Hanging with my co-workers :)
Seriously.. Thoughts?
PS: And yes, this is a real, honest to goodness day job, they just let me do it from home.
Monday, July 9, 2012
An Average Work Day
Just another day in the office...
Hanging with my co-workers :)
Seriously.. Thoughts?
PS: And yes, this is a real, honest to goodness day job, they just let me do it from home.
Hanging with my co-workers :)
Seriously.. Thoughts?
PS: And yes, this is a real, honest to goodness day job, they just let me do it from home.
No Good Very Bad Day
Apparently Sunday was a very bad day for our family. It started in the wee hours of the morning when Lone Wolf's boyfriend (here forward known as 1/2 Point) managed to dislocate his shoulder. He did smile pretty for the camera knowing this was showing up in the blog though, so at least he's in good spirits. Although, it might have something to do with the fact that we fed him. Either way, glad he smiled.
Then Bunny slipped while getting an icee out of the freezer and did this lovely damage to her lip.
Then Lone Wolf felt the need to annoy/squish Glamour Girl while finishing off her BBQ Ribs.
Turns out it wasn't all bad for one of us.
With just a little begging and an ear half up to just the right person.
And he got his happily ever after.
More Sequoias to come..
Then Bunny slipped while getting an icee out of the freezer and did this lovely damage to her lip.
I'm telling you, if this expression isn't the epitome of sisterly-love in this family, I don't know what is.
And he got his happily ever after.
More Sequoias to come..
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Sequoias - Part III - General Sherman Tree
After going up and down all those steps at Moro Rock we took ourselves over to the Sequoia Museum for a quick look around. It's really small but does have some interesting information about Sequoias if you're interested. The Tweedles were more interested in gathering Sequoia cones.
Then we caught the next shuttle over to the General Sherman Tree. Bunny found a pretty flower and put it in one of her Sequoia cones which she showed me on the way over. Bug stretched out in that GQ fashion that only he seems to be able to pull off, dirty knees and all. I should have known from this shot that they were starting to wear down but I was just so excited to see the Sherman Tree!
According to Wikipedia "By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth.[1] The General Sherman Tree is neither the tallest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Hyperion tree, a Coast redwood),[2] nor is it the widest (both the largest cypress and largest baobab have a greater diameter), nor is it the oldest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Methuselah tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine).[3] With a height of 83.8 metres (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 metres (25 ft), an estimated bole volume of 1,487 cubic metres (52,513 cu ft), and an estimated age of 2,300 – 2,700 years,[4][5][6] it is however among the tallest, widest and longest-lived of all trees on the planet."
So, not the tallest, widest or oldest tree, but DAMN! You can't argue with 2,300-2,700 years of age or the largest tree by Volume. What was the US doing 2,300 years ago? I'm not sure it was more than Native American Tribes doing their thing. If you're curious about what was going on in other parts of the world, click here and jump over to Wikipedia for more.
The General Sherman tree was pretty cool because the entire area had paved walk-ways to see all the trees. It meant no woods hiking for our tired group, but it also meant we couldn't get up close and personal with most of the trees. That was a bit disappointing but they did let us walk through these two trees.
As I walked between them I put my hand on the tree on the right, closed my eyes and said a little prayer for my family. I figure if anything has been around this long, and is this tall and survived so much, that it probably has a connection with God more than anything else. Sounds hokey, but it felt profound.
And then I moved myself and the family on to some typical touristy photo ops that I took full advantage of.
Of course, it was pretty clear that my kids weren't feeling the magical epic-ness of this place quite as much as I was. Or maybe they were just tired of me asking them to pose for photos. Either way, they started to throw some attitude my way about half way through our visit. It started out innocently enough with this photo.
Then Bug got into the action.
And Lone Wolf added to the mix.
Then it culminated in this bad attitude.
We hiked up the back trails to the top of the Sherman Tree park to catch the shuttle home. I think too little sleep combined with all that climbing was starting to wear on all of us.
I did get one really great shot of The Tweedles before we left though. Man I love those kids.. attitude and all!
Then we caught the next shuttle over to the General Sherman Tree. Bunny found a pretty flower and put it in one of her Sequoia cones which she showed me on the way over. Bug stretched out in that GQ fashion that only he seems to be able to pull off, dirty knees and all. I should have known from this shot that they were starting to wear down but I was just so excited to see the Sherman Tree!
