A Fun-Filled Week

Wow! I have not sat down at my computer for over a WEEK!!! Pretty scary! My Aunt was in town last week, visiting from New York and we ran all over the place!

Last weekend we went down to San Diego for a big family get together and had a great time! Here is a picture of my niece Jordan... what a cutie pie!

Monday, Carola, Ella and I went shopping in Downtown Disney. She picked up gifts for her granddaughters and bought Ella a Cinderella dress for Halloween. I got the glass slippers and we are set! Anyone know how to do "Cinderella Hair"?

Tuesday I went to work... a blessed day! Calm and Quiet... well, except for the fact that the church hall flooded over the weekend, ugh!

Wednesday we went to Huntington Gardens and trekked all over the place! It was pretty hot that day, but we still had a great time and a lovely lunch! We also stopped at Toys R Us, for more gifts for the granddaughters.

Thursday, Carola and I went out to Glen Ivy for a day of rest and rejuvination. We soaked in the mineral baths, wallowed in the mud, went down into The Grotto to get painted with seaweed moisturizer, laid out in the sun, had lunch and had a glorious day. That evening we went to see Cirque du Soleil (did I spell that right?). My cousin's girlfriend got us 4 tickets and we took Gavin, it was really cool and he loved it!

Friday, Gavin ditched school (c'mon - he was up until 11:00 p.m.!) and we went out to Pasadena to see my rother's Gym and to visit with his family.

Needless to say, we are all exhausted and most of the household chores for the week were laid aside (except for the 5 loads of laundry that my Aunt graciously helped to fold!). This did not stop us from heading to Chuck E. Cheese this morning for a birthday party! I will wrap up my vacation next week, really there is not that much more to tell! Until Monday.....

Our vacation, day ???

By this time I really had no idea how many days we had been gone, how many were left or even, what day it was. I was fully in vacation mode! We spent the day, hanging out in camp and the "guys" went fishing out on the lake. They rented a boat and had a great time, and did not catch any fish. It was a mellow and relaxing day.

The next day we moved to our new campground. VERY level and very nice, but still with no hook ups. We took a walk across a stream and visited the Mammoth Consolidated Mine. An old abandoned mining village with dilapidated houses and rusting mining equipment strewn around. We walked to the entrance of the mine and looked beyond the steel bars preventing our passage at the small railroad tracks that led inside and around a bend. You really know where Knott's and Disneyland got their ideas for the mine and railroad rides... That night we took showers with the last of our water and said goodbye to "clean" for a while.

Friday, August 24th (I asked someone what day it was and reset our clock accordingly) We headed out in the morning to visit "Earthquake Fault". It is a giant rip in the ground, like in the movies, when there's an earthquake... well... it really happened! When I was a kid there were Rangers who would take you down into the crack and tell you about it.... it is now completely fenced in with LOTS of signs telling you to stay back from the edge. It was still pretty cool.

Next we went to the Adventure Center to board a bus that would take us down into the valley. We took a short walk to Devil's Postpile which is an amazing geological formation and then decided to take what will forever be known as "THE HIKE". Off to Rainbow Falls! It was a little over 3 miles round trip and lots of it was flat, some kind of hilly, but not bad. BUT....there had been a forest fire several years earlier and ALL of the trees were burned so there was NO shade. The gray pumice sand mixed with ash and the trail reflected the sun onto our faces, as we trudged along. Gavin decided to cool his feet in a stream along the way, WITH HIS SHOES ON! He did not seem to mind, even though he developed some small blisters. We got to the top of the falls and looked at them, longing to jump into the water and cool ourselves, but it was another 2 miles round trip to the bottom and back. NO WAY! The dog was tired and Andy had Ella in the backpack, not to mention that we ran out of water! We trudged back to the bus stop and have never been more happy to load up! We were all FILTHY and EXHAUSTED and headed toward town and our campsite. I realized that I was far to tired and starving to cook, so I told Andy to pick a place to eat. A small joint called "Burgers" caught his eye and a plan hatched. We walked in looking dirty and disheveled with 2 kids, they seated us in a back corner. Andy and I ordered the most enormous $9 burgers that you can imagine and we devoured them in their entirety. The kids wolfed down giant cheeseburgers and with belly's full, socks dusty and chins greasy we headed back to camp to crash.

