Almost seemed to happen on cue!

Well we have now returned from our first adventure! we took the tent for the boys and the trailer for all of us who might need it( Grandpa said he would definitively use it). We went one half hour from the boys home, to the lake where we hoped to fish and to hike around our beautiful surroundings. We saw wild turkeys and "real lizards".

K and N went fishing with us as J was very tired and wanted to take a nap..so off the 4 of us headed to procure our dinner. Now fishing with a 4 year old can be an adventure all on its own as we quickly learned! Fishing line constantly tangled, large rocks to aim at the lake and bright red bobbers floating on the rippled surface. Grandpa shared with K who was intent on catching a big-foot that a lot of noise would scare the fish away..so we needed to be quiet! Well as quiet as a boy of 4 can be at least..N wondered off the for a location with out so much commotion. After a couple of hours, no fish and a sun lowering into the west we headed back to camp for a plan B dinner..

the older boys headed for the boulders for some climbing and K to the campground play area where he had made friends earlier in the day. Grandpa and I made the fire and gathered dinner ingredients.

The older boys arrived back, blood on hands and arms..even though I had told them to be careful.Listening to us "older folk" was not on the agenda for the day! K got back and off to the tent they all went for a wrestling match- against the tent walls. "You will dislodge the rain tarp and it is going to rain tonight"..now to be fair there were no clouds in the sky, but the weather website I checked before leaving said it was. Again the wresting started and again the warnings..again the wrestling and this time no warnings from us..experience is always the best teacher!

Dinner was great and after clean-up I headed to the rest rooms and the boys to the tent. When I returned only Grandpa was sitting around the campfire.."Where did the boys go?" I asked with concern. "They are asleep in the tent", he replied..."even K?" I asked. So they were down for the night. Grandpa and I sat by the fire for an hour or so listening for any signs that they would not be asleep, but even the loud cry's of a pack of coyotes did not wake them. So we headed off to the trailer and bed.

At 4 am K was at the door, he wanted in our bed..the boys were snoring to loud for him to sleep he decreed. We were getting up so into our bed he went and soon was snoring loudly. We had our coffee and organized for breakfast. At this time the rain was coming down in buckets!! I said to Grandpa that I should check the tent..grandpa felt we should leave it alone..experience should be the best teacher!

At 8 we woke them up..they came across the short distance to the trailer for breakfast and were soaking wet from the trip. All the boys brought their backpacks..but no change of clothes were with the teenagers, not even dry socks! We put them in blankets and all enjoyed our breakfast.

Our our way back home K from the backseat announced he was hurt and angry with Grandpa! Grandpa had talked with a gentlemen fishing from a boat and scared his fish away! We asked what we could improve upon for our next trip and the first thing that came up was we did not have enough potato chips ! The second was a larger rain fly for the tent, and J said he should bring a change of clothes. ( what a great idea for a weekend trip!)

I sat in the front seat and thanked God, not only for a safe and enjoyable trip..but for the rain, and the small mishaps which almost seemed to happen on cue, and will help our young, perhaps, accept small bits of advice in the future.

Well this is finally the week of our first camping trip, today is K day and he is napping now after helping me to prep the trailer for our first trip. This involved many carry trips to the back acre where we store the trailer, finally whittling down the area where we were stacking all the stuff..to have our pioneer adventures with!

I am confused by the older boys, they have no excitement for this, yes I know they are teenagers, but I must confess it hurts a little! I call them the McDonald's generation . Tell me when it is time to go, pick me up and deliver me back when done. J was told he was the first to bring a friend. Last week I sent him an email reminding him of it and wanted to know if his friend's parents wanted to meet us first before sending their only child off with strangers. Today when I picked K up for our day and after talking to Mom last night he says to me.".is it this weekend? I do not think anything else is going on" Do you want your friend to come? "I will ask today" but J I need to buy enough food to include your friend..I am working the rest of the week, "I will let you know tonight..so the order has not been made yet, but when it is , it must be ready on demand! What are we doing to our children? What happened to planning..anticipation..and fulfillment? I am afraid these are concepts that are no longer valued, and are just in the way of imminent gratification.....

