Friend Week

Guess what?  We've actually been home and relatively un-busy for two whole weeks in a row!  The 14 days we just concluded were the blankest ones on our summer calendar, so we filled them up with lots of play dates, sleepovers and dinners with friends!  

We loved sharing dinner, Dutch Trains, and coconut ice cream with Sara, Arend and Anja on Monday.  We got to know our summer intern pastor and his family even better when we visited their home for dinner on Wednesday.  Ella and Delia even stayed overnight for a much-anticipated sleepover with Pastor Robert's 3 daughters.  And last night, we were so blessed with a night of swimming, conversation, and perfect summer food at our dear friends, Jeff, Amy, Jonathan, Grace, and Benjamin's house.  

These pictures of our friends' baby bunnies are actually from the beginning of summer, but since I don't have any shots of this week's friend activity, I'm gonna use them here.  They're not entirely inappropriate since the girls spent all day Sunday playing at Jetta's house and we're headed back there tonight... 

It's been a very nice 2 weeks of relaxing and reconnecting!  And, speaking of 2 weeks-- that's all we have left!  It is impossible to believe that our summer is nearly over!

Did You Know?

...That July is "National Ice Cream Month"?  Well, now you know and you still have a few days to celebrate!  

As relaxing as these past few weeks have been, ALL the time at home reading, playing, doing chores, watching marathons of TV shows, etc. has given me the Outing Itch.  Dave came to the rescue by suggesting we try out this new Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Outlet, just for the sake of getting me out of the house and honoring ice cream this month.  

Unfortunately, now that we've seen it, there is no way of unknowing that this piece of chocolate and ice cream heaven exists so near to us-- dangerous knowledge indeed! :)

Star Wars School

Okay, here's the story about why our youngest is obsessed with Star Wars.  Back in kindergarten, Delia gravitated more to playing with the boys.  When the boys, who would play Star Wars every recess, figured out that Delia could be their queen, they welcomed her with open arms.  I'd meet moms of her male classmates at school who would say, "Oh, you're Delia's mom!  She's the Queen!"  For years now, Delia has been talking about Star Wars-- all of it second-hand stuff she learned from the boys.  She knew about "Dark Vader" and "Light Savers" and that wrinkly guy who talks funny.

Well, we decided that for the week of her 7th birthday we'd finally treat her to a little (old) Star Wars movie marathon (this was actually a treat for me too, since I've never seen them).  For one week Star Wars became our life.  Yes, this is the most violent and intense thing the girls have ever watched, but Dave pressed pause many times to explain things and check that they were doing all right.  

Perfectly timed with the movie marathon was the arrival of a couple Star Wars birthday presents.  Auntie Kris and family sent this pack of Star Wars characters.  They have been getting played with every single day, but not in the way you might imagine.  They don't fight and no one dies.  Instead they do things like go to Star Wars School...

The girls told me that in this scenario Han, Luke, R2D2, and CP3O are learning about how to use a Lightsaber.  Darth Vader is the teacher and Chewbacca is the TA.  The Star Wars guys have been busy doing lots of other things I don't have pictures of too-- like attending a performance that Ballerina Barbie put on.  

Dave and I are quite amused!

Delia's Perfect Party

Well, since Ella had a friend party in May, it was only fair to let Delia have one for her birthday too.  Because her birthday fell immediately following vacation, like Ella, I wanted something stress-free and easy.  When I learned that the dance studio she's been attending hosts parties for little ballerinas for an extremely reasonable rate, I jumped (jete'd?) all over it!

The dance studio was awesome, providing all the decorations and entertainment.  I pretty much just made invitations, got the food, and showed up.  Delia was excited to invite 10 girls from her 1st grade class.  With summer vacation, I was expecting about half of them to be around.  Nope!  We got 9!

A birthday party post is incomplete without a shot of our food table!    Ella and Delia helped me come up with the menu and fun food names.  And that concludes the description of what I was responsible for...

 While the girls arrived at the studio, they decorated a huge birthday sign for Delia.

Then the girls got a work out for an hour!  They showed off their hula hooping skills and played "Musical Hoops".  

They played "Freeze Dance" with fancy ribbons and "Keep the Balloons in the Air".  Then they learned a short choreographed ballet routine to the song "Let it Go".  I couldn't have planned a more perfect party for Delia if I had done it all on my own!  I loved how active the girls stayed, exercising for an hour straight and smiling the whole time!

Plie Pizza and Ballerina Berry time!  Our dance studio has two rooms, the girls danced in one room and ate in the other.  This room was dark because it had a mirror ball twirling from the ceiling!

 I'm not sure what Delia could have wished for because I think this party was all her wishes come true!

Delia opened up a pile of fun and thoughtful presents and then gave each of her friends a small "Thanks for Coming" favor: candies and a ballerina bracelet (which our dance studio hosts provided) and the Fancy Nancy, Budding Ballerina book (which we added, thinking it would be just perfect).

It was a beautiful thing to just let the dance studio plan and execute such a superb party for us!  Delia was super excited for this day, but admits that even her huge expectations were exceeded.  I celebrate the 7 years of joy we've had with Delia in our lives; a tailor-made event that made her feel special and happy; and the fact that I am off the party-hook for a least a couple years now! :)

Interview with Delia at 7 Years!