The Vacation, continues...

On Monday, August 20th we got up, packed up and continued our drive up the 395 Hwy. We headed out to Bodie, a Ghost Town that is kept in a state of "arrested decay". Many of the buildings have been left, just as they were when the last inhabitants walked out the door in the early 1930's. It is a pretty neat place, although in it's hey day of the California Gold Rush it was reported to be the most "lawless' town in the west. Bodie boasted 32 bars and 52 brothels...whew. My favorite fact about Bodie is the journal entry of a young girl when she discovered that her family was moving there, "Good bye God, I'm going to Bodie.". It was a bit warm that day, but it was cool to walk around, look into windows and imagine what the town had been like with people in it. Gavin had the opportunity to do the "Jr. Ranger Program" while he was there and had several sites that he had to find and then we read about them and answered some questions. He got a cool badge when he was finished.

After Bodie, we went to the Mono Lake visitor center and looked out over the lake. We also saw an interesting movie about Mono Lake and all of the birds that fly there to nest. (oh, and flies, too... gross). We headed to our campground for the night and enjoyed our last night of hook ups and showers. I did some laundry to prepare for the next week of living in the dirt! I read a LOT of Harry Potter and could barely put it down to go to sleep....but finally... sleep won.

On Tuesday, August 21 we drove up the mountain and into Mammoth. We stopped at the Visitors Center to get information and the market, to get milk. During our drive to the campsite we spotted a turn off for "Obsidian Dome" and it was a name I had remembered from when I was a kid. We found a shady spot to enjoy lunch (Spaghettios... oooooh I LOVE having a motorhome) and then checked out the BIG pile of Obsidian before us. Obsidian is a volcanic rock that is shiny and black and can be very sharp along it's edges. Native Americans used it to make arrowheads! Gavin found some good pieces and we also found some pumice. We took the samples inside and had in impromptu science experiment with the rocks and discovered that pumice is so full of holes, that it floats. (I knew this, it was the kids' discovery)

We made our way to Twin Lakes which is absolutely gorgeous and set to the task of trying to level our motorhome in the MOST un-level spot. A challenge, but at last we got it level "enough" that I would not roll out of the top bunk at night. In the site was a "bear box", a metal locker where you put your food if you are tent camping and the kids played in it for almost an hour. Who knew that a box could be so much fun! They closed themselves up in it and screamed and pretended that they were on a ride at Disneyland. Pretty funny! Gavin and Andy headed out to try fishing for a while, and luckily I had an alternative dinner planned, because they came back, with no fish. We had a campfire and our first Marshmallows... Gavin was pretty stoked about that. We all crashed out, slightly sticky and fairly exhausted from our day of adventure

Blog Name Change

Yipeeeeeeee! We made it through the first full week of school. THIS week, I fully understood the meaning of "hump day". I awoke Wednesday morning at 6:00 a.m. and turned to Andy and said, "Isn't it Friday yet?". It has been a bit of a struggle to get back into the swing of things! I can tell that school is back in, by the amount of blog entries on the other "mommy" sites... they are few and far between. (Hey, that means that you all have more time to read my rambling).

I have gotta lotta stuff to talk about, and I am not sure if I can channel it all well enough to get it in here... but... here goes... I'll try to focus. I guess I will write today, about the new name of my blog.

