, about 20 feet off the ground in the Redwoods.  She didn't make it all the way across the 6 dangling obstacles, but I'm proud of her for giving it a try.

Ella also graduated from Child Care to Day Camp.  Day camp is a separate program for 1st-6th graders. The counselors are wackier, the Bible studies are more intense and the activities are for big kids.  She especially loved the giant slip and slide.

Delia moved up too, from the toddler room (which was very nursery like) to a preschool class.  She also had her best year yet of letting go and joyfully dancing into class each day.  She loved playing dress up and singing silly songs.  There was one counselor, Lizard, who she totally bonded with.

The girls did a lot more walking on their own and a lot less napping.  They ate with their friends at the kids' table and needed me a lot less, in general.  It made me happy to see how comfortable they are at Mount Hermon and how much they love being there.  Even so, there were times I missed having them so attached to me, so I really treasured the down time we got to spend in our little cabin, playing cards, coloring and snuggling up with stories.

Of course, a favorite part of family camp is getting a few windows of time to spend with Dave.  On his day off from counseling high schoolers at HiCamp, he was able to join us for some time in the pool.  Again, a difference this year was watching big girl Delia paddle around with just her floaties and big girl Ella practice her underwater swimming.

Another highlight is always the night we have a whole camp singalong and bonfire.  I was delighted that one of the goofy songs they taught us this year was about Mrs. O'Leary and her lantern-kicking cow-- a song we grew up singing in Chicago! 

One difference in this year's end of the week program was that Delia finally got on stage!  She was so excited to say her Bible verse and sing "Our God is so BIG, so STRONG and so MIGHTY!"  One thing that was actually the same as last year was that Ella was picked to be interviewed again.  This year she shared what she learned about God ("That no matter where we are, or where we go, God goes with us.")

On our last night, we had a birthday in our group, so we planned a little surprise party at The Fountain.  The kids dove into a Mudslide-- a sundae with 8 scoops of ice cream!

For me, the best part of Mount Hermon is the fellowship.  Each year, I fall in love with all the good friends I get to share this experience with, all over again.  These are amazing people!  The kids get along so great and the older ones are so wonderful with the younger ones.

Last night Ella prayed with tears, "Dear God, please let this next year go super fast so we can be at Mount Hermon again soon."  Our week of heaven is sadly over, but the stories are not.  I have a few more to share, so stay tuned!