Here's to Camping with Friends!

A favorite place, some favorite people, no phones or computers - how could we go wrong? We had a wonderful 5 days at Standish-Hickey, swimming, sunning, and relaxing. Britton, River and Mage, Jolie and Nio, Emma and Julia, and Carson's friend Kevin all joined us. We had a wonderful time, and it was especially wonderful to have such good friends there.


It was a little more adventurous than usual this year, as the seasonal bridge wasn't up yet on the trail to the swimming hole - so we had to ford the river with all the gear and kids. But that just added to the fun (or so we told ourselves)! The swimming hole was as perfect as always, and perhaps slightly less crowded thanks to that missing bridge. All the kids loved it: Julia, Mage & River played in the sand, caught fish, made castles. Kevin played in the rapid coming into the swimming hole. Carson, Reed & Nio learned how to swim up to that rapid and "peel out", letting the current take them back downstream. And we moms all jumped from the rock, though from a slightly more sane height than some (guys) do.

Marley the dog came for two days, and learned how to swim - albeit cautiously. Then (thankfully) Geoff took him home again. It's tough to have a dog along when they have to be attached to you by a 6 foot leash, or tied in camp with you there, at all times. It's tougher when the dog, new to camping, starts barking in the tent at 2am... and 2:15 am... and 2:30 am... and then when you let him out to pee he bolts before you can get the leash on, and there you are, whispering the name of your black dog in the pitch black campground and hoping to catch him before he finds someone else's dog in THEIR tent! And you DO catch him, and put him back in the tent, and he barks at 3:00am... and 3:15... and 3:30... and... at least he alternates his barking with your husband's snoring... actually, I guess that doesn't really make it better, does it!


On Wed. we went up the road a bit to Richardson Grove State Park, walked in the redwoods, and to mix it up a bit, swam at THEIR swimming hole (excellent, but not quite as excellent as ours.) Those old growth redwoods are so amazing and wonderful - they make you feel so small and brief, both literally and figuratively!

The kids had s'mores every night, and threw about 8 million rocks into the river. I'm always amazed that by the end of summer, the river isn't gone, replaced by a mountain of rocks thrown by boys. The weather was perfect, the food was plentiful, and the company excellent. What a great time!

There are many more photos here: http://www.coconutmoon.com/thebabe/. Ask me if you need the password.

Good Old-Fashioned Fun

This last Friday was the 4th of July, (for those of you who haven't looked at a calendar lately, or might not have noticed due to being in, say, India). We had oodles of fun over the weekend, starting with the annual picnic out at Skywalker Ranch. It's huge fun, totally old-fashioned and wonderful. I usually describe it as the small town 4th of July picnic that we all wish had really existed. Barbecue, swimming (in the pond or in the pool), carriage rides, face painting, live bluegrass, potluck salads, volleyball, bocce ball, visiting the farm animals, kayaking in the pond, a gelato truck, air-conditioned porta-potties (okay, they probably didn't have those in the 1850s!). And, of course, the games: three-legged race, peanut race, old clothes race, Australian trolley, water balloon (for little kids) or egg toss (for big kids and grownups), tug of war... we came home with a passel of silk ribbons.


I had forgotten my camera, but my old friend Kate was there and loaned me hers - which meant some serious sprinting, because Carson and Reed were still doing races while Geoff and Satchel did the egg toss, and two of her daughters also did the egg toss on the far end of the field. Run, aim, click, run, aim, click - but I got some great photos!


The highlight of my day was Geoff and Satchel in the egg toss. From a field of about 60 pairs, they made it to the top 8, which was pretty darn good. By that time the distance had grown far enough that they turned the contestants and made them throw the length of the field instead of across (this photo is still early on and across the field). They didn't get a ribbon for that one, but it was sure fun to watch. It was also fun to watch Satchel catch the egg the time it didn't survive the impact!


But I have to share the funniest thing about the whole day. It was quite cold when we got there - the fog hadn't burned off yet - so we left the swim stuff in the car and told the kids we'd swim later, if it warmed up. I was wishing I had a jacket, and we weren't sure how long we'd last before bailing on account of the cold. (Luckily, it did warm up and we stayed to the end of the party.) So somewhere around noon, when we've been there about an hour, but we're still freezing, Carson gets really whiny. It turns out he wants to go swim, NOW. We say no, he gets whinier. This continues for a while - then, he sits down on a chair and tells me his tummy hurts. I offer him a glass of water and, very dramatically, he tells me it helps a little. Then he says, straight-faced, and I quote, "I think my tummy would feel a lot better if I could go swimming!" Nice try, buster!

(For those of you feeling sorry for poor Carson, after the egg toss I DID take the kids to the pool, missing out on Geoff and Satchel in the tug of war (3rd place ribbon). Geoff and Satch also got a white ribbon for the Australian Trolley, which they did with Kate and family. How it works: 8 people have to stand together on two long boards, and hold onto ropes attached to the boards. Then, they have to walk in unison and beat the other teams. If someone steps off, that person has to continue facing backwards. At first, I didn't think their team would move at all - nothing was happening, except for increasingly louder cries of "left! Left! LEFT!". But somehow, they pulled it together and started to move. Then the guy in front fell off, and I've seldom seen anything funnier than the look on his face as he was completely and utterly unable to figure out which foot to move in order to walk backwards. Luckily he fell off again, and got to turn back around, and they got third place. Here's a movie.

After the fun of the picnic, we went home and crashed for a bit. Then we went to my mom's and had dessert, and walked down to the civic center to watch the fireworks at the county fair.

Saturday we rested, and Geoff hobbled around the house saying, "I KNEW the tug of war would hurt! But it was worth it!"

Then on Sunday I took Carson & Reed to the county fair, where we watched the sheepdog trials, rode the ferris wheel, looked at alternative fuel cars, ate junk food, and crashed into each other in bumper cars. Fun was had by all!