Last day in California

We had my sister Val and her boyfriend RJ here for the past few days. I picked them up in Reno after they had a not-so-ideal series of flights from Dallas. They came for Easter and to see the area we've been living in. I felt bad because we were packing the entire time they were here! But we did get to take them around Mammoth and June. The night after Easter it snowed almost a new foot, so they put on their snow clothes to play in the backyard a little. It hampered our trip to see the south tufa, and we drove up to see as much of Tioga Pass as we could, but it wasn't much! Their last day, they drove back to Reno to explore, and then to Tahoe for the night.

Kate looked adorable for her first Easter. And Jack was able to search for eggs around the house. I made gumbo, too!

And today is my last day living here. I'm taking the kids to Idaho for awhile. We'll stay with my parents while Brian lives in our travel trailer in Lee Vining for the rest of the school year. It's a big change for all of us. It'll be fun to start taking my kids to all the things that we haven't been able to do while living in the mountains. And after Idaho, it's New Mexico, for good.

...And MORE snow

On clear days, when the sky here is bluer than blue and most everything else is covered in a blanket of white, I thank God that I've had the opportunity to live in such a place. Yes, I'm tired of the snow, and of living in such isolation, but you sure can't beat the view. And Jack still enjoys it. Here he (and Casey) are, out the back door:

New favorite spot

Casey, the kids and I have taken several walks up in Lundy Canyon lately. We all get a good workout: Casey runs ahead, I hook Kate up in the front carrier, and Jack and I both trudge through the ski tracks in our snow boots. And this is all only five minutes from home: perfect for that mid-morning, between-naps fix for cabin fever.

New house, snow days

We're movin' on up... the street. Next door, actually. Our new house, in all its snowy glory:

And, of course, the backyard:

Winter has finally blessed us with her presence! Just wish I'd had snow tires put on sooner.

Big Pine football

Yesterday, after spending the morning moping about my single-mom Saturday status, I decided to take the kids and join Brian at a football game in Big Pine, about an hour-and-a-half south of here. It was a great day for a game: hot and windy, but still beautiful, with snow showing on the mountains. The Caravan hit 100,000 miles on the way down. We missed the exact moment, but caught it a mile later. The poor thing's been through ma-aaany trips! Jack didn't care about the football, but did like playing with the cupholders in our camp chairs. Kate slept through the first quarter, and was happy through most of the second, before I had to take her to the van for a feeding. The game ended midway through the third quarter--a mercy ruling, at 50-0, in favor of Big Pine. The poor Lee Vining Tigers suffered a couple injuries, one sending a kid to the hospital in Bishop. We went with Brian to check on him; he'd suffered some chest bruising, nothing serious. We had dinner at a pizza place and headed home. Jack stayed awake on the way home--"Nemo" helped--but I conked out for most of the ride (gotta take naps when I can!). It was definitely a much better way to spend my Saturday than at home with two cranky kids. No offense, kids.

Bakersfield comes to town

Monday morning, and the house is eerily quiet. Not only was my mom here for almost two weeks, but we also hosted relatives from Bakersfield over the weekend: Aunt Stefani, my cousin Sarah and her husband Brad, and their two kids, Perrin and Mary. The Swanlund family camped out in a tent in our backyard. We, of course, had to take them to see the tufa towers.

Mary wanted to hold Kate the ENTIRE time she was here.

Everyone left this morning. Our lives here in Mono City are (almost) back to normal, except it's a new normal, with Kate thrown into the mix. So far, she still sleeps a whole bunch! Brian works four more days, and then we're off to New Mexico for a month or so.

Tufa tour

We took my mom today to see the south rim of Mono Lake, where the "tufa towers" are most prominent. Actually, us locals had never been to the south end before, so it was a new sight for us as well. Tufas, by the way, are limestone deposits in the very salty Mono Lake, formed underwater with the help of calcium deposits from the freshwater that flows into the lake. Tufa is so visible in Mono Lake because lake levels fell after water diversions began in 1941. The lake itself is filled with brine shrimp and is a haven for kayakers and other boaters, although not really for swimmers. (For more--or more accurate--info, see the Mono Lake Committee's website at http://www.monolake.org/about/geotufa.) The tufa towers are quite beautiful! After a short walk on the trails, Jack settled himself on the sand for a little playtime with his new truck.

Saturday adventures

It is so fun to come to the end of a school year, to reflect back, to see how you've grown and what's changed, and to marvel on how it seems like just yesterday that the students entered the door on the first day of school. Brian is about to finish up his first year as assistant principal. Yesterday, five of his Lee Vining students graduated from high school. Yes, FIVE! Here they are, four boys and one girl:

Much of the community turned out to celebrate. Afterward, my mom and I took the kiddos to the first-ever "Kidapalooza" in Mammoth Lakes. There were many cool booths and events: a petting zoo, a man making balloon animals, a hula-hoop contest, a fire truck. Jack sat briefly for a photo op...

...but the only thing he was really interested in was a collection of dump trucks sitting at the sandy playground. That's my boy!

More fun with Grandma

This morning, we drove up the road to show Lundy Lake to Grandma. Brrrr! It was a little cold. But still beautiful. Jack enjoyed trouncing up and down the little dock. Kate slept.

Grandma in the house

My mom arrived yesterday from Idaho. She'll be here for almost two weeks, to help ease my transition into mom-of-one into crazyhood. We showed her around "town" this morning... not that there's much to see! Mono City is basically two streets and about fifty houses. But the birds were out in multitudes, the sky was a startling blue and the mountains were green, some still with puffs of snow on top. This HAS to be the most gorgeous time of year here. Jack enjoyed a piggyback ride:

And constant peekaboos into Baby Kate's "ride":


Kate was all plum-tuckered-out afterward:

One last hurrah

We woke up this morning to a good foot of snow, the most we've had in Mono City this entire winter. Our front porch:

Daddy shovels a path from the front door to the driveway. We get to watch from inside.
Check this out, Mom...

