We Do Things

THE GIRL'S DAY OFF

Now that The Kids are in two different schools, they are also in two different districts with two different schedules and few of the same days off.

The Girl's Fall Break was this Monday and Tuesday, while The Boy's Fall Break is all of next week. It's okay with The Girl though, because come Christmas time, she gets three weeks off instead of two.

Since The Boy and I so enjoyed our one on one time together, I wanted to do something special with The Girl as well.

Then, she got herself grounded for being a self centered, stinky, pre-teen, bucket of hormones.

The Dad and I discussed it and decided that since she's been working her brains off in school, we would put her in the early release program, out on probation.

This way, I could still take her out for our Girls' Day of Fun.

First stop, pedicures.

If you know me at all, you know this is a gigantic sacrifice on my behalf and that I truly have to be dragged to any "girly" activity. I honestly get my hair cut only twice a year. It works for me.

The Girl however is much more balanced than I am. She's girly and not girly when she needs to be.

I even let them put PINK nail polish on my toes!

The Girl went with the much more fashionable (and expensive) half hot pink, half white with polka dots.

While I headed over for my every two years eyebrow waxing, she had herself a manicure to match.

I'm really not sure why she declined the Mother Daughter waxing experience for a manicure, but whatever floats her boat.

Then, I decided to surprise her with a real hair cut! In a real salon. At a real JC Penney's!

I knew I had been depriving her when The poor Girl didn't even know how to answer the stylist's questions about shampooing much less where to go for the shampoo! I vow here and now to no longer neglect my daughter's beauty upbringing. As you can tell from the photo above, she obviously (joking) needs all the help she can get in the beauty department.

Before the haircut.

After haircuts.

A little hard to tell, but she got lots of layers and now looks way too grown up. She is definitely a Jr. High'er now.

Both the stylist and myself commented on how she'd left her elementary look behind.

The Dad then met us for lunch and he oohe'd and aaah'ed appropriately over us.

We had a lot of fun together. It is really fun and a privilege to walk her through these years. Even if she really scares me sometimes...

OPEN HOUSE

Yesterday, the phone rang around 3 a.m.

The first thing you think of when the phone rings that early is "This is not good news".

Fortunately, yesterday it wasn't exactly, bad news either.

The Uncle, The Aunt, The Littlest Nephew, and The Aunt's visiting parents were being evacuated from their home in one of Southern California's current fire areas.

They showed up a little before 4 a.m., tired, worried, and all those other things you feel when you have no clue as to what is going on in the place you left.

The awesome Firefighters from all over kept the fire away from their neighborhood and their house is just as they left it.  We love our Firefighters and all other Emergency Personnel who work year after year to keep us safe. They literally come in from all over the State and from neighboring states as well. Nevada trucks are often seen.

The House was stuffed to the gills with family yesterday which was a nice change of plans, if for a not nice reason. The best part though?

The Littlest Nephew.

He loves The Dog very much. We are thinking of giving him The Dog for his first birthday. No matter what his parents say.

After a sharing a nice dinner, The Aunt and The Uncle re-packed their stuff and headed on out. I tried to keep TLN. For some reason, they took him as well.

You win some, you lose some.

I think yesterday was a win-win.

Thanks again to all the Heroes involved in keeping property and people safe. Thanks also to your families who sacrifice their time with you and have worries of their own the entire time you are gone.

We appreciate it.

Thanks to The Aunt's parents visiting from Philadelphia. They were thrown completely out of their element and rolled with the punches. It couldn't have been easy on them, having never experienced anything of this sort, but they never complained and remained helpful, cheerful, and upbeat. It was nice to get time with them as well.

A DAY AT KNOTT'S BERRY FARM

Before we returned to the drudgery of school and schedule and routine, we headed out for one last summer hurrah.

Knott's Berry Farm, or as The Boy likes to call the Knott (not) a Berry Farm anymore.

I know, hilarious right? Especially after hearing it for 6 hours straight.

One of the reasons The Boy and I get along so very well is because we both hate roller coasters and heights. My fear stems from a horrible water slide incident with my own father, his from a hatred of all things beyond his control, compounded by a horrid experience with his then Aunt and a log ride at another amusement park.

The Girl is starting to get her thrills from the thrill rides and The Dad is more than happy to join in. Again, The Perfect Family right?

This time, I figured I would earn my entrance fee and at least ride a few rides. I started with The Dragon. The Girl loves The Dragon ride, you know the one, the Scandinavian ship that goes back and forth in the air? We even talked The Boy into getting in line and giving it a whirl. Have I mentioned how much smarter The Boy is than his mother?

As it was our turn to enter the ride, he grabbed The Dad's hand and kept right on walking, while I allowed The Girl to talk me into sitting in the very back.

Luckily, my hair and sunglasses are hiding the absolute terror on my face.

At this moment I'm pretty sure I'm listing my possessions off to The Girl and to whom they should go upon my demise from the heart attack I am surely suffering.

 

I can just hear him telling The Dad, "I knew she should have gotten off with me. I am so glad I didn't trust my own mother when she told me I could totally do this ride. Is Mommy going to die from a heart attack?"

