Cheaper than Disneyland

Two rooms.
One tank of gas.
Steak meat.
Pasta salad.
Fried rice.
And lots of trees and water.

About two hours away from Sacramento is a little town called Downieville. Perhaps not little when you compare it to Oscarville but pretty tiny for California standards. It’s a town that was once a hub or sorts for gold miners. Then it went through a period where rafting was popular. Now it’s known for it’s mountain biking opportunities.

There is a little store and restaurant on the way to Downieville called, “Indian Valley Outpost.” And across from Indian Valley Outpost is a section of the Yuba River that I like to soak my feet into.

I rarely wade out very far into this water myself, but the group I brought today were risk takers. They coasted down the rapids mostly intentionally… and sometimes not so intentionally.

Once hunger got the better of them we all dried up in the heat of the sun and then had a shaded picnic lunch.

After lunch we drove to the McMahon Mine. There is a pipe and slough built along the side of the mountain that carries this “natural spring water.” At one point it runs along the edge of the road and drips enough for water bottles to be filling pretty quickly. He’s a shop of some of such bottles being filled. Free water! Imagine that.

The Mine is my favorite place in the whole world. Everything from its long drive way to its long walk to water appeals to me. The McMahon Mine is private property that has been handed down by my family for several generations. It was once gold mining territory but it’s been a while since any gold has been found there. Currently it sits at 800 acres of beautiful scenery on the cusp of being passed down from my parents’ generation to my own.

I snapped this photo of my mom and dad (the bankroll of our trip this month) coming down the driveway.

It’s hard to capture the real attraction of this silent area of trees and dirt. In the main area we go to there is no swimming water hole to wade around in. And yet… somehow… people always find things to do here. Ways to entertain themselves.

And even when not “entertained” they don’t seem all that unhappy to just be sitting around on a log. I get it. I feel the same way when I visit.

After sitting around for a bit I led those who were interested on a hike to the nearest water source. I started with six teens and two dogs but after not too long, I was down to four. Issa, Rissa, Nick, and Anissum and I hiked along this path nature had nearly taken back for about thirty minutes before finding a way down to the stream that passes through this property.

At one point Anissum lamented to Nick that he wished they had brought a machete. I wished they had too. It would be nice to have this trail all cleaned up for me. And shoot if they are willing to be free laborers… ;)

After a rest at the water we decided to head back. We nearly got to the trail again when Anissum decided to go back for just one more sip of water. Rather than skillfully walk his way down he ran and jumped down off a fallen tree and ended up snagging his new shirt on a branch.

That’s the thing about the pretty nature. If you don’t slow down to appreciate it, it bites back.

Also on this hike I feel through log. All the way up past my knee my left leg broke through the rotted, fallen, trunk. The kids thanked me for showing them the hole and then moved on around me. Glad I could help them out, I guess.

A few scrapes and scratches were had all around. That is to be expected when you’re hiking in these private areas. When you think about it… so many worse things COULD have happened.

Nick and Anissum in particular seemed to thing little of risks before doing what looked pretty darn ridiculously unsafe to me. But I guess that’s just ‘cause I value my life ‘en stuff.

side note: I have a picture of my dad in nearly the exact same pose Anissum is in here. And he’s lived to be 62-so far… so I guess this isn’t as hazardous as it looks. Of course if you ask my dad now he’ll be the first to point out that, “if you do slip, you’ll die.”

Leaving the area we stopped to make some wishes on the huge dandelions that are growing wild.

It took a while to decide on just the right wish but once they did they let loose and blew.

We finally reached Downieville at about 7:00. After our cars were unloaded my mom got to work on barbecuing the steaks she had been marinating all day. Anissum, Nick, Patrick, Sabrina, Rissa, and I went to a swimming hole by the hotel while the remaining members of our group relaxed in front of a tv for a hour. Issa, I heard, even took a little nap.