N is going to come out on Friday and help with the prep..not his idea, it was Moms but at least he will participate, perhaps he will enjoy it more, I sure hope so! Our menu depends on a fish catch, but I have also included a back-up plan, not sure they will remember to bring fishing poles..LOL.

As we approach the beginning of this years Odyssey, Grandpa and I look back on our one and only camping trip when we were raising D and R. My parents had moved to the Oregon coast for retirement and we were going on vacation to see their new home. We borrowed a 3 room tent from one of Grandpa's co-workers to camp on the way up with the boys. D was a toddler and R was a baby(about 5 and a half months old). After what seemed like forever we arrived at a campground in the redwoods on the northern coast. We put R in in infant seat under a tree and proceeded to set up camp. Back in those days tents did not have pop-up poles and were not made of nylon..but rather this was a full fledged canvas army tent! By dinner we were exhausted and headed to bed. That was when R decided to begin the process of cutting his first tooth! No ice..no teething ring and no ambosal, just a screaming child in pain! Grandpa loaded D into the car and headed for the closest town..a 70 mile round trip!! I walked R through the campground singing his favorite songs to him, doing what ever I could, including him chewing on my fingers to help him, until Grandpa and D got back. At 5 am we settled down for a nap..by 6 Grandpa and I were back up again to make the fire, coffee and breakfast.

We shared that campground with only one other couple that night...they were starting their honeymoon with just married plastered all over their car! As they were having coffee she said to him "you are right..we should wait a long..long time to have children!!

and so it goes..into the future

The Great Escape

People who do not live in a community..or village as those on the east coast would call it, may not understand the significance of an afternoon like this. a lot has happened today..it is M's Birthday which has so been over shadowed by K's accident this morning at pre-school! Small wonders calls here to tell me K was running full speed, slipped, tripped and put his front teeth through his lip! they do not have Mom's work number could I help..Oh God..yes!!!!

Talk to Mom as she runs from work with fear for her child..talk to Mom after the Doctor visit( they are all going to be okay, including Mom)...then in today's storm I discover that Ceaser..K's dog is gone.........Now I know we have all heard the stories of dogs who travel a thousand miles to get back to their families...is this Ceaser in this storm?? ..tomorrow is K day..he is hurt and will I have to tell him his dog is gone? Hurt? Dead? I do not want to do this!!!

Our friends and neighbors in true Rancho's style hit the road armed with Dog biscuits..leashes and what ever else they are comfortable with to find this precious dog! We cover the neighborhood and after 2 hours I am headed home hoping Ceaser remembers he gets a treat every day at 5!! We are pulling back into our driveway with heavy hearts..to find my best friend and walking partner waiting for us to let us know that she let Ceaser back into our back-yard!!! How do I thank these people enough for not only caring about a dog..but understanding what this means to our Grandchildren....what a wonderful place to raise a family, not just in the present but for generations to come! And thank you Ceaser for understanding this is now home!

A blended family of 5-4 humans and the DOG

As I shared in my introduction, after we all lost D. he left a blended family of 4 persons and Ceaser the Dog. When D first got sick and I was going to his home to help out I shared with Grandpa that we would need to bring Ceaser to live with us..they were all to busy to care for him and he would need some attention. Grandpa said NO..NO..NO.. when D was so sick he was here with us I said again we need to bring Ceaser. In defense of Grandpa I have to say we had developed a different lifestyle as empty nesters! We now had an English cottage back yard complete with Koi ponds, flowers and all the wonderful grooming items that you see on HGTV early morning shows. yes we have a dog..also 3 cats(courtesy of D) chickens with a lot of stock next door. This is the typical Rancho's lifestyle we have enjoyed for years. Our Dog Cassie arrived as a bottle fed stock puppy and follows commands ..like all the noble dogs before her, children first, stock second with a mind to protect them all!

