Camping at Joshua Tree National Park

We went camping at Black Rock at the south end of Joshua Tree. The drive out was horrendous since we had to pick up Nikki at school and drive from Huntington Beach to Joshua Tree on a Friday evening, but it was SO worth it!

This was our first camping trip with our trailer! Yay! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Tovaas! We now have one sticker on our trailer!

 

     

This turned out to be the LONGEST hike in the world. The map said one mile loop, but I think we got lost and wandered trails over two hours. Luckily, the boys are used to a lot of walking. 

Jake started to complain at the beginning but then he found something interesting on the trail, LEAD!

Ahh! Look out, a jumping cactus! 

 

  

But worth it for this view! Dad called Grandma to check in while we at the top.

 

Dinner and some evening campfire fun!

Now go to sleep!

On Sunday we packed up early and started driving further into the park. First we stopped at the Visitors Center and picked up some souvenirs and some maps. Then we drove across to Cottonwood Oasis and had lunch there.

   This was at the Oasis of Mara and the visitors center. If you haven't been on the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland you have no idea what these two are doing. Hence, the look on Jake's face as his brother and sister pose for the camera. On Indy the beginning of the ride is the Temple of Mara and you aren't supposed to look into the Eye of Mara or you will die.

This is at Split Rock. That was fun. There are lots of huge rocks to climb on and trails follow. I realized how old and fat I am here. :(  But it was gorgeous. The kids really scared me here too. There are plenty of places to fall and get killed!

 

This is at the Cottonwood Oasis.

Nikki found a rock that looks like the side view of a face. Cool! 

I finally got to see a snake in the desert. All my life I've camped in the desert and every time I'm worried about snakes. I'm always searching for them wherever I go. I'm constantly telling the kids how to avoid them now and what to do if they see or hear one. And then they all skipped and ran right by the rattle snake in the road!! Ahh! I found him all coiled up and ready to strike. He was a baby one so we all stood out of striking ranged real still and watched him hiss at us and then side wind his way off the trail and under a bush. I thought, perfect, now they've seen one, and they believe me and they will be more careful. But no. Off they go running through the bushes and not watching or caring at all about where they are going. I'm bringing a snake bite kit next time we go out there. It is only a matter of time!

We can't wait to go again!

The accident!

How does this...

...turn into a trip to the library and 48 hour discussion of how blood works?

I bet you can guess! Yep, Jake ate it racing the scooter. And boy did he! Actually, it is no surprise. The kid falls off it every two or three minutes. We bring the scooters to our local groups park day and they all race around for hours. But Jake keeps trying to go faster and farther than ever before. One time I saw him completely flip over the thing and land sideways on the grass! That time I thought he did get hurt because he just laid there for a couple minutes. But he got up, got right back on, and kept going the rest of the afternoon. But it had to happen sometime and now he has a big scrape on his elbow. He was so sweet about it though. His brother and his friend tried to console him to no avail. Finally, we packed up and went home. That was after he wailed that he would never be able to eat or drink again because it would go to his tummy and then his elbow and hurt him. That is how much he knows about blood and how it works.

On the ride home we talked about how your body heals cuts and bruises. They had watched an old Disney cartoon from the World War II CD we have that tells you all about it. It is cool because it has the white blood cells as the army that protects the red blood cells on their mission to bring supplies to your body. And the evil bacteria look like big spiders. It is very well done. They haven't seen it in months and they still know a lot about the body. I went to the library today and got them a book about blood called "A Drop of Blood" by Paul Showers. Even better is that it is themed with Dracula and the kids loved it. Jake tried reading it himself but got nowhere fast and asked his brother to help him.

My Inspiration

I thought I would share!

 These are my guys! Tom Jefferson and John Adams sitting next to the Liberty Bell. Whenever I get discouraged. I just look at them. I talk to them too, but don't tell anyone.

California Science Center

Ahhh...the 91 freeway at 3:30 in the afternoon!

We went to the California Science Center today in Los Angeles. We love it there! The boys checked out some light and sound displays thoroughly. One was really neat. It was two speakers and you stand in front of them and push the button. From one speaker, a voice starts talking about isolating sounds and explaining what is going to happen. Then in another speaker the same voice starts talking about something entirely different. You are able to focus on one voice because they are separate and being able to see really helps you focus. You close your eyes and it is harder to listen to one voice. Then both voices come out of both speakers and you can't understand anything that is being said. Crazy!

