Micah found the raddest place called Ocean Mine.
In the middle of the San Diego mountains, there is a mine where they extract dirt for customers to mine. Micah gave it to Navy for her birthday, and we waited until now for the stars to align — meaning Doey could come, the weather was good, there were no other obligations….etc.
Here we are — right in front of the dirt they pulled out of the mountain for us.
After a quick tutorial, we started mining.
We started by getting pails of dirt to take back to our stations.
Then we put our dirt through two screens to weed out anything we might want to keep.
It was hours of mining, and back breaking work.
And someone in our group got the best jackpot of the day!
That person was Navy!!!
She got the greatest aquamarine that was about 2 inches long and was a total score.
(Unfortunately, we didn’t take a picture. How bummed are we.)
The crew gave the experience two thumbs up!
And Navy won the other prize…for dirtiest miner!
On our way out, we stopped by the prettiest patches of wildflowers.
It was a good day!
A really good day.
Is it just my kids, or does every kid want to be the one who unlocks the door? The hotel doors with the card keys are the worst! But lately, every time we head in from anywhere, my kids beg for the key…and fight to unlock the door. This is all well and good, but when anyone needs to use the potty…things happen!
These sorts of things!
This is a big day for Pippi!
B has told the kids — specifically Pippi — about the upcoming movie “Beauty and the Beast” for a few months. Today was finally the day! Of course Pippi showed up in her Belle dress. And the others were stoked to be there — even Scout who tried to play like he wasn’t!
The verdict….a nice afternoon movie.
But certainly not one I will stock in our car for road trips.
I’ll keep the original animated version for that!
Last year, when the “leprechaun” dropped candy and money everywhere, Scout hoarded it all because he was the first one up. Then when I made him share, he went into full defense attorney mode, tell me that if he found it, he should have it.
This year I went into preemptive strike mode.
The “leprechaun” left loot in the pantry. Somewhere the kids wouldn’t look. Except Dash did look, when I sent him in on an errand.
My plan worked beautifully.
Especially because Dash happily shares with everyone, and Scout was stoked to get anything when he realized that it could possibly all be Dash’s stuff.
Seth sent me this picture from his phone tonight. When I got it, I showed Dash, and said, “I had no idea how strong you are. You have a total 6 pack.” He didn’t know if I was being serious or tricking him, so he went with it. He said, “I know — I am SO strong, and I didn’t even know it!” Then he got a devious smile on his mug and walked away a little taller.
Pippi was a mess this evening. She couldn’t quite get it together. And when her “BYU” was in the wash after camping, she literally fell apart. Good thing we saved her “Nigh Night” in a secret hiding spot! Navy asked if she could get it, and then told PIppi to close her eyes for a big surprise. Pippi yipped in delight for the first time tonight, and hugged her nigh night all the way to her tent.
Micah heard from someone, that their favorite place to camp is Idyllwild.
So, off we went to check it all out.
Good campsite — check.
Raging bonfire — check.
S’more stackers — check.
Fun adventures — check.
Great people — check.
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We all agreed that Idyllwild was pretty cool. It actually reminded us a lot of Yosemite Valley. But then again — nothing can compare to Yosemite. But we did get up high enough to see snow, there was a little town to walk through, the kids were in their happy place, and Micah was in Heaven.
My favorite part was the drive home.
It was so beautiful, it was insane! We have had so much rain this year, that people are dubbing it #superbloom.
This particular hillside was amongst lush green hills. It was so bright, we had to drive over to check it out.
And then, as a major bonus, we drove home through tons of orange groves that had the most fragrant blossoms, you could smell them from inside the car.
They were tasty too.
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I usually send Micah off to camp with the kids by himself. Not because I mind camping, but because it gives me the opportunity to get lots of things done without kid distractions. But this time, I was glad to have gone, and see all of my kids be awesome campers, and great adventurers. And especially to see Micah proud of what he has created…mini campers!
Scout has been getting up before scriptures, to run the neighborhood for a few weeks. It has been so impressive to see. And when his buddies heard about it, they too have been getting up to run with him. They all meet in front of our house at 6:00 am, and then run 2-3 neighborhood laps which is about 2-3 miles. Afterwards, they come over for a morning dose of scriptures and breakfast. Little did I know that 6:45 am would be such a hopping social hour in our home!
Apparently these kids were all in the middle of a mean game of handball, when Leana — my neighbor stopped them for a photo shoot.
She said that even though they all griped and complained that she ruined their flow, they put on smiles to get it done with!
Ha Ha.
Scout is an old pro at these piano recitals, and Navy dominated her first!
Navy was the opener of the show, and was so confident and calm.
And Scout was stuck somewhere in the middle, and nailed his piece.
Nice work you two.
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