My Birthday!

I had a perfect birthday this year! As always, we all went out to dinner at Applebee's and I got loads of greetings on Facebook and some cards in the mail. My sweet husband got me some books!

Thanksgiving!

The day before Thanksgiving, I spent the whole day baking bread and making candy and salsa! We left at 8am on Thanksgiving morning and stopped at Aunt Cindy's to drop off some candy and visit for an hour or so. I'm glad I did! It was nice to see everyone and the boys really love their Aunt!


We stopped for beer on the way to my brother's house and I took this picture of the boys while we waited for Dad. It was their "Happy Thanksgiving" picture for Grandma Shelly!

Off to Uncle John's! Games and fun while we wait for TURKEY!

 

 

Things get a bit...silly!

 

Mmm...turkey smell...

 

A secret picture of the turkey chef...you don't want to spook him!

The family awaits...

The moment has arrived!

I get a rare picture of the youngest Tovaas. His reaction? "You got me smiling?!"

And then things get silly again!

Carson follows suit!

And then crazy...

We ate and drank well into the evening.

Good times were had by all. You just gotta love Southern California though. Outdoor cooking, shorts, and flip flops while the rest of the country is covered in snow! Plans for Christmas are in the works. We're all stuffed with turkey, potatoes, pie, and candy. No one was injured. No one cried. Life is good!

Dentists & Zoos

So...we had a dentist appointment yesterday! We look forward to this because we have an awesome dentist, the appointment for the three of us usually takes about 45 minutes, and his office is by the beach! The down side on this day was that we had to be back in the desert for rehearsal by 5:30, so we couldn't spend too much time down there or find friends to visit. The traffic out of the OC gets nasty after 2pm, so we had to leave the area before then. Out appointment was for 10am, so we had to leave by 7am to allow for any traffic. There wasn't much at all, so we were half an hour early!

After our appointment we went to El Pollo Loco for lunch. It's one of our favorites. It's cheap and filling and not too greasy. The boys wanted to go to Irvine Park because they had been reminiscing about it the other day. They remember the trees, the peacocks, and riding their bikes there. We were nearby, so we went. What better way to spend the hour and half we had?

They have a super nice zoo! It isn't big or expensive, but it's nice and they have lots of friendly animals. I used to bring them here all the time when they were little.

They still love the goats at the petting zoo. We had to pet them and talk to them all.

Jake says this is an angry rabbit, probably the one in the movie "The Holy Grail."

Of course we had to get some food for the goats. The "handfuls" of feed are considerably smaller than they used to be! It seems that either they are giving you less food for a quarter, or someones hands are much, much bigger.

Every animal we encounter, Jake wants to have one as a pet. Pygmy goats are his new favorite. Or a porcupine.

I think the aggressive ones still scare Tom a bit.

This Bald Eagle was giving us his Totem Pole impression!

You're going to laugh, but I have two favorite animals at the zoo. One is this peccary! I just think they are the cutest things! This one was trying to get to these plants outside his fence. Poor guy was getting pretty frustrated about it. My other favorite is woodpeckers, which we see at home all the time but this park has an abundance of them. They are everywhere!

There was a porcupine being very active, which was adorable! Their little faces are just so cute. And the beaver decided to show us his swimming skills, much to my joy! I love how they float and paddle with their feet. Tom had plenty of time to read all the signs and tell us all about them.

The last time we were here, the mountain lion they had really didn't like Tom. It walked back and forth in front of the enclosure staring at him. He did look like something she might eat. This is a different cat, but it was staring at small children in the walkway as well! This one really likes this ball. We watched him playing with it in the water and then guarding it like this. He looked so serious.

At 1pm, my alarm went off and we had to head for home. Leaving the park, we were chased out by a herd of humans! By the time we got the camera, they were too far away really, but they are back there. A marathon had just started at the end of the park and we were lucky to get ahead of them!