Reunited. And on the ground once again. I was so glad The Boy got off the ride. He would have hated me forever.

This ride was just about both our speeds. Let's all give a moment of thanks that The Boy is no where near getting his license yet.

After river rafting, The Boy convinced himself that the raft ride would be no big deal. Let's just say that we got our admissions' worth out of the raft ride alone that day.

We all enjoyed the chance to relax on the mine tour. Then, The Boy and I found a peaceful spot to laugh at The Girl and The Dad while they enjoyed their next adventure.

We topped off the afternoon with a trip to the Chicken Dinner Restaurant because you can't go to Knott's and not have Cordelia's chicken dinner! It was good, but The Dad said the magic words. "Good, but not nearly as good as yours" I love that man.

I did have some stiff competition come dessert time.

Seriously? Snoopy ice cream bars? They had to go there? I may never be able to acheive hero status in The Kids' eyes again.

WEEKEND FUN! (SAID WITH ONLY SLIGHT SARCASM)

Keeping in mind that things could always be worse and I really am grateful for how great my life is.

That being said, this weekend was a crap-fest of a weekend.

Saturday morning, The Dad mentioned that we were heading off to the movies. I know that you all have listened to my movie rants before and if you think it takes a lot to get me to the movies, it takes 10 times as much to get The Dad to a movie.

The Boy had asked to see the movie Shorts as part of his birthday gift list. The movie had come out this week and The Boy's friends were talking it up. He HAD to go. The Dad, rightly figuring that I wouldn't want to partake of this particular enjoyment, invited The Girl so I could stay home alone. Having been sickly, I appreciated the thought. Then, another thought occurred to me. The Girl most likely had other movies she would like to see, like Julie & Julia...or, 9. She is a huge Tim Burton fan.  I quickly checked and Shorts and 9 were showing within 10 minutes of each other, so I offered to give up my alone time and see 9 with her. Usually, the movie is our treat and we don't purchase the $20 popcorn and $35 sodas. Usually, The Kids are fine with that. The Boy was this time...

I was lucky enough to have over half an hour of one on one time with my daughter complaining about how bored she was and how horrible everything at the theater was and why did we have to leave so early to get to the movie when it didn't start for so long, and worst of all? WHY couldn't she have popcorn? I explained that The Dad was taking us all out to lunch after the movie. She responded with more whining about how hungry she was NOW and she would gladly skip lunch with her family to eat popcorn now.

I told her no and moved a few seats down. She was really harshin' my vibe.

After the movies, we were trying to decide where to eat. Three of us made a decision that one of us didn't like (can you guess which one?) and The Dad, being tired and hungry, made the executive decision that we would just go home to eat.

Finally, lunch got decided, The Dad made The Girl go out with him to get it and delivered a mighty fine lecture to The Spoiled Brat Girl.  The Girl called me at home and profusely apologized...I guess she didn't know how she had been acting...

Ah...pre-teen!

A while later, we noticed that Toady, The Boy's fire-bellied toad, the last of three toads...had passed on. Somehow, I'm sure this is my fault as I've been the sole toad tender for two years now. You know it's bad when The Boy merely responds, "Oh well" when he's told his beloved toad is dead.

I'm not quite sure what possessed me to attempt it, but I cleaned The Birds' cage as well. Forgetting that it is always a good idea to ensure that all cage doors are securely closed before putting the cage outside so The Birds can enjoy the sunshine.

The Birds escaped. The Dad tried his hardest to catch them, but, they are birds, and being birds can fly.

So, I managed to halve the pet population around The House in one weekend.

I am trying hard to keep my perspective.

Because Life is Good.

THE POST I'VE BEEN PUTTING OFF

While I've gone on and on, okay, and on about how wonderful our vacation was, there was one not so pleasant, very, very bad, the most awful moment of our lives, moment.

It happened at a very lovely lake that we had, up until that point, enjoyed immensely.

We kayaked.

 

Well, three of us kayaked.

 

One of us just sat around all day and read. That person was quite lazy.

 

Until she did something so stupid that it could have changed the course of her family's life forever.

She sent The Boy to the trash can, 20 feet away, by himself.

Then, while she usually would have kept her eagle on him the whole way there and back, she didn't and began to pack up our spot.

The Boy didn't return from the trash can.

After at least 10 panicked moments where The Dad frantically searched, I dragged The Girl around, frantically searching and two nice men, one an off-duty police officer helped us keep our sanity, we caught sight of The Boy tearfully walking down the path towards us from the opposite end of the lake.

It seems that when he tried to return from the trash can, he lost sight of us and wandered too far down the lake side.

I'm assuming it was ten minutes. It could have been much less, it felt like much more.

I sure would have missed this.

 

Now, being the little bugger that he is, whenever I give him a task to do, he looks at me and says, "Remember what happened last time you made me do something?"

Yes, yes, I do. I will never forget.

WELLS FARGO

Wells Fargo is an American icon. It is a true study in the beauty of American entrepreneurship. They started in 1852 and offered banking services to miners, delivery service via stagecoach, passenger service via stagecoach, and mail service.