At the water hole, everyone quite happily let the current carry them around the deep water that flows under one of two bridges in town. The one we were playing under is the bridge many people were hung from back in the day when hangings were commonplace.

They were just about to call it a night and head back in when they saw the rope swing was open. Nearly dried off everyone hopped back into the water and swam across to the rope swing.

Nick was the first to swing out over the open water but then he contently swung back to shore before getting off the rope. Anissum took the more popular route by swinging out over the deep area and dropping into the water with a splash. Patrick and Sabrina later took Anissum’s lead.

I didn’t bring my camera down to the water this evening but I anticipate getting the opportunity to snap pictures of the rope swing again tomorrow.

Once hunger again led to a desire to towel off we saw a deer cross over the bridge everyone was playing under. Sabrina and I stuck around a bit longer then the rest and got to see the deer then cross down into the water and eat grass from the rocks they had been playing on moments before.

With the three hours of driving on mountainous roads I am proud to announce that only one of the member of our party got sick.

Poor guy. Doesn’t he just look miserable? He hacked up some yellow stuff before settling back down in between Nicole and Patrick. Bailey loves it up here but I don’t know how many more road trips to the mountains mr. grump can take.

For what seemed like little plans...

We had a very full day today. It started earlier than any other day we have had here in California. Today we were up at 8:00 am and out of the house before 9:00. We caught a free showing of "Hook" at the theater at theArden Fair Mall at 10:00 this morning. I love the movie "Hook". It's just so colorful and happy. I had heard that these free movie really fill up so we got there early. And it's a good thing we did because the place really did fill up.

It filled up with kids who are too young and/or too noisy to be taking to a "real" movie. And... some special needs' adults. It was a strange crowd. The people watching was nearly as entertaining as the movie itself.

Before the movie began everyone separated and enjoyed some quality DS time in their seats.  As the theater started the fill most of us ended up grouped back together.

Don't be alarmed.  Issa was neither angry nor scared... it was just snapped at a weird moment.

After the movie, we walked into the main part of the mall and had lunch at the food court. And by "we" I mean me and the eight teens. My parents spent the time following the movie bringing the van, that we got back last night, back to the shop. Apparently the brakes are grinding. With Downieville on the docket for tomorrow, touchy brakes are really NOT okay.

After the food court feeding I stayed at the table with Sabrina (who was saving her money for later) while everyone else had free reign in the mall for a couple of hours. Some made full use of their time shopping and dropping bags off at the food court table only to then go back out shopping again. Others spent the time finding the places to play free games. And then there were a few who would plop down in a chair every so often and stare off into space hoping mall time would be over faster.

Now, I myself have had my share of buyer's remorse sadness but this was just painful. It's teenage kids! It's a mall! And you need more entertainment from adults?!!

After my dad arrived to take over table-sitting duty I took the opportunity myself to wander the mall a bit. There were some great deals today. I got a dress and five shirts for less than $100. This happened only after I shook off a coupe of kids who wanted to "follow" me into clothing stores.

Confession: I'm sort of hermit-like in my mall shopping. I really would rather do it on my own. If I am with a group, I'd really rather not buy anything more permanent. Food or candles, etc... that's group shopping. Clothing and shoes... that's for me alone.

Without any real established time for shopping to be over, it should come as no surprise to anyone that we ended up "behind schedule". After I finished my shopping I took a quick bathroom break and remembered (because the bathroom IS where my mind blinks on often) that the last "Jelly Belly Factory Tours" commence at 4:00. My watch read 2:45 and we were a good hour away from the tour.

The gathering up of the crew took longer than we expected and we ended up not getting to our cars until about 3:20. Hmm... forty minutes to travel what should take 60 minutes. Well... ONE of us made it on time. And it wasn't me.

Actually, it wasn't me because I made a wrong turn and ended up on hwy 99 for about 3.5 miles before turning around. It's not entirely my fault though... I was distracted. By having to call back the auto mechanic while not being able to talk on my cell phone with my hands. The fishing out of the earbud, etc was far more attention-distracting than if I had just held up the darn phone. But I digress...

