Mother Bliss

Mtn. High

2012-01-10T13:00:00.000-08:00

Part of the kids' x-mas present was a ski trip to Mtn High. Since they are old enough, we thought we can spend money on family getaways instead of supporting the crazy consumerism that x-mas has turned in to. It's an attempt to teach them that "things" do not create happiness, and that there are more important things in life. Being their first time out of the slopes, Sage and Abby took snowboard lessons. Emi decided she could just wing it, and skiied with me. I think this was a good experience, and they really had fun. At the end of the day, they said they'd like to do this again next year and one of them even said, "we don't need presents!" Small victory for Mommy. ^_^

X-mas 2011

2012-01-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

Emi's 14th

2011-12-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

Emi turned 14 this year and entered high school. The kids are growing up too fast. Luckily for Emi, although her b-day landed on a Saturday (her school has classes on Saturday) it got cancelled since it was the beginning of the Thanksgiving Break. So she got to sleep in a little bit and enjoyed her b-day french toast and omlet breakfast before we headed down to the desert.

She had talked about wanting her ears pierced but wanted to do it on a "special" day so her piercings would have meaning. So she thought her 14th b-day would be a good day.

For her b-day dessert this year she chose some Rainbow Sherbet.

I'm 14! (I don't have enough fingers so help me Abby!)

Girl Scout Day at the Living Desert

2011-12-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

Abby joined the Girl Scouts this year. Their first "big" Scout Day outing was to the Living Desert in Palm Desert. It was one of those places that is somewhat close by but we haven't been so it was nice. She had a fun time with her friend Lexi.

Sage's 12th & Halloween 2011

2011-11-13T21:23:00.000-08:00

Persistence paid off for Sage this year. He wanted a sleepover for his birthday, but the last time he had one, the boys were VERY loud and so we had said no. He bugged us and bugged us, even made a list on WHY he should be allowed to have one. So we gave in. And they weren't as bad this time around so I guess it worked out.

Halloween... Sage was a burglar and Abby was a mime. Emi was still at school and was going to meet us there.

Sage and Ben (gangster).

Abby and Sidney (PB&J sandwich).

Emi & friends. She's supposed to be Snow White.

Alex the Skunk.

Abby's pumpkin, it's an owl.

Emi's pumpkin, there was a pumpkin carving at school so she did hers there.

Sage's pumpkin... I don't think he felt like carving this year.

B-day ride. He wanted to go somewhere he's never ridden so we did the Sunset/Sunrise trail loop in May Valley.

I am 12!

We got him a Mario game and some beef jerkey. Abby got him a lottery ticket. And then had some rootbeer float to top of the night of candies.

Big Horse Corn Maze

2011-11-01T14:24:00.000-07:00

One day as we drove through Temecula, we drive by this giant corn maze. Abby's like, I wanna go! I guess she really wanted to go because she kept bringing it up, over and OVER for the next couple weeks. And so we went. It was also Sage's b-day weekend, so we tied it all in. Turns out this corn maze is Southern California's largest authentic corn maze. Emi had school plus a Halloween party, David was participating in the San Jac Enduro, so it was just the three of us.

Abby, looks like you're sitting on a pig...

"Corn Box". At first when we saw this on the list of activities, we wondered, what in the world is a corn box? Literally, a box full of corn. Some kept making its way into Abby's ears so she had to keep them covered.

Jumpers. They sure like jumpers.

Corn Maze. I think this would of been cool at night.

Corn Cannon. This thing was pretty neat. It'd be cool to have a Pine Cone Cannon and shoot it off our deck.

Pumpkin Bowling.

Not sure what this thing's called. Some sort of let's-dig-some-sand thingy magingy.

Big inflatable slide.

Rubber Duck Race. And we got to keep the duck. ^_^

Casey

2011-09-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

This past season of American Idol was really exciting to watch since local Casey Abrams was in the competition. The town was really supportive and it was really neat to see someone from our small town on TV. Last weekend there was a celebration for the return of Casey to him hometown, and we were pretty lucky we got to meet him. I think the kids were stoked. ^_^

1st Day of School 2011, Pt. 2

2011-09-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Emi's turn. Her first year of high school at her new school. We are fortunate she got accepted to Idyllwild Arts Academy with a scholarship. She is going to grow so much here, it is going to be an interesting journey.

1st Day of School 2011, Pt. 1

2011-08-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

The usual picture we take in front of the school on the first day of school is no longer the three of them. This year, it's just Sage and Abby, as Emi is moving on to high school. Sage is a 7th grader already, and Abby's in 5th grade, her last elementary year. How time flies. *sniff, sniff*

Roscoe

2011-08-12T23:13:00.000-07:00

All of a sudden we now own two dogs. Roscoe, a 6-month old Shepard mix puppy, has made his presence into our family. Being a puppy, he is a lot of work, but he is just the funniest dog, he cracks us up a lot. He's funny looking but cute at the same time, and just full of energy and personality. The kids have been really enjoying him, especially Abby. Probably because they are very alike. ^_^

Are we really celebrating our dog's birthday??? Yes we are!

2011-07-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

Marmu celebrated her first birthday with us, she turned seven. Abby made her a birthday hat and the girls made some doggie cupcakes. They were so excited.

We all sang for her too (and videotaped the moment). ^_^

Abby made a little banner for her too, isn't it cute?

Marmu's b-day presents... a bonzo bone and some treats from Petco.

Birthday Hike 2011

2011-07-05T19:22:00.000-07:00

I think this is the third straight year that I've embarked on this hike from Idyllwild to Palm Springs on my birthday. Although Abby really doesn't like hiking a whole lot, she joined me on my birthday hike. I think that says a lot about her character.

Oooh, pine cone! Abby says. So funny because we live where there are pine cones EVERYWHERE.

Overlooking Suicide Rock.

The ferns had all leafed out, the greenery was really pretty.

