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! :)

Back..... With Jet Lag

Well we're back. I'd say that with more enthusiasm, but the idea of getting back to the grind of every day life isn't all that appealing. I'm suffering from jet lag... I knew it could be bad, but I had never experienced it like this before. So I'm just dragging. Bob doesn't have that luxury. He was back to work today.

We were very lucky... and blessed... a couple of friends tidied up and cleaned the main portion of our house! It was so nice to walk into the clean area... especially where we left it in worse condition then it normally is in on a daily basis! Thanks so much you guys! We've even, so far, been able to keep up with some of it. I'm hoping that turns into a habit that's easier kept than in the past.

Most of the unpacking is done, and I even got a couple loads of laundry done too... no sense letting that pile up again.... although I'll admit that I've not put it all away yet. Hopefully tomorrow!

I'm trying to pull my head back into the normal routine of bills, chores, calling, and whatever else lands on the plate. But more than that, I'm trying to take things one day at a time. A few months back I started having chest pains again. Severe chest pains. Bob gave me a blessing which more or less told me it was stress and that I needed to look at one day at a time and not look further. That's, of course, easier said than done. But now that the bulk of major planning with other people is done and out of the way, I'm determined to figure out how to focus one day at a time. (Looking only ahead for a little bit when absolutely necessary)

Being in California was a real treat. There were lots of people around so there were lots of people helping each other. But the best part was watching the kids get to know their relatives better. I know we came home the better for it. It was great to have these relationships strengthened!

Anyway, we did lots of fun things, but since I'm all jet lagged out, I'm not going to post anything about it now. I'll try to get to it next week..... (but we'll see.... we have carpet being installed in the middle of the week--I'm so excited--so we've got a lot of stuff to move out of most of the rooms to get ready)

Grami Cretia's

See... I told you are vacation was busy... crazy schedule!

I mentioned briefly that Peter had gotten sick. He also needed up with this very weird rash. I thought it was just his eczema acting up, but I'm not so sure any more. It's similar, but it also seems different. Still, we're home now and I'll be trying a few things, and if it doesn't tame it, we'll go in and see what the cause might be.

May I also say that housekeeping was great! We just called them up and told them what happened and left the stuff for them. Because there were so many extra blankets and pillows anyway, we told them we didn't need to the stuff back, but they made sure we had clean things anyway!

So, we took the personal items that had been made not so pleasant (which we'd stored out on the deck until time to go to Mom's) and had them washed there! Thank you so much, Mom! (There actually was a washer and dryer in the unit, but it seemed silly to run a whole load just for that)

The kids love to be at Grami's.. and this time was no exception. There were lots of toys to play with (we had left almost everything at home.) and there was Baby Braeden to adore. They spent time with Grami working on their gifts for Daddy, which were given at a cook-out in his honor. They also decorated (very decorated) a chocolate cake for him.

Meanwhile, Erin had come down too, and she and I put together the cake for Kayleen's baby shower. It was fun to be with everyone, even if the party ended up starting three hours late. The girls were especially excited to be with Libby again too!

Tia was in charge of games and had put together a baby bingo and word search. But the excitement came when she brought out the tub of water filled with pacifiers. The original game involved two people go to bob for binkies at the same time and the one who gets it first "wins" or goes on to compete against the winner of the next group and so on. But we're all family... so we let the little kids get in on it too.

Tia even let Braeden have a turn... he was interested in trying to grab them, but then enjoyed playing with the water more. He seemed to be having a great time, so she tucked his toes in, and that ended things... the water was cooler then he liked it!

You'll notice that Peter is not wearing sleeves. Daddy packed the stuff to take to Grami's. He grabbed the outfit, saw that it had built in shorts and assumed it also had built in sleeves. There is actually a shirt that goes with it. But, what do you do when you don' t have extra clothes? So, I took pictures anyway, and laughed at Bob for making the mistake... I think he'll check the clothes better next time. :)

In passing the time, Bob went outside where he discovered a bunch of log chunks that needed to make their way to the back where there was a nice pile set aside. Once they were removed, there was also a bunch ov brush and leaves to dispose of. He had started in with doing all that, and Erin noticed there was something to be done. And much like Bob, she can't sit and do nothing for long, so she was out beside him helping get things done!

In all this stuff that Bob got done between Grami Cretia's and Great Grandma's and Grandpa's, we ended up with some Cherry wood from Great Grandpa and a boat from Erin! Getting the boat home was kind of fun! We picked it up at night and rigged up a strapping of sorts which required several stops along the way back to the resort. But, in the day light, at the resort, Bob set to strapping it right and we had no trouble on the way home! Thanks, Erin for the boat... we're very excited to try it out later this year!

So, although crazy and busy, there was much fun to be had visiting with family and letting the cousins run together! (Grami even had a sand and water table out side which the kids really enjoyed) It was nice to be back after being away for most of a year!

Great Grandma and Grandpa's

A couple of times we made it over to Great Grandma and Grandpa Boone's house. That seems funny to write since they are only my grandparents, but this is as much for my kids as for me, so they know them as their great grandparents.

We had a wonderful time visiting with them. First it was after church, having dinner with them, Grami Cretia, Reg, Kayleen and Libby. It was nice. The kids spent most of the time outside with Grandpa, Daddy and Reg as they found last fall's leaves to jump in, bury each other in, throw at each other and genuinely have a great time. They also spent some time on the old swing set (which was there before I was a kids, I believe... in any case, I swung on it when I was little).

After everyone else had left, we stayed a visited long. As we went walking a little outside, we stopped along the back bank as the train came through... clear down the bank and across a large (old) farm field. Let's hear it for cameras with great zoom! The kids loved to watch the train go by and to hear it too!

Later on, we stopped there as we passed through the area and joined them for lunch. The kids, once again had a wonderful time playing outside. This is where Gabi was throwing and catching with Bob when she caught her first base ball (it was actually a T-Ball). Still, we were all excited for her, and although I missed the actual catch in the camera, you can see how happy she is as she held the ball toward me just afterwards (but after taking it out of her glove).

Again, there was more time playing on the swing set... but the most exciting part... well, one of them... was going on a tractor ride. Grandpa has an older tractor with a little trailer attached. So, with Daddy driving, the kids all in the back (and Grandma with them), I took some pictures and then climbed in myself to down a little way down the hill and back up.

Daddy then took the tractor down the hill and around the corner to cut up a tree that had fallen down. He loaded up the wood and started up the hill with it. Gabi had gone in search of Daddy (in her sock feet), and found herself having a nice ride with the wood when she and Daddy got stuck in the sand part. It only took a few minutes to back up and then find a better place to come around... and just in time.....

The men had come to "spread" the lane and the yard so that the grass might actually grow in better! (It's a new house of only a couple of years) Although the smell is something we recognize, it's not something we are all too familiar with.... we gathered inside and watched for there! Peter was especially excited to see the truck.

Remember how the tractor got stuck in the sandy part? Well, this big truck did too... they have to do and get the tractor to help pull it out! But it gave the boys more time to watch the action!

Peter, being the natural animal lover that he is, found Remi any chance he could get, and then loved her and patted her! :) -- He also loved to go over to Grandma's shelved and pull off the cans of food and then reorganize it for her.

It was a lot of fun!