I have been obsessing again... this time, about the name of my blog... I never really liked, "Huffaker Family" since it is really MY blog, about me and my "stuff"... I mean, obviously my family is in it.... but I have seriously been lying awake at night, trying to figure out a better title. "Because I said so" is already taken and so is "You are not the boss of me".... I pondered "Get your toe out of her nose", but that would take a great deal of explanation. In my post that I wrote before I left for my vacation, I mentioned adventure and alluded to the fact that sometimes, this job is not "glamorous" or "romantic", but it is an adventure none the less. I have been reading about Andy's cousin who is riding a bike across the U.S. and I also have a friend who just returned from India where she did some amazing volunteer work. Some of my family just returned from Europe, and some are heading off to Paris in a few weeks. I sometimes feel like I am left behind, like I have left a part of myself behind. The part that used to do stuff like that and who used to have the time and the freedom to travel (if not always the money). I just got an email that compared raising a family to building a temple and that the work is done slowly and it takes a LONG time to see your results, and all of that together, has led to my new title. My journey has been mostly uphill, and I carry a heavy load. I frequently feel as if I cannot take it, I want to quit, put down my pack and head back down the mountain to a day spa and call it "done". The altitude gets to me and I feel lightheaded, out of breath and frankly, sick to my stomach. But I know, that I will reach the summit. I will keep on trekking and sometimes I will have a skilled Sherpa by my side to help me carry my pack and lead the way, and sometimes I will go it alone. Sometimes the maps are good and the way is made clear, and other times, the road is rough, the path is hidden and the overgrowth is impenetrable. I will keep trekking. I will reach the summit. I will see my kids off to school, I will see them graduate from school, I will watch them grow and mature and I will stand on the highest peak and look into the blazing fire of their future and I will smile and I will laugh and feel the pride of having gotten here. I will sit at the top for a while and rest, and then I will begin the next journey, to climb the next peak... that one will most likely be one of self discovery (or self RE-discovery). This is an adventure for sure, one full of struggle, accomplishment, doubt, certainty, fear. love, joy, sorrow, tears, laughter, good days and bad. It is not easy and sometimes, not even enjoyable and then, some days are the best I have ever had and better than I had ever imagined coul be. I will keep trekking, I will keep climbing, sometimes, I may just sit and rest. Thanks for joining me on my journey.

Back to the vacation!

Alright, back to my vacation, which has now been almost forgotten...

Day 3, Sunday August 19th

First stop: Breakfast at Schatt's Bakery. Famous, crowded, and wonderful...every visit to this area should include a trip to Schatt's! They have sweets, breads, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, sandwiches and all sorts of fabulous wares! Gavin bought some Swedish Fish (for LATER) and chose a doughnut for his breakfast, Ella picked out a HUGE apple turnover. Andy got a danish and I had a ... a..... um... I don't know what it's called, but it's a big circle of twisty, flaky pastry and it has cinnamon and sugar ALL OVER IT! I had this treat once or twice as a kid and have always loved it! After devouring our super sugar loaded breakfast, we were off!

Next stop: The store (we did that a LOT on this trip). We can only carry 1/2 gallon of milk in our lil fridge, and we went through one of those every 2 or 3 days....towards the end of the trip we could fit 2 in... thankfully! After a quick market trip, we were off to a little town, called Law's.

Law's has a Railroad Museum that is 11 acres of preserved buildings and trains and a depot and lots of grass and trees. It was really interesting to go into the different buildings and check out the old equipment. One building is set up like a printing press, a doctors office, a mercantile, and another is the livery and has a buck board in it and other farming tools... oh, and THIS:

It is a siamese lamb and it has 2 heads...it did not survive birth, but lives on in a glass case, at the Law's Railroad museum.

There are 2 houses that a preserved and fully furnished to show how people used to live and one thing that impressed me was that the linoleum from the 1920's still looked PERFECT and colorful and shiny. It looks MUCH better than the linoleum in my kitchen that was put in around 1950! Hmmm.... I guess that they really don't, "Make 'em like they used to". We had a great time hanging out and the kids explored and ran around and got good and tired before heading back to camp!

Back in camp, we were able to just hang out and relax a bit. Gavin took Sadie for a walk and Ella played in the dirt, and I read Harry Potter! The next day would be a busy one, so after our evening camp fire, we headed off to bed early so that we could get some rest!

(just like I am going to do NOW!)

"Running the Rails"

On the couch

There is nothing like an injury to mess up your plans! I began this week full of hopes and plans to get many a task accomplished. I made lists, I made lunches, I headed out to school with Gavin, the bike trailer-stroller, and the dog. I was going to volunteer at the bookfair, I was going to the market, I was going to blog and catch up on some paperwork (I think that I should stop saying "catch up" on paperwork...you never, never catch up...you just keep working). On the way back from dropping Gavin off at school, we met another dog and Sadie is not really dog savvy as of yet. She jumps and goes, well... crazy! We parted ways, but Sadie had other plans, she decided to give me one big tug to try to catch up with the other pup and I got my foot between the grass and the curb and CRUNCH, went my ankle. Searing pain brought me to my bum, cursing. I was not sure how hurt I was, but I knew that it was not good. The dog realized that she had made a bad move and cowered next to me. Ella shyly asked if I was o.k. After a few minutes, I realized that I would have to walk the 5 blocks home and as I got to my feet, I began to cry. It REALLY hurt and it hurt in my knee and my hip...."Oh, God!", I thought, "How bad DID I hurt myself?" As I was limping home, a fellow mom stopped her SUV and asked if I needed help, the dam burst and I began to bawl. I believe that I sounded much like a Kindergartener when I said, sobbing, "I FELL!!". She loaded up my stroller, and my kid, me and my dog and drove me home. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to my Angel!