They also played with light and ran a crank to make a light bulb work. They built building with Keplar blocks. They checked out how people make buildings and freeways safe during earth quakes. And we checked out the Discovery Lab. They put up some shingles and drywall, worked on some gears, and pretended to be on the news. It was a good day.

But this is the look we have on the way home. Unfortunately, we can't go there until after noon because school groups are there and it is just nuts crowded. And then by the time we leave, the traffic is pretty bad. They are working on this freeway (usually our avoidance of traffic freeway) so it was crowded. I decided to document the event! Do these boys look thrilled or what?!

Today's Events

Tom and Jake spend hours on this.

Jake builds great ships, boats, space ships, and airplanes. Tom takes them and they make up games and stories about them, usually revolving around some war they thought up. I'm trying to direct them when they fight. You know, the usual, use your words, what will make your brother happy, how can you get what you both want, etc. It is tedious. And I realize how many times I am rude to them and they are only parroting my remarks.

The Squirrel Hole In Question

I took the boys to the Santa Ana Zoo this morning. I love that place! On the way in they found some squirrels and checked out all the holes (this isn't the one). They found back doors, trap doors, and front doors. They started to kick dirt in one and I told them not to because it was mean. The poor squirrels work so hard! No big deal, moving right along, we went into the zoo. 

A few minutes later we come to a place to climb and play. Jake sees two boys and immediately starts yelling at them about something. I didn't see what the problem was at first but the two older boys explained to Jake that these were snake holes and snakes were bad guys so they were filling the hole. Tom and Jake freak! Not if it is a king snake, etc. They all need food. They are all just trying to live! I call Jake away because he looks like he is getting pretty upset. There was no real fighting going on, just heated debate, so I wanted to see if they would work it out. Jake wasn't going to let up though. I told him it was no big deal and to stop fighting with the boys and then Tom distracted us with some other animal. Jake is still angry. Walking around with his hands on his hips, huffing around. I ask him about the wallaby we see and he snaps at me "Yeah, I know!". I kneel down. Don't talk to me like that. I know you are angry, but what did I do? He falls apart crying on my shoulder! He is still so upset about the boys kicking dirt in the holes. I realize why he is upset and hold him for a minute. I ask him to talk. He says he doesn't want to right now. We cuddle and talk, look for the wallaby and the emu. Then he smiles and wipes his tears. "It's ok now, I thought of something. They always have back doors so they can get out." He hops down off the railing where he was sitting and wants to go play again. That kids is so sweet sometimes! 

We talked about it later. That if someone was making him that angry that he needed to walk away and think about what to do. You can't think straight when you are angry. I know that he was trying to be valiant and take care of the defenseless squirrels. But even when you are trying to be the hero you still need time to think. So cute!

Just thought I'd ramble on...

So...
 

Two more days until Tom's birthday party. I've been trying to clean and prepare for a big party and that usually makes me pretty grumpy. My adorable husband stayed home from work today and mowed the lawn and went to Costco with me to get food. He commented as we drove by the elementary school on the corner, "Thanks for liberating us from that, hun." To think that if we had gone the school route with our boys we wouldn't be able to take a family shopping trip to Costco in the middle of the day on a weekday! You would think that wouldn't be important to him, but it is. He loves going places with the boys, even if it is just to the hardware store. Sad to think that some people don't like to spend that kind of time with their kids.

What else can I write about? It is hot today. At least it is to me! It seems muggy to me. I spent some quality time with girlfriends last night. Super fun! Picked up some books at Borders. Plato's Republic, To Kill a Mockingbird, and another one I cannot recall at the moment. I like to add to my "I'm going to read this" collection regularly, even if I'm not reading that fast. That way I always have something good to read.

Today I have gorged on cookies and I feel yucky about it. I'm trying to lose this weight (again) and I have to say that any kind of cookie or cake is not allowed to be in our house on a regular basis. It is my weak spot and I cannot resist. I even tried to get the boys to eat them all today so I wouldn't but they cannot even eat as many as I can!

Today also marks the end of the first month that I have not been taking antidepressants. I'm sad! HA! Actually, dealing with stress is very difficult for me. I get angry easy and I tend not to like people A LOT! I say things I shouldn't before I have the chance to stop myself and end up driving people crazy. I'm working on it though. But that makes me sad too. When you are on the medicine you convince yourself you don't need it, that it was a temporary insanity, but then you come off it and realize there is nothing temporary about it!

I have to go...my chili is simmering and I need to stir, besides, my husband and boys are being WAY to quiet in the garage. They went out there looking for a microphone and amplifier!

God Help Us Now!

The electic guitar has been brought out from the garage!

Now the playing will never cease!