I was also running out of gas. And by running out I mean I had driven my 13 gallon tank a good 460 miles on hills. And I knew I was really really pushing it to get to the factory. In fact I planned to have Marissa run in with my carload while I went to go fill up, that way I wouldn't have to use the gas necessary to start up the engine again.

Pulling into the Jelly Belly parking lot of the visitor's center the time was 4:17. I figure there was no chance at all that they would make the tour. But then I spotting my dad. He was holding 5 tour hats and a parking space right up front for us. I guess he had made it there at 4:05 and asked if it was too late. The staff said they would do one more tour just for them. At that point my dad confessed to the second car (my car) not being there yet.

It all worked out in the end though. I got to join everyone for the tour (it seemed wrong to not take the pretty spot up front). It was my second time taking the tour in a week and my 10th time doing the tour in like the last 6 years. But that's okay. It makes me feel super smart to know everything right before it's said.

And to be honest, I needed that super-smart feeling of confidence. Because unbeknownst to me at the time, I had just made a horrible mistake. My dad insisted on following me to the gas station even though I told him I could afford the gas on my own. Just as I was about to pull on to the freeway the engine light came on. I had power but the air conditioning stopped running, etc.

I read, actually, I assigned my students to read, some information about the Prius Hybrid. And it turns out when you run out of gas there is a fail-safe where it allows you to continue to drive on just battery power for a few miles to let you get to a station. However, I would like to let the record show that I am a big chicken. When the engine sort of "shut down" I pulled over. I took my dad's car up to the next exit that claimed to be a place to get gas but didn't see a station. I did see a Target so I went in and bought a gas canister before getting back on the freeway for a few more miles to find a place to fill my new purchase.

By the time I got back to me car it was pointed out that it was over 30 minutes that I had left my 60 year old dad with 4 teenagers in a sweltering car with no air in 109-degree temps. Whoops.

And... by the way... for those keeping track... in four days... we have had a car in the shop for a new alternator, a car in the shop for new brakes, a different car buried to it's frame in soft sand, and yet another car out of gas 70 miles from home.

I figure the trip to Vegas, Grand Canyon, and New Mexico will either be completely car-worry-free or we'll end up starting a holocaust. One or the other.

Once returning home, much later than expected, some of the group borrowed my bikes and rode around exploring the neighborhood. A couple of others took the dogs on much needed walks. And my mother and I began prepping for dinner.

Eliza Joekay mentioned in a previous comment that she hopes the kids are helping out with chores. And while, it's true, we are still having a hard time with things like getting them to remove their garbage out of the car when they leave it, they have complied with direct requests.

Here, for example, Nicole is putting the sheet that my mom washed back on the mattress for one of the boys. Well eventually she put it on. The TV is a pretty distracting thing sometimes.

By the time the chores were done, the sun was set, the bicycles were put away, and all dogs were walked, I laid out our spread for dinner.

Today we had burritos. There were a grand variety of things to put inside their burritos and I let each of them wrap their own. There were beans, chicken, and shrimp but also guacamole, two kinds of cheese, salsa, olives, yogurt (instead of sour cream as a shout out to Erin), grapes, pineapple, watermelon, chips, and so on.

Some were quite good at being able to get the "right" amount in the shell...

Others were less good at getting it all in the tortilla and more good at getting more than enough to eat in one sitting...

It was a late night and by the time dinner was completely cleaned up it was near 10:00 at night. But... I HAD promised them lazertag and it could really not be put off any longer. Even Patrick, who's dinner didn't exactly stay down, joined us for this late night lazertag excursion.

Sun Splash looked pretty quiet even though I had read online that they were open until midnight. By the time we got up to the counter to buy lazertag tickets it was 10:30pm. The tickets though were buy one game get the other free so despite the staff's desire to close up early (at 10:30) they ended up staying to close until after out two games were done.

