Halloween 2013

I haven't been very good at keeping up with my blog posts this month. The month seemed to have gone by in a blur of busy nothings.

The girls had to start packing their lunch again...or, that is, I had to start packing their lunch again. We didn't qualify after all. I don't know which one of us was more disappointed.

Caitlyn's classroom has sent home two notices since school has started regarding a student with head lice (seriously?). Once last month and another this month. I am not a happy camper. I'm wondering if this is still the same student or a different one and why no one is on top of this situation. I don't know who the student involved was in the first incident, but I do know who was involved the second time. The whole row of students sitting together had to go to the health office to get checked out. I do not want to have to deal with this.

But I know all the new rules with the new principal has come to naught because there is another student in Caitlyn's class that is always in trouble and he never gets expelled. He is the Hannibal Lecter of the class and is kept in an island all by himself as he does not play well with others. His kindergarten teacher eventually started video taping his classroom because nobody would believe the crap this kid did. Of course, he notified all the families in his class about it...not that it did any good as the child didn't act any differently and nothing resulted in it.

Their bus is always late and I contacted the principal about it but she just ignored my complaints. The parking and traffic problem is still a complete mess and the school is always locked down now. I know that that is a district wide policy for the most part but our school is especially strict about it. It's like a prison there now and I don't feel welcome, so I do not volunteer any more. I let the teacher know that if she needs me, she could contact me but I always do that and they never call.

I went to the prison yard today though, because they were letting the inmates have a Halloween parade.  I went early so that I could get parking, I fought the crowds and stood in the sun only to have other parents breaking the rules and stepping past the designated yellow line so that I could not see who was coming until they were already upon us. I ended up with a quick picture of Caitlyn giving me her usual bashful/surly look...and all I thought was, "why did I bother coming?"

Luckily, as the younger children passed some of the parents started to clear off and by the time the 6th graders came by, I was able to get in a better position that was not blocked by selfish, oblivious and otherwise, rude parents. Also, Emily was a lot more obliging of my picture taking. I didn't bother trying to stay for the parties in the classroom afterwards. I promptly took myself off the premises.

Caitlyn dressed up as Betsy Ross. Emily dressed up as a vampire again. I say again, because we went to our friends' annual Halloween party on Saturday, but I did not take my camera and have absolutely no pictures. I don't know what I was thinking. Caitlyn went as a witch. Christian and I even dressed up. I went as a gypsy and Christian went as a gypsy's curse (i.e. death). Sorry, no pictures.

We didn't even carve pumpkins this year.

In the evening, I took the girls to the Trunk-or-Treat at our church. Emily went as Cleopatra and Caitlyn went as a princess. I know, they are so girly. They get the opportunity to wear three different costumes every year and sometimes takes full advantage of that fact. It was smaller than usual as the other ward that shares our building bailed on us for something bigger and better at the last minute.

We didn't get a single trick-or-treater down our street this year...pretty sad. Christian got tired of waiting for no one to show up at our house and ended up coming to meet us at the church as we were wrapping up for the night. Our girls went trick or treating at two of our neighbors houses and got handfuls of candy as no one came to their house either, except for us.

School House Rock

We've been going to the Riverside Quary recently to practice our rock climbing skills instead of our local rocks up in the Box Springs Mountain this month. The climbs are a lot higher so it give us practice with having to deal with the exposure as well.

It's kind of a dump as all kinds of people go there. I don't know if the quarry is still in operation because they have set routes all up and down the side of the wall with permanent anchors everywhere. Apparently, it is a very popular place to go in the Inland Empire because we don't have a whole lot of options without traveling. It's easy to get to without having to resort to a climbing gym.

The only part that is easy enough for us to climb is called School House Rock. All the routes are named  with this theme in mind. Caitlyn climbed "My Hero Zero." Emily climbed "TaxMan Max." I climbed "The Energy Blues" and Christian climbed "Tyrannosaurus Debt".

The girls even set up their own traditional route (with the help of Dad) and called it, "Lolly Lolly Lolly."

There is a pretty good hole in the wall taco stand nearby that we went to for lunch. We came home afterwards to watch our old School House Rock VHS. It was kind of fun.