I put on the ice, and the ace bandage and took a fistfull of Advil. I stayed off of it all day and it quickly shrunk from the golf ball sized swelling, to about the size of a bouncy rubber ball. I could not sit at the computer, I could not go to the store, so.... I watched Oprah, and Ace of Cakes, and 20/20 and made lunch, and baked muffins (oops, on my feet too long... )

It is much better today, but it still hurts, especially if I move it the wrong way. But I do not think that we will need to amputate. I am off to ice it some more, before I go to bed.

I should have tried harder to enjoy my "day off", but... gee.... that wasn't really what I had in mind!

Vacation, Day 2

Saturday, August 18...Captain's Log (actually I am the skipper!)



The walls of the canyon are the most gorgeous deep red, but apparently only at sunrise and sunset! The rest of the day, they are kind of pinkish, with some darker stripes. We walked around and Gavin got a geology lesson and we checked out the visitor center. Well, about 10 a.m. it was already almost 100 degrees, so we packed up and hit the road! The 395 Highway and it's treasures await!

The spots of interest were already marked on the map, but we were open to stopping at whatever looked interesting. The drive from Red Rock to Bishop was probably about 3 hours (max.) but we stretched it out and it took us all day. We figured that it would be more fun and better for the kids if we stopped a lot to stretch and take a break for lunch, then they could rest for the final leg. That was the plan, and that's what we did!

First stop: Dirty Sock Springs.... a natural sulfur spring off of the (dry) Owens Lake. It is called Dirty Sock, because it is very smelly.

Yvonne: "O.K. Andy, look for a little sign that says 'Death Valley' and then turn right. Slow down, it should be here somewhere, umm... somewhere, umm. You just passed it. Why are you driving 60 mph when I told you we were going to turn?

Andy: "Boy, these things sure just pop up, don't they? Do you want me to go back?"

Yvonne: "No, it's too far now (because you are driving too fast) Oh, well, we will see it on the way back"

Andy: "Hey, Beef Jerky! Let's stop here" (screeeeeeech, goes the motorhome)

Yes, we missed our first "attraction", but found "Really Good" beef jerky. The place was an old gas station and was COVERED with stickers. The prices were inflated and the jerky was, o.k. We bought some and headed down the road.

To make up for missing Dirty Sock, Andy turns off of the Hwy at "Fossil Falls" and we rattle down a gravel road to a dried up riverbed and water fall. Reall very cool. The obsidion and granite lava flow had been covered with a roaring river some time ago and all of the rocks are polished, rounded and smooth and you can see where the water would have been swirling around before it plunged down the fall. Back to the car, back to the Hwy.

Another turn off was for the Cottonwood Charcoal Kilns. We stopped there when I was a kid and I had been impressed with these large adobe brick buildings. They are egg/dome shaped and when I was a kid, you could go inside of them. After rattling down another gravel road at 9 mph (if we went 10 mph, the motorhome rattled so much, that I thought we might leave part of it behind) we arrived, to find that time (and vandals) have not been kind to the Kilns. Both were broken at the top and there was a large chain link fence around the whole thing. We could look at them, and could even still smell the smoke from inside, even though they have not been used for at least 50 years! They used to cut down cottonwood trees and burn them in these huge ovens until they turned to charcoal, then they used the coal to run the mining machinery in the foothills! I was bummed and felt silly that I had dragged my family out to see this sad sight. I guess that things change and that time and the elements are not kind. We had lunch and headed back, to the Hwy.

Driving through the small town of Indpendence we spotted a funy home that had a small scale old west town in it's front yard. We stopped to ponder such a thing. It looked as if it was built for 3 year olds. Gavin would have been too tall for most of the doors. It seemed to just be "some guys hobby", to build this town in his yard, out of scraps of wood and metal, discarded door handles and auto parts. We drove around to the back where you could see that his ENTIRE yard, was this town! Hmmmmm... I complain about Andy's gardening and mandolin hobby sometimes, but I am glad that he hasn't picked up something as completely wacky as THIS!

