Mill Creek Trail Hike

*Note if you prefer the story in video - scroll to the end and watch the story unfold. 

Michael and I sat out the Little Bald Hill hike, but today Michael suggested we make ice cream, hike Nickerson Ranch Trail and then spend some time swimming at the Smith River.  It was already 2 p.m. by the time we were ready to leave the Caboose. Nickerson Ranch Trail is an easy 1 mile hike. It seemed doable.  We hopped on to Howland Hill Road and headed to the turn off......in our zeal we read this sign quickly, stopped and started down the trail, confident we'd be at Nickerson Ranch Homesite in a mile.

It was a BEAUTIFUL hike and meandered in and out of old growth Redwoods and ferns...alongside Mill Creek...turns out we were on Mill Creek Trail.  Ah, the sign should be read as - "Keep going .8 to the Nickerson Ranch Trailhead" not, "Head off here and you'll be there in .8 mile."  We did eventually intercept Nickerson Ranch Trail. Unfortunately, we had no idea WHERE we were on the trail and opted to take it back to Howland Hill road and the walk back to our car. LOL  We'll do Nickerson Ranch another day - but none of us were sad to have done this part of the Mill Creek Trail. 

 Seriously, who would begrudge this hike on a gorgeous day in September? 

Along the way we spotted a rope swing down by the creek. The kids headed down and Krista and Nolan tried it out. We'll remember to bring appropriate gear for playing and picnicking at this spot another time.

I commented that these trees reminded me of "sistering." That'll preach. The boys then pointed out two tall Redwoods, standing straight, a discreet distance from each other and said those were "Bro trees." ::snort:: 

Girls illustrating sistering on the sistering trees....

 

Beautiful hike! 

We can't deny the fall colors we are starting to see. I am hoping the rain holds off - we still have so much to explore!

The video version of the hike.....Not liking the auto-focus sound in the video. Thanks for your grace. 

Homemade ICE CREAM in the TRAILER!

We can't find the family's favorite brand of ice cream in town - the one with three or four ingredients, instead of a list three inches long.  My ice cream (non-dairy) is EXPENSIVE. Mom G has been talking about home-made ice cream. She gave us her ice cream maker - never used - and it was RUSTED.  We kept thinking about it and finally bought an ice cream maker on clearance at Walmart on Friday.

 Yes, three (or four if you use some light cream too) ingredients: cream, honey, vanilla.  I place out everyone's favorite add ins and they are happy. Mmmm......milk and honey.....can you imagine a land flowing with ice cream????? I used to make ice cream every Saturday morning in preparation for Sunday night. We quit doing it in Japan as the ice cream maker didn't work well with the electricity....and we never got back into the habit - until now.

8 C of 1/2 and 1/2

4 C of heavy cream (supposed to be 6 and 6)

 Not sure what happened to the photo of 1 1/2 C honey

1 - 2 T of Vanilla

 Lots of ice and rock salt

30 - 40 minutes later - glorious ICE CREAM! 

Fun to have Krista here to join us.....

 Next, I tried it with coconut milk. I couldn't find coconut cream so used coconut milk coffee creamer - it worked - but I've ordered some cans of coconut cream for the next batch. I'll make way less, too. 

It worked - and it's much cheaper than the non-dairy I'm finding in town. 

Games with Krista

Krista is here and that means Nolan will have an extra one who loves to play games in the mix. I'm not sure there is much better than Dominion, outside the trailer, with a campfire in the background.

We're so glad Krista came to visit. 

#WYFF Little Bald Hills

Hiking the Little Bald Hills trail is a family tradition dating back at least three, possibly four, generations. True confession: I've never hiked it. I've always had toddlers that were thought to be too young for the hike. The younger two hadn't hiked it. Michael let us know that the hike was just too much for him now....and I wondered how to get the other two up.

Krista is down for a couple of nights. She took the three traveling Gherkins and headed up Little Bald Hill. From the point where they started to the top of Little Bald Hill and back again is a 6.6 mile hike, IF you hike over the trail and end up on South Fork it is a  9.8 mile hike.  The last time up it took them 8 hours  - but they came down Sheep Ends Gulch instead of the trail. Michael knows all the extra spots to explore....but they hiked to the top and back in about 3.5 hours. They think they can find their way back up again, I have plans to make it up yet. LOL

 Part of the tradition is to plant seeds each time up.....

Watch out for the bears! 

#WYFF (Where's Your Feet Friday) is sponsored by Fulltime Families. For more #WYFF entries, click the tab above.

Grapes!

We have GRAPES! The ripe ones are WAY up high - above the roof line.....yes, we DO plan on taming them  - AFTER we harvest.  There are three types of grapes at Mom G's: Concords, Thompson and Malaga.  The Malaga grape vines were planted in 1939 by Grandpa Jack.