Alabama Hills

Stake Conference weekend is not vacation...except for when it is. Christian and I both have callings that make it difficult for us to take time off so it's not so easy to go anywhere on some random weekend. So, when General Conference came around, we thought we would take advantage of the fact that we watch conference on the internet after the fact anyway and take a holiday. Unfortunately, a family that Christian home teaches needed help moving that weekend and the next day we had a baptism of a friend to attend. We really needed to get away so that just left the weekend of stake conference.

We seem to have been making up for lost time this year in camping. We used to go at least every month or so before the kids came along. We had a eight year hiatus until we were able to go again because of various reasons. Now we can't seem to get enough of it again and have been taking every opportunity to ditch "civilization" to rough it out somewhere...the more remote, the better. Maybe we are just burnt out on everything.

It didn't quite work out the way we had hoped (as usual). That particular weekend ended up to be this big film festival weekend in Lone Pine. We packed up and left shortly after the kids got home from school and got to our destination at 7:pm. The town was packed! I have never seen so many people in that little town in all the years of going there. We were planning to camp in the Alabama Hills so that we can get up early in the morning to go climbing, but the place was just filled with people and we were barely able to get a place to stop to set up camp so that we could get some rest after driving for about another hour or hour and a half. It didn't help that some of the areas were closed because they were doing tours out in the Alabama Hills in the morning. It is way too cold up in the mountains for the kids. We had a horrible feeling about the next day but tried to get some rest to deal with it in the morning.

Lost Eye to the Moon, Alabama Hills

We got up as the sun started coming up and packed up at our pathetic make-shift campsite to find our climbing route. The rock we picked out is called "Lost Eye to the Moon." The person that set up the route named the wall after the greek myth of Horus who lost his eye trying to avenge the death of Osiris which became the moon.

We spent the first part of the morning on the little stuff so that the kids can get some practice and get comfortable on the rock. We've been having trouble getting Caitlyn to progress in her climbing skills. She seems to have developed a fear of heights but only occasionally when we want her to make some progress. She has never slipped or fallen and she is hooked up to a rope with a harness, so there is no real danger, but sometimes she allows the fear to immobilize her. I can't quite say that she is really afraid of heights because you can let her rappel down a huge wall and she will have no problem walking and jumping down and swinging around...but that's because it doesn't require her to use any climbing skills or techniques.

They spent a lot of time going up "Fiddlin' Buckaroo" which you can basically smear up without a rope. Emily did manage to motivate herself to go up "Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm" which is a little harder before lunch but she didn't seem as eager to push herself to climb either.

Christian and I were waiting to get on a bigger route which was occupied by other climbers so we took a break for lunch. As soon as the other climbers left, we left the kids to their own devices to try our hand at some of the harder climbs.

"Riders of the Purple Sage" was our first full length pitch and is rated 5.7. I made it up but Christian helped me a bit on a couple of difficult spots. We didn't have quite enough draws for protection so Christian ended up climbing the last leg of the route without really any real protection to set up the top rope on the anchors at the top. We have been slowly accumulating equipment but can never seem to get enough for every possibility. We certainly had not prepared very well for these "sport climbs" but these rocks did not have any features on it that would allow us to use the other equipment we did have.

"Eye for an Eye" was next. It was a two pitch route but we only made it up to the top of the first pitch. We were not quite ready to do two. We need more practice and more equipment.

Meanwhile, the kids were happily wandering around somewhere down below, climbing small boulders. Big caravans of vehicles and bus loads full of people were driving up and down the roads for the tours and film re-enactments. We can hear their fake gun fire in the distance.

Emily eventually came back to climb "Rhythm of the Range" which was her biggest climb yet. We tried to get Caitlyn on "Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm" but with no avail. The sun was starting to go down so we did not have a whole lot of time left. Plus I was pretty tired and my were hurting. You would not believe how rough that rock is. Christian didn't let it stop him though, we was still energized and got in a couple more climbs on the Sunday Matinee Wall. I don't think I could have even attempted one of those, even if I was not tired and sore. He did the two shorter routes on either end of the wall that was a little easier than the rest...and that's a very relative term here when you are talking about a big wall of rock.