Break time.

Willow Creek. We had several water crossings which really helped us deal with the heat. Wet bandanas feel really good.

Lunch.

Hidden Lake. A good sign that we're almost there.

Riding down the Palm Springs Tramway. A nice little reward after a 8.1-mile hike.

Abby's 10th Birthday

2011-06-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

My baby is now in her double digits. How time has flown. This little girl has so much character, she cracks me up daily. We started the day early, waking at 4am to drive Daddy to work. After dropping him off around 6am we headed over to Denny's to claim her free b-day meal only to find out we were supposed to print something from the website so we struck out there. Abby ordered herself some cinnamony fried pancake balls.

Licking the syrup like cats. Being in public didn't stop them from acting goofy and laughing their heads off. ^_^

Abby's choice of birthday gifts usually aren't typical for someone her age. This year she wanted some Tevas and a Snowball plant. Home Depot didn't carry the snowball plant so she chose this beautiful hanging plant instead.

We had some time to kill before meeting up with Jiji and Baba so we checked out the Oceanside Pier, the longest wooden pier on the West Coast. The girls and I each had a camera and were taking a bunch of pictures, we must of had TOURIST written all over us.

A little souvenier from the pier gift shop... a heart shaped stone.

This year she wanted to go strawberry picking for her special day. I think the last time was when she was really little but she had seen pictures and wanted to do it again. So we headed over to Carlsbad's Strawberry Fields.

Carlsbad's only 30 minutes from where my folks live so they came out and joined us.

Grandparents always mean we get to eat out so we went to Coyote in Carlsbad. They had really good Chipotle salsa.

They got her a Pillow Pet. I know they are a gimmick item but they sure are cute. She named it "Mitsu" after her uncle.

Headed over to the beach after lunch. We caught some sand crabs, Sage dug a huge hole in the sand, and Emi just slept.

Met up with Daddy after he got off work at the Saigon Noodle House. Her b-day dinner request was the crunchy noodles topped with stir-fry, spring rolls and some Thai Tea.

She also wanted a can of whipped cream so she can do this whenever she wants. The can did not last long.

B-day cake... angel food cake with fresh picked strawberries and whipped cream.

Hope you had a good birthday!

The Many Faces of Abby

2011-05-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

Abby is such a crack up, it was more entertaining to watch her face than to play Jenga. ^_^

Sage's First Bike Race

2011-05-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

My boy is growing up. Sage raced his first mountain bike race at the Idyllwild Spring Challenge this year. He raced in the junior mens 11-12 category, a 7-mile course. Despite being sick the weeks prior to the race and not training much, he did really well, finishing in 1:09 hrs and coming in at 6th place.

He even got his race pic in the local paper. ^_^

Raisin Tree

2011-05-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

The other day Sage was reading the box from my Raisin Bran when he read somewhere that their raisins are made from the best grapes. What??? Raisins are made out of grapes??? Yeah, what did you think they came from? A raisin tree. (chuckle from the rest of us) You're kidding, you really didn't know? No, they never taught that at school. Well, that's because everyone already knows that. I didn't. Yeah, obviously. But it was cute. Moral of the story... common sense is not so common.

Abby's 1st Clarinet Recital

2011-05-05T20:53:00.000-07:00

After three years of piano, Abby wanted to try a different instrument so she tried the clarinet this year. She already had an edge over the other kids cuz she already knew how to sight read. She initially wanted to try the sax but was told her hands are too small. Maybe next year.

Children's Day 2011

2011-05-05T20:43:00.000-07:00

Life's been so busy I've been forgetting to celebrate certain days. This year I totally forgot about Girls Day (March 3rd) till the day and so it turned out to be just a regular day. And I almost forgot about Children's Day (May 5). It was too late to pull out the decorations, I had forgotten to ask Sage what he'd like for dinner, and we had a orchestral recital later that day for the girls. It was starting to look like nothing special was going to be done. Emi says I been forgetting to do anything the last several years, which I proved her wrong by pulling up an old blog post from two years ago (^_^) but I had forgotten to do anything last year. So today, after I picked them up from school I took them to the Candy Cupboard for a little treat. Emi and Abby chose frozen chocolate covered bananas, Sage got a snow cone. Even took a picture, for the record.

Emi's 1st Shirt

2011-04-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

Emi designs and screenprints her first t-shirt. A quote by Keltie Colleen:
"We Hurt
We Heal
And we prove to
ourselves that
we can survive."

Pancake Love

2011-03-14T22:14:00.000-07:00

My 11-yr-old son made these for his sister, Emi.

Abby's 1st Quilt

2011-03-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

Socks Transformed

2011-02-24T22:14:00.000-08:00

Abby and I tooks some $1 socks and made some Softies. Not bad for the first trial run. Cute blog post where I got the idea can be found at The Inadvertant Farmer.

Emi's Art Show

2011-02-05T20:58:00.000-08:00

Emi took Art as her elective last semester and her class had an art show. It was a great way to exhibit their art. Most kids wrote about their inspiration on their pieces. Emi chose to add quotes instead, which I thought was pretty clever.

The artist and her art.

"In solitude, at least we are alone." ~Lord Byron

"The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." ~Marcus Aurelius

(She colored in the pomegranate with actual pomegranate juice.)

"Just keep swimming..." ~Dory (Finding Nemo)

"The beginning and the end reach out their hands to each other." ~Chinese Proverb

"For whatever we lose (like you and me) it's always ourselves we find at the sea." ~E.E.Cummings

"There are a hundred languages in the world but a smile speaks them all." ~Anonymous

"The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand." ~Frederic Lawrence
Emi and her three close friends all drew eyes and made a collaboration piece. "Will you be mine?"

Other pieces from the exhibit of her friends...

Blueberry Muffins by Abby

2011-01-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

Hammi

2011-01-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

A rare moment of her being still enough for a picture, she froze for a moment when the dog entered the room...

