Happy 8th, to my not-so-little-guy!
You are one of a kind. May your creative spirit let you sail buoyantly over life’s roughest seas, and your integrity and boundless determination always bring you safely back to port.
I love you so much!
Birthday Boy
Luke will turn eight years old this Saturday. When I asked him how he wanted to celebrate he requested balloons and a cake and a big list of specific gift items (interestingly, none of which were toys unless you count the chemistry set), and oh yes, a trip to Knott’s Berry Farm. I told him I could afford the the trip to Knott’s or all the other stuff, but not both. He thought about it, and then reluctantly picked the cake-and-presents option.
When Steve asked Luke what he wanted and had heard the tale of woe, he said, “Of COURSE you can go to Knott’s too! Because I’m dripping with money and you can have anything you want!” Okay, that’s not what he said. I’m sure it was phrased more tactfully than that, but anyway the end result was that me and the kids and Steve AND his parents (dude, cut the umbilical cord already!!) spent yesterday at Knott’s together. And it wasn’t as awkward as I’d feared it was going to be, mostly because the kids had a blast and it’s hard to feel too awkward in the presence of kids who are having the time of their lives. Plus there were hardly any crowds or lines (we probably have the dismal economy to thank for that), so everyone got to do everything they wanted to do without much waiting.
This was the first time Luke and Elizabeth have been to Knott’s when both of them were too old for most of the Camp Snoopy kiddie rides. We did a brief camp walk-through for old times’ sake…
…and then moved on to the big kid stuff. Given the choice, I think Elizabeth would have spent the whole day just riding Jaguar over and over.
Luke had a similar affection for the Calico Mine ride.
I enjoyed communing with the local wildlife…
…and both kids had fun looking at all the old wagons and trains and such.
I’d say a fine time was had by all. And in one of the gift shops I found an item that was so perfect for Luke that it was worth the trip all by itself. It was a set of slotted “building cards” that could be used to create pirate-related structures — absolutely ideal for my budding architect/engineer/swashbuckler.
So today when I should have been catching up on a towering pile of chores, instead I spent the entire morning playing with Luke and the building cards. Check out the ship we made:
And now if you’ll excuse me, the mess around here is starting to impair my ability to walk from one end of the house to the other. I should probably do something about that…where did I leave my snow shovel….
And Now We Know
Elizabeth: “I think I’m going to draw a picture of what Dr. Claw might really look like.”
Me: “That reminds me. You have one more Inspector Gadget dvd coming in from Netflix, and that’ll be the last of them.”
Elizabeth: “I wonder if THIS TIME we’ll finally get to see Dr. Claw’s face!”
Me: “I don’t think they ever showed his face. I think it’s just one of those great mysteries of life that’s never revealed.”
Elizabeth: “Like the Onceler. You only ever see his hands and arms.”
Me: “Like how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a Tootsie Pop.”
Elizabeth: “Oh, I know that one. I counted once.”
Me: “You did? How many licks does it take?”
Elizabeth: “Four hundred ninety.”
How I love that child. She always goes that extra mile so the rest of us don’t have to.
Summer Adventures, Part 3
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
I just spent an amazing five days at a horse camp in Montaña de Oro State Park in up in San Luis Obispo with Julie and her sister Kelly. Julie and I drove up on Wednesday; Kelly lives in Merced and met us there. A fourth girl, Heather, joined us Friday night and left early Sunday morning.
This park is absolutely gorgeous. There are mountains and creeks and little foresty places, and a long sandy beach that just begs to be galloped upon.
The first day we were there, Mahogany wanted nothing to do with the ocean. On the second day I coaxed her into at least walking in wet sand. This was big progress for my water-phobic mare, but she forfeited her brownie points later in the day when I had to dismount and lead her across a tiny little creek back in the hills. Actually she leaped over the creek and landed practically on top of me. No cookie for her!
On day three we actually got her to stand quietly as the waves washed over her ankles! Whoot! And on the fourth day, miracle of miracles:
Day four was full of firsts, actually. She willingly crossed a creek about three times wider than the one she’d balked at before, without the slightest hesitation. I guess once you’ve been in the ocean those little babbling brooks aren’t quite so terrifying anymore. Then we rode a trail that took us over several long wooden footbridges, and amazingly Mahogany moseyed right onto and across them.
This trip was the best thing that could have happened to her! I’m hoping to find time to ride her down to my hideout sometime soon and see if she’ll cross that creek now, while the experiences are fresh in her mind.
I can’t say enough good things about this park. On two different days we saw seals swimming near the shore, and once Julie galloped her horse out within ten feet of one inquisitive seal. We had campfires every night and the food was awesome thanks to Kelly, who is quite the camp chef. The only unpleasant surprise for me was how cold it was. A chilly marine layer hung over the whole area for four of the five days we were there, and I froze my butt off the first two nights. On the third day we drove into town for more ice for the coolers, and I bought a sleeping bag (the air mattress and single comforter I’d brought with me were just not cutting it). After that I was toasty warm at night. On day four the haze cleared and the sun came out, and I was so unprepared for that I got a blistering sunburn. Sigh.
Here’s our campsite:
Here are Kelly (seated), Julie, and Jake, one of the two dogs Julie brought:
Dueling cameras!
By the end of the trip, Mahogany was looking lean and fit:
I’m so glad we did this. It was even worth coming home to a house that looked like flying monkeys had been living in it for five days (Steve stayed here with the kids while I was gone). I’d love to do more stuff like that, although ideally I’d like to be able to bring the kids along so they can share the experience. This is something every kid should get to do, I think.
I can’t believe the Summer Of Adventure is almost over. School starts back up in less than two weeks! We’re going to Knott’s Berry Farm tomorrow for Luke’s birthday, and then it’s back to the boring old grind. I think we made pretty good use of our summer though, all things considered. I’m aaalllmmost ready for Fall, and cooler weather. Almost.
Categories: Animals, Horses, Life, trail rides, Travel
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Holy Stowaway, Batdude!
Friday night we were watching “Hook” on dvd from Netflix and consuming enormous quantities of popcorn, when suddenly there was an exclamation from Steve’s end of the couch (he’s been coming over for family movie night the past couple of weeks). “Whoa — a bat just flew in!”
I paused the movie. “I didn’t see anything.”
“Neither did I,” said Elizabeth. Luke said he hadn’t either.
“It flew in the window,” Steve insisted. “I think it flew down the hall!”
So we briefly searched the back of the house for a bat, found nothing, and finally decided that Steve had seen a moth or something.
This morning Elizabeth was taking her bath and noticed something clinging to the wall mouldiing above the tub.
Poor little guy must have been starving after two days and three nights in the house.
After some discussion we decided to wait until dusk to release him outside, so he wouldn’t be disoriented and helpless in the bright light of day. When Steve came over to see the kids this afternoon he got elected, by virtue of being the only one tall enough to reach, to capture little Batdude in a towel.
I love bats, I truly do. Bats Are Our Friends. But little Batdude was seriously pissed off by the whole experience, and he was making some remarkably unattractive faces at us involving lots and lots of teeth, and he didn’t seem terribly receptive to our apologies, so we just took him out on the porch and let him go without further ado.
He exploded out of the towel and into the twilight sky with reassuring vigor — at least he wasn’t too weak from his ordeal to hunt.
I bet he won’t be flying into any more windows anytime soon, though. At least he’ll have a story to tell his grandkids. “So there I was…clinging to a barren wall in enemy territory for days on end….”
An Invincible Summer 