Low Rider

I took the girls to Target. Ever wanted to ride in the cart. I refuse to drive the crazy-huge carts with two rows for wee ones, and I don't have any space for groceries if I put Wren's car seat in the base of the cart. I decided, therefore, to have Wren sit up front and Ever sit in the base of the cart. Wren's sitting performance was a little lacking.

I think my fellow shoppers thought I was a bad mom for trying to make Wrenzo sit up before she was ready.

Turtle Mac & Cheese

"Turtle mac & cheese" (Trader Joe's organic shells and white cheddar) remains Ever's all-time favorite food. I have photographic evidence that she can eat an entire box:

I will have you know that she ate some apples and carrots while waiting for for the mac to cook, so this wasn't a carbs-only meal as it appears.

Impressive, right? She did share a few bites with me, out of the goodness of her sweet heart. But then when she finished, she declared, "I'm done, and I'm still hungry!" I said she couldn't possibly still be hungry. I suggested she go to bed (it was nap time), and if she was still hungry when she woke, she could have a snack or dinner. She said, "Do I really have to go to bed hungry?"

Mammoth

Jim took Thursday, October 1, and Friday, October 2 off work so we could do a big camping/hiking trip. We originally thought we'd go to Yosemite. Jim had big plans for long backpacking adventures, with one of us carrying one chiznet and the other of us carrying the other chiznet, as well as food, water, tent, sleeping bags, bear canister, clothes, diapers, bottles, etc. I kept trying to talk him down to a backpacking trip that would involve only a few-mile hike that Ever could walk. The thing that finally persuaded him of the impracticality of his plans was the weather. A few days before we were to leave, we discovered that it would get down to the low 40's and upper 30's at night. Since Wren can't be in a sleeping bag and would not survive such low temps, we ended up using VRBO to rent a condo in Mammoth Lakes. It was a glorious alternative.

We left on Wednesday afternoon. Ever was incredibly excited to watch a movie on the approximately seven-hour drive. I couldn't get a clear picture, but you can tell she's happy:

We stopped for a nutritious dinner at McDonald's. Ever did enjoy an applesauce packet while we waited for our burgers and fries:

She's into being silly for pictures these days:

We got in very late. Everyone was exhausted the next day. Jim got amazing snuggles from Wrenzo, and she actually dozed on him a little bit:

It poured that day. It was also about 40 degrees. We had a slow morning in the condo and then went out to a late breakfast (it was approaching noon) at an overpriced, tiny little place. Jim and I enjoyed a breakfast burrito (minus the nutritious part, eggs) and some other grub while Ever went to town on her adult-sized plate of french toast:

We drove around a bit, intending to do a little hiking. We had a hard time mustering the courage to leave the car. When we finally did, the rain picked up and the wind hurt bad. I dressed Ever in my sweatshirt and got Wren in the Moby wrap, and we finally all got out of the car. It was so cold that we barely made it across the road to peek down at the river below us. 

We headed back to the car and went to a thrift store to look for some warm clothes. I had brought a flannel and sweatshirt for me, a thin sweater for Ever, and a sweatshirt for Wren. Jim had nothing but shorts and t-shirts. (His uber-light packing technique backfired this time.) We had known it would get cold at night, but the forecast had predicted highs in the low 70's during the day. Lies. Jim got himself a wonderful new ensemble (pants, belt, and Mammoth Fire Academy sweatshirt) for $9. I got a little beanie and an ear warmer headband for a buck each.

The girls napped after we got back to the condo, and then we went out for pizza that night. A nice woman complimented the girls on their restaurant behavior, so that was a nice parenting moment.

Friday morning we hit up Schat's Bakery for breakfast. My chocolate croissant was a little disappointing, but the hot chocolate was nice.

We went to the other thrift store in town and found Ever some ski clothes. We want to take her skiing/snowboarding this spring and figured she could use one of the ski jackets we found for the hike. The price was right, and they had pink stuff - so, perfect.

Outfitted with warm attire, we did the three-mile hike to Crystal Lake. The ascent was a good uphill, but Ever did great. I carried Wren in the Moby, and Jim carried an empty backpack. Ever walked the whole time.