Cedar Creek Falls

2011-01-26T09:28:00.000-08:00

Visiting an old trail David and I hiked back when we were dating. Cedar Creek Falls about two miles west of Julian, CA. The last time we were there there wasn't much water flowing but with the recent storms I read the waterfall would be nice.

About eight miles of dirt road driving leads to a dead end. So many cars here with similar intentions. Next time will have to be a mid-week visit for sure. Luckily most of these people were already down the trail so the trail was pretty empty.

We see a waterfall to the right but it turned out that wasn't the one we were going to.

Abby with so much energy heading down the trail she pooped out on the way up. Shoulda put that coke in my pack...

Nice trail and nice views.

And there it is! Having noticing the walk down means walking back up, we opted for the top view instead.

Sage really wanted to touch the water so David joins him for the extra trek down.

I know Marmu... you want to go too...

The poppies were already blooming.

Sage, the plant, not my son... ^_^

About five miles round-trip, and a little over two hours hiking.

Hemet Maze Stone

2011-01-19T20:42:00.000-08:00

I was flippin' through a book called "Weird California (Your travel guide to California's local legends and best kept secrets)" when I saw the Maze Stone, which is located so close to us in Hemet, CA. The book describes this place as:

"A big, striking petroglyph of unknown origin graces a small mountain area called Maze Stone County Park in Hemet, Riverside County. Inscribed on a large boulder, the three-foot-square figure is a maze formed by four interlocking swastikas. The design is almost unknown among Indian petroglyphs, and archaeologists attribute it to the so-called Maze Culture, which left only one similar design, miles to the south in San Diego County. Other people have other explanations. Maze Stone has been labeled everything from a 15,000-year-old remnant of the Cascadians, thought to be the ancestors of the Maya, to a religious symbol left by Chinese Buddhist monks at about AD 500. The latter theory is popular among historians seeking to prove that the Chinese beat Columbus to North America by at least a thousand years."

It is also a California Historical Landmark No. 557.

Driving west out of Hemet on Florida Ave., head north on California Ave. Drive about 3.2 miles till the road ends. Park here.

Walk past the gate and up the road about 5 minutes.

And to the right there it is. Surrounded by not one, but two chain-link fences. You can't miss it.

Some nice pretty flowers in the area.

It was too bad there were two fences, I could only get my hand through one fence which meant I couldn't get a clear picture. You can see the barbed wire on top. I assume there have been problems with idiots trying to de-face the stone.

It was a pretty cool finding something like this close to home. We got to drove through a part of Hemet we've never been though, nice part of Hemet I didn't know existed.

City Folks for Day

2011-01-19T20:16:00.000-08:00

We drove off our beautiful mountain to drive over to another mountain and paid to go tubing on fake snow amongst too many people waiting in line to get a slide in every fifteen minutes. That's crazy, if you ask me. But the kids had fun so that's all that matters. Our first and most likely our last visit to the North Pole Tubing Park at Mtn. High in Wrightwood. Next year we'll save up and go skiing/snowboarding instead.

Waiting our turn...

Magic Carpet, so we don't have to walk back up.

1st Ride of 2011

2011-01-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

My bike came out of the basement from its mini-hibernation for a little ride around the Hub. David put together a 6.4-mile loop: Lower Fence, Lower Tubs, Chimney Flats, Oz, and Lower Fence again.

Marmu resting a patch of snow while we stop to check out a sound on my bike.

Chimney Flats. First time on this trail, I really liked it. Nice views.

Rest area. Pretty views looking out toward Hemet.

Cute bike couple. ^_^

David had suggested now would be a good time to eat a snack. He knew what was next, even though I didn't. Lately my trail mix of choice has been peanuts, raisins, and gummy bears.

Propped the camera on top of a tripod I made with my camelbak, helmet, and snack container. Worked out better than expected.

End/beginning of Oz. Decision time again... trail or fire road?

Finished our loop in a little under 2 hrs. It was a good first ride of the year.

First Snow 2011

2011-01-13T06:37:00.000-08:00

Eye Candy

2011-01-09T13:59:00.000-08:00

Woke up early and out the door at 6am to take Emi and Abby to Quartzsite, AZ, to check out the annual Gem Show.

15 minutes into our drive through Garner Valley we see the sun starting to waking up.

Good morning, sun. A rare view of a sunrise for us, we hardly ever wake up this early. We enjoy sleeping. ^_^

At the lookout point overlooking Palm Desert. Our first time actually stopping here. The sun was just in the right place, we had to stop for a pic.

Entering Arizona.

A funny sign at the rest stop bathroom in AZ.

Quartzsite, AZ.

Yeay, we finally got to go here during a Gem Show. We were looking forward to finding some cool stuff.

Can't count how many times we said, "that's cool" and "that's pretty" !

Abby likes to collect agate slices. They are inexpensive and pretty, so it's a perfect fit.

Emi searching for a find at the dollar table.

There are some weird stuff here...

Calcite.

Lots and lots of pretty stuff.

Some nice Amethyst caves. Someday when I have $800 to spare...

Found a nice quiet spot on the outer edges of a RV park for a lunch break.

Enjoyed some sandwiches in the car before heading out for Round 2.

Inside one of the warehouses.

Selenite tower lamps. Maybe next time...

Ha ha, poop... Picked one up and touched Abby's arm with it. You touched poop Abby!

Since we live where there is an abundance of pine cones, this seemed ridiculous. And eight bucks??? That's crazy!

Chiriaco Summit is about the halfway point on our trip. There happened to be a Fosters Freeze there so we took an ice cream break. Turns out there was a General Patton Memorial Museum right across the street. The museum is a military history museum established in 1988 to honor General Patton and is located at the heart of the Desert Training Center from WWII.

We didn't go in but checked out the tanks from the outside.

It was a nice girls-day-out. I'm glad my girls enjoy the same things I do.