According to Wikipedia "By volume, it is the largest known living single stem tree on Earth.[1] The General Sherman Tree is neither the tallest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Hyperion tree, a Coast redwood),[2] nor is it the widest (both the largest cypress and largest baobab have a greater diameter), nor is it the oldest known living tree on Earth (that distinction belongs to the Methuselah tree, a Great Basin bristlecone pine).[3] With a height of 83.8 metres (275 ft), a diameter of 7.7 metres (25 ft), an estimated bole volume of 1,487 cubic metres (52,513 cu ft), and an estimated age of 2,300 – 2,700 years,[4][5][6] it is however among the tallest, widest and longest-lived of all trees on the planet."
So, not the tallest, widest or oldest tree, but DAMN! You can't argue with 2,300-2,700 years of age or the largest tree by Volume. What was the US doing 2,300 years ago? I'm not sure it was more than Native American Tribes doing their thing. If you're curious about what was going on in other parts of the world, click here and jump over to Wikipedia for more.
The General Sherman tree was pretty cool because the entire area had paved walk-ways to see all the trees. It meant no woods hiking for our tired group, but it also meant we couldn't get up close and personal with most of the trees. That was a bit disappointing but they did let us walk through these two trees.
As I walked between them I put my hand on the tree on the right, closed my eyes and said a little prayer for my family. I figure if anything has been around this long, and is this tall and survived so much, that it probably has a connection with God more than anything else. Sounds hokey, but it felt profound.
And then I moved myself and the family on to some typical touristy photo ops that I took full advantage of.
I even got one of Lone Wolf and her Boyfriend where he actually smiled!
Then Bug got into the action.
Then it culminated in this bad attitude.
I did get one really great shot of The Tweedles before we left though. Man I love those kids.. attitude and all!
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Sequoia National Forest - Part II - Moro Rock
We arrived in the Sequoia National Forest on Friday around 1pm. That first day we stuck mostly near camp after setting up tents and unpacking the trucks. This was going to be home sweet home for the next 5 days.
Some of us were a little more excited by the achievement than others. Or maybe it was all that fresh smog-free air going to his head. Hard to say.
The morning of day two found The Tweedles, The Hubs and I a little tired, but ready to go exploring. So all 8 of us climbed onto the handy dandy shuttle that comes by every hour to take you to different parts of the park. Our first stop? Moro Rock.
What you're seeing here is the start of about a million steps that lead you up the rock to one of the most spectacular views around! There were some beautiful views on the way up. If you look in the upper right hand corner of this photo you'll see how tiny the people look still climbing up the stairs. This is at the very beginning of the stair climb. We had SO much farther to go.
This was the view a little further up.
We passed a fair number of people huffing and puffing their way up all those steps. I wanted to give up a few times on the way. After all, I'd already seen some pretty awesome views, but people coming down would stop and smile and say "It's worth it! You can make it!" I would smile on the outside and nod - too out of breath to speak - and then I would curse them silently in my head for making me want to see what was at the top instead of heading back down or dying quietly where I stood. The bastards! But they were right. The view was everything they said it would be.
We had lunch at the top and then headed down. Since going down was SO MUCH EASIER than going up, I took the opportunity to snap a few shots to give you a better idea of the climb.
Walking through the rock itself made this whole experience a bit surreal.
The edges were a tiny bit scary.. it's a long way down.
The best part of the trek up Moro Rock? Getting this shot of 3 of my kids on top of the world!
Of course, getting a kiss on top of the world came in a close second.
Some of us were a little more excited by the achievement than others. Or maybe it was all that fresh smog-free air going to his head. Hard to say.
The morning of day two found The Tweedles, The Hubs and I a little tired, but ready to go exploring. So all 8 of us climbed onto the handy dandy shuttle that comes by every hour to take you to different parts of the park. Our first stop? Moro Rock.
What you're seeing here is the start of about a million steps that lead you up the rock to one of the most spectacular views around! There were some beautiful views on the way up. If you look in the upper right hand corner of this photo you'll see how tiny the people look still climbing up the stairs. This is at the very beginning of the stair climb. We had SO much farther to go.
This was the view a little further up.
We passed a fair number of people huffing and puffing their way up all those steps. I wanted to give up a few times on the way. After all, I'd already seen some pretty awesome views, but people coming down would stop and smile and say "It's worth it! You can make it!" I would smile on the outside and nod - too out of breath to speak - and then I would curse them silently in my head for making me want to see what was at the top instead of heading back down or dying quietly where I stood. The bastards! But they were right. The view was everything they said it would be.
We had lunch at the top and then headed down. Since going down was SO MUCH EASIER than going up, I took the opportunity to snap a few shots to give you a better idea of the climb.