I do think they are pretty and have taken numerous photos of them as they grow and RIPEN. I thought purple was good, but we have to wait for black or DEEP purple.  Finally, I pointed out, no one could argue, the grapes at the top were BLACK.....but how would we get them down?

This man is so good to me. 

The grapes up high don't get the nourishment they need to grow big and plump. They do taste good. We will patiently wait for others to ripen. Here is our haul for the day. The grape arbor was destroyed by bears who also like fresh grapes, apparently.  In the absence of an arbor, or any pruning, the vines have grown onto the roof and entwined in other trees.  When we picked the grapes, we got a few more Green Gage Plums. These are VERY good too.

New Dentist

Just because I love to add chaos to already busy weeks and because a trip to OR for PT, starting school, trying to do 5 days in 3 days wasn't ENOUGH, I scheduled our first trip to a new dentist this week, too. LOL  Hope recommended Dr. W, AND he takes Delta Dental; so off we went.

I was in my late 20's before it was discovered that Novocaine does not deaden me. I spent years having dental work (cavities drilled and filled, teeth pulled, braces) assuming the pain I felt was normal.  I NOW KNOW BETTER! A good dentist uses other stuff on me, waits and gives me second doses as needed - but I STILL dislike going to a dentist.  Some things get burned into the psyche and don't go away.

I sat in the office, trying to look supremely calm and confident - so the kids would be confident. I've decided when I'm Mom G's age I'm not going to the dentist without a fight.

After our appointments, we checked out a few new RV Parks and campgrounds  (long back story), took the kids for ICE CREAM (a tradition after shots and dentists) and bought groceries for Mom G and us. I was excited to find a bit of Japanese comfort food on this emotionally trying day. LOL

*Note full-timers still need to take care of basic dental and health care needs. We are working to get as much done while we are here, less to worry about when we are traveling more extensively in the future.

BTW, this was our one year "nomadiversary" - one year of living and traveling full time in our Caboose. I'll need more time to process and write a post worthy of that date - later.

School Daze 2016

Never before, in our family, has the start of school signaled such huge changes in our lifestyles. We've been spending 6 - 10 hours a day at Mom G's - clearing brush, cleaning, visiting and playing.  School means priorities have to shift a bit, and schedules, of necessity, have to reflect that change. This is imperative with two high-school students. I'm still fairly free-flowing as a teacher - but we DO have structure, the hours DO have to add up, we DO have some subjects (Alg 2 for instance) which will take significant chunks of seat time at the trailer. We can't be ALL about PE and Life Skills. ::snort::

The past two weeks, I had been reminding all of us school was starting on the 29th, and our schedules would change; it was still a bit of a shock to all - from Stacia to Mom G.

Michael goes over to Mom G's in the a.m. We are TRYING to finish school with a couple of hours to spare, so I can drive the kids over too, but that didn't happen Mon - Wed.  There will be days we school until 4:30 or 5:00 p.m., and then I need to cook dinner... I DID realize our program, as written, is an honors program...and the boys have decided they are not honors students this year. I do plan to ease up a bit - but that didn't happen this week. ::snort::

We move through history in a 4 year cycle. All of us study the same year at our own level. This allows time for great conversations and natural integration of the material into our family time as we're all thinking on the same things. This year we are covering Ancient Civilizations. We are starting with Egypt.....We'll use the Bible and other materials as original source material to explore the many civilizations of this time. We'll complete a Bible survey in the course of the year. This adds new depth to both our Bible reading and our history studies.  We'll do some things together - and most things separately. I no longer have a young student to oversee...and am working towards more independence for Stacia. HOWEVER, Stacia is a mad extrovert and craves  interaction time with me - so we'll balance. I'll work to develop those independent study skills which will serve her well in college, but I will also include plenty of time together working through material.

Without further fuss - 2016 Second Day of School pictures - the first day they were on top of Spencer's Butte.

Nolan  - Junior

 We are deliberately doing some school outside of the trailer so all note we ARE schooling. LOL And, YES, we also enjoy the lovely sun this time of year. 

Stacia - 6th grade - WHERE IS MY BABY????

Alex - Freshman

The boys like to school on their bunks - we like to school outside. Yuuki suffered some separation anxiety and solved it by joining us. 

Poor Yuuki, she loved spending all summer with the kids. 

Most years, we do a rolling start to school. We did the same this year as there were only three days in this week. We accomplished all that was on the schedule...and as I type, I realize I need to get busy and plan out next week. ::snort::

Prayers are appreciated as we work to integrate our schedules, with Mom G's needs, and life in a new location - you all know - deep down - we'd rather be up north now, heading to the NE for the fall. LOL