Sage's Big Snow Ball House

2011-01-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

Inside view.

Abby's turn.

Little Chef Abby

2011-01-04T19:34:00.000-08:00

Abby learns how to make miso soup.

Joshua Tree

2010-12-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

A little outing to Joshua Tree on x-mas eve.

X-mas 2010

2010-12-26T18:52:00.000-08:00

Patiently waiting for Emi to wake up so they can open their presents.

Abby made David some fudge. The first in our 13-yr history that homemade fudge was made at home.

Got Emi a shirt from Etsy. A cute zebra/piano shirt.

Abby got a Snuggie. She's been wanting one after seeing the commercial. The power of advertising...

Sage got a Wii Madden 11 game, no pic... he was already upstairs playing it. ^_^

Went out to the hub for a bike ride. Sage was the only one who wanted to join us.

Our first bike riding pic together. It was really hard trying to balance and hold the camera phone at the same time.

Later in the day we went hiking up Cedar Springs Trail in Garner Valley.

Always nice to see some water.

Family pic...sort of. Emi stayed home and slept and was still sleeping when we got back.

Happy Holidays! 2010

2010-12-24T22:45:00.000-08:00

Bliss on Bliss Ave.

2010-12-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

We were at the Tamale Festival in Indio when Emi gets all happy at this street sign (her middle name is Bliss). So I say we have to take a picture. Then she kicks herself for pointing it out to me. ^_^

Kayaking the Salton Sea

2010-12-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

Memories of the Salton Sea aren't very good. I remember dead fish and stinky air. But one day I read a friend's Facebook post saying she's going to kayak the Salton Sea. For real? I thought, but at the same time, sounds neat! So I got some info from her and off we went.

Kayak the Sea is a free program run by the visitor center. I think they are trying to get more people aware of the sea and help preserve it.

Helping get the kayaks ready.

Test "sitting" on the kayak, making sure it feels right.

Practicing in the harbor before heading out.

We couldn't of asked for better conditions. No winds, somewhat sunny with a lot of clouds that made the water looked very glassy, real surreal looking and trippy.

It was so peaceful, being surrounded by nature.

"Tag, you're it!" Sage and I shared a tandem kayak and played tag with Emi. We heard some giggles from the other kayakers.

They had so much fun, they want kayaks now. I hear other lakes offer similar programs so we'll be checking that out. ^_^

Salvation Mountain

2010-12-12T21:41:00.000-08:00

Since seeing the movie "Into the Wild," this place has been a place we wanted to visit one day. It was about a 2.5 hr drive from Idyllwild. Since we were already going to the Salton Sea, only 30 minutes away, we made a quick stop.

The "mountain" is in Niland, CA, seemed like in the middle of nowhere where I bet summers are really hot. The view from the top.
I don't remember but apparently these bluebirds were a well known part of the movie.

Mr. Knight was kind enough to give us a tour. He tells us the tree trunks are made out of tires.

He seemed happy to have visitors, and encouraged us to take lots of pictures. It was very nice meeting him and I'm glad we got the opportunity.

Inside his second "mountain", filled with tree branches.

Although this place was created with religious beliefs in mind, it is an amazing work of art.

The man is 79 yrs old and still going at it. He tells us he's trying to get Congress to recognize this place as a national treasure so it will be protected and be available for our future children to see, and how happy that would make him. After coming home, I read online that Salvation Mountain was placed under protection in 2002 when Barbara Boxer entered it into the Congressional Record as a national treasure. If anyone reading this blog post makes it out there someday, please let him know his wish has already been granted.

Idyllwild Tree Lighting Ceremony

2010-11-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

Seven winters since we've lived in Idyllwild, we went to our first tree lighting ceremony. We've always been in San Diego during this time but this year was a little different. We head out around 4pm, nice weather but a little chilly.

The Idyll-Beast came out for the celebration.

NBC weatherman Fritz Coleman was the MC this year.

Even Santa stopped by to say Hello. He arrived riding a fire engine.

The guys, all with their drinks to keep them warm.

Baby Alex, cute as usual.

Some christmas singing.

And finally, about two hours later, the tree is lighted. Happy holidays!

Sage's Summer Project

2010-11-17T21:01:00.000-08:00

During the summer each kid had a project to work on. Sage's was a model airplane. There were so many small pieces, but he managed to complete it. Looks pretty cool, doesn't it? (He did finish it before school started, I just didn't get around to taking a pic till now.) ^_^

The Silver Crack

2010-11-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

I went on a ride with Sage and his friend Micah and his mom, Misty. There's this new trail that was recently put together so we went to go check it out. It is called the Silver Crack, in reference to this huge rock with a crack in it.

It starts off with a pretty long climb. As the boys put it, "the worst part of the ride." ^_^

The loop itself was pretty nice, with a few areas where we had to get off and walk.

Misty brought her dog, Della, so Marmu got to run around with a friend.

Idyllwild Blaze is #1 !!!

2010-11-13T08:26:00.000-08:00

Congrats to the Idyllwild Blaze team (AYSO U14 division) for finishing their regular season in first place!

Student of the Week

2010-11-10T11:05:00.000-08:00

Abby makes the local newspaper as Student of the Week. Only in a small town would local kids make the paper every week. Pretty neat, I think. ^_^

Sage's 11th B-day & Halloween 2010

2010-11-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

So, Sage, how old are you now?

Pre-trick-or-treat birthday dinner. BBQed sausages, salmon, pineapples, and baked potatoes.

This year Emi was the Mad Hatter, Sage was Obama, and Abby was a little Japanese girl.

Abby with her best friend Anissa.

Sage & buddies.

Emi & friends.

Mooo! Baby Alex.

Sage and his friends volunteered at the carnival game booths. It was nice seeing him help out and get involved in a community activity.

B-day dessert...Homemade raspberry sorbet.
Happy 11th birthday Sage!

