This Blue Stool of Mine

When we were growing up, my brother had a little stepstool that had this saying painted on the top step,

"This little stool is mine,

I use it all the time

To reach the things I couldn't,

And lots of things I shouldn't."

Well here I am many years down the road and my little boy has his very own stool.  It doesn't have anything painted on it but it might as well have.  Every time I turn around he's running by with this little blue booster headed for something he shouldn't be.  He's used it to get razors off the bathroom counter, to crawl onto the tub and turn the water on, to try and unlock the front door, as a toilet, and to get into the shelves in his sisters' room.  He's also learned how to work all of the child latches we've installed and so now nothing is off limits.  Doug was out at Home Depot yesterday buying more hardware to try and foil our one man wrecking crew.  Last night, he got into the cabinet under the sink in the kitchen and dumped an entire box of dishwashing detergent.  I walked up and said, "Jakie, No, No!"  He just looked at me with the biggest, most adorable grin you've ever seen, pointed at his mess and said, "Woah, wow!"  How can you stay mad at that??

Tufa you, Tufa me

Still trying to play catch-up with the summer photos... When my dad was in town this summer we also stopped by Mono Lake right before we headed to Bodie.  I thought this was just a beautiful spot and so interesting. 

We had been doing a lot of driving that day and the girls were worn out from their colds and being on the road.  Anna opted to stay in the car with GG but Lauren roused herself enough to accompany Daddy, Elaine, and me down the boardwalk to see the tufa.

When she got there and realized there were bugs, she was immediately engaged.  She loved walking through the alkali flies to make them scatter. 

The flies lay their eggs in the tufa and the birds come to eat the flies and their larvae.

Mono Lake is one of the oldest lakes in North America and dates back at least 760,000 years.   The lake takes its name from the Native Americans who lived in the basin.  The Kutzadika'a people collected the abundant alkali fly pupae found on the tufa as a main food source.  As a result the Kutzadika'a were called Monache, meaning fly-eaters.  Monache was shortened to Mono and was applied to the region and the people living there in the 1800s.

The strange spires and knobs you see are tufa (too-fah), formed when fresh water springs containing calcium bubbled up through carbonate-rich lake water.  The combination formed calcium carbonate, a whitish limestone deposit that formed the basis of the tufa formations. 

These formations continue to grow only while underwater.  We're able to see the majority of the formations we see today due to the fact that in 1941, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power began diverting Mono Lake's tributary streams 350 miles south to meet the growing water demands of Los Angeles.  Deprived of its freshwater sources, the volume of Mono Lake halved, while its salinity doubled. Unable to adapt to these changing conditions within such a short period of time, the ecosystem began to collapse.  We were told that water levels dropped between 40-50 feet before laws were put in place to protect the lake.

Chania

The girls are back in school and I think we're finally getting into the swing of things once again.  I have a lot of pictures to upload from the summer.  I'll try to upload something new several times a week.  It just seems life has become crazier than usual lately and my blog has had to take a back seat to the chaos.  When I checked my e-mail this morning, there was a link to this video of Chania, Crete, from my friend Janan who is currently living there with her husband Ed.  It brought back so many memories as Doug and I lived on the island only about 10 minutes from Chania for a year from Oct of 1999- Oct of 2000.  I would love to go back sometime for a visit and have a chance to introduce the peanut gallery to octopus and squid (two of my favorites)! I also just melt at the thought of pictures to be taken, other delectable food to be eaten, swimming and lounging to be done, labyrinths of streets to wander, and history to be explored. 

Goodbye God, I'm going to Bodie.

I decided that I just couldn't make it to Alabama this summer with all three kids in tow. Traveling with the peanut gallery always takes a year or two off my life but I was sure it would be worse this time around. Jacob is a very busy little guy and he has a ton of items on his "to do" list. One of those items is to scream and writhe like crazy any time he is strapped into a carseat. My baby is a happy baby but not a happy traveler. Fortunately, the parents made the decision to come this way instead. I was more than elated to have my dad, stepmom, and stepgrandmother in town for 6 days. They just left this past Tuesday. We had a great time but I think I was over ambitious and tried to fit in too much. We made a marathon trip to Yosemite, Mono Lake, Bodie (Jakie stayed home with our babysitter on Friday and then with his Daddy on Saturday), and spent a day in old town Sac. We had also planned to go to Napa but everyone was too pooped.

I took a ton of pictures and haven't had a chance to go through all of them yet. The kids and I have come down with a cold. The peanut gallery are all on antibiotics for ear infections and are still running low-grade fevers. We all just want to sleep...a lot.

I thought I'd start with a few shots from Bodie. I've wanted to visit forever but we're usually only in Yosemite in the winter and Tioga Road is always closed. It was really spectacular and I could have spent the entire day there. Bodie has an interesting history. Small town. Gold discovered. Population rose to 10,000. With the rise of the population, along came the rise of lawlessness and saloons (65 in its heyday). Bodie became known as "the most lawless, wildest and toughest mining camp the far west has ever known". Frequent killings in the street. Town abandoned after WWII. Became a national park in 1962 and is considered by many to be California's official ghost town.

Pictures from the rest of the trip soon along with video from a play the girls were in this summer...it's pretty stinkin' cute.

Handsome Henry

I saw a ship a-sailing,

A-sailing on the sea;

And oh, it was all laden

With pretty things for thee!

There were comfits in the cabin,

And apples in the hold;

The sails were made of silk,

And the masts were made of gold.

The four and twenty sailors,

That stood between the decks,

Were four and twenty white mice,

With chains about their necks.

The captain was a duck,

With a packet on his back;

And when the ship began to move,

The captain said, "Quack, Quack!"

Homecoming

I was so happy to get a chance to photograph the LeBron's reunion. Jose had been deployed for 196 days. Melissa, Diego, and Olivia were so excited to have him home. I can't watch this slideshow without crying and I'm just thrilled they have their family together again. Thank you to Jose and all our other military members for their service. A big thank you also to the military families that have to spend over half a year away from their loved ones. We appreciate your sacrifice as well.  Best wishes to you and your loved ones, Meli!

Happy 4th of July!

We hope you and your family had a wonderful 4th! We were so lucky to be able to celebrate with close friends throughout the day.  I managed to get one shot of our three together before everyone arrived.  It's a good thing as about 5 minutes later Jacob was sitting in the middle of the slip 'n slide, completely soaked.

Our lovely cake which later fell victim to my not so brilliant idea.  I had seen a picture of a cake with sparklers on top.  Apparently, there are sparkling candles.  I, however, brilliantly stuck three fireworks sparklers into ours and asked Doug to light them.  Several seconds later, with a house full of smoke, and a cake covered in firework ash, I realized perhaps  I should have thought this one through a bit more.  Fortunately, Jenniffer brought a delicious chocolate cake which everyone else devoured.  Courtney and I did brave the ash to try a piece.  It still just looked too yummy. (I actually tried to scrape all the gunk off, and refruited the top with fresh raspberries and blueberries after my little fiasco.)

There was lots of fun to be had yesterday.  There was slipping 'n sliding,

dancing,

twirling,

dress-up madness,

covert attempts at cookie nabbing,

and smiles all around.

When it finally began to get dark, we headed outside with friends for a few fireworks.

Anna enjoyed writing her name in the street with sparklers.

Lauren's expressions in the next 3 pictures just cracked me up.  Do you think she's just a little excited in shots 2 and 3?

Wishing you and yours a very happy Independence Day!