Family Watershed Moment - Part 2

A comment was made last night that brought great clarity to an issue I've been pondering..... It was said, "If the weather is nice tomorrow we'll play on the river, if it's bad we'll go to the ocean!"
NOW I get why none of my family love the ocean as I do.....it's always wet, foggy and COLD....and the Northern Pacific coast is nothing like the oceans in Africa or the Philippines. I must work to show the family the fun of the ocean.....

TODAY it was gorgeous....






We stopped at the Chart Room....a little restaurant right on the beach...


From the window you can see Battery Lighthouse, the Ocean (obviously), surfers, fishing boats and sea lions.





These two hung back on the dock while I walked out for closer photos.


Stacia came with me. After the sea lion slid into the ocean she looked down....and said, "It's lots of water without a bottom." She wanted BACK ON LAND NOW, and wouldn't look at ME for a photo for NOTHING. LOL




We found Salt Water Taffy.

We went grocery shopping.

We baked cookies, played games and made dinner.


Hmmm.....I suppose the bottom line is, "I did laundry, bought groceries, cooked and cleaned," but it sure seemed like a fun day. ::snort:: Note there is not one obscene Longhorn gesture in this post.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Family Watershed Moment - Part 1

Do you see it? The kid is flashing the Longhorn sign when a bright light appeared...a halo around his head....and the rest of the family jumped on the Longhorn bandwagon. Who are we to fight such a divine signal of the error of our ways? Roy, Jared is sure that you informed him that an Aggie PHD stands for Post Hole Digger? You are not helping... ::snort:: It appears that most the family has gone over to the dark side.

Yesterday, we split up. Half decided to hike up Little Bald Hill and then down via Sheep Pen Gulch. We knew Stacia wasn't up for the hike. I've been having "leg issues" again and we knew I wasn't up for the hike. Arielle and BreAnne opted to keep the two of us company.

These brave souls set out around 9:00 a.m. and hit the trail at 9:30 a.m. We were not to see them again for 12.5 hours....a full 5.5 hours later than Mike predicted. ::snort:: Mike has enhanced the reputation of his hikes amongst the children. I learned long, long ago. ::snort::


Years ago, before the arrival of children, it became our family tradition to hike to the top of Little Bald Hill and plant fruit tree seeds. Mike mentioned last night that we need to take saplings up next time. I guess our orchard is not doing as well as hoped. ::snort:: This is a beautiful hike and there IS a trail....Krista told us a bit ago that she plans to have her wedding at the top of Little Bald Hill....guess y'all better start training or learn to jump out of a plane. LOL

Zander reported late last night that the "hike would have gone much quicker if Krista didn't have to keep stopping to take pictures of flowers." ::snort:: Guess she's her Mom's daughter.












Is it the hike or the shock of making an obscene Longhorn gesture that is causing Zander such alarm?




You know you've reached the top of Little Bald Hill when you arrive at the outhouse.


Lunch and Play in the meadow at the top. Even the shadows make Longhorn gestures around here.












It took four hours for the G team to hike to the top of the "hill". It took 8 1/2 hours for them to hike back down via Sheep Pen Gulch. Why?


There was NO TRAIL... ::snort:: Zander labeled Mike "The Scout".




Finally back at the trailer for the Chicken Dinner that has been waiting...and showers....

The tired hikers...


Krista displays why one should never go hiking in capris. ::snort::


They ate, showered, and slept. I'm not sure if Zander managed to sing througout the hike. I DO know that I'm up early washing loads of muddy clothes.

For a first hand account of the hike, visit Jared's Blog.

Still a bit of time in the dryers, I think I'll go write about another family watershed moment.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Tuesday?

Mike and the boys kept working on the winter wood pile.


Krista, Arielle, Stacia and I went shopping in town...and saw the ocean...and couldn't find salt water taffy nor fudge.


Bre arrived. Stacia was surprised. I love the big hugs she freely bestows on her adult siblings. She lets them know she loves thems, knows who they are and hasn't forgotten them.


Did I mention BIG TREES in a previous post?


This is the tree that we videoed....there are no signs marking the tree or telling its age etc. I was glad Mike was along to fill us in on what we were enjoying. I havne't a clue as to why they removed all the informational signs in the park.






