San Diego Overnighter, Fun Run, and Bake Sale

Jim had a work event in San Diego in October, and we decided to make an overnighter out of it. Madison Sorenson came over Friday evening to babysit, and Jim and I stayed the night in a not-great hotel in a really ghetto area by Mission Bay. But first we went to La Jolla, walked around, and found a place for dinner. It was lovely.

Saturday morning, we went for a run around the bay, which would be a beautiful spot if the island in the middle had not been developed with a (now-abandoned) trailer park and the rest of the surrounding area weren't similarly undesirable. The trailer park was an eerie ghost town - broken windows, tipped-over furniture, wine glasses still scattered around inside and outside mobile homes. It was very odd. We would have liked to explore further and run a whole huge loop, but it's over 10 miles and would have taken forever even if my knees and I been in good enough shape to handle it. Someday we'll go back.

We cleaned up, checked out of the hotel, and headed down to La Jolla. It was a beautiful day.

We walked around some areas we haven't seen before and checked out the Sunny Jim Sea Cave. To get to the cave, you have to pay $5 to descend from a souvenir shop (The Cave Store) down a long set of stairs in a tunnel that was completed in 1903. I believe it's the only sea cave in California that is accessible by land. The tunnel was dug to allow visitor access but apparently was subsequently used by bootleggers and smugglers of illegal immigrants. There's not a ton to the cave itself, but it was a fun stop, and the tunnel was cool.

Of course we saw tons of seals and birds as we explored. 

So much bird poop. So much stank.

I've always known that I have freakishly long arms, and I feel that this picture confirms it:

We saw some people snorkeling, and Jim really thought we should rent gear and go. I knew it was the adventurous thing to do, but it seemed very time-consuming and hard, as we'd have to get to a Y to shower and clean up before the Kaiser party. He finally gave up the dream, and we just walked some more and had a late lunch at Duke's.

We went on a nice walk at Sunset Cliffs at sunset (appropriately). It's a very popular area to which we'd never been.  The stretch of cliffs is long, so at least the hordes of people can spread out a little bit.  We walked pretty much as far as we could go, and it was lovely.

We parked in a residential area to change into our party clothes. We killed some extra minutes watching a show on Jim's phone and then ended up hurrying to the Kaiser thing, having missed most of the early mingling portion. Shortly after we arrived, there was a motivational meeting/award ceremony. Then came dinner. It was very fancy, and Kaiser hired people to dress as flappers and help at the dinner party. We weren't hungry yet, thanks to our late lunch at Duke's (complete with giant dessert), but we ate anyway. Then, since socializing isn't our thing, we took off pretty early. We figured it would be nice to have some fun tims (show watching) after we got home.

In the day we were gone, Ever read this stack of books:

She did not inherit my slow-reading gene, and I'm so happy about that.

The following week, Ever had her school fun run. She got very generous donations from Tutu and Jim, and I took the littles to watch her run. Running is not her favorite thing, but she ran hard and gave it her all. I was really proud of her. 

Tiny collected dandelions. 

The super runner and the medium-sized sister.

Tiny held us up on the way out of school because she had to climb on all the things.

The stake did a Rise Against Hunger event on Thanksgiving weekend, where we packaged dehydrated meals to be shipped around the world. The Meagan and Pete Bunnells weren't going to be around for the packaging event, so Meagan organized a bake sale to raise money to donate to Rise Against Hunger. That way, her kids could still participate and contribute. Bake sales are my dream, and I got way too excited planning what to make.  

The bake sale was the Saturday morning before Thanksgiving. I texted friends to tell them about it. Anna promptly called with a question. Her brother-in-law had just passed away, and they were going to Orange County Saturday morning for his memorial. She wanted to contribute to the cause and wondered if we could spare some stuff for her to pick up and take to the memorial; then it would be like she was making a donation in his name. I talked to the other bakers, who agreed to make a spare pan of something to send. I ran around Friday night collecting baked goods and serving platters from the other bakers to give Anna. 

For our part, we made many cookies and pumpkin bars and I forget what else. We baked and baked. So much baking. Meagan and I were both crazed baking ladies late into that Friday night. It was fun before it became a little much.

We set up shop outside the Bunnells' and were open for business from 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. on Saturday. The kids held signs and waved at people driving by. We learned that 9:00 A.M. is too early a start time. Things picked up around 10:00. At first it seemed as if we had way too many goods, and I was concerned. I sent a couple mass texts to friends and acquaintances to drum up some business. But then a few really generous people came and bought a ton, and friends who got my texts showed up to find we had run out. We sold out of pretty much everything and raised over $400, I think, not including what Anna donated. 

