Zeke's Corner: August Break

Showing posts with label August Break. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

And then we went was camping

Seems like the new school year snuck right up on us this year. In an effort to cram as much fun as possible into the fading hours of summer we tacked on a camping trip to our way home from Disneyland.
Have you ever tried to pack for two very different environments into one suitcase? It was challenging. Thankfully, Grandma decided to meet us at the campground and so we were able to send a lot of the things we needed only for camping with her.

We camped with only half of our extended family but we still had a good visit and the cousins got in some quality mischief making time. We took turns basking in the morning sunshine on the logs. It was a lot colder at 10,000 ft that we have become accustomed to for August.

The littles did a pretty great job hiking to see the Bristlecone Pines at Great Basin National Park. We made a day of it and hiked up to the glacier too. Better put it high on your to-do list if you want to see it. They said in 20 years the glacier will probably be gone for good. The last time I saw it was probably 20 years ago (that makes me feel old!) and I was surprised by how much smaller it is today.

Bob and I agreed, the mornings were too chilly for our liking. I definitely should have packed more layers.

The deer wandered in and out of camp fairly regularly. That's one of my favorite memories from camping here as a kid. It's not uncommon to find one in the trail on the way to the camp bathrooms.

Someone gave Bob a flashlight and an official job on the cave tour. That's a brave park ranger right there! I stayed behind to be sure that Bob wouldn't abuse his privileges. We took the 60 minute tour of Lehman Caves since we had the littles with us. Everyone loved it and no one got restless. Next time we'll do the longer one for sure!

MmmmmMmmmm....cave bacon

MmmmmMmmmm....even better, real bacon! Cooked over the campfire of course :)

Poor husband always has to fish with the pink, barbie pole. But he caught a fish and we got to eat it so that's all that really matters right?

Emma was crashing through the woods on her way to the creek and she almost ran smack into these does. We sat and watched them for a long time before they spotted the dog we had with us and trotted off into the trees.

Bob found a triangle shaped rock and immediately took it as a sign that we should go home so he could play Zelda. Silly boy. And that is why we go camping...

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Disneyland in the summer time

Next time I come here and say, oh hey I'm thinking about going to Disneyland in August, please allow a moment of silence and give me that look. There is a reason why the last time we went to Disneyland in August was 11 years ago.

It.
was.
hot.
and.
crowded.

But to be fair. Even a hot crowded day at Disneyland is better than not being at Disneyland. And you know what? The line for the Winnie-the-Pooh ride....still just 5 minutes.

As a kid, I might have ranked the Jungle Cruise ride right next to the Tiki Room at the bottom of my favorites list. Judging by the kids faces as they listen to the guide, I'd guess they feel the same way. But the older I get the more I love it. I "get" every one of their jokes now.

By the last day, Bob was pretty sure he should get to decide which rides we go on and in what order. Turns out no one else felt the same way. So the burrito and I hung out in the shade of the carousel while everyone else rode Pinocchio.

And then we did some street dancing and scored some beads. It's the little things I love the most about being here.

We also repeated the Medieval Times show (Not Disneyland I know, but close-ish!). We got yellow knight, again.

The kids were so taken with the show they ate zero bites of their dinner, again.

But it was worth it.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

The Best Kinds of Play Dates

Making memories with friends

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Tut Tut It Looks Like Rain

The best part of these 100 degree days is the afternoon thunderstorms they bring.

It calls for taking a break from weeding and riding bikes

and running for shelter on the porch.

They never last long,

which is probably why they are my favorite.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Lucky Dog

So the boy had some business to do last weekend up in Alaska. Which also happened to be our 10th anniversary. Kind of a big deal. So he figured out how I could tag along, and we headed up to Juneau sans kids for 4 days.

I'd say this trip was equally as fun and carefree as our honeymoon to Disneyland was 10 years ago. Minus the just married on the back of the car and all the horn honking.

Here are just a few pictures from the weekend.

My king salmon

Fishing on the Lucky Dog Adventure

The boy's salmon

zip lining school at Alaska Zipline Adventures

Always hooked to something so you don't fall out of the trees

Tracy's King Crab Shack. Sorry Joe's....this might be my new favorite!!

Now that the summer is coming to an end, we are filling our days with back to school shopping, lounging under the cooler to survive the heat, and killing time till it's apple hill season.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

My funny little bird man

After a solid three weeks of begging I caved in and got the boychild some water wings.

And you know what, he swims pretty dang good with them on.

He hasn't quite figured out the breathing routine for the snorkel but we'll get there.

Someday.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

A Polliwog's Tale

This is a story about a little girl who graduated from preschool a couple months ago and her pet polliwog.

Studying polliwogs was one of the last lessons they did before summer break. And don't even think about calling it a tadpole....it will be a good ten minutes before you will be able to get a word in edgewise.

On the last day of school, the girlchild comes home with said new friend in a sandwich bag with strict instructions to feed it fresh boiled lettuce everyday.

Boiled lettuce. Everyday.

Oh, really. Over the course of the next 6 weeks I meticulously boiled lettuce and fed it to the polliwog a grand total of zero times. The tadpole managed to survive just fine on goldfish flakes. We kept the creature on the kitchen window sill so that ~~we could remember to feed it~~ we could watch it's ever changing, and metamorphesing body.

As a free range child myself, we used to catch tadpoles...because back then they were called tadpoles....by the thousands and keep them in a mayo jar in some non-disclosed location. I can't honestly remember if we ever really fed them or what, but every so often we'd take them out of the jar hold them in our little muddy hands and then put them back. And then one day my favorite sister of all got sick. Really sick. Beaver fever sick. And so tadpoles were banned from my childhood. I can honestly say that they never captured our attention long enough to pay attention to their teenage-tadpole years.

Fast forward some uncalculated years and I have a polliwog sitting on my kitchen counter. Turns out it was pretty fascinating to actually see the shrinking tail and emerging legs. Did you know that they actually form their front and back legs under their amphibious skin and then one day they just pop out fully formed? I did not. And now you do too.

After the changing was done and the creature could be identified as a frog, the inevitable question came. "Mom, can I keep him?? Please!" And while it was pondered for a nanosecond it wasn't to be. Because after all, where would he live? He can't share a house with pinchy the crawdad. Because he is currently doing jail time for massacring the goldfish. And Wally the welfare fish would eat him in a heartbeat.