Apple Hill adventure day

On July 5, a holiday Monday, we planned a full day of fun with Grandma Hippo and Grandpa Penguin. We started out at Old Hangtown's Gold Bug Park and Mine for a trip through an old gold mine. We wore radios around our neck to hear an audio recording to better understand what it was we were seeing. It was a little hard as all the adults had to push our button simultaneously in order to try to all hear, and of course it never quite worked! The kids thought the temperature change, and the fact that REAL men had been there working a long time ago was cool... but about halfway through Lauren decided enough was enough and started worrying about how to get out. After the mine tour we took a scenic hike (they had LOTS of well marked nature trails on the property too) up to an old stamp mill. Even the small replica made so much noise that I can only imagine you could hear the full scaled version for miles when it was still in operation! Our final project at the gold mine was going to be panning - they had sluice tables set up with "gems" to find, but the kids were asking to head to the next stop, and the tables looked like giant mosquito magnets, so we decided to try that some other time! We had planned on picking up Subway sandwiches and having a picnic at our next stop - berry picking - but Mikey had an even better idea, we stopped at Lava Cap winery, bought a bottle of wine and ate our subs while drinking wine at their picnic tables overlooking their vineyard. It was beautiful! The only downside came when I wanted a picture of the kids on a lava rock and as I was explaining it apparently Ian thought I said he was going to have to sit ON LAVA... so he detonated and it took several minutes of explaining what once was hot lava was now just a hot stone! After the winery we continued on to our destination for berry picking, but where we thought would be u-pick only had pre-picked, but since it was a fudge factory we went ahead and bought some fudge and played on their wooden train. The woman at the fudge factory gave us directions to another berry farm for u-pick, Patrick's Berry Farm. Unfortunatley, everyone had the same idea earlier in the day because when we got there at noon, they had a sign up saying there would be no more berry picking for the day. Oh well! It was a full and fun day which exhausted the kids and adults alike - and we all learned something new!

DISNEYLAND!

As usual we decided to take a road trip with no pre-planning... and it was a doozy! My brother is a planner... and so it was a surprise when he followed in my spur of the moment decision making and called to see if we'd be up for a visit, then was at the airport waiting to be picked up 2 days later! Since my brother brought his 2 youngest to visit, we decided with 5 toddlers we just had to head to Disney! We left at 2am, thinking to drive all night while they all slept, which was a good theory but in practice it meant they were up at 5 with the sun and 3 hours to drive. The kids were great passengers except at our one all-inclusive stop for gas, breakfast, diapers, potty and changing from jammies to clothes, Gavin decided to take a head dive from the front seat to the parking lot. 30 minutes of Chris wanting to take him to a ER and me saying, "ehhh, he's fine" later and we were back on the road. Unfortunatly, about 30 minutes later we had our first carsick victim... Lauren, followed by Gavin (who we weren't sure if it was carsick or concussion related,) and finally Ruby. At one point I was sitting in the back of the van between the 3 frantically throwing bags/cups/shoes/etc at all of them! Once checked in, we realized that Lauren was still not feeling great, so she, Gavin and I stayed at the hotel while Chris braved the first day at the park by himself with his two and Ian. What a trooper! Just about the time I was debating taking a lethargic Lauren and Gavin to an ER, Gavin bounced back with his normal behavior of daredevilness (earning him the nickname of "Dangermouse" from Uncle Chris,) and Lauren perked up enough to be ready for everyone to get back and have dinner with us. (The next week we would find out she had a raging ear infection she was fighting the whole trip.) But the best news was that night we had a surprise knock on the door, Daddy had rearranged his work schedule and flown in to meet up with us and enjoy day 2 of the park... YEA DADDY! The second day was a whirlwind of rides, meeting their favorite characters and generally wearing themselves out. The hands down favorite ride for the girls was the rockets which we rode atleast twice, while the boys loved the cars they got to drive their Daddy's in! The best part of the trip according to all but Liam (who's favorite overall thing was driving the cars,) was meeting Tinkerbell. She signed all the kids autograph books, talked to them a little, posed for a picture, then kept coming back for more hugs!!! What a fun trip, and even with the rocky start was definitely a do-again!