We were getting pretty close to Bishop and we found the Fish Hatchery! (there are actually quite a few hatcheries in the area, I don't even know what this one's "official" name is) We pulled in and walked up and down long rows of concrete fish troughs. The kids fed the fish some smelly fish pellets, which I had the pleasure of holding in my sweaty hand (should have taken some paper cups with me). Gavin thought that it was pretty cool to throw great handfulls in and create a feeding frenzy! Ella laughed at the "silly fishies". We found out that you can actuall "herd" fish! We started at one end of a trough and held an arm out over the water, the fish, fleeing the shadow of your arm, all swam toward the other end of the trough. They would create this big wave going along and at the end, they would have a pile up and flop around and lots of them would jump! "O.K. guys, it's hot and I am sure that the fish have had enough for one day!" Back, to the Hwy.

"Bishop! We made it!" We pulled into "Brown's Town RV Park", tired and road weary. We found our camp site, set up, walked the dog and went off to shower! Ella and I showered together and Gavin and Andy did the same. The showers were $1.00 for 7 minutes and Ella and I barely got done after $2.00. Andy couldn't understand, because they only needed $1.00. I tried to explain the lather, rinse, repeat process for shampooing long hair, but he was lost. I didn't even go into the part about conditioner! We had time to relax and have some dinner and a campfire and then, we all fell into bed. Day one of touring...fun and finished. Tomorrow we would explore Bishop and Law's and make a stop at the grocery store.

Gavin : self portrait

Blog...Blob

Well, I tried to write, I really did! I swear! I sat down here, right after dinner...but.. the dishes needed to be cleaned up and I thought that I'd better handle that...then my in-laws stopped by for a visit...I'm always up for a visit...then, Ella needed a bath, Gavin came home from soccer and needed a shower, the kids needed a story, backs needed to be rubbed, then I got back to the computer and thought...OMG...I have no idea what I am doing for halloween costumes! OK, that isn't quite true because I have known for almost a year that I would like Gavin to be a pirate, I am working on convincing him, and Ella has proclaimed that she WILL be Cinderella. What I don't know is how I am putting these things together. Gavin's will be made from clothes I can buy and "stuff", but... Cinderella I will have to buy. So...I started looking online....oops, it is now 9:30 and I came home exhausted... now.... I have reached.... BLOB time.... I will go and sit on the couch and watch some tv, before I stumble off to bed. I really wish that it was more than 2 hours before my bedtime, because I wanted to eat an ice cream...
I will write about vacation, I will, I will! I got the photos uploaded anyway!

First Day of School and Yes...my vacation was more than one day long

Ugh...time flies when you are having, um.. what is it I'm having again? Oh yeah... FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

Busy 'round here, to say the least!

Gavin's 1st day of 1st grade was a hit! He got the teacher that he wanted (like he has ANY idea of what ANY of the teachers are like) and he gets to sit next to a girl that he knew from his class last year! He was very brave, even though I know that he was nervous and he got right to work!

His second day, today... he manged to land himself a red card. Yes, already. (Red is past yellow which is past the teacher just telling you to knock it off) He was talking in class.. go figure.. hey, it's genetic.. we can't HELP it. Why can't it just be labeled as some kind of disorder like everything else and then we would not only NOT get in trouble for it, but be excused and maybe even get some kind of government assistance and automatically accepted to the college of our choice. Well, I understand my son's pain... We talked tonight about following the rules and trying really hard to control the talking. We'll see!

I will write more about my vacation, I just did not have the time today! (or yesterday for that matter!) Today, I walked Gavin to school, with Ella on her little trike and the dog yanking us along. Ella and I ran errands for 3 HOURS...yeah Walmart and the grocery store and a bunch of other STUFF. I thought that I would have a solid 2 hours to work on paying bills... WRONG! Ellie did NOT nap and after cleaning up a "bad potty accident" (I won't go into details) I spent the 2 hours jumping up from my work every 2 seconds to help her with some toy, or the dog or to pick her up because the floor jumped up and bit her. (Tired Ella is VERY whiny and prone to falling down) Picked up Gavin, folded laundry, finished the calendar, picked up toys, made dinner, activity time with Ella, Gavin to piano, stories, and bed time for the kids. FINALLY I got to the bills, at 9:00! Andy helped me... THANK THE LORD! He is REALLY good at pushing "make payments" on the online bill pay screen! I swear that I need a full week off of work just to go through all of my paperwork and get it all together!

