Pinecrest 2013

This week we enjoyed our annual family camping trip to the mountains.  And this was one of our best years!  We slept great, the kids stayed happy, the weather was kinda perfect (cloudy and a little drizzly during the days and warm at night), and the activities we chose to keep busy were different and super fun. 

On the afternoon/evening that we arrived, we set up camp while listening to the fantastic rumbling of thunder.  Then we jumped right into all those things that you look forward to doing when you plan a camping trip...

 There was some of this.

 And this.

 And, of course, this!

 And my personal favorite.

 When we wore ourselves out building camp, climbing boulders, playing cards, roasting foods over the fire and reading till a flashlight became necessary, we moved into our cozy tent.  The girls invented this ingenious method of reading in bed!

The next day we drove up the mountain to a pack station that owns and loans their horses for trips.  Though the girls are not old enough to take a guided horseback trip through the mountains, this place did offer a "Lead Horse" option for the little ones.  For just $10, and for as long as we wanted, Dave and I could lead horses carrying the girls through the nearby meadow and around all the local paths.  This was such an awesome find!  The girls absolutely fell in love with their horses and were completely delighted to take a leisurely ride around while Dave and I enjoyed the beautiful hike and challenge of adding Hobo and Hazel to our group.

 Delia rode Hazel, who was introduced to us as "an oldie, but goodie".  Hazel and Delia were kindred spirits.  They both need A LOT of coaxing to keep moving and they are both obsessed with stopping to take a break and enjoy a snack.  I led these two around.

 Ella rode Hobo, who was very attentive and obedient.  Delia thought it was Dave's leading method that kept Ella moving while she was stuck.  She kept asking me and daddy to switch.  I assured her it was not me, it was her strong-willed horse.  I'm really hoping there was some life lesson in all this for Delia! :)

 While we were thrilled at what a deal and treat this was for us, we thought the ranch must feel indebted to us.  The reality is we paid them to exercise and feed their horses for an hour!

After horse back riding and lunch back at camp, it was time to hit the beach.  Again, overcast and just a tiny bit rainy, this was actually the perfect day.  It was not too hot or crowded.

Swimming, giant hole digging, snacking and more reading were enjoyed on this afternoon.

 And the water was warm enough that we all got in all the way and actually swam out to the buoys.

Later in the afternoon, we rented a paddle boat-- something we haven't done in years.  The first time we tried this, I was sweating trying to keep a wiggly and not-quite-3 year old Delia from falling off the back.  No worries this year!

In fact, Dave and I had the best surprise of the trip when we realized the girls were desperate to paddle and tall enough to do so!  So, we let our children just paddle us around the lake while we relaxed on the back with our feet trailing in the water.  HEAVEN!

 When we rearranged the paddlers again and Delia moved to sit up front, we had a good laugh when she busted out the "I'm the king of the world!" line she learned at Mount Hermon this year.  Could that really be any funnier than on a barely moving paddle boat?

Back at camp we found that some friends had moved into the campsites right next to ours-- two families we know from school!  All our kids merged together to form one giant group of 8 and played hide and go seek while we made and cleaned up dinner.  Then we all took a nice walk back down to the lake to visit for a while and watch the kids play by the water.  (Our friends, and not a timer for once!, took this family pic.)

One of our favorite things about Pinecrest is their outdoor amphitheater where they show current movies for a reasonable price.  When we are not too exhausted and the movie is one we're excited to see, this is an experience we love to indulge in.  On this night, the movie was Despicable Me 2.  Sitting outside, watching bats swoop into the light of the projector, surrounded by the shadows of trees and stars-- this is my favorite way to watch a movie!  And this movie was a really good one.

On our last day, Ella finished the last bracelet in the bracelet making kit Grandma and Grandpa gave her for her birthday.  That's 8 bracelets she weaved while sitting by the campfire this week!

We set out to do something else new for our family: hide a geocache.  We've found plenty of them, but never put our own into play.  At home we designed a geocache entitled "Bored While Camping?" that will hopefully be interesting for kids.  We secured it in a container and placed it a short hike from the campsite loops.  We envision families who like camping and geocaching together going on a hunt for ours.  If you're ever at N 38 degrees 71.511 and W 119 degrees 59.857 and want to give finding ours a shot, go for it!  The clue we'll enter online is "Don't get stumped!  Look in the baby bear boulder, behind the mama bear boulder, behind the papa bear boulder."  And that is all I will tell you.

It's work. Camping never comes easy, but this year the work seemed especially worth it.  As the girls continue to mature and surprise us with things (like being willing to take over the paddle boat paddling!), we trust it will just keep getting better and better.  So, see you next summer Pinecrest!

A Happy Hubby

Dave got some exciting mail today!  It was ordered back in June for many reasons.  

Because the Blackhawks are Dave's all-time favorite team.  

Because they won the Stanley Cup this year!  

Because this August marks 10 years that Dave has been an ordained minister.  