We called it a day after that and went in search of that ever elusive campsite again. We did not want to camp in the same spot we slept at the night before. We went out a lot farther this time and found a decent spot this time. We were even happier with it in the morning when we went out to explore the area in the light of the day. I think we will definitely be going back there again. 

As the last day was Sunday, we took it easy and just walked around and did a bit of exploring. We wanted to find out what our other options were in the area since we can see a lot more in the day.

We also drove around to a few of the more prominent arches that some of the people were touring.

Heart Rock, Mobius Arch and Lathe Arch

Aside from the crowds and the lack of camping spots, it wasn't as bad up there as we had initially feared. There were a lot of climbers out with us as well but most of them were fairly pleasant and respectful except for a couple of big rowdy groups in the distance. Most of the people out for the film festival were elderly and relatively quiet so in the end, it was quieter there in the evenings than when we were last out there which was a big relief.

We had a late lunch and headed home. We had our fun but we still had a long drive ahead of us.

Birthday

I had a birthday this past weekend...I won't say which birthday it is. We decided to spend the day out in Big Bear together on Saturday. Overall, it had it's ups and downs.

First the downs:

• I am another year older.
• Caitlyn threw up on the way to Big Bear.
• People were trying to run us off the road constantly.
• We got lost trying to find a spot we read about because we got some bad directions and had no map and wasted a couple of hours driving around.
• We almost ran out of gas while driving around.
• The place we originally planned to go was really crowded.
• When we finally got to where we decided to go, it was cold and windy.
• One of the things Christian got me was something that I was planning to give to him too.
• A certain someone won't acknowledge birthdays any more since we helped her sister throw a surprise birthday party for her.

On the upside:

• I am in better health than I have been for many a year now.
• My visiting teacher came by with yummy donut holes.
• My sister surprised me by sending me some beautiful roses.
• I got to spend the day with my family.
• We saw some beautiful views.
• I got some nice presents (music, book, movie and a more portable monopod)...and what can I say but great minds must think alike!
• We found a another nice climbing rock that was not crawling with people.
• We got a free map of the area from the ranger station.
• We had a nice dinner at A&W on our way home.
• We made it home without any incidents.
• Christian made me a tasty birthday dinner on Sunday.

After we found that our original destination was totally crawling with people, we went with plan B which was not too far away. Tanglewood slab is a 5.3 pitch which was great for the kids and I to do some top rope climbing on. The hardest part was just a little too much for Caitlyn but perfect for Emily and myself. It's a bit easy for Christian so he usually climbs without a rope and sets up the top rope for the rest of us and tries to coax Caitlyn up the more difficult spots. Apparently there is another good spot a little above and beyond this spot that we can try some time in the future.

The highlight for the trip for the kids was when we had to pass through a mud puddle (or two) on our way to and from Tanglewood. Okay, it might have been one of the highlights of their lives from how they tell it.

We might have relished in it a little and the mud was a bit deeper than we initially thought. I must admit that it was pretty fun too but man, cleaning it up was (is) not a picnic. The mud just penetrated everything. Even the engine bay was completely caked in mud. We gave it an initial wash on Monday but it will take some time to get all the mud off of everything. Plus it sucked up all the wax that was on my car so after we give it another cleaning, we will have to spend some hours polishing and waxing the car to return it to it's previous condition.

It was crazy and fun but maybe something we would have to think twice about ever doing again!

Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節)

Thursday was the Harvest Moon. Time for the Mid-Autumn Festival. But instead of going to the crowded festival at the Heritage House this year, we decided to climb up Box Spring Mtn. and watch the moon rise.

We packed a portable dinner and headed up when Christian got back from work. We hiked up a little past the ranger station and found a place to settle down to have our dinner.

During dinner, we read them the Chinese folk tale of Chang'e, the moon goddess. We couldn't get a hold of any moon cake out here. I think that we might have to try to make our own next year.