The Post Master was a position that was usually a political reward, therefore, postal service was not the most reliable method of delivery. Seeing that, Wells Fargo jumped in and guaranteed delivery. Thus making them invaluable to Californians.

They connected the East to the West.

 

There is nothing better than touching history. Standing on history.

 

Pause for a moment and just imagine all the happenings over this counter.

 

Need a trustworthy, accurate weighing of your gold?

 

The original scale from this Wells Fargo building.

SIGNS, SIGNS, EVERYWHERE SIGNS

Signs you don't want to see while vacation in an unfamiliar town.

 

No matter how pretty they try to make it look.

COLUMBIA STATE PARK

The second part of our vacation was stationed in Columbia. Columbia State Park is a living history town and we all know that is pretty much all I need.

Columbia was established during the Gold Rush and is one of the few gold rush towns to have survived. Due to the cost of building materials, most towns were tent towns. Building cost too much and took too much time. There were fortunes to be made, usually at the cost of the miners, but you had to be quick to be the first to gouge them.

 

Fires ran rampant, so many of the original wood buildings were destroyed. Brick became the building material of choice, but being so heavy, was difficult to come by. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, anyone? Yes, they would tear apart abandoned buildings and reuse the materials they could.

Kind of makes up for the Hydraulic Mining doesn't it? Yeah, not exactly. They didn't really need it, considering that the city of Columbia now stands 30 ft. lower than it did back then.

 

Miners these days have it so easy. No digging up the streets, no sweating, no swearing. Okay, maybe a little swearing and still a lot of sweating.

Panning lessons? Kids these days...

The butcher and his wife spent a good long while explaining exactly how things used to be. For example, my tea that I can't live without?

 

Little more difficult to make back in the day.

 

Here, the kindly butcher is explaining to The Kids how every part of every thing was eaten. Every part.

 

After a shock like that there was only one place to head on over to.

 

The Saloon. Sarsaparillas all around.

The Fire Station was a huge hit. As was The Fireman. Or maybe, because of The Fireman?

 

You know, kindly docents make all the difference in a learning vacation being successful. We'd like to thank you all at Columbia from the bottom of our hearts.

The school house shocked us all. It is huge.

Two stories. Lower grades and upper grades. Very cool.

Of course, no history tour would be complete without our obligatory outhouse shot.

This thing is huge to match the school. Four stalls on each side, boys and girls. 

To make up for the outhouse shot, I took The Boy bowling.

 

Then, he bought me a souvenir.

 

'Cuz we love each other like that.

WE SAW SOME BIG TREES

While on The Best Vacation Ever!, we hit Big Tree State Park in Calaveras. It's definitely a small town park with big time trees. There also might be some mosquitoes. That like to eat humans alive, leaving little behind but bones and hair.

Consider that a warning.

They also throw some humdinger balls though. Or at least they used to. Imagine dancing on a giant stump?

 

Or getting in some martial arts practice in a tree?

As annoying as the man-eating mosquitoes were, the views somewhat made up for their perseverance.

 

My love of sharing our lives with the internet knows no bounds. Giant ants? No worries.

 

I am a blogger people. That is why I...well...blog.

 

Still couldn't get the whole thing in.

 

They even conveniently had a river running through the park. Which was good because The Kids were beginning to run dry. You know, since they hadn't been away from water the whole vacation and all.

BEACH BUMS

The Girl starts back to school next week. Almost a full week before her brother. Therefore, we had to ensure we spent this week finishing off her summer agenda.

She decided that last thing on her list was a trip to The Beach. It might shock some of you to know that even though we live in Southern California, I hate The Beach. The Sand drives me batty and The Ocean is usually too cold to swim in. I avoid The Beach like one might avoid a pestilence.

If you don't believe me, this is our first and mayhaps only trip to The Beach this year.  The Girl guilted me into it and The Aunt used The LIttlest Nephew as further incentive for me to hit The Beach.

 

How could I say no?

I'm not completely heartless.

 

It was a lovely overcast beach day. With winds blowing constantly.

Fortunately for The Kids, they were fish in another life and the cold doesn't bother then when there is water involved.

 

More fortunately, for The Kids, The Pacific Ocean was very warm this day.

 

There is very little short of a shark sighting that would have kept The Kids out of the water.

 

We did see one sea lion checking all us humans out. Of course, it was the one time that I headed down to swim with The Kids, not carrying my camera.

The Girl bravely attempted boogy boarding. Getting knocked around by the waves was an adventure to say the least. She seemed to enjoy it though. At least she kept going back out there.

The best part to me was burying The Boy. The Kids are now old enough to enjoy traditional beach activities. Boogy boarding, being buried alive. The fun stuff.

 

I couldn't help but recall the warnings that used to haunt my childhood about burying people in the sand. The stories of all the kids who suffocated because the sand collapsed on them, crushing them.

 

The Boy quickly pointed out that I hadn't done a very good job at burying him. I felt like shouting at him, "Haven't you heard? Kids die from this!", I restrained myself and reburied him. As tempting as it was, I kept away from the head...

My duty is done. Until next summer, when I will once again conquer my hatred of all things sandy for my children.

A  mother's work is never done.

Thank God.