Tomato Worm and the Last Camping Trip of the Summer

On Friday, we were leaving for our last camping trip of the summer. We were going to Red Fir Group Campground in the El Dorado National Forest, to camp with Mike (Chris's friend) and his family. Before we left, I decided to pick some cherry tomoatoes to take with us. I stuck my hand out to pick some tomatoes, and right in front of me was a pesky tomato worm! He was HUGE, so obviously, he had been feasting on the tomatoes for quite a while! As you can see from the half eaten cherry tomato in his hands! Well, since I love taking pictures of the garden, I ran into the house to get my camera (which was already packed and ready to go) I aimed my camera at the worm to take it's picture and my camera said "No Memory Card"! As much as I hate to admit it, I have to be thankful I found that worm, or else, I would have not had the memory card in the camera when we got to the campground! Olivia was very impressed with the worm, she kept saying "the worm is eating the tomatoes, silly worm!"

Once we got to the campground and got the trailer set up, Rebecca and Chris played a game that Mike had brought up called Ladder Ball. It's PVC pipes, that you have to throw golf balls that are connected to ropes to and if the balls wrap around the pipe on one of three levels, you score points.

Isabella sat in the trailer, while I was making dinner, and played on one of the beds with her toys.
The three girls at the table eating their hot dogs. Always a favorite dinner when we are camping.
Rebecca loved laying in the hammock, and Olivia thought it was fun to push Rebecca. Rebecca thought it was great that Olivia would push her!
Chris and Isabella walking the loop.
The girls coloring.
Olivia looking at the helicopter! She has never been so close to a real helicopter before!
Chris with Isabella on his back.
Isabella napping in the backpack.



Ok, so we were told that we were going to go "on a little hike, down a trail to a stream of water...." The picture below shows you the "little hiking trail.." It was pure granite slabs! Above is my battle wound from walking down the sheer granite slabs! The kids were all troopers! I think I was the biggest whiner....bad childhood memories of camping and hiking....Vikingsholm!

Olivia digging in the dirt, getting dirty, and having a BLAST!

Chris, the girls, and Kali in Mike's Land Cruiser, ready to go to the lake.

Loon Lake

Chrissy (Mike's sister) brought glow necklaces for the girls to play with, which the girls thought were really cool. Rebecca kept hoping all day that it would get dark, so they could put on the glow necklaces!
On the last day, Rebecca and Olivia skipping to the trailer.
Isabella and Rebecca on a log behind our trailer, Olivia was too scared to sit on the giant log!

We had a fun time camping. Our girls love the outdoors and getting dirty! Olivia and Rebecca were not ready to come home, they wanted to stay at least one more day! We look forward to camping more next year, although, this year we did get in 3 camping trips!

Sisterly Love

Rebecca made this drawing yesterday. It is of her and Olivia walking home from school. This whole week, Rebecca and Olivia have been walking home hand and hand. Talking about acorns, and planting "acorn trees". They have decided that they will plant "acorn trees" so that we can take pictures of the squirrels that are going to climb their "acorn trees". Although, Rebecca doesn't know if you plant an acorn, if it needs it's "hat" on or off...so she and Olivia are going to plant one acorn with it's "hat" and the other without a "hat", then they can see which acorn grows into a tree, and they will know for next time they plant acorns! Rebecca is so smart!

On Monday, Rebecca gave Olivia a manicure and a pedicure! Olivia sat very still for her fingernails, and stood very still for toenails to get painted a great shade of purple!

The next day after dinner, all three girls jumped on the trampoline.
Then cooled off in the sprinkler!
This morning, Isabella and Olivia were working at the table with their art stuff....Olivia likes to cut paper. She would cut paper all day if I would let her! The first thing she wants to do after we get back from taking Rebecca to school, is cut paper with her scissors! I was beginning to pack up for camping and the girls were at the table working so well together on their art projects. Then Olivia had to go to the bathroom......when I came in to check on her, she was just about to put a whole roll of toilet paper in the potty! Fortunately, I was able to rescue the toilet paper before it overflowed the toilet. Isabella, an innocent bystander, was ready for her nap, and was holding her blanket. I picked Isabella up, and noticed that her blanket was wet. When I asked Olivia if she knew why the blanket was wet, she said "I put it in the potty!" Oh, great! Now I had to wash the blanket! When Isabella saw me put the blanket in the washing machine, she started SCREAMING! She screamed non-stop for the 45 minutes it took to wash and dry her blanket!
Isabella was so mad, that she climbed into the rocking chair, buried her face in the cushion and screamed! Then sat in the chair and screamed!
As a last resort, I gave her fruit snacks and she stopped screaming, although she still had tears coming out of her eyes.....3 bags of fruit snacks later, blanket was all clean and warm from the dryer, Isabella was ready for a nap...and the house is quiet! I guess a mom's gotta do, what a mom's gotta do!