Walking through the rock itself made this whole experience a bit surreal.
The edges were a tiny bit scary.. it's a long way down.
The best part of the trek up Moro Rock? Getting this shot of 3 of my kids on top of the world!
Of course, getting a kiss on top of the world came in a close second.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Sequoia National Forest - Part 1
Back in March, some friends were staying with us for the weekend for some much needed down time when we started talking about traveling. I mentioned I always wanted to see those REALLY BIG trees you can drive through. We've all seen those old time photos (like the one below) and I wanted to see these monster trees for myself.
Turns out they aren't way up in Northern California like I thought, but only an almost short 5 hour drive away near Fresno. Our friends had been there before so we sat down at my trusty laptop and checked out the Dorst Creek Campgrounds they stayed at before to see if there was anything available around the 4th of July. About 20 minutes later we had reservations for 5 days of camping and hiking fun!
Fast forward to the middle of June and we were all getting excited about our trip. GG freshly graduated from High School (Did I not mention that? She GRADUATED can you believe it?! I'll post about that later.) decided to kick it at home instead of going on our trip.
Her first weekend home alone.. who can blame her? But we did manage to convince our Lone Wolf with boyfriend in tow to join us for the fun. That brought our camping party up to 8 including The Hubs, The Tweedles, myself and our two friends who had been there before. Not quite a complete family vacation but pretty darn close!
Now, if you follow that link above to Dorst Creek you'll find at the bottom a mailing address for the campgrounds. That was the address I used to determine the weather while we'd be up there. It was looking pretty good. High's in the 100's and nothing lower than 56 at night. Might make for some hot hikes, but otherwise, it looked like it was going to be great weather. And I forwarded all this information to everyone so we could all pack accordingly. Silly me assumed that the mailing address would be for the camp, but no no no, that's for the main office 4000 feet lower than the 7000 feet we actually were. While the days were lovely at mid-70s, it got down to chilly low 40's / upper 30s at night. COLD. Let me rephrase that. FREEZING.
That first night I wrapped up The Tweedles in their warmest (which wasn't all that warm, I wasn't expecting low 40s / upper 30s after all) jammies, piled on their hooded sweatshirts - hoods up - and socks on their hands and feet and snuggled them into their sleeping bags which were on two layers of additional sleeping bags to keep them off the ground. Sometime around 3 am the temperature, already cold, nose-dived and Bug was waking me up to tell me how cold he was which only added to how cold *I* was. Poor little guy's teeth were chattering so hard he could barely talk. Bunny wasn't far behind. So after a quick trip to the potty - real toilets were a requirement, I don't like outhouses - we all climbed into our two-person sleeping bag. All four of us. In a two person sleeping bag. Talk about pigs in a blanket! We all had to roll the same way and we couldn't move. I had Bug at my back and with his little furnace body churning out the heat, I was sweating from my neck to about my knees - the full length of his little body. However, I couldn't feel anything from the knees down it was so cold. It was a long night. We quickly decided a quick trip to Lodge Pole General Store the next morning was in order to purchase an air mattress to get the Tweedles off the ground so we could all sleep more comfortably.
And despite all of that, we didn't even care because on our very first night in camp, we got to see this lovely doe behind our tents.
 |
| If you click on the image you can see the doe better. |
Now that's how you start a vacation!
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Mea Culpa
I've been neglectful. And it's hurt you. Hurt you in ways I can only try to relate to. I'm sorry. I'm a big enough person to admit when I've let you down, and boy have I let you down. All I can do is give you a big hug, and tell you it wasn't you. It was me. It was life. It was craziness and being busy, solar flares and cosmic interference that kept me from you. Today I say enough is enough. Today I take you back dear friends, if you'll have me. To hell with craziness, frustrating jobs, PTA responsibilities and general mayhem. Today we start fresh. I've just gotten back from a camping vacation you aren't going to want to miss. Today I have a summer full of fun and madness and antics. Today I start again.
And in that vein, (while I sneak away to edit photos) I'll leave you with Bunny and her.. umm.. well, this is complicated. Glamour Girl and Lone Wolf's other little sister. Technically, they aren't related, but for sanity's sake, we'll just call her Sister #3. She's visiting her grandmother for the summer while their Mom and Hubby #2 are moving states. We all celebrated 4th of July together last night after getting back from our Sequoia trip (See how I casually drop that in again.. you know you want to come and read all about it, don't deny it. You know you can't stay mad at me with that little gem reeling you in!). She's nine to Bunny's six and can I just add, can you believe she's SIX already?? She was only 4 when I started this blog damnit! When did this happen??? Sorry, I digress. What I really mean to say is these two can really boogie down.
