Top 10 of our Trip- # 3

3. Hikes.
I am in LOVE with mountains.  They are so beautiful and so fun to climb.  We started the climb up Mount Humphries, which is the left most peak in the picture that shows Uncle Dave's view from his porch.  The peak is at 12,000 feet, and we made it to 10,000.  Chris got altitude sickness so we had to get down, pronto.  The hike up and down the mountain is 10 miles round trip and we did 6 miles round trip.  Not bad for us being out of shape!
Later in the week some of us girls went into Sedona and climbed Bell Rock.  It is basically a huge rock in the shape of a bell.

A before Picture

One of the many beautiful views

Taking a break.  Our pup was a champ going up and down that mountain.

Before Picture

Everywhere we looked there was a beautiful view!

Last pic we took before we went down.
We were getting nervous about that storm rolling in- you can see it in the top left corner.

Boy's Overnight

Uncle Vince, Chris and the Rowles boys did a 24 mile hike while we were out in CO. There was a trailhead closeby so they set out early Wednesday morning and hiked 9 miles. They woke up early Thursday and hiked around and back another15 and back to meet us at camp around dusk. It rained most of the day on Thursday so they were super cold. They radioed us an hour before they got to camp so we could start to boil water for their showers. Although it was hard work, CHris had a fabulous time.

Aunt Jenny and Phoebe helped drop them off at the trailhead.

 

 

Some og these views are just breathtaking!

Poison Oak attacks!!!

This literally could be a picture of Chris' leg.  I got it from here.

After our glorious hike on July 4th, we were noticing that we kept getting bug bites.  We thought maybe we had some chiggers or mosquitos on the hike, and in our own yard.  But then my skin started getting rashy and even more itchy and so I got an appt with my doctor.  She promptly diagnosed me with poison oak, and gave me a cortizone shot.  (I dont recommend this.  The results were not immediate, and I woke up at 3:30am and couldnt get back to sleep.  I can tell a difference for sure, the itching is considerably less, but I like my sleep!)

My doctor said I had a particularly bad reaction so that is why she gave me the shot.  She also prescribed some pills and a cream.  Chris has more of it all over his legs but the reaction was not as bad as mine.  So we are just slathering oursleves with cream and taking the pills.  Hopefully we should be good considering we are driving to AtL tmr!  eek!

oh, and the girls are mostly unscathed.  G has one spot and Elia has a few.  They start out looking like mosquito bites so sometimes you just don't know!

Independece Day

Chris of course had today off so we had a full day of fun! In the morning, we went on a glorious 2 and a half hour hike at the hiking park. This was probably the most fun for Daria, but a clsoe second for the girls. We found a water hole and didn't intend for the girls to get in, but one thing lead to another and Elia was pretty much fully submerged.  Showers for everyone as soon as we got home!

We headed over to the McBrides to barbecue before we went to watch fireworks.

What do you call these?  Poppers?

Yum cupcakes!

Fun Weekend

Somehow weekends are even sweeter now that I'm back to work.  Its not that I didn't enjoy them before but we seem to squeeze in as much as possible these days.  Friday we went to Fuzzy's with my teacher friend Lindsey and her husband and baby (the one I subbed for last year, she is almost 1!).  Fuzzy's was having a one year celebration for being in business in Carrollton, and everythng was $1!  Everytime we drive by Fuzzy's the girls ask if we can go there so you can imagine their excitement over getting to go.

Saturday morning we went to our hiking park and ran errands.  Saturday night my cousin Meghan babysat the girls so Chris and I could go meet Sam and John to see a movie.  Girl with a Dragon Tattoo was sold out, so we went out to a bar instead.  Seriously fun!  Whenever we get together we always have our kids with us (which is fun!) but it was nice to get out and be adults together.

Then Sunday was the usual- cartoons, being lazy and then church.
 

 

Then Uncle Patrick, Matt and Sarah came over to watch the football game.  There was quite a lot of shouting and liveliness with the 49ers losing, and of course G and E thought it was a little scary but mostly hilarious.  We ended the weekend with some ice cream and whipped cream.  Yum!

Jack London State Park

For Chris' birthday, most of the family went out to Jack London State Park. It is just outside of Sonoma, so again, the drive was very pretty. Jack London bought lots of land in the early 1900s and it has since been converted to a state park. There are lots of ruins there of the different buildings he had constructed, the main one being the "Wolf House", London's dream home. It was a huge house with 26 rooms and 9 fire places. A month before London and his wife were to move in, the house burned down, leaving the Wolf House Ruin. He died before he could rebuild. So sad his dream wasn't realized!

Walking the Trail

In front of his dream house.

Beautiful Scenery for some family photos!

Blackberry Picking and Compadres

Chris and his brothers know all the great spots for picking blackberries, so we got all ready for a hike and went out to Timber Hill. The blackberries grow wild and so it is free to anyone who is willing to brave the scratchy thorns. I think we came home with almost 3 gallons! We are going to make cobbler, bars and pies. Yum yum.
Then that night all the adults went out to Compadres for dinner and margaritas with none other than the Aunt Jeri.

