Tony Grove

We went camping to Tony Grove. My mom called to see if the campground was opened yet for the season (it's in the tops of the mountains) and was informed that we should bring a snow shovel.




My crazy cousin Adam decided to take a twilight swim in the frigid water (yes, there were still snow banks in our campsite).

We found the bug on the chair Lance was sitting on (he was sitting on both the chair and the ginormous bug).

And finally, the lake (aka spring puddle) I named after myself when I was 12 was full of water. Lance Lake and Karen Lake were also full.





Our big adventure was a hike (with kids!) to the local caves (over a mile straight up the mountain). I was proud of Bryn for making it, although the words "I'm never going on another mountain," did escape her lips.
We've been to these caves many times over the years, and finally, Lance (my brother) discovered the hidden caverns and took me back to them. It involved a lot of mud, water, rock climbing, and squeezing through tight holes and crevices.
Besides finding creative ways to get down the snow fields, my dad and I also fell in love with this Ansel Adams-like tree.



Fellow campers: Mom, Calvin, Bryn, me, Dani, Adam and Courtney (Dani's sister). Not pictured because they were lying in the middle of the road shooting the night sky: Dad and Lance.

Summertime, and the living is easy

Mike (my brother) and Jill and kids came to visit us. Their daughter and one of the twins are Calvin's fellow redheaded cousins.

After getting messy with ice cream, my dad suggested they go for a swim in the wading pool, and they took him at his word, clothes and all.

Another fired-up dinner in the wild

We baked tin-foil dinners at Second Dam in scenic Logan Canyon this evening.
Uncle Lance helped the kids take their obsessive rock throwing to a whole new level.

Calvin and Great-Grandma both enjoy sweet things (marshmallows and orange soda, respectively)
Some crazy guy decided it would be fun to shimmy up the tree for a high dive into the frigid water

What's more fun than digging a hole?

Watching! My dad and my cousin Adam dug a hole to the septic tank cap (ah, the joys of small town life) and Calvin was riveted the "hole" time (yes, I hate myself right now for actually using that pun).

Smoke-out up Prov Canyon

We had a cookout with my parents, Peter's parents, and some scattered siblings from both sides. It's one of the benefits of our parents living within 5 minutes of each other.

The photos (clockwise from top left and then center): Peter's mom; Calvin singing and smacking sticks (it made me think of the Parent Trap); Calvin knighting/beheading Eli (Karen's baby); both Grandpas (Peter's dad on the left, mine on the right); and Mike (Peter's brother), my mom, Lance (my brother), and Laura (my sister). Other present but unphotographed people were Peter, Karen, Chris, Dani, and Bryn.

Shasta Lake Reunion (warning: picture overload)

We spent a week and a bit in Northern CA at Shasta Lake for a reunion with Peter's family (his parents, his siblings, and their families).

We all chipped in for a vacation home that slept 40 (we only had 30 but it still felt full to the brim), and besides getting reacquainted with relatives we haven't seen for 3 years, we rented a boat, went fishing (unsuccessfully), toured Shasta Lake Dam, swam in the pool that came with the house, went hiking, watched eagles soaring, went spelunking, and had all manner of activities around the house planned by everyone.



An impromptu game of Red Rover at a local park was by far the biggest hit of the reunion. Calvin thought it was the best thing ever, and kept trying to send things and people "right over" for the rest of the week.


Bonnie and Clyde
Yet another glamour shot...
The sliver I pulled from my 5 year-old nephew's foot (he didn't even cry or scream, just flinched a lot)



We (barely) survived the 12.5 hour drive back to CV.

How to entertain a two year-old

Disappearring Trick

My friend Saralynn made me some delicious blueberry muffins for my birthday last week. I ate a couple, shared couple with the kids, and put the rest away until after dinner. This is what I found after a 5 minute absence from the kitchen. I think the main magician was Calvin, but he had a little help from his assisant, Bryn. My favorite is that the picture of my sweet innocent children is sitting right behind the incriminating evidence.

Bryn's first poem

Once
There was
a hobbit
And what
is a
hobbit?

Well
Hobbit
is sort of
like
a person


As we were driving to get Peter from work the other day, Bryn announced that she had written this poem, and then read it to me.

Against my better judgment, Peter has been reading Bryn selected passages from The Hobbit, and she's totally hooked. She's especially fascinated by the poems in the book. This girl is bound for geekdom.

The peanuts and cracker jack are free

We were invited to a charity event at Fenway Park on Friday by some very nice friends for a day filled with baseball (not quite the Sox), activities, ballpark food, and general stadium-stair climbing fun.
Bryn painted a flower on her T-shirt, and Calvin's is open to artistic interpretation

On a scale of 1 to 10, Calvin liked Wally a negative googolplex
Dora, however, gets a 10 (which is odd because as far as I know Calvin's hasn't seen her show more than once or twice)
Riding Peter's shuttle was by far the highlight for both kids, especially since they were unencumbered by those nasty booster seats
And finally, for those of you who don't know, Calvin has been very "modest" since wintertime, insisting that his shirts are long sleeved (preferably a sweater) and that his pants touch his feet (i.e. no shorts). Well I finally convinced him to diversify his wardrobe (I think the words "you'll look just like a baseball player" were the key). The only catch with the outfit was that he insisted on wearing his nice church sweater vest under the Sox shirt (along with his onesie).