Happy belated 4th of July my people.. it's good to be back!
And in that vein, (while I sneak away to edit photos) I'll leave you with Bunny and her.. umm.. well, this is complicated. Glamour Girl and Lone Wolf's other little sister. Technically, they aren't related, but for sanity's sake, we'll just call her Sister #3. She's visiting her grandmother for the summer while their Mom and Hubby #2 are moving states. We all celebrated 4th of July together last night after getting back from our Sequoia trip (See how I casually drop that in again.. you know you want to come and read all about it, don't deny it. You know you can't stay mad at me with that little gem reeling you in!). She's nine to Bunny's six and can I just add, can you believe she's SIX already?? She was only 4 when I started this blog damnit! When did this happen??? Sorry, I digress. What I really mean to say is these two can really boogie down.
When you're done snorting whatever drink you were having through your nose, enjoy this beautiful shots from our fireworks display. All in all, it was a great way to end our 5 day vacation. If only every day could be like this!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Butterflies
On Friday morning, Bunny's school had a music concert (which I'll post about tomorrow). After the concert we walked past her classroom so I could own up to the fact that I had been a terrible Room Mom over the last few months. Seriously, I have been way too caught up in my own work drama and ignoring my responsibilities to Bunny's classroom. I thought maybe, right before Spring Break, I could own up to it and get myself back on track by checking in with her teacher (who BTW, is amazing).
After apologizing profusely and asking if there was anything I could do to help, we were gifted with the class chrysalides. For those of you not in the know, a chrysalis is the little home caterpillars make to turn into butterflies. More than one chrysalis is called chrysalides. See how I'm learning stuff every day. Don't feel bad if you didn't know this already, I had to look it up myself!
Turns out, they were likely to "hatch" while everyone was on Spring Break next week, and no one would be around to make sure they had some flowers sprayed with sugar water to eat. So home they came with us. I had planned on taking "before" photos today after church. However, our wee little butterflies had different plans. This morning when we woke up, we found two of the 6 little fellas (ladies?) had come out to spread their wings. (Forgive the photos, they're in a plastic and mesh container that was really hard to get a good shot through.)
This little guy we noticed first. Cute isn't he? I think he might actually be a moth not a butterfly, but I'm not to clear on the distinction, so I'll wait to hear what Bunny's teacher has to say. This was one of two wild caterpillars the kids caught on the school campus.
Then we noticed this fella. He has the most beautiful orange wings! Butterfly for sure. This is one of the caterpillars Bunny's teacher purchased expressly to show the kids the process. Also notice in the lower right hand corner the pretty and big orange flower we drenched in sugar water to feed our new friends.
Bunny and Bug have been really excited about our new guests. Even GG, the Hubs and myself are suitably impressed with the wonders of nature. I'm so glad we got to babysit and witness first hand this event. We're going to keep an eye on the rest of them this weekend and maybe we'll catch one actually hatching.
Seriously.. Thoughts?
After apologizing profusely and asking if there was anything I could do to help, we were gifted with the class chrysalides. For those of you not in the know, a chrysalis is the little home caterpillars make to turn into butterflies. More than one chrysalis is called chrysalides. See how I'm learning stuff every day. Don't feel bad if you didn't know this already, I had to look it up myself!
Turns out, they were likely to "hatch" while everyone was on Spring Break next week, and no one would be around to make sure they had some flowers sprayed with sugar water to eat. So home they came with us. I had planned on taking "before" photos today after church. However, our wee little butterflies had different plans. This morning when we woke up, we found two of the 6 little fellas (ladies?) had come out to spread their wings. (Forgive the photos, they're in a plastic and mesh container that was really hard to get a good shot through.)
This little guy we noticed first. Cute isn't he? I think he might actually be a moth not a butterfly, but I'm not to clear on the distinction, so I'll wait to hear what Bunny's teacher has to say. This was one of two wild caterpillars the kids caught on the school campus.
Then we noticed this fella. He has the most beautiful orange wings! Butterfly for sure. This is one of the caterpillars Bunny's teacher purchased expressly to show the kids the process. Also notice in the lower right hand corner the pretty and big orange flower we drenched in sugar water to feed our new friends.
Bunny and Bug have been really excited about our new guests. Even GG, the Hubs and myself are suitably impressed with the wonders of nature. I'm so glad we got to babysit and witness first hand this event. We're going to keep an eye on the rest of them this weekend and maybe we'll catch one actually hatching.
Seriously.. Thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)