Cashing In on the Christmas Gifts

One of the Christmas gifts I got for these two was a German cooking class. Peanut loves to cook and since Daddy-o has been learning German for the past year on Duolingo, I thought it would be really fun.

We went to Pans on Fire in Pleasanton and it was so nice to cook a meal that someone else had prepped everything for, and they had a team cleaning up and washing all of our dirty dishes. I think I would like cooking more if I had a couple people doing all of that for me at home, too.

We learned how to make schnitzel, a red cabbage dish, spaetzel, and apple strudel.

There were 12 of us in the class and we worked in teams of 4 to make all the parts of the meal.

It was a pretty involved meal, but lots of fun. The guy who was teaching the class is the owner of the business and he was great--lots of fun.

After we finished cooking, we all sat down and ate together.

It was a beautiful meal.

And the staff plated our desserts for us while we ate dinner. Everything was delicious. I actually don't think I ever ordered schnitzel while we were in Germany, although Daddy-o ordered plenty of it and I tasted his, but it was really good. 

How Far Will You Go?

Just how far is too far to go for food? Some people might think that driving for 3.5 hours to go to a farmer's market is a little crazy,

but if it means I can visit this apple stand, it's worth it!

Because they are the only place in California that I've found that grows the Gold Rush apples I love. We got them from our orchard in NC last year, but I was ready for more.

And while I was there, I made a little trip of it. I'd been wanting to do a solo trip in the van, so this was the perfect excuse. I booked a site at Pismo Beach, got there just at sunset after hanging out in downtown SLO for a few hours, and enjoyed a nice evening of reading in bed.

And the next morning, I took a hike out to the beach,

and bird watched for a couple of hours.

I watched a few elegant terns, seagulls, and cute little sanderlings for awhile.

And practiced my nature journaling. Birds are still hard for me, but every now and then, I'll get a quick sketch that feels like it captures the shape pretty well. I liked how a couple of my snowy egret sketches turned out.

And on the hike back, I found what appears to be the first monarch to show up for the winter gathering. There's a grove near the campground that gets quite a few, but it was a little too early for them, so I was lucky to find one at all.

I'd say my first solo trip was a huge success!

 

Merry Christmas, 2024

Christmas always means good food.

And this year, that included the pretend foods we got the animals.

They must have had some sort of flavoring on them because they all went nuts for these things, which were so cute. A salad bowl,

which they attacked, 

and a piece of cake, equally exciting to them. Plus the ice cream cone and a pineapple. They were all pretty excited about all of them and tore them to pieces.

We spent the morning opening gifts, and eating and talking to extended family.

And then everyone headed down to the church field for a little baseball and Peanut rode his new bike around and I went for a walk.

This has kind of turned into a tradition--whatever outdoor toys get brought out and then there is also batting practice and catch.

And then we had to come back for Daddy-o to make dinner. He loves having a traditional Christmas dinner of some sort, and luckily doesn't mind cooking it, too.

It's so fun having all three of these kids together again. A little loud, and not every moment is full of fun, but overall, it's better than NOT having the three of them home together.

Dinner was delicious! I love this family we get to be with, whether it's for holidays or just every day. These people make every day just a little more interesting.

Day 40: On the Way Home

When Daddy-o and looked at our schedule for the last week of the trip, and decided that we weren't making any detours, we realized that it also wasn't practical to drive almost 17 hours in one day. So, with plans to take 2 days and pretty much drive straight back, I looked for what we could do that wasn't a detour, just to break up the drive a little bit.

And a random Route 66 stop just off the freeway claimed to have some of the best Indian Frybread ever. So we stopped, even though it was early for lunch. More of a brunch. And even though Peanut has only barely stopped throwing up. At first, he wasn't going to get one, but after smelling Daddy-o's taco, he changed his mind. So they got tacos, I got a plain bread with honey, and they were so good. And Peanut kept his down, so it was all good.

Made it to Aruzona! I picked our later lunch stop at a Picture Canyon, where there was a little nature

and I could sneak in one last hike. While the boys made lunch and ate, I opted to do a longer loop than either of them felt up to.

I found lichen and went bird watching,

and got to see the petroglyphs I'd read about on this trail.

The boys came up the other, shorter direction,

to meet me at what is claimed to be Flagstaff's only waterfall. It seems like they must at least have seasonal waterfalls in other places considering it snows there and there are some hills, but maybe not? 

And then we finished driving and FINALLY got to do some real boondocking. It is so much easier to find wild camping spots in the west--we just have a lot more national forest and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land where you are allowed to park overnight. This spot just before the CA border was perfect for the evening. Daddy-o and I went for a little walk and then we fixed dinner.

Peanut was doing a lot better, but still excited to get home. Hard to believe that this is our last night in the van for awhile.

It hasn't been perfect. For every cozy moment, we've had really hard times. For every success, we've had things go wrong. So many things have been magical and amazing, and so many things have been challenging, too. But I'm so glad we did it!

 

Mt. Madonna 7.0

Maybe our best crew yet--year 7 was amazing, with friends who moved away last summer joining us and bringing so much fun (and good food!)

Lots of slack-lining (and Bug was both the first one to make it across, and I think the champion for number of times he made it.)

But the old guys didn't do too bad, either;)

So many hours of games!

The Nerts podium for 2024.

Most of the group headed down to the beach Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours.

While they surfed, played in the sand,

 swam, and hung out,

I stayed back and took a nap. 

My back was bothering me and getting to lay down and read and sleep for awhile sounded like more fun (which if you know how much I love the beach, actually means something.)

By all reports, they had a blast,

and I was happy for the quiet.

It was also our inaugural trip in the van! Part of why staying back in camp was extra appealing. . .

It's nowhere close to ready, but my back has been really struggling this summer ever since Europe and there was no way I was going to be comfortable sleeping in a tent, so we brought the van and fit two twin beds lengthwise so Daddy-o and I could sleep in a little more comfort. Not going to lie, it was pretty awesome and I can't wait until we have electricity and a raised bed.

It's crazy seeing how much these kids have grown up over the years. We were missing a couple of the other college age kids who have come, so Bean was the oldest of the group this year, but all our littles are getting so old!

A couple other highlights--Prussos raised the bar on our camping food by bringing a pizza oven! 

It was AMAZING and C had a hard time keeping up with the demand--his potato and arugula pizza is out of this world.

We always eat good, thanks to everyone's contributions.

Dance parties during cleanup make it even more fun.

Love this group of campers.

We got out for a hike--it was longer than we'd originally planned and pushed some of us a little.

But it was beautiful!

And we found a geocache! It's been a few years since we tried to do this because the last time involved a lot of crying by a few of the kids, so I'd been afraid to suggest it again, haha.

But I guess one of the benefits of them all growing up is that we can handle the free prizes (or lack of) without tears!

Happy hikers.

And this picture cracks me up! Little camera angle and these two, who are a foot different in height, suddenly look like they may not be the same species! We've got a giant and a dwarf.

Great year.

Lots of fun memories.

Traditional hikes and old friends.

It was a gorgeous 3 days.

It was hard to say goodbye, especially to the Prussos who started the drive back to UT as we were all leaving.

But we'll all be back next year!