Sage's Birthday Bike Ride

2010-11-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

Went out to the hub and rode around some trails all of us together for Sage's birthday ride.

Finally got all of us together for a bike pic. ^_^

San Diego Zoo

2010-11-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

We took advantage of the October Kids Free month at the San Diego Zoo and had a family outing to celebrate Sage's birthday.

Arctic Fox...they would be adorable pets.

Isn't this a funky-looking-but-pretty bird?

Are they really this tall in real life??? How scary would that be to encounter one of these in the wild.

Meerkats are so cute I always have to take a picture. ^_^

We got to feed the giraffes a biscuit. That was really neat.

Galapagos turtles. They were HUGE.

The zoo was pretty big, we didn't get around to seeing all the animals and the kids started to get tired from all the walking. But it was neat to see different animals in person rather than on a TV screen or magazine.

Jr. Quilter

2010-11-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

Abby is in the Jr. Quilters afterschool program. She learned how to use the sewing machine and is working on her first quilt.

Mushroom Trip

2010-10-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

We had a good few days of rain so all this mushies were popping up on the Grotto trail today.

Mochi Time Again

2010-10-27T22:55:00.000-07:00

Mochi is one of those cold-weather foods. It's been getting real cold lately so it was time for our first mochi of the season. The kids like sitting around and watching it come along. The excitement dies after we make several batches but the first one is always fun.

Raccoon Hangout

2010-10-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

The other day my brother was over and he says there's something out there in the trees. I say, squirrels? No, something bigger. Coyotes? No, smaller. Maybe raccoons? So we go out there and turn on the lights. Whoa, a LOT of raccoons all hanging out! It was the first time ever that I had seen so many at once. It was a trip. ^_^

Softies

2010-10-14T23:11:00.000-07:00

...hand-sewn by Abby and her friend Katie. Aren't they cute? ^_^

Sage's Cute Scab

2010-10-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

Sock "Monkeys"

2010-10-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

A join effort by Emi and I to make some sock "monkeys" (more like "bears") for her social studies project on Rhode Island. They sure turned out funky lookin'! ^_^

Idyllwild Blaze

2010-10-02T22:54:00.000-07:00

Emi's soccer team has been doing pretty good this season. Four more games to go in the regular season, the team's currently in third place. Emi's gotten more aggressive this year and has grown as a player. I have been given the role as "assistant coach" for the games and have gotten more involved this year and has given me and Emi something to share.

CANstruction

2010-09-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

Emi became a Jacketeer (a group of students who have earned 200 points in their middle school career by participating in school athletics, extracurricular activities, leadership roles, academics, and good citizenship) this year and the advisor thought it would be fun to go see the CANstruction exhibit at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. She is hoping to bring CANstruction to Idyllwild someday and these girls be part of the original group to start this great cause on our hill. There are seven Jacketeers this year, all the them girls and good friends. CANstruction is a charity committed to ending world hunger. It is an international community service project by the design and construction industry to benefit local food banks where teams of architects, engineers, designers, contractors, and/or those professionals mentoring students, associations, or businesses compete by designing and building structures made entirely of canned goods.

The car full of girls who talked and laughed for the entire two-hours-each-way trip.
Donating a canned good got you a free ticket for the carousel. So we all brought extra cans so the girls can hand out tickets to small children.

Kermit the Frog (3000 cans)

We coincidentally ran into the man of the OC Food Bank, the man responsible for breaking down all the canned structures the next day.

Pink dress (8000 cans).

Crush, from the movie Finding Nemo. (12,000 cans)

Close up.

Angels Stadium (6000 cans). This one gives a good idea on how large the pieces were.

Cheshire cat (6000 cans).

Hammer & Wall (1240 cans).

Stopped in shops as we passed them. ^_^

Space shuttle (2200 cans).

Smart car (9900 cans).

Apple store...they coulda hung out here for hours.

Pac-Can (4809 cans).

"We CAN recycle" (3222 cans).

The Emerald City (2850 cans).

The Jacketeers (minus one that couldn't make it.)

Dinner at Ruby's where we got the Balloon Man to swing by our table and make the girls balloon animals.

Allie's turtle.

Opportunities like this bring the girls closer and I'm glad I was able to help make this happen.

Gourd Craft Workshop

2010-09-12T19:19:00.000-07:00

I've seen pictures of gourd crafts and I just really liked how they look. Especially the simple ones with nice earthly colors. Although I read about the process online, I just couldn't make the next step to buy the supplies and try it at home. And then I see there is a gourd crafting class offered in town, and there aren't too many classes like these up here. It was reasonably priced, $35 for a six-hour class, all materials included. I ask Abby to join me and off we went.

Uncleaned gourds.
The instructor's finished gourds. Aren't they beautiful? And we get to make these!??

My gourd...before...

The gourd is washed and starting to look nice already.

We drew in our designs with pencil and then used a wood-burning tool. This was a lot harder than it looked, the curves especially were tricky. I was so glad I didn't decide to have a design covering the entire gourd. ^_^

Abby handled the woodburning quite well.

And then they are inked with a Q-tip.

Yes, this part was a bit tedious and long... and my question of 'why six hours?' was answered.

Abby used black paint for her background so she got to use a paintbrush.

Drying them after spraying them with polyurethane.

Some gourds by others from the class. Everyone's gourd looked nice.

Those are some nice looking gourds we brought home. Abby kept saying she has fun. She is turning into a mini-me. Emi's art class is doing a gourd project soon and is going to a gourd farm. I think I might tag along. ^_^

Another See Chick

2010-09-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

Marmu's back, this time she's staying. Me and the girls, Hammi the Hamster, our seven hens, and now Marmu makes 12 females in our household.