Grandpa gave in when he was at the kids house helping to prepare for their move to a smaller, less maintenance residence. it was Grandpa's job to take down the swing set and the trampoline. Now K knew they were going to move..and was excited about his new home! as Grandpa worked on the swing set K. came to the back yard and asked what he was doing. Grandpa shared that there was no room at his new home but that we would set it up at our place for him. The same thing happened with the trampoline with the same answer...Ceaser came and laid his head in K's lap and K said but my Ceaser can come with me! Grandpa had to share that they could not have Ceaser at the new house...K pulled his baseball cap down to cover his face with crocodile tears running down his face...and said okay Grandpa...

Ceaser now lives with us, K is here 2 days a week to play with him..Grandpa and I play daily, but he must be an outside dog, as I shared he knows 2 commands, sit and lay..does not know to come..does not know stop, and the one game he knows to play...chase and catch the cats!! This is not a game any of my animals know how to play or want to, so we are now investigating in the building of a dog-run so all are safe when we leave on the camping trips we have so fondly planned for..

Into the future we go...with still more to prepare for, plan and carry-out

the best laid plans Vs. recreation.gov

As I have shared in a previous post we are planning on some camping adventures with our grandsons! Needless to say we are all very into this and have spent hours on the "net" exploring the possibilities. Should we tent camp? Take our new( much older trailer, which has now been at the R.V. doctors for over 2 weeks)? Should we visit state parks, or National Parks, recreation areas or B.L.M. lands? So many possibilities with so many decisions.

We have decided to to try them all, so we have researched where we want to go, and seen the pictures of the different campsites on line and made a game plan. It all started out so smooth...our first adventure is very close and will include a combination of tent and trailer, this is happening at the end of the month. The second is a tent only site at the end of April at Pinnacles National Monument,that should give us a taste of true camping, the 3rd comes in May with a trip to the Grand Canyon which is very exciting, over memorial day weekend and no trouble to book at all! All of this was done online with Recreation.gov, the National park service reservation web site.

Now it has been a long winter so we have had so much time to dream and plan, all of us researching where to go in June and Yosemite seemed to be a great choice. We got online and looked at hundreds of campsites in several campgrounds ..picked out our favorites and then tried to book. As so many people other than us know, this is not an easy task. Recreation.gov said I had to wait until 7 am on Feb.15th to do this. That morning I woke, showered and opened the website with our desired campsite number and a second choice site just in case, logged in and was told it was 6:58 and I had to wait until 7 to do this. Not only that but a list of helpful suggestions was posted to help with this process. What process?? I have been using this website with out issue for weeks..what could be so hard about this?

Only when you are new to something as complicated as a camping spot in Yosemite can you be so uninformed as to the challenges that await! I entered our spot, the process began...unavailable!! I entered spot number 2..process began, results unavailable..did a 3rd try for any spot...process..unavailable..the park was booked!!! It was now 7:08 and I was informed to come back in March and try again...are they serious???

We are going to Kings Canyon in June..this was the option for a national park in California in June and to tell the truth I am glad to have it!!! I am not trying in March for July..the national park service says this is the highest traffic month of the year for Yosemite so we will wait until fall!

We have also booked for July at the Point Reyes National Seashore, N shared that he wanted to camp like the pioneers did so Grandpa and I found a place that we could pack in. Now this truly shows how in "in today" we have become with our teen age grandsons. I found the picture of the campsite we wanted, Grandpa says it looks great! I said it says 5 for the walk in, "what does that mean?"Grandpa D. says must mean 5 min. book it... so I did.

We shared this with N. who said great, BUT upon further research since... 5 means MILES!!! we are booked, we are going, K. will be 5 by then so we will see what happens. We are doing research on back-packs, again this will mean more stuff!

So we go into the future requiring more stuff........again, only very lightweight this time!