And because we needed an awesome Father's Day gift to celebrate what an awesome daddy he is.

The white is because he's away from Chicago.
The 03 is the year he became a pastor.
The A is for "Assistant" (or "Associate" in his case).
And the P. Dave is pretty self-explanatory.

It was fun to see Dave finally open this authentic Hawks jersey and try it on.  We think it's something he'll proudly hold onto his entire life.

"Secret" San Francisco

This week's outing was into the city.  But, this trip was very different than any of our previous visits.  Today's goal was to stay off the beaten path and avoid anything that we've seen and done before.  So, no Pier 39 for us.  No Golden Gate Bridge.  No clam chowder, cable car rides, Painted Ladies or Union Square.  Our GPS and sense of adventure got a workout as we hunted down and had a blast at these 7 random stops.

First, we found the "secret" slides.  These are some crazy, 30 year old, concrete slides right in the middle of a neighborhood.  They were built into a hill and have been delighting visitors adventurous enough to hunt them down for decades.  Only one other family was there with us.  We screamed with laughter as we raced down the steep slides on cardboard left by other visitors.

Stop #2 was at a place the girls are calling "The Enchanted Stairs".  This is a cool community mosaic project I read about, found right in the middle of another neighborhood.  And once again, two gals working out were the only ones there besides us.  The beautiful mural on the steps progresses from water to land to sky to space.

The girls quickly raced up all those steps (with their young and perfect knees) and celebrated making it to the top of the sun.  The view at the top was awesome.  This neighborhood was near the ocean.

Our third stop was at the Wave Organ.  This was strange, but definitely interesting to see.  Some innovative sculptor made this monstrous instrument out of shattered tombstones.  It has pipes running all over it that allow you to listen to the underwater moans and creaks of the waves and tide coming in.

The Wave Organ is found out on a jetty in the bay, so it's super windy, but the views of the bridges and Alcatraz were great.

Our fourth stop was not really a "secret", but it's one we've never been to with the girls before-- the Cable Car Museum.  While hunting this place down is not hard, finding a parking place certainly is!  But, we persevered and enjoyed a quick stop at this small and free museum where you can see the giant wheels that pull the underground cables and learn about the history of this SF icon.

My friend Amy tipped us off about about stop #5-- this great park right across from the Cable Car Museum.  The girls dubbed it "The String Park" and gleefully explored all the super-unique climbing equipment.

All our stops were random, but stop #6 was totally off the beaten path-- it was one we had to find by walking through the back alleyways of Chinatown.  The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory is not a traditional "factory", but it was still completely worth the visit.  This place was more of a long hallway where just a few people at a time could stop in and see 4 ladies making fortune cookies right there.  With the hot cookie presses, it reminded us of Stroopwafels.  The most interesting part was watching what happens by hand-- all the fortune stuffing and cookie folding.  For $.50 we could take a picture in the place and were rewarded with some warm, unfolded cookie samples right off the press.  We bought a few bags to take home too.  The chocolates ones are especially good!

We walked several blocks around Chinatown.  It was fun to so quickly be submerged in a foreign culture.  We could read very few signs and passed lots of food places selling unfamiliar stuff to eat.  The girls really liked it.

Our last stop may not have been such a "secret" either, but again, it was new to us.  Friends recommended eating at The Stinking Rose, so we gave it a try.  What a fun restaurant!  With its pictures of crossed out vampires, its motto "We season our garlic with food" and its record holding 800+ pound garlic chain twisting all around the dinning rooms, this place sure had character!  It had good food too.

Dave and I approached this day with the idea that the random list we put together would just be a guideline.  We gave ourselves permission to skip stops if a neighborhood looked uncertain, parking was unavailable or we just couldn't find it.  But that was not the case!  Each stop was easy, safe and free and, except for the bridge tolls, fortune cookies and dinner, this was a free day!  The girls really got into the spirit of hunting down "secret" places to visit, and being excited about what we found.  So, I'd label this day as a success and one we're glad we attempted!

Get to Know a SIX Year Old Delia

The following is the annual interview with Delia and peek at her portraits.  Though she will tell you that she's terrible at school stuff, we've seen a ton of growth in Delia this year.  She reads, writes a little, knows quite a bit of math, is getting more passionate about her faith and continues to develop independence in taking care of herself and her things.  Delia is certainly growing up, yet she keeps her feisty streak and makes sure each day is interesting and full of laughter, dancing, imagination and fun!  

Age: 6

Favorite colors: blue and pink

Favorite food: "Favorite soup" (chicken corn tortilla soup)

Favorite book: Arnie the Doughnut

Favorite movie: Tarzan

Favorite Song: "A Whole New World"

Favorite thing to play: Polly Pockets

Favorite Part of School: Snack time and recess!

What I want to be when I grow up: A vet

The perfect day is: to open presents and see animals and eat doughnuts, ice cream and cotton candy 

My best friends are: Riley, Anika, Brittany, and Jared

I hope when I'm 6, I'll... be a better reader