AYSO 3v3 Labor Day Tournament

2010-09-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Emi played in the 3v3 soccer tournament this year. A smaller field, no goal keeper, and no offsides. 30-minute games. On Saturday she had three games, it was so hot, nearly 110*F in Hemet. There were two Idyllwild teams in the tournament, 1st round was Idy vs Idy. So I thought that would be a good game to ref my first game. Ended up reffing three games total, I was real nervous and made some wrong calls but overall it was a good experience.

Emi's team placed 3rd, the other Idy team placed 2nd. Despite the heat, they played well and were in good spirits.

My Garden

2010-08-22T21:34:00.000-07:00

I'm happy that I have a halfway decent amount of things growing this year and looking good with a promising harvest. (In the past I'd only get one weak looking veggie per kind.)
Shiso...the seeds had spilled over from last year's plant and just exploded.

These Japanese cucumbers were started from seed. Five of them sprouted and looking healthy.

Can't wait for this little guy to get bigger. There's about five little guys right now.

Satsuma-imo, Japanese sweet potato. Took one I bought at a store and soaked it in water till it started to leaf. Cut them up into about seven separate plants and planted them. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

Myoga with a little shiso on the side.

Basil.

My raised bed down below in my backyard. Got a yellow pear tomato, a red cherry tomato, and some sort of pink tomato. Also a watermelon, carrots, pumpkins, more sweet potatoes, Anaheim peppers, and red onions. In a separate raised bed I got some radishes and korean melons going. Hope we don't have early snow. That would suck.

Downtown Los Angeles 2010

2010-08-22T21:14:00.000-07:00

Our last summer adventure, a visit to Downtown Los Angeles. Since my brother doesn't live there anymore, I didn't think we'd be going to LA for a long time but they came to visit and were staying there for a couple weeks, so we planned a get-together.

Gotta love the carpool lane. Haven't seen this sign before though. For a newbie like me, thought it was a little dangerous to have to read all this and figure it out while driving.
Dodger Stadium happened to only be a mile away from where we were going so we squeezed in a quick visit. Luckily one of the gates were open and we got to check it out from the inside.

Sage's Dodger penny from one of them penny souvenier machines.

Olvera St. The middle school Spanish class has a field trip to this "street" (more like an alley...) so Emi's been wanting to see it.

We parked near Chinatown and just walked everywhere. Walking allows you to stop and see more things, like this cool sign post of Los Angeles' sister cities.

...and this bike rack (?)

Disney Concert Hall.

The outside garden had a large mosaic rose. We were taking a self-guided audio tour so we had these "phones" to listen to.

Close up of the rose. This thing must of taken a long time to create.

Cool spheres at the gift shop.

Chinatown.

Dim Sum... Mayumi knew of a good, inexpensive place. Must of been years since we've last had dim sum. It was good.

I must admit, I was surprised Emi posed for me all on her own. This is an inside joke picture.

Later we see this sign...oops! ^_^

Lots of cute knick-knacky stuff.

The ginseng bulk bins. Never knew there were so many varieties.

I think these are illegal? Maybe that's why the workers started approaching us as we were taking pictures.

Dried abalone from Japan, on SALE $1274.25/lb. Crazy...

I wonder if they eat this like jerky...

Little Tokyo was next. More cute shops.

Visited the Japanese American National Museum. A lot of stuff from their imprisonment in US concentration camps after WWII.
*

I think we ended up staying for about nine hours, with lots and lots of walking. But we had a good time, and it was a nice little getaway before school starts Monday.

Jazzercise God

2010-08-14T23:35:00.000-07:00

My girls got to meet the Jazzercise God, Judi Sheppard Missett, founder and chief executive officer of Jazzercise. She owns a house up in our community of Pine Cove and occasionally drops by to teach a class. They weren't too thrilled about taking a picture but some day they might look back and think it was cool.

Abby's Muffins

2010-08-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Abby made some pretty tasty blueberry muffins the other day. There were some leftover batter so we got to use the new muffin top pan. ^_^

Family Time

2010-08-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Headed down to San Diego one last time for summer to meet up with Mitsu who drove from Michigan to SD to only stay for one night before flying back home for work. He did leave his wife and son in SD so we can all play.

The "kids" table...soon to be the "teenager" table.
My dad made chirashi-sushi with some yummy seafood. Being a sushi chef for many years I bet he misses making sushi. The corn in the background is from their garden. They tried growing corn this year.

Teru playing Wii Archery.

My mom playing Wii Jetski. It looked really funny. ^_^

Played some bowling thanks to the Kids Bowl Free program.

Abby's a pro at Wii bowling, but found out real bowling is more difficult.

Had a quick lunch at a Japanese ramen noodle shop before saying goodbye to Mitsu.

Torrey Pines State Beach.

Abby had fun boogie boarding.

And then she got cold and enjoyed the warm sun. ^_^

Three generations picture.

A goofy pic, we placed the camera on the floor and self-timered it.

The kids "let's see how tall you are" pic. Sekai has finally grown taller than Emi. David and Teru's got this bet on who's going to be taller when they're eighteen.

Seat Cushion Covers

2010-07-31T23:32:00.000-07:00

Our seat cushions were starting to look pretty raunchy, they needed a makeover before David starts saying they need to get tossed. The kids chose their fabric from my bins, it was a good way to get rid of some extra fabric (and they look nice too. ^_^)

Emi's New Ride

2010-07-26T23:04:00.000-07:00

A bike put together by parts from our good friends. A lotta good mojo.

Black Mountain #5

2010-07-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

I took the kids up Black Mountain for our first camping trip of the year. This was the first time we went without Daddy so I was a little nervous at first but things went smoothly.

Our site this time was #5, overlooking Banning and Cabazon. We decided to pitch our tent close to the edge so we can enjoy the views.
Abby getting her marshmallow stick ready.

Played some horseshoes. Here's Abby's ringer.

Abby threw one granny-style which went straight up. Watch out!

Sage sure likes climbing rocks.

Checked out the lookout point at sunset. Just beautiful.