Lazertag, as always, was a blast! Patrick did exceedingly well beating out the seasoned professional Lazertaggers (myself and Kiana were distant seconds in these games). When it was done though there was some controversy over the leader's scores as he apparently had been observed "covering" his sensors. Dirty politics! I leave you with this group shot of the crew before the first game (notice the lack of drenching sweat that we had when the two games were complete).

PS. We'll be in a hotel tomorrow night so there will be no update until we return.

Road Trip Training: Day One

Today we took our first extended car ride trip. In another week and a half or so we have a solid 17-hour car ride planned so today's planned 2.5-hour ride was to be the first test.

The test was mostly a success. Of the eight... one complained of carsickness for a majority of the trip, two others complained occasionally of it, and another one entirely actually did throw up. Mostly a success, right? I mean... you know... no deaths or anything.

Once we arrived at our first destination California Caverns we signed up for a tour and then wandered the gift shop for about thirty minutes before being able to begin. The tour starts with a five minute outdoor walk and then a short speech about the history of the caverns and time to select and put on a hard hat.


In the past we have always done the Moaning Caverns tour which is the one more directly on the way to the Big Trees. This cave though provided much more to really experience and enjoy. Moaning Cavern in a vertical cave. The tour itself is some 260 stair steps down to the bottom where some features and pointed out and then 260 steps back up.

California Caverns on the other hand had twists and turns that required occasional crouch-walks. The hard hats were very necessary as we made our way through several different "rooms".

At one point the guide allowed for up to touch the formation. Human hands can destroy very quickly these underground formations so this particular sacrificial stone is quite "dirty" as you can see. The original, untouched, pieces are white in color as you can see from the piece I snapped a photo of in the "jungle room". The tour guide said, it's their "Kung Fu Panda" or "Buddha" depending I guess on your generation.

I was really glad I was able to show them this cave. I remember very distinctly the day we covered stalactites and stalagmites in Earth Science this past school year. The textbook had a couple of pictures but when I told them that they would have the opportunity to see them first hand this summer one replied with, "really? they're... real?"

It caught me off guard because in my head I wanted to argue of course their real! This is a non-fiction text! Are you really asking me this now?!! But after taking a moment to get past my own insecurities about my teaching (and teaching materials) I understood a little more about what they meant.

Seeing really is believing. And as a teacher I can show a million different pictures of a snake or a horse or a roller coaster or a lazer tag game... but they don't really become real until you see and touch them for yourself. I am exceedingly grateful that I have the opportunity to make (what seems to me to be everyday) things... real.

After we left the cave we drove to Big Trees. On the way out of the California Caverns area we made a wrong turn and ended up going in the wrong direction for a couple of miles. In those couple of miles though four deer tried to cross the road in front of my dad's van. He hit his breaks and then ran back onto their own side of the road. As the second car, I was able to slow to a stop and snap pictures as they contemplated just how far off the side of the road they should be walking.

Once we got to Big Trees it was near 7:00 and everyone was getting a little hungry and irritable. We laid out the picnic dinner in near silence. As the strawberries, soda, and BBQ pork sandwiches disappeared, the conversations started back up again. It was nice to see these then car-coma kids become themselves again.

There is a great hike there as you enter the park called the "North Grove trail." Maps are well worth the 50-cent donation as they explain (history/information) 26 separate trees along your way. The three boys ran through the trail at lightning speeds and then cross off the path and back to the car claiming "bathrooming needs." Issa and Marissa walked the full 1.5 miles but didn't bother reading any info on anything... they just enjoyed the scenery as a whole. And then, in the final group, Nicole, Sabrina, Kiana, and I walked the trail slowly taking in each of trail markers, the text the map provided, and even a few climbing opportunities.
Here's the obligatory group shot for the day. They are standing atop a tree stump.

Hey! That shark jacked my floatie!

Today started off a wee bit later than most days. And this time it was all my fault. We decided last night that I should make an egg casserole for breakfast. Unfortunately despite the noblest of efforts I didn't get started on it until after 11:00. Which meant "breakfast" was served after noon today.