And here is our box of citrus! Our dentist has a big garden and every patient gets a big box of whatever he has ripe at the time. Three big avocados, grapefruit, limes, and oranges. All of which I will promptly juice and freeze for future use, except those avocados...mmm...gaucamole!

The traffic gods were kind to us again on the way home! We stopped at Target for some things we needed for the show, but were denied. Got some gum and sodas for the road and headed out again.

We got home in time to have some dinner, clean up, and head to the theater, only to find out they had changed the call time to 6:30. That worked to our advantage too. Tom laid himself down between rows and took a power nap. He has the cold that Jake had over the weekend!

Motorcycle Work

Lots of dirt bike work going on around here this week!

Tom cleaning the mud from the last track day.

Dan and Jake working away at the 250F.

A few more tweaks and connections and they were ready to try and start it up! It took quite a bit of kicking but it finally started! They've been warming it up and cooling it off. They took it for a light ride. And then a screw came out of the carburetor. They had already ordered a rebuild kit for it, so it should be here any day. Then it will be ready to ride, not ready to race. They have a little more tweaking to do. Tom plans on replacing his tires and some other stuff. There is a two day training camp coming up at the end of the month that they want to attend. If all goes as planned, they will have their bikes ready by then.

I'm so proud of both of them, and that awesome husband of mine! This was a big project. They've spent weeks on this, not to mention most of their spending money...and ours. Jake has been out there for hours working on it all by himself. The manuals, the research, the reviews. It's a lot of reading, planning, ordering, and waiting. I just pray the bike keeps running well for a long while, so he can enjoy the fruits of their labor before the next repair. It's the nature of motocross though, ride, break, repair, repeat!

San Diego Zoo

YOU belong in the zoo! Yesterday we went to the San Diego Zoo with a homeschool group. It wasn't a very convenient day, but for $12 a person, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity!

We were instructed to meet the group "in front of the ticket booth". Ok, if you know who you're looking for, but homeschool groups can get crazy because most don't know each other! When we arrived the whole area was crowded with school groups. That actually made it a little easier. Just look for the groups of families! We asked around a bit and found the organizer. Well, it was a stand in for the organizer. The original person couldn't make it, so a Dad filled in. Poor guy! He needed a sign!

It took a little longer than expected to get us all in but after that we had the run of the park!

There was silliness going on while we waited!

First things first! Since we left at 7:30AM and it was not almost noon, we needed a snack! They have cool cups that you can buy and refill for a dollar. AND they aren't silly shapes you can't really use at home.

Then we had to take the skyway thing over the other side of the park. Very cool. I was only a little scared!

We had a list of "must-sees" and that included the Polar Bears. He was just sitting there in the back though. Maybe they need to throw a seal in there and get him to chase it? It wouldn't have to be a real one! :))

Tom liked the helicopter thing you could take pictures in. He had to examine it to see if it was real.

Then there was the global warming!!

There was a small polar bear themed playground out front and since it had not little kids on it...the boys had to play!

All the aviaries we saw were closed. Strange. But we had to check out the bamboo along the side of the street. And argue about what kind of plant it is. Of course, everyone knows it's grass!

And off to see the Giant Pandas! Along the way we saw some antelope that we swear were just goats with fancy hats. And then we saw this cute guy taking a nap. It's a red panda.

One was sleeping and the other was sitting in a pile of leaves and eating them. She looked like a big pooh bear! They sure were cute!

The lady there told us that in the wild they would constantly be on the move looking for food, shelter, and a mate, but here they know they are safe and have room service, so they just laze around. This led to some deep philosophical discussion on the way home.

The next stop was supposed to be up the moving sidewalk to the top of the park to see the elephants, but it was closed so we had to walk around to the bottom and walk back up...messed up our plan, but it worked out ok.

We walked through Big Cat alley...and saw nothing. Except this guy! It's a honey badger! And he definitely did not "give a shit" about us. He was very busy with this ball and a piece of wood that looked like it was attacking him.

Then we go up near the elephants. There were rock hyraxes and these guys call klipspringers. Jake said it sounded like a drink order, a "klipspringer on the rocks"!