Aunt Colleen's Visit

We had such a wonderful visit with Aunt Col this week. She babysat for us all day while we were at work on Friday, went to the parade on Saturday, babysat again for a date night on Sunday, followed us around at the Arboretum on Monday, hung out at the hiking park on Tuesday, and finally helped me host my church's playgroup on Wednesday. I was sad to see her go when we dropped her off at the airport this evening. The girls love her, and it shows in the pictures. We can't wait to see her again in June! Love you Col!

At the parade:

Gianna asked her to draw a pteranadon (flying dino) and so she looked up a pic on her computer and sketched it.

Hiking Park:

Hanging out:

Ain't she pretty? :)

Weekend

Today marked a milestone in our little renovation. I was able to use my bathroom for the first time in 2ish months! Chris installed the toilet (after a huge scrub-job) and caulked it. He also fixed the leak in the shower so the bathroom is completely functional! And can I just give Chris a shout out- on his ONLY day off this week he did 1 million honey-dos around the house! The baseboard is installed in both rooms, and caulked in the bathroom. The tile is caulked around the toilet and shower. He also fixed our Honda door, which has been broken for a month or so. It was pretty obnoxious dealing with that- I had to twist around in my seat to unbuckle Gianna, and then she would have to get down and open the door for me so I could get Elia out. Just another "obstacle" among many when trying to get 2 kids in and out of the car. So that was pretty exciting. My big project for the weekend was painting the inside and organizing the linen cabinet in our bathroom. I don't have any before pictures, but this is what it looks like now:

Pretty great, right?

Chris did have to work on Saturday, but he got home around 4 so we were able to take advantage of the absolutely gorgeous weather. We put the girls in our hiking backpacks and walked to the duck pond. Its been a while, and it felt great getting out!

Besides that, the weekend was pretty laid back.

G insisted on making her own sandwich this morning. So grown up!

The Great Dog Experiment

This week, we are dog-sitting for Weinpel. Her name is Koda, and she is a sweet dog. She is part Great Dane, so she is really tall, but otherwise she is mostly a black lab.

After a few days of having her around the house, I have come to a few realizations about having a dog.

1) Having a dog around is not that bad.

2) Dog poop is gross. So is dog breath. And doggie licks.

3) We will NOT get a puppy. We will adopt or do some sort of rescue program.

4) They provide great built-in exercise. Saturday we spent a few hours at the hiking park with her, and we are taking lots of walks. Here is a pic of the fam at the park.

Elia absolutely loves Koda. She laughs and squeals at her, lets her lick her and tries to feed her food that she doesn't like. Gianna is a little more apprehensive. The first day or so she would run away from her or get up on the couch away from her. Now she is still a little nervous but LOVES to boss her around. We have her until Saturday, so I will probably post again about any other doggie-related adventures.

Camping

I know you have all been waiting, so here is my recount of our wonderful camping trip to Rock Creek.

The trip started early Sunday morning with a 6 hour drive to Rock Creek, a campsite on the

other side of Yosemite. The drive had lots of wonderful scenery, as we drove through the mountains. We arrived in the early evening to our tents already set up. (you see, at 2am that morning, Grandpa took some of the boys early to scout out a good camp site and set up camp- having teenage boys to do anything at your beck and call is awesome!) This is Chris and I's tent, which basically became Gianna and Elia's tent as well.

We took the girls all around the campsite to explore. Our campsite was nestled between two mountains with a large creek (small river?) running behind us. With the river drowning out any noises from other nearby campers and with the wall of mountains, it felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. These were all taken not 10 steps away from our site.

It got dark quickly and as soon as the sun went over the mountain, it got cold. We were feeling 85 during the day when the sun was out and in the dead of the morning it was getting down to 40/45. Bone-chilling for what this Texas girl is used to!

Monday we did some small hikes near a town called Mammoth. We saw an earthquake fault, which was pretty cool. There was a place where you could climb down into it and there was snow down there. We also went to a June Lake, which was so cold, but the water was as clear as glass. It was gorgeous. Of course, I have no pictures from that day. We came home to a wonderful dinner of Mary's chili. I could probably dedicate a whole post to the food that we had. For some reason, camping makes food taste better. We also had a lot of fun each night sitting around the campfire. Elia learned to put her hands up when we were holding her and say no to the fire.

Tuesday was amazing. We went on a 4 mile hike- 2 miles up and 2 miles down the mountain. Our campsite was at about 8ooo feet and at the highest point in our hike I think we got up to 10200 feet. So beautiful. Only pictures can really tell you how beautiful it was, and even pictures don't do it justice. We bought another baby carrier through craigslist so now Chris and I I have matchy matchy backpacks. Its nice to have those teenage boys (and Chris) around to help carry the babies.

It was a wonderful day, but sadly Ana developed elevation sickness from this hike. Well, we don't really know if the hike actually did it or if the hike just exacerbated what she already had, but nonetheless, Mary, Jenny and Phoebe spent the night in a hotel with Ana at 4000 feet just to make sure. And she got better right away, so alls well.

Chris and the boys spent Wednesday morning hiking up the mountain that overlooked our campsite. Once they got back, we packed up and headed home. Such a wonderful trip! Can't wait for our next camping trip!