After breakfast, errands were run, and that left the teens with the video-heavy downtime again.

Some opted to play air hockey in the garage which made for a nice change of pace, but for the most part it was the same morning we have been having since they got here.

Once the car was loaded with supplies for the day we headed out to our first stop, Costco. It was near 3:00 when we finally left the house!

The group paired off and wandered a bit in the store. Issa and Marissa took full advantage of the free sample tables while Nick and Anissum checked out the video games. Kiana and I stayed on course with the purchase of blueberries and pineapple to take with us to the beach. When Kiana's cart was intercepted by Anissum and Nick they officially lost their cart-driving privileges. There are far too many people in Costco on a Sunday afternoon to let those young men drive it like it's a skateboard.

We were sad to see that Costco didn't stock cheap inner-tubes and we ended up making a second stop, before the beach, at a Longs Drug Store.

Each of them got to choose between a floatie-noodle, a tube, a mat, or a kickboard. Amongst the eight of them there was a good variety.

Folsom Lake this year is pretty low. There's all sorts of stories about it but I won't bore you with those specific details. The point is, it's low. And what was a nice 5 minute, casual walk, from picnic benches to water is now a 10 minute hike up a hill (well up on the return).

After I saw this trek completed about a dozen times, I took it upon myself to a car shuttle a couple of times. Eventually though, I too joined them in the water.

I don't know what it is about water but everytime I have ever been in the water with people under the age of 16, someone inevitably becomes a shark.

This day was no exception. The pink mat, and whomever was riding it at the time, was a girl shark and the blue mat contained a boy shark. I asked why a shark would want to float so high in the water and it was explained to me that you couldn't tell their genders apart if they were under the water. *pause* This seemed a good enough explanation for me.

I contently sat in my inner tube floating around in slow circles until the cute little darlings that they are decided to gang up on me and flip me off my tube. My tube was then stolen by one of them and I contented myself with floating on a noodle for a while.

The dunking of the aunt/teacher led the way to make more dunkings. My favorite occurred when Patrick swam up to a pink-mat-riding Sabrina and threw her off. He then climbed on the mat himself and stroked off in record speed. Sabrina turned to me and delivered the the title for today's blog.

It was a tough choice for these water-lovers but the morning promise of lazertag eventually got them out of the water. My dad came down with the van and Nicole and I piled in for the first ride up while Issa, Nick, Marissa, Kiana and Sabrina opted for the second ride.

Things did not quite go as planned though because on the way off the beach and over to our picnic area we got the van buried in the soft sand. The tires, specifically the right front tire, spun like it was born in Indiana. The sand around us turned black. I found a log and my dad and I tried to create enough traction to get the van back to a more solid section of beach. On the second failed attempt at this a couple stopped us. They spoke with well seasoned experience and we all got to work on digging out the van with bark, oars, and my flipflops. When just about all the digging was done, three more vehicles stopped to help. It was a large group of men and woman in their 30s who spoke in Spanish to each other but in pretty good English to us. They suggested we move forward rather than backwards which led to another several minutes of digging. Eventually with the help of a dozen or so men pushing from behind we were able to get the van up and out of the soft sand.

Back at the water the group of five had given up on us and began the walk up the hill with dampened spirits for having been "forgotten". *Insert pouts and sad music*

As an apology we offered up the uneaten apple pie and watermelon when we got back home.

With the delay in digging out the van, we ended up not getting home until about 8:45. I was covered with dirt and sand and was nowhere near ready to go out for lazertag at that point. I looked online and found that lazertag closes on Sundays at 9:00. I told the crew sorrowfully and promised to come up with something else while I take my shower.
Bowling was suggested but I didn't like the idea of eleven of us all on one lane, etc. So I offered up mini-golf at Scandia and everyone seemed up for it. Well Issa was reluctant but the pleads of her friends helped convince her to come along.