Ever wanted to climb all of the boulders:

I had promised Ever we'd swim in lakes. I knew the lakes would be cold, but I didn't know the air would also be freezing. She still wanted to try to get in. She touched the water with her foot a couple times, cuddled with Jim, and decided against going further.

Most of the way down was a race. Ever just wanted to beat me. When I was ahead, I was "Mama Cheetah," and she was trying to catch me and pass me. When she ran ahead, she was "Sister Cheetah," and I had to try to catch her. She kept calling out that she and Jim were "fast pokes" and I was a "slow poke" - "Don't you know you're a slow poke?" Hey - whatever motivates her. It appears she has Jim's competitive nature. I asked her if hiking were one of her special talents. She responded, "Yeah. Fast hiking is my job, so I'm really good at it."

Back at the bottom, we took a peek at beautiful Lake George by the parking lot. Ever got silly again:

We had leftover pizza for dinner at the condo. Jim put Wren to bed while I took Ever to the hot tub. She wouldn't swim at all, but we hung out in the hot tub for a while. Jim had said they keep the pool really warm all year, so I thought I had to get in. I knew it would be painful going from the hot tub, but I thought I needed to teach Ever to be adventurous and unafraid of cold water. I jumped in, swam back and forth, and returned to the hot tub. Eventually I got Ever to jump into the pool with me twice. We held hands and jumped together the first time. She looked shocked when she hit the water, and I got her out as soon as possible. She was slightly less shocked when she jumped in the second time, but I still had to rush her out. No swimming practice that day.

Saturday morning we watched General Conference and let Wren take a short nap. Conference cuddles:

We loaded everything into Big Blue early so we could head out as soon as the session ended. Jim took some stuff out to the car and happened to glance out the back door of the condo complex, where he saw a baby bear. He ran to get me, but the bear was out of sight. Earlier, Ever had asked about the funny garbage receptacles around town. I explained they use those receptacles because bears can't get into them, and we don't want bears coming in looking for people food/garbage. She then became afraid of bears, of course, and as we hiked kept thinking she saw bears everywhere. Friday night she said she was scared bears were going to get into our condo. We kept trying to convince her that the bears were far away in the mountains. I thought she'd freak out when she learned Jim had seen one running by our building, but she didn't.

We went back to Schat's for lunch and treats. I loved my sandwich but found the chocolates and cookies disappointing. Ever got a cupcake that we didn't know had jelly in it (yuck), so she ended up eating a lot of the chocolates Jim had gotten for himself and me:

We drove back to Lake George and did a short hike up a rather steep hill past Barrett Lake to TJ Lake. Waiting for me by Lake George:

Ever was more of a complainer this time:

We still managed to get her to walk all the way up. During this hike, Jim came up with the idea of "taffy power." We had gotten a salt water taffy piece from Schat's, and Jim said she could eat it when she needed an extra boost of power for the hill. Ever liked that idea a lot. After we got home, Jim ordered a bag of taffy on Amazon so we can use the taffy power on any hikes we do during our upcoming trip to Virginia.

Jim is the cutest dad ever. He took Ever down by Barrett Lake and told her that the water usually covered where they were walking. They pretended they were swimming as they walked along the sand:

By the time we got to the top, Wren was upset. I sat down on a log to make a bottle. Then we realized we didn't have stuff with us to make a bottle. I took a few quick pictures:

Then I hurried down the trail. Jim and Ever followed. Of course Wrenzo finally fell asleep right as I reached the bottom of the hill. I'm still not sure if she was really hungry or just exhausted.

We headed home after that. Ever enjoyed two movies on the way home. She found one part of Finding Nemo particularly intense:

She had to stop watching briefly until the scary part was over. 

It was a long drive but well worth it. Jim became enamored with Mammoth and wants to get a place there someday. I was researching the lakes after we left and discovered you're not allowed to swim in any of the lakes in Mammoth Lakes except for Horseshoe Lake, which apparently isn't very nice and has toxic levels of carbon dioxide. (The other lakes provide the town's drinking water.) Nearby June Lake is swimmable. I think I swam in it once, and it was amazing. I am, however, upset by the fact that you can't hike to all these zillions of lakes and jump in. Lame. Mammoth is still great, though.