Marshmallow time. I wish they can use their focus and concentration on other things too...

Smores! One of those foods I just don't get. I like toasted marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers, just not all together.

They like their marshmallows nice and burnt. Don't know why.

Good morning! Why is it that we can wake up early when we go camping?

What a nice morning view.

Breakfast table.

Sage would grab a piece and walk off, whereas the girls will sit and stay where the food is. ^_^

Just had to check out the view again before heading home.

Eye Pillows

2010-07-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I see eye pillows pop up on a shop site and how they feel good and is relaxing. But paying ten bucks for them? No way! So I got some silky fabric, sewed a little pillow and stuffed them with flax seeds. I keep them in my freezer and they feel really good. In the end, all the kids each wanted one!

Idyllwild Park and Fitness Trail

2010-07-10T23:00:00.000-07:00

We now have a fitness trail in town, so we went to go check it out.

Arm Walk...a lot harder than it looks.

Beautifully located, nicely surrounded by lots of trees and a creek running nearby.

Gotta love how they make up their own exercises!

Cherry Pick Time Again

2010-07-10T22:46:00.000-07:00

It's cherry picking time again. It's been an annual thing with my folks, we always go to the same Mexican restaurant afterwards too, Tacos & Beer. This year Teru came along, I remember when we first started doing this my other brother Mitsu & family came too. It was a good meeting point for all three parties. Cherry picking is so much nicer than apple picking, we can eat quite a bit and still want more. ^_^

2 1/2 years later

2010-07-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

Abby finally finished her latch hook kit she got for x-mas 2007.

^_^

38 Years Young

2010-06-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

The other day was my birthday. David always makes me omlets for my b-days and Mother's days since it's something I enjoy but never make for myself. This year's b-day omlet had cheese, goat cheese, basil, and tomatoes.

I said I wanted to hike from Idyllwild to Palm Springs again. The kids said they could do it with me so we dropped off a car in Palm Springs the day before and started a family hike from Devil's Slide.

Willow Creek. One of many rest stops.

Looks like an ad for Osprey packs, doesn't it?

Hidden Lake...we couldn't find it last year so I'm glad we found it this time. Unfortunately it was fenced off for preservation.

David whips out some PBR. Always thinking about beer, that man...

We're almost there! 6.8 miles hiked, 1.3 to go.

Since they have to listen to my wishes on this day...family picture time! ^_^

Long Valley Ranger Station.

Looking down to Palm Springs from the start of the tram ride.

Headed over to Mr. Cora's Mexican Seafood Restaurant in Cathedral City. Mmmm...that Michilada hit the spot. I'm not sure what they put on the rim but it made the drink tastier.

I'll have some of that Viagra...(^_^)

I wonder what they call it in Mexico...

Shrimp ceviche tostadas. Reminded me of the days we used go to Ensenada, Mexico to eat and drink.

The shrimp tacos were good too.

This is why we don't live in the desert.

Photostitching/Photomerging

2010-06-24T22:06:00.000-07:00

It's funny how things come into your life, things you really hadn't thought about and probably wouldn't, until it crosses your path in the unexpected of places. A Facebook friend was tagged in a photograph that was created by photostitching using his Photoshop CS4. I just loved how the photo looked so I browsed his album to see many more amazing photos. And so began the search of whether I can do the same thing with what I have, Photoshop CS3. It turned out it was a very simple tool, which I was glad to find was in my version. And here is a photostitch/photomerge of the Grotto (a local creek/swimming hole) created using 20 photographs. I think it came out pretty cool, and it's given me something else to take pictures of. ^_^

Here a link to the tutorial.

Placemat Tote Bag

2010-06-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

I found some placemats at a yard sale for only ten cents so I turned them into a tote bag. It went pretty smoothly for the edges are already finished. Did the outside and attached the straps...

...and made a big mistake of trying to add a liner, with a pocket too, just to make things more difficult. The size of the liner didn't match the outside, it was a little too narrow. On top of that, I sewed it on backwards! So I seam ripped it all and sewed it back up. There's too many little errors I don't feel right putting it up in my etsy store, so it may be a gift for my mom. ^_^

It does look cute though. I'll be a little smarter next time.

Keeping My Fingers Crossed

2010-06-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

David made me some raised beds for Mother's Day this year. Life's been so busy, I finally got around to doing something with them. We have a lot of squirrels around here, I think they're my biggest enemy. I'm really hoping they won't eat everything.

So far, a tomato and a watermelon plant. I'm starting a few things from seed: carrots, cucumbers, green beans, lettuce, radishes, chinese snap peas, korean melons, bok choy, onions, pumpkins, garlic chives, basil, shiso, and mitsuba leaves. I'm not sure how successful I'll be so I thought I'd just try a bunch of things! We have a short growing season so I hope something'll grow before the first frost.

Father's Day 2010

2010-06-21T21:33:00.000-07:00

The guys have been into drinking Michiladas and it's been getting fancier and fancier.

Here's Alex...he's so cute!

Did I mention this guy's a cutie?

We had so much food, a good variety too. One of the tasties was some jalapenos wrapped in bacon, stuffed with cheese.

And these BBQ-ed okra was really good too.

We decided to take a break from the eating and play a little Bocce ball. Guys vs Girls. Here's "Team Guys".

Ended the day with some good ol' Drop-a-Foot.

Annual Fern Hike

2010-06-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again when the ferns are in season. The easily accessable spots are also known by others so I have to hit those spots at the right time to get some, and because they are a little lower in elevation they grow a little earlier, usually in May. I have a spot that's up at 8100' so they come into season mid-June, and also is a 3-mile hike up an 1700' elevation gain moderately strenuous trail, that NO ONE touches. I don't think anyone wants it THAT bad. ^_^ I just have to hit it at a right time, usually there's a 2-3 week window. In the past that time has been during the school year so I've always gone solo or with just Emi. But this year my trek is during summer break so I took the kids up with me.

