Summer Snow & Summer Fun

So way too long has passed since I’ve posted. Again. I was seriously hoping to get back up in the saddle and keep this thing going. I just don’t know if this is going to happen. Maybe I should just give up? Well, let me at least get us to Christmas this year and then we’ll see. After all, I started this thing during the holiday season.

This summer was pretty fun. We tried to stay local, to save some money. Our original plan was to go to Idaho again, but it just didn’t happen. So we stayed home and took small side trips.

Our first fun for the summer, once Abby was out of school, was to go for a hike in the mountains. It was just me and Mike and Abby. We went on a weekend the first or second week Abby was out of school. I was hoping to knock off the first trip right away to get the bad stuff over. Remember my theory that something bad ususally happens the first trip of the season? Yeah, well, it kinda proved it again. That Sat was suppose to be beautiful weather with only a 20% chance of light showers.

 

The day started off lovely. Look at the warm sun on Abby. It was the second week in June, I believe; warm down in the valley but cooler in the mountains. Still, it was sunny.

 

 

Around lunch, clouds were blowing in. But they were passing right up and over the mountains. They were moving on, so we figured there would only be light showers, if any.

 

We hiked up the trail until just about the point where we were going to turn around anyway when we noticed the clouds were jamming up on the peaks. They were stuck and building up. A much colder wind was blowing. Rather than stop and rest, like we normally do at our midway point, we immediately turned around and started huffing it downward. Mike pretty much lead the charge.

 

And the rain? Yeah, there was no rain. It immediately started to snow!

 

You can see how we were dressed. Mike was in shorts and a light shirt. Abby and I were in layers. I also had only one poncho with me and one emergency blanket. I gave Mike the poncho and Abby the blanket. I also have her my gloves and hand warmers.

 

At this point, Mike picked Abby up and carried her down the trail. We weren't really soaked; we weren't really that cold (Abby would argue otherwise); and we weren't that far away from the car. But Mike was in a hurry. He kept saying, "We need to get off the mountain or we'll be stuck here." And I was thinking, "ummm, we'll totally get back to the car in time. We're not in that big of a rush. Once we're to the car we'll be safe." And then Mike pointed out, "do you have any snow chains in the car?" Oh, crap. Yeah, we do need to get down off this mountain.

 

So we really hustled then.

 

I know all of my pictures show Abby on the ground, but really, Mike carried her a looooooooooooooooong way. I could not believe it. He's da man! This is what it looked like when it really started to snow.

 

 

Here's a picture of Abby when Mike finally reached his limit and she had to walk a while. Poor kid was super tired and cold at this point.

 

I stopped to take a selfie just before we got back to the car. I was the only one with no protective weather proofing on. I carried my own and Abby's back pack and I actually think the double layer kept me mostly dry. The wind was driving the snow at our backs most of the way and my back was back pack protected. My butt was frozen though!

 

The drive outta there was uneventful. I took it nice and slow, but in no time we dropped low enough that we were in rain. Easy peesy from there.

 

Still, I'm glad Mike made us hustle.

 

And, like I always say, the first trip of the year is always the worst! 

 

Our next trip was to 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom. Lee and I wanted to keep it light and not try to cram everything into this one day, mostly because it felt like we had just been there, but also because we had other plans for the weekend and didn’t want to exhaust ourselves. So, with the pressure off, we really just went wherever and really had some fun. Abby was being super adventurous and went on a big roller coaster first thing. When she got off the ride, she screamed “That was so TOTALLY AWESOME – and I’m never doing it again!” We cracked up. Even the ride attendant cracked up. So, most of the big rides were out after that, but that was ok. We rode other roller coasters (for kids) and hit a couple other dizzying rides. We explored the Butterfly World and watched the dolphin show where we got soaked in the splash zone.

 

 

 

 

Abby also got to ride an elephant. I kinda got her all excited about it mostly because I figured that the elephant ride would be deemed inhumane at some point and she wouldn’t have the chance later.

 

 

 

 

She wanted to try it so she bravely got on by herself and rode in a loop around the pen. It was kinda cool. But the coolest part of the trip was when Abby dragged me onto the giant swing ride – Sky Screamer.

 

This bad boy spins the swings on a tall tower and raises the whole contraption up about 20 stories. At least that’s what it felt like. Oh, it was awful! I almost peed my pants, not so much because I was scared but more because my maternal instincts kicked in and I was afraid Abby would fall. And then Abby let go of the bar and threw her hands in the air. I felt more hairs turn white. I grabbed her and put her hands back on the bar. She said, “mom, I’m not going to fall. I have a seat belt on.” Oh my god, like a seat belt will stop gravity. So I settled for holding on to the back of her shirt. She wanted to go back up for one more ride. I tried to talk Lee into it, but he refused. So I went up once more and prayed for the safety of my little girl. It’s crazy what instincts can do to you.

Our next fun outing was to the coast, specifically Point Reyes. I especially wanted to get Abby to the light house at the tippy point of the peninsula. So we hit the first visitor center and discovered the junior ranger program they had. We signed Abby up. So we followed one of the three options in a little booklet, which was rather cool and provided free of charge. It added more time to our outing, but it made it more spontaneous and adventurous. Not to mention more educational. Lee and I were all for it!

 

We took a nature hike around a nearby indian camp, filling out the booklet as we went. Next, we drove to the tip of the peninsula and hiked to the light house.

 

 

 

We spent a lot of time exploring that location and filling out the booklet. It was pretty cool. Abby spoke to the on duty Ranger out there, asked Lee and I questions, read the educational signs and made assumptions on those facts. Abby got to create her own journal entry, pretending to be a ranger assigned to the light house. Her entry involved an alien encounter. I don’t know where that came from, but it was funny!

Once she fully explored, and completed 90% of her booklet, we headed back to the car and headed out of the state park. As we drove, Abby finished up the book, ready to turn it in. I couldn’t help but snap a photo of Abby thinking about her answer in the car ride. She’s too cute!

 

We reached the last visitor center, where we started our trip, just a couple minutes before they closed. Whew! Abby showed the rangers her completed book, they stamped it up, and swore Abby in as a Junior Ranger. Aww! Plus she got a little patch! She was so proud. And so were we!