While we were walking up the road to the elephants a tram went crawling by and suddenly Tom is leaping over the bench next to us into the road! He pops back up with a toy snake and runs ahead to hand it to a little boy that had dropped it. They were in awe of his heroism! When he got back he had to sit and relax for a minute. He was visibly shaken! That is his worst nightmare when on an open vehicle, losing a precious thing! He had to take immediate action.

The elephant exhibit was pretty nice. We could have spent hours in there. This was Jake's favorite part.

And then they had to pull some Assassin's Creed action on the playground. We finally made it to the elephants! Honestly, the whole trip was centered on me seeing the elephants. I love them. We didn't make it in time to see the zoo keepers work with them though.

There he is! He's huge! They didn't do much either, except stand there and sway and snuff the dirt.

I love the zoo but we were rushed this time. We needed to be back for rehearsal. We will be going again and spending the whole day. I might even get a pass and go several times. I love that my sons like to walk around things like this. They like the animals, the signs, the shows, even the plants.

After we grabbed a couple souvenirs on the way out, we headed to the car for sandwiches on the road home. And that's where it got deep. I swear we could solve the worlds problems if we had a long enough drive! This time we talked history, China, Africa, Old Testament, Jesus, economics, and I can't remember what else, but it got so good we had to turn the music off at times. I wish I could record those conversations, or take notes!

We didn't get home on time but only a half an hour late for rehearsal, which they had been warned might happen. I can't wait to do it again!

Camping Trip!

It's been a long summer but the weather finally cooled off and we were able to camp at our favorite desert spot! It was my brother's idea to go out this weekend and he came out with some of his kids on Saturday night. We thought we'd need a little more time, so we loaded the bikes in the truck and the food and stuff into the RV and headed out on Thursday night after rehearsal.

Since Jake's bike isn't ready to ride yet we decided to take the quad. We haven't loaded it into the truck before and weren't sure if it would fit with the DRZ, but that is what my cousin did to bring them out so it has to be possible. The boys did it themselves! Tom rode the quad into the truck and then the pushed it over to the side and the rolled the DRZ in next to it. Easy peazy!

Going out on Thursday night means that the boys and I are on our own to entertain ourselves on Friday while Dan works from his computer. It's still too warm to walk during the heat of the day, but it's perfect for riding! The boys went for a ride by themselves for a long time which gave me plenty of time to relax and read. Then they wanted me to go, so I rode the back of the quad. I'm just not a fan of these things. I'm terrified of falling off. It would probably be safer for me to learn to ride myself! Jake drove me out and Tom drove me back. Both are excellent drivers and by the time we got back, I was feeling pretty confident about their skills. I only screamed to slow down a few times!

We didn't get pictures of the ride because Dan had to use my phone for work since his died the night before. When we got back we napped, read, and ate the afternoon away until Dan got done working.

When Dan was done working we climbed up to our "Monument" nearby. No one has been up here since we were here last April, as expected. There isn't much desert exploring going on over the summer. We decided to make our spot a Geocache, so I made doubly sure of the coordinates and we placed a new trackable inside to send on its way. When we got home, I got online and added the information to www.Geocache.com. I'm sure we'll have a hit on it very soon! I can't wait to see where our trackable goes.

On the walk back to camp as the sun went down, I found this cool hole. I think it's a tortoise house, but I didn't see any.

You just have to love the sunsets out here!

Three of my favorite guys!

Jake thinks he is hilarious. He rides ahead and then "hides" behind the quad. Nut.

We spent the rest of the evening eating dinner and then sitting out in the dark watching the stars. We didn't need a campfire, so we just sat there relaxing together. There was a meteor shower this weekend, so we saw a lot of shooting stars. We used the star app on my phone to find satellites and constellations. We heard some bombs from the Marine Base and very bright light flashes from the other side of the hills in that direction. We were wondering what it might be. I didn't realize the bombing range went that far east. There were also what looked like fireworks or something on the other side of the highway. It was a very nice evening.