I have been trying to catch up on a couple of Blogs, namely Andy's cousin's. Scott is riding across the country on a "recumbant"(?) bike. Hope that I got that right! It is pretty cool checking out his adventure and he is a great writer. I have also been reading the blog entitled "Because I said So"... the gal who had an ebay auction for some Pokemon cards? She is hysterical. If I wasn't so tired and my eyes weren't glazed over, I would try to figure out how to put links to these. I want to add that listy thing to my page, but have not bothered to try it yet.

Vacation, day 2... will come.... tomorrow (tomorrow...tomorrow... tomorrow)

p.s. does anyone know how to delete a photo if you decide that you don't want it in there?

I just shrank them until they are soooooo tiny......

Summer Vacation, Day 1

Well, we hit the road on Friday night, about an hour later than I had hoped for - which I secretly planned on anyway, knowing how difficult it can be to get 2 kids, 2 adults and 1 dog into a motorhome and on the road. Of course, we still had to stop and get gas...but the kids settled down fairly quickly and after a few reminders that we were in a moving vehicle on the highway and NOT on a playground jungle gym, they fell off to sleep in their already made up beds. The dog is a great traveler too! We put her towel down between the front two seats and she headed there and slept for most of our driving time!

The road, the open road...ahh... the hum of the tires, the long stretches of highway and the endless possiblities laid out before you. Andy and I met while traveling and I think that we both had the bug long before that. I have always looked forward to the adventure of map reading and discovering new places. When I was younger, I would watch our journey progress on an old beat up copy of the map that my parents had discarded. I would circle places that I hoped that we would stop, and if we didn't, I was sure that I would return and go myself, someday. This trip was a bit of that...it was a rehash of a family vacation that I remember from my youth. I guess that I was about 10, but my Mom argues, saying that I was 14 (I seriously doubt THAT, but I might go with the compromise of 12?) For one thing, my friend Tiffany joined us for this trip and we were not friends after the 6th grade....
Anyway...We went up to the Mammoth area for several vacations, so I probably have mushed them all together in my mind...But I rememember loving the scenery and having a great time and so I wanted to share these things with my husband, and my kids. Some things were "just as I remembered" and others, sadly, had changed or dissapeared completely. Seeing as how I made this journey almost 30 years ago, (gasp!) I guess things have a right to age, disintergrate, change and grow old. Much the same as my body has, over the years!

We headed out the 210 freeway around 8:00 p.m. and hit no traffic, which is always a blessing. From there we hit the 5 for just a few minutes before dropping onto the 14 which would take us to our first stop at the beginning of the 395 Hwy. Our overnight destination, Red Rock Canyon a gorgeous spot of dessert with carved hills and amazing rock formations. The drive was "uneventful" but gave the grown ups some time to talk and wonder about those who did not travel. We know that it is just "not for" some people, but we are certainly not of that breed. We feel so blessed that we can take 2 weeks to spend with our kids, as a family! How many people get to eat EVERY meal with their family for 2 WEEKS STRAIGHT!? (by the end of the trip, I was beginning to wonder...Who would WANT to!) We really feel that it is a time to bond and to get to know each other better, to learn what being a family and a team is really about. It is time to talk and rest and learn and play. As we rolled down the road, we wondered, "What will this vacation mean? What imprint will it leave on my mind? On the kids'? What will be our favorite thing, our funniest moment, the story that we carry with us?" We pulled into Red Rock, easily at around 11:00 p.m. It was deserted and silent and HOT (we knew that it would be). We found a campsite, walked the dog and climbed up into our bunk, excited for the discoveries that were upon us. Neither of us slept well due to the heat and the CRAZY night wind that decided to BLAST straight through the motorhome from 1:00 a.m. until 2:00 a.m. The wind brought some cooler temps and we snoozed fitfully, until sunrise at 5:30 when we looked out and got the answer to the question, "Why is it called, Red Rock?".