Our Vacation Notes

Okay... have ya missed me? Okay, don't answer that... I might not like what you have to say... just humor me.

Jet lag is starting to wear off.... although the kids are still in the midst of testing the waters. What kid doesn't though?

Vacation was great (aside from me getting sick.... take a stressed out mom, add Dad to the mix and the body just shuts down.... more or less) The flight there stressed me out.. but it was so nice to be there finally!

The kids had a wonderful time getting to know and play with their cousins. Haley and Gabi really took over with great imaginations and lots if pool time. We even went to several places (sorry, I've not gone through the pictures yet).

Some favorites:

We hiked the kids about 5 or 6 miles (it wasn't suppose to be that long.... Bob planned the trip.... go figure) to find some old train tunnels. The tracks had long since been taken up and the Biz Johnson trail put in. It was hot and dusty, so when we finally came to the tunnels it was not only a great site, but it felt incredible! This was exciting for everyone (although especially so for Jeremy - our train man).

We went to Subway Caves (an old lava flow). It was neat to take the lanterns and hike with kids into the dark. We even gathered everyone around, turned off the lanterns and flashlights and showed the kids just how dark it was. It was neat to learn that while the lava was flowing the outer layer cooled much faster (makes sense) and the lava underneath continued to flow. That's what created such a neat "cave" to walk through! This was only one part of the volcano experiences for Gabi!

Fishing at Crater Lake (a true volcano crater which was then stocked with fish) was a lot of fun. All the kids (save the babies) caught fish... which we were able to actually eat a few days later! More fishing was done later in smaller groups with Bob, and that fish was turned into "fish sticks" which the kids really enjoyed!

There was obviously time to play in the river... where Bob and Adam spent some time working on the man-made damn.... making a slightly deeper swimming hole.. but only slightly! :)

Burney Falls was fun....although we didn't actually hike it this time (we did 4 years ago and it was great fun). We were able to see the large cascade of water... then headed over to the lake right there and let the kids play. Sandcastles were built... Bob threw his sister into the water.... boats raced by creating larger waves to play in... it was a nice way to cool off.

Later on, Bob took Gabi to hike Mt. Lassen... that was the volcano she'd been promised to climb. At first I was kind of hoping the whole family would go, but some how I realized Bob wasn't joking when he let us know that it was really not for younger kids. Gabi loved it... and really did hike the whole thing herself (with Bob beside her)! She doesn't have any sneakers now, since her feet had grown and with the rough hike she had wide open toes! They took some good pictures, so I was able to get a "virtual tour" of the hike. She was so excited that not only did she get to go up the volcano, but she also got to go into the crater at the top of the volcano. She even checked out the mud pots! (Boiling muddy holes... or so I understand)

Our family had a nice time going up Diamond Mountain.... where (after driving an hour or more) we came to the top. We were able to go up on a fire lookout and see an awesome view! Then headed out to the meadows where we played for a while before heading back down!

Back at Grandma's and Grandpa's, we were introduced to "Stomp Rockets!" If you've never heard of them before, check them out... just google it. They have a website so I'm sure you can pull it up. It was great to see everyone having a great time jumping on the bladder just as hard as they could to see who could go the farthest and who could keep it in the air the longest. The kids where laughing right along and got off some pretty good shots themselves!

We also got to do "guisers"..... take come diet coke, had some mentos, all while having a tube attached to the top and see the liquid shoot up really high. It doesn't last long, but it sure was fun.... especially watching the kids pull the string and run just as fast as they could to get out of the way of the spray!

Our family also made the trip down to Sacramento. There we met up with my sister and her family and went to the zoo. It wasn't too big, but considering how hot it was, that was okay. We did get to ride the "zoo train" which was (of course) a big deal for Jeremy!

We then headed over where the bulk of us met Aunt Colleen for the first time! She was such a neat woman.... I really enjoyed our visit with her!

The next morning we went to the Train Museum! This was what Jeremy had been looking forward to.... and although Gabi complained that she didn't want to go, she had a good time too! It was set up with all sorts of exhibits telling about the history of the trains, and of course, with several of the old retired trains. Many we were allowed to walk on and see what went on in them and how they were set up .... like the dining car, the sleeper car, the mail car..... and there was the "monster train".... that's my own title! It was designed to pull the cold cars over the Donner Pass... through lots of tunnels... both wooden built and rock blasted! It was huge! The the stairs was a whole section of toy trains.... with a wooden Thomas set up for the kids to actually play with (which was the cause of Jeremy running off by himself, tripping and falling head first into the corner of a display case... ouch.... the bump he had was horrible).

That afternoon we headed out to Fairytale Town....kind of like StoryLand, only the things were really just set up for climbing on... no rides or real activities. It was cute, for what it was, and the kids still had fun there.

We even took the kids to the Donner State Park... not that they were all that interested, but while we were in the area, hey, why not. And then we took them to Cabela's just to see all the stuffed wildlife there... they loved that!

Okay.... well that's our vacation in a nut shell.... I guess now we can move on to whatever comes up in the here and now! :)