Saturday morning we decided to go for a drive since my brother wasn't expected to arrive until noon. The boys wanted to go to this big pit and ride, so we headed in that direction. Dan was driving around in it and scaring me! But then the gas cap popped off, so we had to stop and retrieve it.

Riding in circles and kicking up dust clouds was big hit.

They love it out here because there is no fear of making the neighbors angry with the noise and speed. I love it because it's pretty!

There was a lot of dust and Jake had acquired a fine dirt mustache! I tried to take a picture of it.

After a while, we decided to keep going and see some new places. Rocks! I hate driving over rocks. It's bumpy and wild and I'm afraid of having to walk back! When we got to this point, I got out and took some pictures and video of them going down this crazy road...all the while wondering if we could get back up in the bug. But there was no where to turn around so down we went.

We were glad we did! We found this awesome mine! It's far enough back that it hasn't been ransacked as bad as ones that are close to easy roads. Down we went to get a closer look. Jake road ahead first to see where the road went and if we could turn around somewhere. It led right into the National Park. Ok for the bug, but not the dirt bikes. We'll deal with that later. There's exploring to do!

Pretty nice! It's the most intact mine that we've found. We were afraid someone might still be working it and get mad at us. For the first few minutes we were there we were thinking someone would poke their head around a pile of rocks at any moment.

It looks like 1988 was the last time someone was really working here. There were tire tracks though, as if someone was here trying to recover some metal and stuff.

We have a lot of fun exploring these old claims. We try to imagine what it looked like when people were working it. The names in the dirt made me think of one scenario. One crazy husband gets his heart set on making a claim pay again and drags the whole family out to live on and work it. This could be my reality. And to be honest, I'd probably enjoy most of it!

We found an older sign! "Golden Egg Mine March 13, 1944" We did some research online when we got back and didn't find much about it. I sure would like to know some details about this place.

So we're poking around and we start to get the creeps. I can totally see a horror movie being filmed here. So we start filling in the plot. Family goes out to explore in the desert, comes across this old mine. Youngest scouts ahead to find a road and comes back (but something happens to him while he's gone, aliens, possession maybe). He rejoins the family and they keep exploring. It starts to get dark, so they go to leave but the bikes won't start. They are stuck there for night. Crazy things start happening. They think it's haunted. One by one they're picked off in strange ways. The youngest is left alive. And that's when we find out it's him! Can't you just see it?!

We think this is some kind of rock mill, arastra kind of thing. There were mounts above it with old belts. Probably a motor of some kind.

This is when we started getting serious about movie idea. Tom is not amused.

Horizontal shaft, but it didn't go but twenty feet back and up to a level above it.

So of course, they had to climb up and see that.

To the south of those was a very deep and elaborate vertical shaft with a pulley/winch system above it. Well, it used to be above, but it looked like it fell over recently. We through some rocks in and it was pretty stinkin' deep!

I found these foot prints in a patch of cement. I wonder if they did it on purpose, like a "I was here!" sign.

We decided we should start getting back. It was 10am. Half a mile down the road we found this. We have no idea what it is. It isn't on the claim map either.

The road did go into the park. I didn't think we would be going anywhere new, so I hadn't brought the map, so the only way to be sure we were going back was back the way we came...up that rocky road. And then this happened.

All was going well, slowly, but well, when the bug seemed to make some strange noises after one part of the climb. Dan stopped to check it out and then the bug wouldn't start again. Something was wrong with the clutch. We all sat around and relaxed while Dan tried to figure out what to do next, whether he could fix it and continue or what. Then, at the bottom of the hill we had just came up, came a long line of Jeeps!

Tom road down on his bike to tell them we were stuck up there and they couldn't get by us. The guy he talked to said he'd tell their leader. There were about fifteen of them, families mostly. Tom came back up and we watched them while Dan worked on the bug. They hung around about ten minutes looking at that flag building...and then turned around and left! They didn't even wave. Not even a howdy doo. I couldn't believe it. Nothing. A desert caravan of cars came across a single car in an off road area, broken down, with no cell service and they just left without saying a word. All I can say is "Karma". That is totally not Kosher in the Code of the Desert. We now refer to them as "Jeep Scum".