As it turns out experience is quite helpful with minigolf as my three nieces and I took the first four places with our mingolf scores. Even with the lost balls and high scores everyone seemed to really enjoy the golfing. It was, after all, 11:00pm to midnight for this golf game. It's possible that doing anything outside near midnight would be highly enjoyable with this crew. Nick and Patrick cut out of golf after the ninth hole and went inside to play video games.
Tomorrow we head out on our first long-ish road trip. My mom is pretty antsy with it and is insisting on an early bedtime for all. Being a few year removed from bedtime I find myself the only one awake at 1:59am and I post this blog of the day's events.

Security! Stop that woman!

Today started similarly to yesterday. Adults woke. Fifteen year olds and under slept. The first kids up? My nieces. By 10:30 everyone but Issa was awake.

I prepared breakfast while everyone situated themselves with wii play and DS play. I particularly enjoyed when Marissa and Anissum began beating each other up.
Well wii-beating each other up.

Actually, everyone is still really getting along well together. Sometimes I think they are getting along a little too well. They are all teenagers after all.

Breakfast was served at 11:45. Issa was finally woken up at noon only after I went back up stairs and got her myself.

Dorena, Aiden, and Tiger made a brief appearance during breakfast but I didn't snap any pictures. Below is a picture of Dorena and Aiden that was taken about a week ago. Just pretend that rather than being surrounded by pool Aiden was surrounded by our crew of eleven each vying for Aiden's attention while all he wants is the attention of Canyon and Bailey (our family dogs). After breakfast we split up into our two vehicles (my hybrid and my grandpa's van that my dad had borrowed this morning) and went in opposite directions. My carload went to the broken down van that is patiently waiting to be fixed on Monday to collect the things that were left in there from the previous evening. You know, back when we assumed we would be able to make the van move and all.

The other car went to pick up Edith our party of twelve member for the day's activities. Edith is one one my parents' Tai Chi instructors and she was able to join us for the Music Circus's performance of The Sound of Music.

After collecting Anissum's backpack and Edith's body, we met up again in the East end of the Music Circus Tent row K seats 8 through 19. The performance was stellar... which is more or less what I have grown to accept as the standard at the Wells Fargo Pavilion. Unlike many other musical theater actors, Cristin Mortenson (who played Maria), was really quiet impressive with her emoting. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fan of her singing voice, but her facial expressions and body language when not speaking or singing won me over.

I was totally respectful during the show but during the applause I snapped a couple of harmless shots of the cast bowing. As we exited security pulled me aside and made me delete all of the ones taken. I guess no pictures are allowed at ANY TIME. I felt pretty bad to be breaking the rules here and extra embarrassed at having been caught in front of all of my students. I anticipate this is a story that will be haunting me for quite a while now, May as well out myself now.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy the show. I sat closest to Patrick and I can attest to his laughing, smiling, singing along and even at one point the utterance of "so cool!" He seemed particularly impressed at the sets that flew up from the stage. Nicole also could be heard laughing over the audience. And Anissum... well Anissum may have given the biggest compliment of all. Waiting for everyone to come back together outside of the theater my mom asked him if he enjoyed the show. He admitted that he did and then added, "let me put it this way... it was better than the movie!" Knowing that the kids all really enjoyed the Oscar winning movie immensely, I knew this was some serious praise.

After the show we walked a good six or seven blocks to the Old Spaghetti Factory for an early dinner. When we entered we were informed that there would be a thirty minute wait for a party our size. We settled into the lobby and waited for our table to be called.While in the lobby I saw the cast had also chose to eat there. The actresses playing Gretel and Marta came in together as a table for 25 was being called. Over the next ten minutes or so the other actors in that party shuffled in with their respective families. I didn't do more than raise an eyebrow as they came in and when I later pointed them out, my mom admitted her desire to take pictures over at their table. Restraint is a good thing.