Mammoth: Lundy Canyon Backpacking Overnighter

Jim went camping with the Young Men for a few days. As soon as he got home on Thursday, June 20, we packed and left for Mammoth. The drive took forever, thanks in part to a super-long stop at REI, where we got a lot of gear (especially for the kids). We arrived at our condo really, really late.

The next morning, we hit the visitor's center for information on hikes and backpacking and Schat's Bakery for sandwiches and treats (which we finally had to admit are not that good). An older lady at Schat's complimented us on our well-behaved kids, so that was nice. She and her husband also have three girls. I hear that quite a bit when we're out and about.

We had our Airbnb for a few days, but Jim really wanted to get a backpacking overnighter under our belts before the Yosemite portion of our trip. The best day to do it was that night so we'd get back on Saturday and be able to go to church on Sunday. I was incredibly reluctant, given that the girls had been up until about midnight and were crazy tired, but I let Jim make the call. He opted to go for it. He chose the Lundy Canyon Trail, which the park ranger had tried to dissuade us from taking because of potential snow and because I think she thought it would be too hard for our kids. But Jim's a go-big kind of guy.

We went back to the condo and spent a long time getting organized and packed for backpacking. So hard. So much gear. There was no way Jim and I could have carried everything, and we wanted the girls to participate anyway, so each of them had a pack. Ever's held her sleeping bag and sleeping pad; Wren carried her and Tiny's sleeping bags, and Tiny carried the three girls' pillows.

On the road up to the trailhead, we passed a couple walking along the canyon floor (possibly birdwatching) who told us that the best part was down there where we were and that the trail up above was impassable. Jim, of course, pressed on. Tiny needed a potty stop along the way. We'd brought the seat from our training potty for such occasions.

We managed to get to the parking area by the trailhead without getting stuck in a serious section of mud. Starting out:

The trail was absolutely beautiful, thanks in large part to the snow on the mountains. It felt as if we were climbing in the Alps or something. Glorious.

There was a section within a mile of the trailhead that provided endless scrambling fun. 

Wrenzy at the bottom, Tiny in the middle, Jim and Ever at the top:

Tiny and I coming down (Tiny's nearly invisible):

We dragged the girls away from the rocks with a promise of future climbing. There were some relatively flat areas right by the trail in that climbing area, but we were hoping to find a better campsite farther off the trail. We hiked on a little while but didn't see anywhere we could pitch tents. We were worried about how late it was getting and didn't know how long we'd have to go to find a good site, so we turned around and set up camp right off the trail in the scrambling area. The girls highly enjoyed scaling this feature next to our campsite:

Ever helped Jim set up while Tiny poured dirt all over herself.

Somehow Ever's face got really dirty, too.

Tiny stayed busy building some sort of dirt altar.

The temperature dropped, and the beanies came out. 

Jim warmed water for dinner.

Tiny had to go potty again. 

It's impossible to overstate how many times during our Mammoth and Yosemite backpacking adventures we had to help little people relieve themselves. Three girls with small bladders and active bowels. So very much potty time. That was not the best part.

Jim and I slept in different tents with the girls split between us. We each had a Pippi book for bedtime reading, and that was enjoyed by all. 

The crew Saturday morning:

Ever couldn't wait to finish Pippi, so she sat overlooking the river and read to herself.

While Jim and I broke camp, Wren went up the face of this unattended.

Bear waved from the top while Tiny made her way up:

Lots more potty time for Tiny (in the background) while Ever complained of exhaustion.

She recovered enough to start climbing again.

It's always a relief when no one falls to his death.

We got mostly packed up and then left our stuff in one tent while we hiked farther down the trail. 

Jim gave Ever a lesson on water purification while Tiny and Wrenzy threw rocks into the stream.

Lots of river crossings, and nobody fell in.

Eventually we got through a boggy forested area to a river that was, indeed, impassable. Two teenage boys were trying to figure out a way across but seemed to agree it was hopeless. We turned back and headed down, stopping for a snack on a boulder on the way.

More dirt play by Tiny. Notice her left foot and leg.

Ever, of the inexplicably nappy hair, guided Tiny:

We'd promised the girls a little more climbing by our campsite on the way down the hill. Ever and Tiny at the top:

Ever helping Tiny Tot down:

Ever invented this fun little game about pirates, where one team climbed up the rocks on one side of the trail, and the other climbed up the rocks on the other side of the trail, and then we raced down and up the other side while somebody tried to tag us. It was fun and creative and a little scary on account of the possibility of falling while race-climbing. We weren't able to play too long because it was getting late, and Ever was very upset when we cut it off.

The girls were fatigue-wrecked. When we got back to the condo, Wrenzy passed out on the couch and slept a long time.

Overall, the trip was a big success. It was a beautiful area, and we were glad we went, despite the girls' sleep-deprivation.