January

The month seemed to fly by. At the beginning of the month, we took a hike to the top of Sugarloaf Mtn. I'm not sure if it is an actual mountain but that's what everybody calls it because it is at the end of Sugarloaf Road. It may just be the western most part of the Box Springs range.

It is a short but fairly steep hike. We probably made it worse for ourselves by not taking the actual trail that starts from the neighborhood. Our trail looked more like a cross between a game trail and the ditch that the water runs off from! But it was a nice day out and we found some boulders to climb while we were out.

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The girls had their science fair this month. Emily did an experiment on cave stalactites. Caitlyn did a kitchen science experiment on chemical leaveners. Caitlyn actually got first place in her grade category.

There were tons of people there and more science boards than you can look through because they made it mandatory this year for grades 3 through 6. 

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We went to Joshua Tree again. We tried a new area called the Western Wall. We were the first to arrive and so we got our choice of routes but there were people right behind us and pretty soon, the whole wall was filled up.

We did two routes on the wall but it quickly became too crowded so we decided to move on. As we were leaving, hoards of more climbers were arriving so we were happy to be departing. I think that we will have to go early again if we want to try some of the other routes on the wall.

It was 1:pm by the time we got back to the truck and headed back over to cyclops rock to see if the rappel station was available. Luckily, it was free so we went up to reserve the spot while we had our lunch. 

Since it was late last time, we didn't get too many pictures or videos and Caitlyn didn't even get to try it so we wanted to make sure we got a chance to go back in the early afternoon to do it again. Christian and I both got to go on it once. Caitlyn was pretty scared to go off the edge (as it is a 150 foot drop) but once she did, she had a lot of fun and actually went down twice. Emily went down three times!

By the time we managed to pull the kids away from the rappel, it was getting late and we wanted to get in one more climb before leaving. Christian and Emily did a climb on the other side of Cyclops rock called "Penelope's Walk." It was pretty much dark by the time Emily got up so there was no more time for anything else.

We also took some friends to try their hand at rock climbing at the quarry. It still amazes me how far along Caitlyn has come since December. We were not getting any where with her for a while. She managed a few small climbs here and there but generally had panic attacks on the rock at some point and either had to come down or she just stood there not willing to move. She can now make a lot of those climbs effortlessly.

Death Valley - Part 2

Day 4 begins at Mosaic Canyon. We got up with the sun, as usual. Mosaic Canyon is one of the reasons we decided to try climbing. It is a easy hike that winds through the canyon, but at some point, it ends unless you can climb and continue through the canyon.

It is a beautiful canyon. It is one of my most favorite places in Death Valley. It is pretty crowded (even early in the morning) where the canyon begins. There are little climbs that you have to get through to continue and people who don't really like to hike and/or people with small children, never get farther. There is a bigger, somewhat easy climb at some point and most people will stop there. If you continue farther though, you end up at a 40 foot wall that you basically need rope in order to scale.

Luckily, we went prepared! It took us a while though because some of it is just smooth marble that was difficult to protect. Christian ended up going up and around to an easier part for him to free climb and top roped us up the wall. He had to make this massive anchor in order to help us up. That wall pretty much stopped the rest of the people from continuing.

The canyon just gets more beautiful as you go up. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera when I made the climb up so I didn't get any more pictures. Christian got some when he went back up though. The canyon continued on a little more before coming to another wall. It also had some awesome side canyons that were just stunning as well. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to get our gear up and continue on this trip so we had to call it a day.

We had plans to watch the sun set on the Mesquite Flats sand dunes and needed to head out. I think that we will have to devote more time to Mosaic Canyon the next time we come. When we finally got to the dunes, Christian and I wished that we just stayed at the canyon because the dunes were just crawling with people. It was like watching ants on an anthill. The girls loved it though. They love playing on the sand dunes.

Our camping spot was kind of central to all the places we were visiting so we stayed there again. It is a comfortable spot away from any people. We just had to get up early and pack up before other people started moving about as there was no cover to shelter us from the view of others once the sun came up.

Early on Day 5, we headed into Golden Canyon. This is another one of the areas that neither Christian nor I have had the chance to explore yet. Incidentally, it is also the place where some of the original Star Wars Episode IV was filmed along with Mesquite Flats Sand Dunes which we visited yesterday evening. The kids got a kick out of that.

At the end of Golden Canyon sits the Red Cathedral which is pretty breath taking.

From there, we continued on to Zabriskie's Point which we found really crowded as well. We hiked in from Golden Canyon but you can just drive there which is what most people did.

We took some pictures and quickly took our leave as the place was just packed with loud tourists.

From there, we headed through the 20 mule team canyon. It is also a one way route that you drive through. It was crowded and unimpressive. We had the same problems running into people that just stopped in the middle of the road oblivious to those around them (and in back of them). We did not stop to take pictures and proceeded right back out and on our way to Dante's View.