No fun at all when you have to go potty outside... Casey is always the first to brave the snow. But it only takes her a minute or so to plunge right in.

In June Lake, looking at June Mountain, where we go to church!

From the top of Conway Summit. We live down there somewhere...


Near the Virginia Lakes area, at the top of Conway Summit:

To Daddy, shoveling is a dreaded chore. To Jack, it is a marvelous activity.

Uh oh... time to go in!

Just what we needed...

There was some gloominess in the gray sky this St. Patty's Day morning, but Jack and I, we needed OUT. A picnic at the nearby Mono Lake park, with its brand-new playground, was our morning stop. Little man would "picnic" by plopping himself on our blanket, chomping on a bite of cereal or string cheese, and then running off to the slide while still chewing. And, oh yes, he did wear the requisite green... although I forgot when dressing myself!

Our day in Bishop

Yesterday, Jack and I went with my new friend Karen and her three boys to Bishop for the day. We checked out Laws Railroad Museum, where the boys exploded with energy, running all around for a good couple of hours. They were able to ring the bell of a train, climb all over old farm equipment, and watch model trains run around a track in an exquisite little village.

After the museum, we headed to a city park, where we had lunch and explored the playground. There is a large pond there filled with ducks, and a nice man there offered us the rest of his bread. Apparently, Schat's Bakery, which is just across the street, sells big brown paper bags of day-old bread for a buck. It entertained the boys for quite awhile. Especially Jack... I told him to break the bread into small pieces for the ducks, and so he made the pieces as microscopic as possible.

Et cetera

We just got back from a whirlwind trip down to the San Bernadino area. We'd originally decided to go because I needed to have an echocardiogram in Loma Linda. My doctor in Mammoth just wants to make sure that, with my heart murmur, I'll be O.K. giving birth at an elevation of 7900 feet. While we were in civilization, we also decided to take care of some necessities that we can't take care of here. And, of course, we did some major shopping. It rained buckets much of the time, and several inches of new snow greeted us upon our arrival home. We dragged poor Jack along with us everywhere, so a highlight of our trip was his reward: a night at Chuck E. Cheese!


Our first day back in town, we had an ultrasound in Mammoth. Sole purpose: to find out whether this thing kicking my tummy incessantly is a boy or a girl! Of course, the hospital is afraid of being sued, so all the technician could say was, "There are no signs to indicate that it would be a boy." Translation: GIRL! Big sigh of relief, especially on Brian's part. I would have been fine with having a brother for Jack, but my poor hubby was itching for a girl! We celebrated with lunch at Carl's, Jr.
On our way home, we spotted a dog sled expedition just off the side of the road. Two teams were readying to depart. It was an amazing sight! Two dozen tails were wagging like crazy, two dozen voices contributing to a cacophony of barking. As soon as a team would take off, their barking would stop, silenced briefly by the strain of pulling the weighty sled. I felt sorry for the half dozen dogs who had to stay behind.

(Please pardon the darkness and graininess of the photos; the only thing we had to take them was Brian's cell phone, and I had to zoom it a bunch to get the shot of the dogs.)

First snowman

Having grown up in the "banana belt" of Idaho, where as soon as it snows it's slush, I don't remember ever having the experience of building an actual, honest-to-goodness, snowman. I'm sure there were times when we attempted to form a pile of snow into some sort of snowman-ly shape, but there was never the actual carrot nose, button (or coal or rock) eyes, stick arms, and clothing articles. And now, living in the Eastern Sierra, where we were told we'd have plenty of snow, we've actually been disappointed by the lack of it so far this season. So yesterday, when I peeked out the window and saw a good six to eight inches of powder, my first thought was, "SNOWMAN!" For a true experience, we pulled out the boots and snowpants (and yes, I just barely fit into mine). Jack helped me out by bringing clumps of snow in a shovel. He also designated a flat pile of snow as a "train," and spent a good amount of time "riding" it. And, of course, afterwards we rewarded our hard work with the obligatory mug of hot chocolate. It was a perfect winter experience, one that every kid--and mom--should have.

Our ice capades

Yesterday, Jack and I accompanied Brian, two teachers, and about a dozen students (the ones who didn't want to go skiing with the rest of the school) to the ice skating rink in Mammoth. Jack, along with those students unsure of their ice abilities, held onto small chairs that they'd brought from the school. Jack immediately took to the ice and was halfway across the rink before I'd even gotten my bearings on my skates. Of course, before long, I was zipping across the ice like an old pro. Brian gave Jack a mini hockey lesson, and we had fun battling it out with the students.

A break from the humdrums

Four months living here, and I am officially suffering a bout of cabin fever. The highlight of my week, and Jack's week, has been our Wednesday morning trip to Mammoth Lakes. I am able to grocery shop and run other errands. But the absolute BEST part of our trip is Storytime at the Mammoth Lakes library. We sing songs (in English AND Espanol), listen to stories, and make crafts. This week, we listened to a story about wiggling, and the craft was a wiggly-legged jellyfish. There are tunnels to crawl through, "computers" to play games, and big animal pillows to roll around on. I've learned to get there a half-hour early so Jack can run through all the toys in the room before Storytime begins; that way, he's more attentive to the group activities. Afterward, we treat ourselves to some taqueria fare at La Salsa's.