Jake found this chuckwalla on the rocks near where we were stuck. He came out to have his picture taken!

No pictures after that! Dan couldn't get it to climb again, but we could go down and travel a flat area with out shifting, so we made a plan. The boys helped to turn the bug around on the narrow rock trail and then get us going. After a few hang ups, we parted ways and headed out through the park. The boys took my phone and I took theirs. My phone had the coordinates of where we parted, so they took it just in case we didn't make it back to camp. The plan was for them to take some of the water and the phone and go back to camp the way we had came. Don't split up. Leave a bike behind if there is trouble. If someone gets hurt, just stay put on the road, otherwise, go back to camp and wait for Uncle John. Wait until 3pm and then call the rangers.

Stress. Not for ourselves but for the boys. It was miles from camp and down some crazy paths. But they are very capable kids and know the area pretty well. I was more worried that they'd get back to camp and my brother would freak out. So Dan and I drove that road. From what I remember that road goes through the park. I couldn't remember where it went though, whether it met up with the paved road or kept going to the hills across the park to the interstate. So we drove and when we saw the paved road going in the direction of the park entrance, we breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Once we got to the park entrance we had cell service and I called the boys and told them everything was fine and we'd be back to camp from the highway in about an hour. That was at 1:30pm. They said John was there and they were having a good time. We could all relax now. The clutch must have cooled off and had started working again but we still couldn't go more than forty MPH with our tired deflated for sand driving.

Back at camp, things were getting fun! Uncle John had set up camp next to us and they were hunting cans all afternoon.

He had brought out a few fun things for target practice!

We were having a blast reliving our childhood desert fun!

All the boys were enjoying the desert. The younger boys really liked shooting the .22. It isn't very loud and the cans react well. When they were shooting, they were running around the other side of camp recreating scenes from their favorite movies and games. They were going non-stop. I tried to get a video of it but there was too much wind noise to hear anything they were saying.

A friendly skeet-shooting competition started between the older cousins.

TJ being adorable.

A desert Viking?

As soon as the sun went down, the fire began! Hot dogs, marshmallows, and some crazy antics.

Poor Mr. Chuckles didn't really know what to make of all this. He really didn't like walking on the rocks and the noise was making him very nervous.

Hot dog roaster? Or weapon? This viking with the light up horns was having a good time either way!

The next morning, we had to get John's car unstuck. Since we weren't there to guide him in to our spot, he took the wrong road on Saturday afternoon and landed in the wash. We had tried to pull it out yesterday without success. It was hot and we were all tired, so we gave up until morning. I should have gotten some better pictures, but I was busy trying to be helpful and didn't want to aggravate those working very hard.

It was pretty stuck. Then we got the bug stuck too, but that's easy to fix. After several hours of digging, pushing, jacking, and doing it all again, they finally got it out! Yay! Now for some more fun!

We went up to the hill to shoot the rifles at some more targets below. It was like a scene from "Red Dawn" up there!

I found a nest on the way back! And some baby horned toads which I caught and showed to TJ and Olaf.

And then the clean up started. John had a much longer drive to get home, so he had to leave early. I think Modi was very tired though. He slept in the little tent with my boys and I think they were up very late being silly.

Tom and Jake went for one more ride before we had lunch and packed up for home.

Tom was covered in three days worth of dust.

Jake found out that a helmet isn't just for falls. This is the mouth guard after Tom's bike kicked up a rock ahead and threw it at his face! Those bikes do kick up a lot of stuff. I got hit by a stick or two on my ride and the quad kept kicking up rocks at his feet. I think they are going to bring their riding boots next time.

This picture sums up the weekend. We were all tired, dirty, and ready for home. And we can't wait to come out again!