There were lots of people there as well but we found some places to ourselves and decided to watch the sunset. The the cockroaches started to climb over us to see the sunset as well, we figured it was time to take our leave.

We went back to the ranger station to wash up, fill up on water and have our dinner. We called Christian's brother that evening to see if they were in Lone Pine where they had planned to spend the night. Apparently, they had not left but were planning to leave early in the morning to meet us in the afternoon. We then went back to our campsite which was feeling a lot more like home now that we've spent so many nights there.

Day 6 was another traveling day. We planned to head out of the main part of Death Valley and into Eureka to meet up with Christian's family. We stopped by to show the girls Scotty's Castle. Luckily, it was still early. It was not open yet and so there were only a few people milling about.

It is a tourist trap, but a really beautiful one. The place and workmanship is just stunning. By the time we headed out, all the people started pouring in so we got out in the nick of time.

We got into Eureka Valley just after noon. We set up camp and had our lunch and waited for Christian's dad and brother. We figured that they might not be able to see our car from the main road so Christian went out to the main road to wait for them. We sat around and waited for hours but no one showed up. We sent the girls to play on the sand dunes and kept in contact with them through walkie talkies. They would call every now and then to see if Grandpa had arrived yet. They were so excited that they were coming out to meet us.

We met up with the girls again and we were starting to get really worried about what might possibly be detaining them. After grabbing a snack, Christian and I took one last walk out to the main parking lot to see if we could find them, to no avail. We returned to make dinner. Every time we saw a car drive into the valley, the kids or Christian would run out to the road to see what kind of vehicle it was. It was never them. The temperature dropped really quickly with the sun and we had to retreat into the tent. It was super cold there. Luckily, we brought a heater. We had not yet had any use for it but boy did we need it here. We were afraid that it would singe our tent or our expensive sleeping bags but it was so cold, we left the heater on all night...well, until it ran out of fuel. We do not have a four season tent that fits all four of us, so the tent has vents that the heat just rises out of and we are not able to keep in nice and warm like our four season tent. You knew when the gas ran out because it got pretty cold fast. We estimate that the temperature got down to at least 24˚F. 

It was still pretty cold when we got up in the morning. As Christian's brother and father never arrived, we figured that we would climb to the top of the sand dune. It is the highest dune field in North America. The last time we came, we could not keep up with the girls and never made it to the top. I still couldn't keep up with the girls but Christian easily passed them up. We all made it to the top in short time. Christian couldn't enjoy himself though because he kept going back and forth between being pissed off that we wasted half our day waiting for his family to come and being worried that something might have happened to them. 

Christian headed back down and I stayed a while at the top to watch the girls play. They kept sliding down and climbing back up. I don't know where they keep all their energy. They finally came back up to have a snack. We decided that we better head back down to Christian to see what the plan was. 

The girls were disappointed that they didn't see any fighter jets. They had yesterday off because of the New Year's holiday but we figured that they would be out and about today. Just as we were about to head down, a couple of F-16s streaked by.

They were fully armed with missiles! We waited around a bit for them to whip back around but it seemed like they were on their way somewhere as they were not as playful as they normally are. They did not come back so we proceeded back down. Every time we heard an airplane, we stopped to pull out our cameras but they were just commercial airplanes flying by.

When we made it back down, Christian was packing up to go. We decided that if Christian's family was not coming, we would just start heading home as none of us wanted to spend another freezing cold night out there in the dunes. We had been out for 7 days and were ready to be home in our own beds.

As we were driving out of the valley, three more fighters came up over the mountain range and over our vehicle. The last airplane was just a stone's throw above us. We were so excited to get a last farewell from the fighter jets. Incidentally, they were all also fully armed with missiles. 

We ran into a bunch of snow through one of the mountain passes and stopped so that the girls could play.

The snow would not stick together enough to make snow men or anything but the kids and some fun throwing snow balls.

We got into Lone Pine in time for a late lunch. After lunch, we headed into Alabama Hills to have some last minute fun before heading home. We went back to climb on the Lost Eye to the Moon which we started climbing back in October.

This time, Christian and I managed to make it to the top of "Eye for an Eye", a short two pitch climb that we started last time but was not quite ready to finish. 

It was gratifying to see how we have progressed since the last time we were here. Caitlyn was able to climb "Fiddlin Buckeroo" without a rope. Emily climbed the "Riders of the Purple Sage" that Christian and I climbed last time as the last of the daylight faded away. We stayed until the sun went down. Caitlyn climbed "Rootin' Tootin' Rhythm" in the dark! I think that somewhere between the climbing gym and now, Caitlyn has finally started to get over her fear of climbing. We have been amazed at how well she did in the canyons, as well as here in Alabama Hills.