Dinner, as always, was good. Fast and plenty filling. The Italian creme sodas in keepsake glasses were a crowd favorite as one would suspect. After the the walk back to the car we drove home to regroup and then some of us went out shopping at Target and Dimple. There were some fun purchases at Target but mostly they were useful. There was one not so great purchase (a tracphone with no minutes that won't be useful once we return to AK) that was then returned before we left the store.

Dimple seemed to be quite a hit with everyone. What's not to like about a store where you can buy movies for less than five bucks and games for less than fifteen bucks? Anissum here made the biggest purchase yet with the obtaining of Rock Band Special Edition for his PS2 at home. It sounds like a pretty fun game and I can imagine it being quite popular once it gets used. Sadly, I don't have a PS2 for him to try it out on.

It's 2:03am now, as I post this. Will I still awake before the teens tomorrow?

Painting, Swimming, Fireworks-ing... Happy Fourth of July

Today my nieces were the first awake. They were quietly cautious not to wake up the people who they were sharing a bedroom with as well as the boys who were still asleep down stairs. Essentially they had the choice to hang out in my room or the hallway. Shortly after 10:00 Nicole woke up. And she took it upon herself to wake up everyone else in the house that was still sleeping.

My parents went off to run some errands downtown while I prepared breakfast/lunch for the crew around 11:30.
It was a strange assortment of fruit pastries, salami, cereal, cherries, and left over fried chicken... but it worked.

After breakfast they busied themselves with the wii for a bit and then we all headed over to Color Me Mine. There each kid chose an item to paint and then the colors they wished to use. All eight started to paint at about the same time but four finished much faster than the other four. Rather than have them sit through the joy of watching others paint these faster four left with my mom and dad to return home for more wii-time.

I stayed, happily, with the meticulous. In the end, they took a little over two hours and only finished after the studio closed at 4:00. I was impressed with their work ethic. This is summer after all. Once our whole group of eleven met up again, back at home, it was time to head over to the DeVous's home.

Nicole DeVous has been a friend of mine for over 20 years. She was in fact my best friend through high school. Her parents generously opened their home to us for Fourth of July celebrations. Seven of the eight kids essentially entered the DeVous pool at about 4:30 and didn't get out again until fireworks lighting at 9:15pm (save for a quick BBQ meal). They really are a pretty easy group to make happy. I bet if we spend the next 3 weeks doing nothing but playing wii and swimming they would still go home feeling like "California" is the coolest place ever. They don't even take up much room, as you can see from the photo below).Once the sun set we all moved our party from the backyard swimming pool to the front yard street where we could safely light fireworks. The Ovillers explained that while the Fourth of July is celebrated with carnivals and fireworks in the surrounding villages, the fireworks are the up-in-the-sky ones not the light 'em yourself variety. They were beaming with excitement to light even the smallest ones themselves.

In typical teacher fashion we took turns with the crowd watching and not lighting waiting patiently in a line on the sidewalk as the lucky lighter ran out to make the wick sparkle. We were in fact so cautious at the beginning that Steph and Shay took shelter from the hazardous entertainment in Shay's car. I jokes.

Shay is pregnant and a full day at the pool followed by the sights (purple rain!), sounds (piccolo petes!) and smells (smoke bombs!) of the fireworks was really better appreciated while sitting in the comfortable car seats.

As the night grew on we all started to get more and more lax on the whole "safety" issue and we ended up doing a little of this kind of stuff.Good thing I had those parents all sign releases, huh?

So aside from the story I don't want to tell about our van breaking down again (suspected reason? alternator) it was a really complete, active, and fun day all around. Lots of happy smiles are hitting pillows in our house here at 1:51am.

The Eskimos Cometh

There was drama.

Distanced drama.

I woke up this morning at 6:00am.

Sadly this was only about three hours after I had fallen asleep. It seems I was as nervous as the travelers. Nicole had made arrangements to fly into Sacramento at 11:15am while the rest of the Oville crew was scheduled to appear at 7:37pm.