Half Moon Bay

We woke up this morning and decided it was time to start the day trips again, so feeling no time was better than the present we packed everyone up, grabbed some milk boxes and loaded up. After two and a half hours we arrived at our first stop, Flying Fish grill. We had a wonderful meal, though it was more a take and go type place, the restrooms were all the way around, outside, and in the back of the restraunt then then through the kitchen... and only one bathroom at a time... definitely NOT the place for a first stop after 2+ hours in the car with toddlers with small bladders! But, we all had delicious clam chowder soup and then kids had salmon so were happy! Afterwards we headed over to Half Moon Bay State Park. The waves were huge, the chilly wind was blowing... but the kids were all smiles as they started to run, except Gavin, who doesn't remember ever being able to walk in a giant sandbox... the other kids remember my grandfather's in Florida, but not him! The kids had a ball being chased back by the breakers, until we got our first hand experience with the rip currents when Lauren lost her cup and it never came back to shore... then they were a little more cautious, as they should be. We watched the surfers, built hills for our trucks to ride through the sand, and then when Gavin started getting tired, packed up and got back in the car. Since we had decided to take HWY 5 on the way there, going over the San Mateo bridge, we decided to make a loop out of it, and drove through San Francisco for the return trip so we could take the Golden Gate Bridge, and tunnels home! All in all a terriffic day. The kids did great, even Gavin who's the one we've been fearing would make day trips, and flying trips a headache! Now to research the campgrounds we saw at Half Moon - might make another weekend out of it!

Wolves!

I so wish we had pictures... I had the camera in the car, and alas I forgot to grab it! A couple weeks ago Lauren and I went and signed up for our first Library cards... we were unincorpirated in Illinois thus couldn't get one there, and never got around to it in Boston. I must admit we're having a blast BORROWING books. We've always loved books, but for Lauren especially she's loving getting to choose her own book and be responsible for putting them back in. Our library is VERY high tech... or maybe they all are, I hadn't been in a library since Purdue! We scan the books ourselves by placing them on a special plate to check them out, then fed them through a conveyor belt outside all automated and all by ourselves, which Ian loves! But, back to the weekend. Our first trip to the library we saw a flyer announcing WOLVES at the LIBRARY!!! We couldn't pass up that opportunity so we went back last weekend to check it out. A Sacramento based rescue group called NEVER CRY WOLF RESCUES, brought 4 wolves on leash into the library. Gavin thought they were great big "OG's" and spent the entire hour we were listening and learning about wolves trying to wiggle down onto the ground and go wake up the "dog's!" The kids were awed by them and even more impressed they mostly slept through it all. Although the one did keep opening his eyes to check us all out, and one sat and smiled at Gavin for awhile while Gavin kept waving and saying "HI HI HI HI." It was a cool experience and not at all what I expected... I was thinking wolves in cages outside while we walked past.

Tahoe for Dinner!

After a couple of months of no "big" adventures (though in our house everyday can be an adventure,) and we were ready to answer the call when asked if we wanted to join our friends for dinner in Tahoe! A group of Michaels fraternity brothers get together every year for a ski adventure, and this year, we joined though not for the skiing part, just for one dinner! We headed up at naptime, though noone napped, arrived before any of the others were done with their runs for the day, so headed out for a brisk hike to see Lake Tahoe... a beautiful site, but more of an adventure than we were expecting. As you can see from the pictures we arrived at the house to a chilly afternoon... see no coats... and while I was a good Mommy and put jackets on everyone before the hike, by the time we were almost home... the snow was blinding! It was also a very hilly hike with short legs which took us an hour! We had a wonderful meal with everyone, and while it was hard to have meaningful conversations as we were running after our kids more than the other parents, it was great to catch up and see some faces from the past! The drive home was a little dicey... snow chains were not yet required, which was good since we didn't have any. If I had been skiing, I would have said it was beautiful white out coniditions. In the car, I appreciated the beauty and the fact I wasn't driving! As soon as the blizzard stopped, we hit a wall of fog... the signs warned of dense fog... but we couldn't see more than a couple feet in front of the car, so it was a crawl through the mountains. But, we made it home safely and enjoyed another wonderful daytrip here in Northern California yesterday.