The girls had made a little friend while Christian and I were climbing. She is between Emily and Caitlyn's age and was there climbing with her family. Emily was excited to meet another little girl with common interests.

They were there for a long time but left some time after it got dark. We stayed and had our dinner before hitting the road. We got back late but was never happier to come home and be able to take a shower and get into our nice warm, soft beds.

Death Valley - Part 1

After all the Christmas festivities came to an end, we packed up for our family trip to Death Valley. It involved a lot of shopping, cooking and packing. We were planning to be away 8 days...the longest trip   that we've ever attempted. It is difficult to decide how much of everything we need. We were not expecting to have access to gas and water during half of our trip so we had to have extra of both. You wouldn't believe how much stuff four people need for a week. We ended up having to really limit how much we brought with us because there just wasn't even enough room in the truck.

Day one was just a traveling day. We got up early and hit the road. We planned to enter Death Valley from the south and head up as we went along. When we were almost there, we started to get a big cramped after sitting in the car so long and got out to stretch and explore.

We stopped by the ruins of an old mill.

We called it a day and camped just south of Death Valley. We had enough time and daylight to set up camp, have dinner, take pictures of the sunset and go for a walk before bed.

Day 2: We got up with the sun and headed into Death Valley. Our first destination was Badwater. The lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level.

We wanted to be there for the sunrise to take a video of the sun racing across the salt flats. It was a bit anti-climatic. The sun took a long time to get over the mountains. The salt crust was really muddy. The last time Christian and I came here, it looked almost like snow. The kids had seen pictures and were a bit disappointed at what it was actually like this time. It was also noisy and crowded so we headed out to our next destination.

We climbed around and hiked through some of the canyons. The kids loved exploring and finding all the different colored rocks.

We spent some time looking for a new campsite. We drove up a 4x4 trail through another canyon and and hiked around a bit while we were there. It was a little too crowded for our taste and ended up going back down and camping near the Devil's golf course. It was a really sweet spot but the wind really kicked up that night. We thought that the gale force winds would rip our tent to shreds. Our rain fly almost got away from us. Christian had to go back out in the middle of the night and re-stake and secure our tent again. We didn't get a whole lot of sleep. It was pretty miserable. I think we might have went home after that if we did not have plans to meet up with Christian's brother and Dad at the end of the week. As it was, we did not have a choice but to continue on our trip.

Day 3: We decided to drive through Titus Canyon. Christian and I have never been there as it is a 4x4 trail. It is a one way road but we had to dip into Nevada and catch the entrance to the canyon on the eastside. We decided that we might as well gas up while we were out there and ended up at the Rhyolite Ghost Town. 

The kids liked exploring and reading about the old town.

We also ended up splurging on some homemade ice cream and fresh beef jerky when we went to get gas. Gas is a lot cheaper in Nevada but we got reamed on the beef jerky! It was good, but pretty pricey for what we ended up with.

Titus Canyon was pretty neat but pretty crowded. Christian got a GoPro from his mom for Christmas so we attached it to the windshield of our car and tried to get a stop motion video of the drive. It was pretty neat but cars kept getting in our way. They would just stop in the middle of the road to take pictures or whatever. They wouldn't pull over so that you can get by. It's a really neat drive but I think we want to try it again some time when it isn't so crowded...maybe when it's a lot warmer out there!

We stopped about three quarters of the way through and pulled off because Christian found a climbing route he wanted to try. He even found some old pitons on there so obviously, someone else had the same idea at some point. The rock was cruddy and as sharp as glass though. Christian got up but none of the rest of us wanted to try it.

We ended up going to the ranger station to clean up a bit and have our dinner at one of the picnic tables. We stayed for a seminar they had that night. It was pretty good and we got a weather report for the night so we decided to risk it and head back to the same campsite we had last night and risk another night out there. It was a lot more pleasant as the wind did not kick back up. We had found out that another family of campers did have their tent break from the wind that previous night. They were in the campground and was at the ranger station trying to get a refund for the balance of their stay as they had no tent left and wanted to go home. The rangers would not give them a refund...another reason not to stay at a campground.

Christmas

Marian joined us for our annual Christmas Eve feast. She provided the roast beast. We started pretty late though so dinner was pretty late. Christian wasn't feeling very well so we were not even sure that he would be able to eat.

Marian usually brings crafts for the girls and plays games with them while we cook, which is nice so that we aren't tripping over the kids in their excitement. After dinner, we sent the kids to bed and finished wrapping a few presents.

Everyone was up bright and early Christmas morning. The kids were pretty excited considering we didn't get them very many gifts this year but Marian probably more than made up for that. She got them a bunch of cute clothes, trinkets and treats.

There was some more climbing stuff thrown in there somewhere ; )

We had our annual Belgian waffle breakfast and went our separate ways. Marian went home and we started to cook and prepare for the Christmas dinner and my brother's house. It was just our family, my brother's family and my sister's family this year. Our parents didn't make it over. It was kind of weird without them.