Age: 7

Favorite colors: pink and blue

Favorite food: Candy

Favorite book: Frog Wars and the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia

Favorite movie: Frozen

Favorite song: "Let it Go"

Favorite thing to play: Just Dance on the Wii

Favorite part of school: Recess and snack time

What I want to be when I grow up: A ballerina in the Nutcracker

The perfect day is: My birthday!  (Open presents, have a party, watch Star Wars, eat favorite foods)

My best friends are: Anika, Naomi, Starlyn, Gianna

I hope when I'm 7, I'll...  get even better at dancing and go to Disneyland!

Interview with Ella at 9 Years!

I am quite tardy in getting this "birthday" post out for Ella.  We've been so busy, I just recently got the girls' yearly pictures taken.  So, I guess this can more accurately be described as a glimpse of Ella at 9 years and 2 months...

Age: 9

Favorite colors: Light blueish and neon green

Favorite food: Still Mac and Cheese

Favorite book: Ever After High

Favorite movie: Frozen

Favorite song: "Happy"

Favorite thing to play: Basketball and anything I can build or set up (like skits for Mom and Dad)

Favorite part of school: Art and Bible

What I want to be when I grow up: An artist or a marine biologist

The perfect day is: First we'd go to the Mount Hermon pool, then we'd eat lunch at Panera Bread and we'd end the day ice skating.

My best friends are: Avery, Chloe, Olivia, and Emilia

I hope when I'm 9, I'll...  run in another race.

Obsidian Dome and Mono Lake

On this our last day, we made our way home slowly by stopping at some more interesting and beautiful sites.

First stop was at Obsidian Dome.  Here we found a mountain of glassy, black boulders.  The kids were super excited to climb the Obsidian rock stack.  They would have scrambled straight to the top if we would have let them.  Yes, there is another geologic explanation for why this strange heap of Obsidian lies where it does, but I'll spare you this one! :)

Then we checked out what ended up being my favorite stop of the whole week-- the Tufa Reserve at Mono Lake.  I'd use my thesaurus to come up with a different word, but, over-used or not, "AMAZING!" is the best one to describe the views here.

This hike was also a non-strenuous one, more of a stroll than a hike and with no shortage of grand things to take in (including that sky!  Isn't it awesome?).

Okay, so here's the scoop on this strange lake.  It once had 7 different inlets feeding it, but in the 70's some of our state's big cities started redirecting and draining those sources for their own water use.  This made Mono Lake shrink to half of its original size.  Its salt content became much higher as its water quickly evaporated in the dry high altitude.  Also, these hardened calcium towers, called tufa, made from underwater springs, became exposed.

Kind of astonishing that where we stood and hiked (and for probably at least a half mile out from shore) used to be underwater at one time!

Because the lake has such a high salt content, nothing lives in it anymore except some brine shrimp, which the girls were catching.

The story of this now-dead lake is kind of a sad one, but it sure makes a cool landscape to walk around!

Rock Creek Hike

Though this day was cloudy and drizzly, it was still another beautiful one spent hiking around a cool area called Rock Creek.  This was a very easy 1.5 mile looping hike that followed a path around a lake.

The lake had several creeks running in and out of it and much of the land was marshy, so the neatest part of this hike was crossing the many bridges.  Some were intentionally placed planks and some were rickety lined-up logs.  Each crossing was an adventure!

The best part of this hike was all the wildflowers!  We kept bumping into a local couple who told us this is the very best time to visit Rock Creek because the flowers are at their best.  The girls were challenged to find every color of the rainbow and they very easily succeeded.

Majestic mountains, bubbling hot springs, clear blue lakes, impressive rock formations, cascading waterfalls, mountaintop snow fields, and meadows of wildflowers.  We saw a little bit of everything on this vacation.  And it was all marvelous.

Scenic Gondola Ride

When visiting a ski resort in the summer, it feels like a must to take their gondola ride up to the top of the highest mountain, even though it's pretty pricey.  But, the girls were free and we had a discount with our Devil's Postpile tickets, so we felt okay about it.

  

We zoomed out of the Mammoth Adventure Center and started climbing up, up, up immediately.  It was exciting enough to make us throw our hands in the air and squeal.

It was a little freaky too.  Especially when the wind made the gondola sway around.  But, the views were amazing, as long as you kept your eyes fixed on the mountains in the horizon, and not the ground far below!

The summit is over 11,000 ft. and I could feel the difference in the air when we got out.

A short hike led to this view of the string of lakes that give the town Mammoth Lakes its name.  Actually, one of them is Lake Mary-- the one we kayaked on in the morning!

The girls favorite part of this experience was finding snow at the top!  They had a snow ball fight and then had the brilliant idea to make summer-loving Olaf the snowman.

This became one of the my favorite memories of the whole trip.  We started talking about how our nephews' school did a music video to the song "Happy", showing kids dancing in all areas of the campus.  The girls decided in a gondola 11,000 ft. up would be a good place to show off their own "Happy" dance moves!