We never tire of seeing Tahquitz up close. That rock's just got this presence, we always start off staring at it.

No matter how little, it's always good to come across some water.

That's Suicide rock in the back. Another one of those amazing sites we always have take a picture of.

Emi and Sage walked a little faster so they waited for us at the junction. Emi found a nice little "bed" to lie down on.

Ferns! Perfect timing, they had just started to come up.

Abby loves to help pick, and she does a good job too.

Skunk Cabbage. Nice and green.

Sage didn't really help with the picking, he sat and enjoyed the sun. I had packed my pack full thinking I'd be carrying it down. Surprisingly, Sage offered to carry it for me, all the way to the bottom. He looked like a turtle!

Total stats: 6-miles in four hours. 3400' elevation change. Two big bags of ferns. Glad I only do this once a year.

Abby's 9th B-day

2010-06-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately for Abby, this year her birthday landed on the last week of school. This week was so busy, with the promotion dance and Sage's baseball championships, we tried squeezing in bits of her birthday celebration where we could. She started off her birthday with a cupcake...

And I pulled her out of school during her lunch period and took her out to eat.

Emi gave her some Sour Patch Kids and a Webkin.
Her birthday night was also Sage's championship game and then the team pizza party, so we had her b-day flan dessert the following morning.

We headed down to Hemet afterschool to go get her b-day present. But since we were there, we took advantage of the free b-day ice cream from Baskin Robbins.

And the Cold Stone one too while we were at it. ^_^

Dinner at Las Bonitas, pretty good Mexican food.

David got a treat too, a nice sized Michilada.

Then we picked up Hammi, her new hamster. She's a long-haired teddy bear hamster. Very cute and pretty mellow.

Middle School Promotion Dance 2010

2010-06-13T19:48:00.000-07:00

This year's theme was Alice in Wonderland. My friend Misty was in charge so this year I got a little more involved in the decorating committee.
Looks at these 7th graders, they look so grown up!

The photo station. Mallory did a real cute job, and she screenprinted all those keyholes!

Idyllwild 5K 2010

2010-06-10T13:21:00.000-07:00

There's so much going on in June, it's by far the busiest month for us. June usually kicks off with the Idyllwild 5K/10K run. Emi's ran this for 5 years straight. Her friend Mallory usually run this with her, this year Kaylee joined them too.

Abby's been a spectator for her fifth straight year. ^_^

Sage and David rode down from the house with our friends Freddie and his son Cody and met us there.

David's friend Todd, the super athlete.

Emi got 3rd place in her category of girls age 10-12. Her time: 29 minutes flat. Pretty darn good for someone who didn't train. The Idy 5K has these cool etched glass mugs for prizes. Her fourth cup so far.

Temecula

2010-06-02T22:16:00.000-07:00

My mom works on the weekends, and the kids have school during the week. So during the school year it's hard to schedule a meeting with my folks. Tough economic times affect everyone, even the school district. So they had to cancel two days of school due to budget cuts. The kids were happy they didn't have school, and it was also a good opportunity to meet up with the grandparents in Temecula, a good halfway spot for us both.

Since they got there before us, I suggested they scope out some wineries that we could hit later. Well, they decided to go ahead and get in a wine tasting!

The day's headliner was blueberry picking.

Look at all those blueberry bushes!

The kids thought Teru in his hat was real funny so I had to take a pic.

Here's proof we are dorks. ^_^

They tooks us out to eat at Claim Jumpers. Each plate had so much food on it, we were so full when we were done. No wonder this country's overweight.

I'm not sure why restaurants would put animal heads on the walls. Makes me not want to eat a hamburger!

Emi and I couldn't resist...had to take this picture. ^_^

Another Baker in the House

2010-05-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Weekends usually are pancake breakfasts. The kids take turn making them. A few times Emi had decided she wanted to make biscuits which came out pretty good. So Sage wanted to make some too. He had never really shown too much interest in baking unlike the girls, so I was kinda surprised. He found a drop-biscuits recipe from the Joy of Cooking cookbook and pretty much made it all by himself. Very good first solo effort.

Sage makes the Honor Roll 2010

2010-05-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

I know we have smart kids, but Sage isn't "academic" smart so we were kinda surprised when he made the Honor Roll. 3.5 GPA or higher. So we made the trip down to Hemet for the honor roll assembly.

See Idyllwild way in the back, that hump is our mountain.

His close buddies made it too so it was cool. He's in with a good group of boys.

Days like this call for having a treat. So we had dinner at Mimi's and then ice cream afterwards.

Having three kids that accomplish various things means that the rest of us get a treat often too. ^_^

Mack and Cheezz

2010-05-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who handpaints ceiling medallions. They're really unique and beautiful. They'd look great as wall art too. Check out her etsy shop: http://www.mackandcheezz.com/

Backyard Riding

2010-05-16T21:48:00.000-07:00

Took Sage out on a little ride yesterday and left our bikes in my car with the hopes of riding today. The girls wanted to join us so I lead the three kids on a ride through our "backyard." It was kinda funny in that I'm not much of a bike rider, and here I am taking all three kids out hoping none of us will get a flat or have bike issues cuz then we'll just be pushing our bikes back to the car since I have no clue how to fix bikes. It was a pretty warm day, really glad we didn't run into any rattlesnakes as we rode through a trail called Rattlesnake.

I was afraid Abby would just breakdown and start crying but she hung in there despite being on a heavy bmx bike which makes climbing hard.

Sage was on his singlespeed today and rode well.

Emi's got the stamina and strength, and also the only geared bike in the family so she just breezes by. ^_^

Minute-to-Win-It

2010-05-08T12:13:00.000-07:00

My kids have been watching Minute-to-Win-It and attempted one of their games, stacking apples.

Boy's (Children's) Day - Now and Then

2010-05-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

2010

2005