My mom did end up showing up some time after dinner though. We had not done the presents yet or dessert so she joined us for that. She crocheted a bunch of stuff for all the little kids. They were really cute. The girls will be able to use them on our trip to Death Valley this year.

Caldwell Christmas

With Christian's side of the family, we decided to do away with a lot of the stress and costs of getting everyone gifts. We decided that instead of gifts, we would go and do something together as a family...something that the kids would enjoy and have memories of. Last year, we took them all ice skating.

This year, we took them to the climbing gym. Although, our family has been climbing every chance we got, we have never actually tried a climbing gym. We thought about it briefly, but the thought of those crowded, stinky make believe plastic nobs in ugly warehouses made us think twice. I mean, afterall, what real rock is like that? It's just not realistic.

But as our nephews and niece was interested and there is not any way to take them otherwise because of equipment issues and stuff, it seemed a good place as any.

It was actually pretty fun. The place we went to was really big and clean and we had the place practically to ourselves half the day! The kids enjoyed themselves a lot and even a few of us adults. It's still not a place I would want to spend all my time, but we finally get an idea of what it is good for...namely, for a gym (I know, duh)! It is really great exercise. It works all those muscles that you need for climbing but don't normally use. So many people these days use it for the end in itself and you forget what it was probably created for. That's okay, they can stay in the gym. The outdoors is crowded enough already.

Everybody took to climbing pretty well...except for Caitlyn, of course. She is still hesitant to embrace it.  She only climbed around a little and left it to everyone else. We tried not to bother her too much as she seemed to find her own fun in it. We only required her to try one or two of the climbs just so that she has tried it.

We usually only have enough time to hang out and have dinner with their cousins, so they love to be able to do other things with their cousins. They all get along pretty well for the most part...at least with the cousins that are around their age. 

When we were pretty tuckered out, we called it a day and returned to their house to spend more time together. Aunt Erin always prepares stuff for the kids to put together gingerbread houses.

I think that as all the kids get older, the patience to make nice gingerbread houses seem to diminish. Only half of the kids managed to actually complete their projects this year.

At some point, dinner is put together and a few gifts are passed out as Grandpa doesn't usually join in the activities in the day. Then the kids are loaded back into the car and we head out as the kids pass out from their full day of activities. The kids didn't actually get that much sleep the night before either as we came out early so that the girls can sleepover with their cousins....they were all really excited so not a lot of sleep was to be had.

Joshua Tree in December

I haven't really gotten into the spirit of the holidays this year. We have not put up the tree (which we usually do the weekend right after Thanksgiving). Consequently, we did not take the girls' annual Christmas picture in front of the tree. As a result, we did not have a picture for our Christmas cards. I just barely started Christmas shopping this past week. I'm usually done before Thanksgiving. One year, I finished before Halloween!

We did manage to put up our Christmas lights outside of our house. That's about all we managed to do.

We've been going to Joshua Tree at least once every month since we got our passes and I think Christian wants to keep it that way! It is getting super cold though. If you are climbing in the shadow, even in the middle of the day, it feels like you are standing in a walk in freezer.

Emily got a chance to finish climbing  "The Eye." Caitlyn even climbed almost halfway up. It is a really fun climb. The only problem was that while we were climbing the eye, a group of people came and took the rappelling station we wanted to go on next and monopolized it for the rest of the day. We tried a few other things and ended up smearing up "The Wall" to catch the sunset. It was really beautiful.

The day after we got back, we figured that we really need to do something. We got the tree up as the kids were sorting and organizing all our climbing equipment. We strung the lights and let the kids decide on how they wanted to decorate the tree this year. They chose to make a climbing tree. The tree is decorated with runners, quick draws, stoppers, tricams, camalots, and carabiners. Caitlyn decided to top the tree with her Bakewell climbing glove.

As a last ditch effort, I sent in our Joshua Tree picture in to Costco to have the pictures printed. They came back super dark and unusable. So much for that. I don't think I am getting a Christmas card out this year. 

A Birthday Party

This past weekend, Christian and I attended our friend Brett's 50th birthday party. It was a 1920's murder-mystery surprise dinner party at a victorian home.

We've never did anything like this before. It was an interesting experience. All I know is that I am not good at these impromptu acting situations! I didn't do too well. In the end, I didn't even remember to have a picture taken with Christian in my costume!

We were all supposed to bring a small token of something that reminds us of Brett. That was worth all the pains of the night.

The party was the same night of our Ward Christmas party. A couple of friends from church watched the girls and took them to the Christmas dinner. Because we were not there, Caitlyn didn't even go see Santa. I guess Emily still went which surprises me since her sister wouldn't go. I guess Caitlyn won't be getting presents from Santa this year...