As I was putting on my shoes around 9:45am, the phone rang. Eliza, our Alaskan tour coordinator (and parent of Nick), was on the line. She excitedly told me that the kids were just seen off. They had completed the first possible hang-up by actually making it to the plane in time with all of the appropriate identification and such. Excellent.

Eliza explained that after weeks of excitement the kids were rather calm about the whole boarding of the plane while the adults were nervous wrecks. Apparently airline security even asked at one point if everything was okay with these petrified parents.

She then informed me that they were sort of... late. And while they were able to scramble on board, they were not able to pay the $75 necessary for the "unaccompanied minor" treatment. This means, as far as I know, that these kids are traveling without the watchful eye of Alaska Airlines attendants. They will have to navigate gate to gate in Anchorage AND in Seattle on their own.

It seems it will be trial by fire with them gaining that independence in travel.

I assured Eliza that the kids would call home when they arrive in Sacramento and then woke up my nieces who wanted to accompany me to the airport to pick up Nicole.

We arrived about 25 minutes before Nicole's flight was scheduled to arrive. It turns out her plane was a tad early and was actually on the approach when we got there. It was a short Starbucks white mocha later that she stepped down from the escalator like she had been doing it all her life. She walked from the gate to baggage claim (to meet us) all on her own.

I was impressed.

The car ride back was talk talk talk and it became clear that Nicole will get along just fine with my nieces. Essentially all you have to do is laugh every few seconds and you'll get along just fine with them. :)

The next seven hours that passed before the rest of our party arrived Nicole fit in swimmingly with my nieces in front of the big screen TV playing wii. Can you spot the non-relative of mine in this picture? It's not easy.My parents and I went to Costco and Bel Air (grocery store) to pick up some lunch and some dinner for our crew while the of four them just shook the beegus out of their remotes playing Mario Party 8. They were brutal with the Smack Talk. But I am pretty confident the jeers and booing was all in good fun.

We then all loaded back into the car... actually two cars this time and went to the airport.

The flight from Anchorage to Seattle was over 90 minutes delayed so they were left with a layover of about 15 minutes in Seattle. This short time compounded by the lack of an "unaccompanied minor attendant" really had me nervous. I called the airline and was assured that Chinace Egoak made the third leg of the flight. I didn't confirm by phone all four... I assumed Chinace didn't just abandon the boys making her the only one who caught the flight.

So I was mostly unsurprised when I saw all of four of them with all their fingers and toes and a voracious appetite arrive out of Gate 26 at the Sacramento Airport.It turns out because they were late to their Bethel flight they had all of the luggage they were to check on them. It actually made the whole exiting of the airport a breeze. :) However, because they had to go through the personal security check with their big bags it seems all toothpaste (et. al) was confiscated. No worries though, we have plenty.

Here's our first real group shot taken outside the airport.
We're a good looking group, don't you think?

I gave them two options when they arrived. One is that they could go straight to my parents' house and relax with dinner. This choice was met with a "yesssss" from one out of the eight. The other option was to make it a late night. The other option was to leave the airport and go straight to the Sacramento 6 Drive In. This would mean we would not actually be walking into our air-conditioned home with couches, wiis, and beds until after 2:00am.

If you have any experience with Jr. High aged kids you'll know full well we ended up here. Since Alaska Airlines doesn't serve food any more, and the layover was a tight 15 minutes (where they had to ride a tram to their gate, etc), the kids were famished!

It was a less-than-pretty gorging on fried chicken, sourdough bread, soda, M&Ms, and dried salmon as we waited for the sun to set. With content bellies and the delta breeze blowing across us at the end of a 90-degree day, we all enjoyed the movies "Wall-E" and "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian."

We arrived home at 2:15am and I fairly quickly went to bed. I have no idea how long everyone else stayed up. I suppose their wake up time will give me some hints on that. Currently it's 9:04am and no one under the age of 30 is awake. Everyone over the age of 30 IS awake.

A good first evening was had by all.