Back at the folks' we lit the summer stove, lit the Lodge grill and burned some burgers...then we set around the stove and sang wonderful songs like, "If you love me you will show me you adore me" and "L is for the way you LOOK at me....LOVE...." etc.


We did more mowing...about 1/3 of the way done now.


Jared and Dad Earl played another game of chess and YES...Dad Earl's memory of the game is returning. He's having FUN and enjoyed winning last night. This is so good for him and a great way for Jared to learn chess. I think this is great for both Dad Earl and Jared...both dealing with transitions and seasons in life.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Not Everything is Bigger in Texas

Unfortunately, with the video turned sideways you don't really get the full impact...but I can't figure out how to fix it. ::snort:: Maybe you can hold your screen vertical...works with the laptop....

Photos tomorrow.....they take far to long to load. It's been a wonderful day.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Popular Tourist Attraction

The beach?

No!

The bridges?

No!

The Smith River?

No!

The Redwoods?

No!

The biggest tourist attraction in Northern CA this year seems to be the sight of our largeish family walking down to Stout Grove at the State Park.



After MANY carloads pointed, waved and gawked...Jared was moved to comment, "You could probably have a large family too if you married someone of the opposite gender!" ::snort:: Oh my word. It IS funny.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sweet Memories from the Philippines

It is to be expected that I'd be having Philippine Flashbacks...the season of traveling and being between homes is very similar to "iteneration" between mission assignments....

I lay on the beach of the Smith River yesterday and was taken back to lazy Sunday afternoons at Faith Academy. 15 - 20 girls sunbathing on a roof, slathered with baby oil, hair rinsed in calamansi juice, listening to KC and the top 40 (or was it 20?)....ah peace, total relaxation.... does anyone else remember how the dorm united when "The Rose" came on the radio? ::snort:: Yeah, tell me about skin cancer....seriously....if I'm going to get it it will be because of all those lazy Sunday afternoons in the Philippines and in Liberia....I'm not going to worry about one perfect hour or two on the Smith River in 2009. ::snort::

My family, not having lived across from warm, tropical oceans, are convinced that COLD river water is made for SWIMMING....ah well.....it's more relaxing in the sand if I don't clue them in. ::snort::

This boy understands the exhileration of sand.

But before we played...we worked...which is, afterall, a specialized form of play if we view work as a gift from the Lord.

I did laundry (no photo - do we really need photos of mountains of underwear, towels and shorts?) ::snort::

Krista and the young ones showered, cleaned the trailer and made a picnic lunch to take to Mom and Dad G's. The younger ones gave Krista a makeover (that is NOT a black eye...it's creative eye design). ::snort::

As previously mentioned, Mike, Jared and Nolan went to tackle a dead tree. It fell over the bank....

Then they cut it up...and hauled it UP the trail/bank to the garage...




Nolan did most the hauling...Mike and Jared dreamed of tools left behind...and did the sawing, hacking, chopping...


Dad Earl is 93. Mom Mary is 83. They like antiques. Not to sit and collect...but to USE....the old coal/wood stove has become a summer fireplace...the ringer washer works...Dad Earl thought we'd enjoy mowing the lawn. I'll admit it WAS on the list of things that Krista and I planned to accomplish...but we had no idea the type of mower we'd be using....

This is certainly harder than it looks....though it could be a lot of fun if you did it weekly. I suddenly understand Mom Mary's comments of 10 years ago about doing 10 minutes of mowing a day....ah....she enjoyed the daily workout of pushing the mower around parts of the yard. We got about 1/6th of the yard done yesterday. I quickly realized instead of hours on the elliptical machine preparing for hikes...I should have spent time on the rowing machine preparing for pushing a mower around acres of river front property (ok - maybe just an acre or 1/2 acre...but the river view is motivating).

No electric or gas powered weedeater either...which begs the question WHY the gas powered chain saw???? ::snort::

One of many such shots...he's hopeless, Roy.

Jared continues to learn the game of Chess...Mike hasn't played in years....but these two are enjoying the game.

Dad Earl hasn't played chess in years and YEARS, but he got out of bed to play a couple of games with Jared. He was the KING at chess in years' past....I think it's good for him to play again.

Stacia explains her "apan" (Japan) book to Mom Mary.

I brought dinner over to the house. We ate. We looked at photos. We called it a day.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...