The Homers did a giant month-long cross-country road trip and stayed with us for about a week and a half at the end of July / beginning of August 2021. Dustin (and Jim) worked most weekdays, and Coco and I didn't do much. We did take them up to the cabin the first weekend. Jim went up early to work on the place, and the counters were installed just in time.
We did a short walk on the Pebble Plain trail by our house.
This video must be kept for purposes of remembering Wrenzy's voice. And yes, Tiny was wearing her hat inside out.
We turned on the Olympics - men's gymnastics - when we got back to the cabin. Tiny was pooped; she immediately collapsed half on a stool, half on the table and stayed that way.
-+
Anson slept with the girls in the bunk room - his first slumber party. To my surprise, the kids didn't mess around and went to sleep quickly. I don't know why sleeping children are so endearing.
We went to the Alpine Zoo the next morning.
Wrenzy was very cute, taking notes about and/or drawing pictures of all the animals.
Uncle Dun Dun spent a lot of time tracking down bait and whatever else we needed for a late-afternoon fishing trip by the dam. Ever and Wren kept their masks on for a long time, just for funsies.
Wren and Tiny enjoyed scrambling way up on the rocks.
Everybody took a turn with a pole. Nobody caught anything except the little baitfish, I think they were, but Dustin pretended they were real fish so the girls could feel accomplished.
Coco headed out to get Eleanor ready for bed. She walked back to the car, set off the blaring alarm, and couldn't figure out how to make it turn off. She hiked back down to us, and we had to go up and deal with it. Stupid factory alarm.
Saturday morning we hiked the Castle Rock trail and then went on to Bluff Lake. Coco drove to Bluff Lake and met us there.
Wrenzy gets very angry when she sees me take pictures of her. It's a problem.
Ever, on the other hand, is happy to ham it up.
At Bluff Lake, we met Coco and walked the loop. Wrenzy picked up all the sticks and carried them the whole time. Again with the photo anger.
It was hard to drag the littles away from these ruins.
Dustin taught us that ponderosa pines smell like vanilla, and what a wonderful little secret that is!
The girls took turns being rung like a bell by Jim.
We visited this tree that is really old and important.
We lunched atop a giant fallen tree. The girls found it most fun to run back and forth along the tree.
Note that Wrenzy is still carrying a big log in the pic below.
We sent the car with some Homers down the hill, and the rest of us hiked back down Castle Rock. Ever ran by the Homer car as long as she could. She's the purple/orange dot to the right.
Ever and I wanted to run down the trail, so we went ahead and did. We got to the bottom and waited and waited and waited for the rest of the peeps.
As we waited, I started to think things had gone horribly awry on the trail. Sure enough, Jim had a terrible time with the littles on the way down and was furious at me for leaving him. Whoops.
We planned to meet Coco at Sister Sister Bake Shop. Coco had to wait for us for a while, and then they closed right before we got there. That was sad.
We got a big hail storm in the middle of the day, which was exciting. I happened to be filming when lightning seemed to strike right on top of us.
The roof leaked in several places during the storm. It was crazy. Water in the "garage":
We knew we needed a new roof and had already engaged a roofer, but he wasn't going to get to us for months. I called him as water dripped down around me in the house, and he came over to check it out. He moved us up the list and got the roof done soon after that, so that was awfully nice. We were so lucky to have been there when that storm hit.
The storm was short-lived, and we went on a lovely evening stroll.
Back in Oceanside, the littles gave themselves some very interesting hairstyles.
Cholo Tiny.
Cikaneks invited us to take the Homers in their pool.
We did one beach day, but it was a bust. The water was unseasonably freezing, so nobody could stay in it for long. It was so, so cold. Dustin did some good burying of kids, though.
Ever and Dustin did a little bodyboarding.
We stayed as long as we could handle it, but it wasn't the beach day of which we dreamed.
We did a little neighborhood walk and hit BJ's for dinner before we said farewell to the Homers. Wrenzy gave herself a really cute 'do, but it's hard to see in this photo:
