Memorial Day Weekend Getaway

We took a road trip this weekend to get out of town for awhile.  We feel fortunate that there many places to road trip to near us--and about a month ago decided we would head to the Northern Sierra's to hike.

Fast forward to Friday, when the forecast called for rain (again) all weekend--with possible snow in the mountains.   We seriously thought about cancelling, but since the cabin we rented was non-refundable, we packed some food and board games, and headed east.

We briefly stopped in Brentwood to pick some cherries, not being sure that we would be able to make it another time.   Fun, and delicious as always.

Next, we headed to our home base for the weekend: Sierra City--an old mining town located at about 5000 ft.   Though the weather was not sunny, it wasn't pouring either.   We first went to visit the Kentucky Mine--a historic mine and mill.   Though the mine is no longer functioning, it has been restored, and amazingly, a lot of the machinery is still in working order.   The whole process of how the miners dug out rocks from the mountain, and sent the rocks to the mill, where they were crushed, and how mercury used to extract the gold--was fascinating.

Saturday night, it really did pour, though let up a bit by morning.   We could see the a new snow line on the mountains about us--the overnight rain was snow up there.   We decided to try and take a few short hikes.   The first was on the Pacific Crest Trail.   The trail took us to a bridge over Lover's falls on the North Yuba River--a gushing waterfall.

We next attempted to head to Frazier falls.   About halfway up, the road became snow-covered--and shortly thereafter, a sign announced that the road was closed.   The kids enjoyed playing in the snow a bit anyhow!  

We headed back down the mountain and found a picnic spot in an idyllic town called Calpine, and by then the sun was out.   We continued onto Graeagle--another cute town in the valley, where we did some shopping, stopped for an ice cream, and the kids hit a bucket of golfballs at the driving range.   We also saw a couple who own a shop in town that we had met two years ago at mountain meadow--they do mining in an adjacent property and sell jewelry.  

For dinner that evening, we went to the Lodge at Sardine Lake.   This is a place that Jason grew up going to--it is about 90 minutes north of Tahoe, and every summer he made the trek with his family.   The lodge is located on a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.   I can only imagine how spectacular it must be on a sunny day!   It was fun to eat there, and Jason enjoyed reminiscing.

So, overall, not a total bust! We didn't even unpack the games we brought!   Ha!

Rainy Weekend?!

We had a very unusual (for California) May storm this weekend.   It stated pouring on Friday, and has mostly continued the entire weekend.  It did break long enough for some beautiful rainbows:

Because of the rain, Ethan's baseball and one of Alaina's 2 softball games (and end-of the season pool party) was cancelled.  We took advantage of the holes in the calendar and were able to get together with Sue, Ben, Cruz and Whitney.  

Now what does one do in the pouring rain?   Well, ice skate of course!   I found an indoor rink in San Mateo--about halfway between our homes--so we met for lunch and then went skating.   The kids are getting more confident--and we had a lot of fun.   Always so good to catch up--though luckily we will get to see them soon at Mountain Meadow!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, I spent the morning in Denver at a meeting for work but made it home by 4pm to celebrate with a Mother's Day Dinner!

Jason and the kids prepared steak, asparagus and homemade cupcakes!   What a treat.   I am very lucky to be the mom of these two!

Alaina Rides a Bike

Well, the day has come--Alaina has finally "mastered" bike riding without training wheels!

This has been a LONG time in the making.   I have been trying to help her learn for months.   She basically refused to learn.  Each time I brought out the bike she would scream and cry and refuse to get on the bike.   Stubborn like her mom.   the whole process was completely exasperating.


Anyway, I did some web searching for a new technique (as mine clearly was not working) and learned how to teach her first by not using the pedals--just her feet to scoot and glide.   After that is mastered, I put on one pedal, and had her rest one foot on that pedal and use the other to scoot and glide.   Finally, she transitioned to two pedals.  

Alaina watched a video on this process with me--and I had her do each step for two weeks, with practice every day after school.   On Friday, she told me she was getting "good" when going downhill--and she was right.   We practiced Saturday with me just gently holding onto her back--and today, we headed down to the school yard, where everything just seemed to click.  We spent about an hour working on starting and stopping--and now she is off and running.   We were even able to take a short family ride this afternoon on the bike path near our house!   

Honestly, I cannot believe it.  But as always with Alaina, one she makes up her mind to do something, she persists and works until she succeeds!   She really has fierce determination.  And I am very proud of her.  Look at her go!