Isabella

Isabella gets her own post today, because she deserves it! She is almost 16 months now! She has grown so much in the last month! She loves to play with her kitchen and walk around talking on her phone! She is very observant, and watches everyone and everything with intense eyes, taking in all the sights and sounds, before she tries anything! She loves her sisters, and she even says, "Sisters" when she wants them. Sometimes she even walks around the house saying "Bellie" which is what we call her. She loves when Daddy comes home, and as soon as he walks through the door after work, she follows him all around the house saying "Daddy" until he picks her up! She loves the cats, and chases them around the house, too! She thinks she's a "big girl" and climbs up on the chair to see what her sisters are up to, when they are at the table. She doesn't let her sisters push her around! If she doesn't want something she's not afraid to yell, "NO!" (Her new favorite word right now!) She likes to stand on the chair at the table with Rebecca's Barbie computer and push the On/Off key to hear the music play....over and over!

We love watching her grow more and more each day! And I love to see her smile :) Rebecca says that she wishes Bellie could stay a baby forever!

Busy Weekend

The three day Labor Day weekend is coming to an end, and we managed to stay BUSY!

This morning, Rebecca and Olivia put on their fireman hats and were pretending that they were taking a tour of Disneyland. Then they pretended that the hats were their "hardhats" and they were working at Disneyland! Such imaginations! Guess they are getting ready for our Disneyland trip next month!!!

Friday, I went to Scrapbooking Night at Kathy's house, and I was SOO ready to stay up the whole night scrapbooking.....I was so tired, though, I only lasted until midnight! I had a blast scrapping and visiting with Mandy, Aleanea, my mom, Kathy, and Rosemary. The conversations are always fun! And the food was really good! We also did our late-night Starbucks run! I couldn't ask for better friends to spend a Friday night with:)

Saturday, I was intending on staying home. I went to a yard sale by Mandy's house, and saw her there. We ended up having an adventurous day! Yard saling, grocery shopping.....lots of fun!
On Sunday, Chris the kids and I, met up with two of our friends and their families at Goldrush Days in Old Sacramento. The kids had a blast! (Thanks, Aleanea and Mandy for inviting us!)
Chris and Obee took the kids to wach a Wild West Show, while the rest of us went to scope out the "lay of the land" and see what there was for the kids to do. (Wild West photos are courtesy of Chris.)
The kids watchin the shootout during the show.

The kids had to pan for gold and fill the bottom of their cup up with gold. Once they had enough gold, then they would take it to the bank, have it weighed and get a certificate to do 6 activies. Once they had done their 6 activities, they would find the Justice of the Peace, and get gold coins!
Olivia finding her gold!
Rebecca and Olivia with their gold filled cups.
The bank weighing the gold.

Rebecca signing her name, so that she can get her certificate.
Olivia writing her name.


Olivia waiting patiently in line to bowl. There was a neat wooden bowling lane that the kids could bowl at.


Rebecca bowling...and she knocked down all 3 pins!
Olivia bowling (throwing the ball in the air, she learned her bowling technique from Gigam Mary!) Olivia almost knocked down all 3 pins!
The girls with their gold coins at the end!
There were beautiful horses and buggies all throughout old town! The streets were covered with dirt, lots of people dressed up in character. We finsished our day with lunch (what an adventure!!!) Then we went to Moochie and had DELICIOUS frozen yogart...well Chris and I did, the girls were fast asleep!

When we got home, Chris and Rebecca left and went to a River Cats game! It was Kids Day, so Rebecca got her face painted with a butterfly, got a balloon animal, ate a hot dog, ice cream, cotten candy, got to do the bounce house, AND at the end of the game, got to run around all the bases!!

Today, we stayed home!