It was a very smoggy and hazy evening, so the sky was not very clear and didn't make for any fabulous pictures. It was a little chilly up there though. The temperature is definitely changing and it was a little windy up there so we left shortly after the moon came up. We didn't pack sweaters thinking that it doesn't even get that cool in the evenings. Luckily, Christian did pack our headlights and we used them to get back down the mountain. Of course, when we got down, we got to watch the moon rise up over the mountain all over again!

The Nobulator and other matters

The kids are back in school and we are starting to get back into the rhythm of things. Last week, they had back to school night (even though they have been back for 3 weeks). And although it is never very useful per se or productive, we always go so that we can be present in the minds of their teachers. It is important for them to know who we are when trying to communicate with them if something comes up.

They also had picture day. I normally do order pictures because that's what my parents did for us when I was young. It's nice to have that chronological order of pictures through the years. But I have thousands of pictures of my kids. Both Christian and I have fairly nice cameras. We have great software to work on pictures with so I don't know why I force myself to go through the drama that is "picture day" at school. It's expensive and I am almost always disappointed with how the pictures come out. The girls are usually in an awkward pose and have a smirk or grimace on their face that doesn't look pleasant and is certainly not natural. After the pictures that came back to me last year, I finally called it quits and stopped purchasing those darn Lifetouch pictures.

We grew up before the time of digital pictures and it was still a special thing to have these nice portraits of the kids as they go to school but I already have what seems to be a lifetime of pictures of my kids at 8 and 10 years old. My hard drive is full of pictures. I just had to let old habits die and let go of the tradition of school pictures. It just isn't worth it for us.

On the bright side, the autumn weather is finally starting to show and we are starting to get a break from the heat in the evenings so we've been taking advantage of that fact after dinner and started to go back out in the hills behind our neighborhood for walks and to go climbing again. Two weeks without climbing and Christian was starting to go stir crazy.

We found a new climbing rock out there called the "Nobulator." It's pretty awesome. It is not very high (maybe about 40 feet) but it has lots of neat nobs and things to climb on, plus a nice straight face to practice rappelling from. We just had fun the first couple of times we went up and didn't work on anything too technical just to get comfortable with the rock. But just as we were about to start working on really learning something on the rock, we found out that at the base of the rock where the girls and I have been climbing back up on, is the home of a 3 or 4 year old rattler. We have run into it twice now as it comes out to warm itsel in the last rays of the sun before it goes down. I almost ran into it the first time as we started to head back home one evening. Emily almost ran into it the second time while we were still climbing around. Christian went down and found it's home at the base of the rock down there. We were lucky and paid enough attention that we didn't actually get bitten.

The downside of the weather turning is that we have a lot less daylight in which to play out there in the evenings and still have enough light to be able to watch where we are going so that we do not inadvertently step on a snake while we are returning home for the evening.

The upside is that it isn't too hot to go out and we have seen some spectacular sunsets on our walks and climbs. As it gets darker earlier every evening, we will obviously have to make a new plan for our outtings. Meanwhile, we should probably find a new rock to climb until it is too cold for us to worry about the snake being out at the same time that we are!

Labor Day in the Devil's Punchbowl

On Labor Day, we decided to go check out the Devil's Punchbowl...which was kind of nuts since it has been so hot lately! But we wanted to go somewhere and get out of the house for a bit.

It's a beautiful spot. It was fairly pleasant when we first arrived since it was still relatively early. It wasn't too crowded but there were still more people than we would have expected (or wanted). I guess the heat was not enough to deter a lot of people. 

We hiked around a bit then decided to see what the rock was like and see if we could find a shady spot to climb around on but it is all sandstone...not really great to climb on. We stopped to have lunch before returning to the trails to continue our hike.

But by the time we were back on the trails, water was becoming short and the temperature had risen quite a bit and we still had to make it back to the parking lot. Of course, all the drinking fountains were broken so we went into the visitor center to rehydrate ourselves and spoke with the woman working there for a while. They had a bunch of displays for the kids. Most of the crowds left shortly before so it was pleasantly quiet in there as well. 

In the end, we figured we only explored a tiny part of the park and decided it was worth while to try to go back some time when the weather was a bit more comfortable.