Ever and Leela did a free camp at the library from 9:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. the week of June 18-22. The theme was "Digging for Dinosaurs." They made fossils the first day.
The library e-mailed a link to pictures from the week. They appeared to do all sorts of neat things.
A few times when I picked up the girls, I took everybody to the free lunch in the library courtyard (right outside the room where the camp was held). A bunch of friends from the ward go to free lunch through the summer, and I'd heard it was great. They are good about offering fruits and veggies, but the main dishes were generally not so hot.
Once when Anna picked them up, a family yoga class was going on at the library right afterward. So the girls got their yoga on.
The last day of camp, the staff brought out this big, life-like dino. Apparently the thing is crazy expensive. The way it moved (thanks to the woman inside it) was incredibly realistic. I actually thought it was really cool. I feel as if I'm supposed to keep this first picture of Ever with the dino, but I can't get rid of the second because she appears to be posing just like the dinosaur.
On Saturday, June 16, we went on a hike in the Cuyamaca area. It wasn't very nice. It mostly felt like a long, tedious, hot death march. We did get to hang out at a river, which is always nice, but we weren't equipped to get in it. Better luck next time.
As we set off, Ever wanted to carry Tiny. Jim took this:
At the trail, Ever's excitement turned to pain before I could get a decent picture of the two of them.
We lunched by the water, and again there were irritating squirrels that really wanted our food. (Behind Ever's head.)
After lunch, there was some touching of the water.
They started getting more and more into it. Tiny just wanted to jump right in.
Finally Wren tried to get giardia.
As we were heading out of the water area, I set my phone down on an indentation in a giant slab above the river. Then as I was climbing up, I knocked my phone, and it slid down, down, down, down, down the rock. I thought it would stop when it hit a ledge, but it didn't; it just went all the way down into a filthy, mossy pool. I couldn't even get to it from where I was because the rock was too steep. I stood above it hemming and hawing and wondering if I should just leave it there. A man offered to help. He hopped down the rocks and over to the other side of the little pool and plucked it out. I said there was no way it would work again. I was bummed about losing all my pictures, as I hadn't uploaded to my computer for a long time. He said, "You'd be surprised." He said his wife had dropped her iPhone in water many times, and 50% of the time it came back to life after being left in rice to dry. He said the key is not to try to turn it on until it's totally dry; leave it longer in the rice than you think it needs. When we got home hours later, I took my phone apart (a cheap LG phone, not an iPhone) and put the pieces in rice. Miraculously, when I put it together and turned it on the next day, it worked. My little phone lived, and no pictures were lost in the making of this hike.
The walk from the river to the car was pure drudgery.
Jim thought that once we reached the road, we were going to have to walk a mile or two to the car. (I had no thoughts, as I had no idea where we were.) He offered to run to the car and drive back to get the rest of us. We were incredibly relieved to discover that the car was right there where the trail hit the road.
I tried not to let the girls know how much I was not enjoying it, but that was not a hike we will repeat. A swing and a miss.
My partner friend at work, Steve Tomasulo, regularly spends time at a cabin in Big Bear, so I asked him for recommendations of things to do there. He mentioned the Castle Rock hike but said to do it on a weekday because it gets really crowded. So Monday was the day. It's only 2.6 miles but is quite steep, so it took most of the day. There were tons of rocks to climb, and it was pretty. Jim hugged a tree as we got started.
The girls climbed on lots of tall boulder piles on this hike. (I don't know how to describe all the rock formations.) I want them to be adventurous, and I like that they like to climb. I also kept thinking how easily someone could die, though, and I fear losing someone in a dumb accident. Anyway, no one fell off anything, much to my relief.
Bear posed with her shirt up and got grumpy when I asked her to put it down:
As we neared the top, we settled on a spot to stop and eat. (Ever was dying of hunger by that point.) We were instantly surrounded by frighteningly aggressive squirrels that wanted our food. Mamo would have been in heaven. The girls, however, were terrified, and rightly so. These squirrels were nuts (no pun intended). It felt as if they were going to attack us. They had zero fear of humans. I got very angry at all the people who have fed them and made them this way.
Squirrel scoping us out / getting ready to pounce:
Ever having a staring contest with a squirrel:
The girls were crying hysterically as we tried in vain to scare off the squirrels, so we had to bag our lunch plans and keep going. A couple came up as we were getting ready to go, and I told them how the squirrels wanted our food and were trying to attack us. Somehow the man misunderstood and was like, "You want to feed the squirrels? Here." And he started to hand me some pistachios. His wife said, "No, she doesn't want to feed the squirrels." I said my girls were terrified of them and we had to get out of there. Why do people feed the wildlife and ruin them? Vote no.
Anyway, we marched on, and Wren got contemplative and then bitter on top of another boulder:
There are rocks all over the summit. Some people do not climb them or do not climb to the very top. We took the girls all the way up. Where is the line between adventurous and stupid? I don't have any pictures from the top that really give an idea of the terrain, but the venture was kind of sketchy.
First we climbed to the top of the rock formation on the right. Then we climbed to the top of the rock formation on the left. That side was harder to access. On the way down, Jim and I had to pass Tiny back and forth between us.
I tried to get a video of Tiny talking about a squirrel. Missy was photobombing in the back, and then the squirrel ran off to her.
Goosey told Jim secrets and then posed for pictures.
She did not want to come down off of those rocks.
While we were hanging out up there, a woman came up with her kids - who were probably in their late teens or early twenties - and her sister. The son said no way was he climbing up the rocks. The daughter was like a mountain goat, and she went all the way up. The mom (and the aunt, to a lesser degree) proceeded to have a heart attack, averting her eyes and panicking until the daughter made it back down. She asked if we went up with our kids and must have thought we were crazy when I answered in the affirmative.
After Castle Rock, we hit the alpine slides (also recommended by Steve). Kids under two aren't allowed to ride, but we fudged Tiny's birthday by a few weeks to get her on. We paid for a 10 rides. The girls needed an adult with them, so that meant Wren and Ever went twice, and Tiny went once. Goosey and I were first up. She was pretty cautious and didn't want to go too fast. We went even slower the second time. But she loved it.
Jim and Wren got some decent speed.
Bear Bear is quite a storyteller. My favorite is the end when she randomly says she didn't get her pants wet.
Jim and Tiny:
After that we went into the village for some ice cream.
I don't remember dinner that night. I think we ate back at the cabin.
Ever had a dance class Tuesday afternoon, so we had to leave Big Bear around noon on Tuesday to get back in time. We wanted to squeeze in a hike that morning but didn't end up having time to go very far.
Ever insisted on a full-family shot and told us all where to be:
I climbed a boulder, and the chiznets followed.
Then we had to turn around and head out. In the car, the littles passed out.
All in all, it was a successful trip. The girls want to go back, I think mainly just for the slide. Jim and I would like to get in the habit of doing a fun little trip right after school gets out every year. He's already requested the first week of next summer break off, so maybe we can make it happen.
