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Mt Diablo
I've been lax about posting lately. I know you've all missed me. It's been a little crazy at work, and I've had plenty to do during non-work time. I'm really not complaining. I like being busy. Especially with fun stuff. Like, for example...
The Mr and I took the our niece and nephew to Mt Diablo last weekend. They said they had never been camping, so we kinda had no choice. We couldn't let their childhoods go to waste like that. We let them each bring a friend, which meant taking two cars, so we stole one. It was shiny. We had a (shiny!) girls car and a boys car. I, of course, drove the girls car. Good times, yo. Dancing for the amusement of the boys behind us, singing along with the radio, and lots upon lots of talking.
We arrived before noon to find out that they were not allowing campfires. We were prepared to deal no water and no toilet paper, but no campfire?! What the bleep kind of camping trip is that? A uniformly foul mood made setting up the tent much more interesting. Thankfully, I had the foresight to realize that it would be funny later, and set up the camcorder first. Of course, we had forgotten one tent, and the one we brought broke just before we tried to use it, so we all wound up sleeping under the stars anyway. Ok, the kids slept on the ground, we slept in the car. We left the doors open, so that counts!
We drove to the Visitor's Center at the summit to check out the panoramic view. You can see most of California from up there. I was very impressed. The kids were more impressed with the dragonflys, lizards, railings, and drinking fountains. That's right, running water! Which I was informed would not be available. A water fight was inevitable. Happily soaked, we took a hike around the mountain. There were plenty of rocky areas to climb up and scramble over, which was very happy-making for me, and resulted in only minor injury.
We got back to the campsite to hang out in the shade and have lunch (because good food = happy campers). We noticed about halfway through the sandwich making process that something had taken a bite out of several slices of bread -- and the bag, of course. More on hamburglars later. After lunch, we played wiffle ball and such for a while before heading up the hill for cardboard sledding (which I still have never done, but I'll skip that whole drama). Several runs and many butt-thorns later, we left the dry grass and retreated to the shade.
We picked up slingshot catch and the other outdoor games for a bit. Then the kids entertained us by doing their best George of the Jungle impression, climbing this giant tree and swinging *coughfallingcough* down by clinging to small branches. I really wanted to videotape it, but I decided I'd rather have plausible deniability. As the sun got low, the bugs started trying to take over our bodies by invading every orifice, so we opted for a "scenic drive".
All six of us packed into a car with four seatbelts. Hey, everyone had a seatbelt on. It's important to teach kids about sharing. My dear husband made all the girls scream (myself included) by threatening to drive straight off the cliff. He was distracted from his mission when the boys spotted a huge tarantula in the road. Apparently I forgot to tell them that it was tarantula season. So then we went tarantula-hunting. When we spotted one and pulled over, the kids were so eager to jump out of the car I thought maybe it had caught fire and I'd failed to notice. The tarantula we stopped to visit with was much smaller than the one we first spotted, yet still too big to resemble an insect. I hate spiders as much as the next arachnophobe, but I was fascinated too. It moved like a robot. Then that sweet husband of mine made a little girl cry by provoking the animatronic tarantula so that it stuck its butt in the air all threatening-like.
I will post the nighttime shenanigans tomorrow... Starting with kicking the kids out of the car and leaving them in the woods...
We arrived before noon to find out that they were not allowing campfires. We were prepared to deal no water and no toilet paper, but no campfire?! What the bleep kind of camping trip is that? A uniformly foul mood made setting up the tent much more interesting. Thankfully, I had the foresight to realize that it would be funny later, and set up the camcorder first. Of course, we had forgotten one tent, and the one we brought broke just before we tried to use it, so we all wound up sleeping under the stars anyway. Ok, the kids slept on the ground, we slept in the car. We left the doors open, so that counts!
We drove to the Visitor's Center at the summit to check out the panoramic view. You can see most of California from up there. I was very impressed. The kids were more impressed with the dragonflys, lizards, railings, and drinking fountains. That's right, running water! Which I was informed would not be available. A water fight was inevitable. Happily soaked, we took a hike around the mountain. There were plenty of rocky areas to climb up and scramble over, which was very happy-making for me, and resulted in only minor injury.
We got back to the campsite to hang out in the shade and have lunch (because good food = happy campers). We noticed about halfway through the sandwich making process that something had taken a bite out of several slices of bread -- and the bag, of course. More on hamburglars later. After lunch, we played wiffle ball and such for a while before heading up the hill for cardboard sledding (which I still have never done, but I'll skip that whole drama). Several runs and many butt-thorns later, we left the dry grass and retreated to the shade.
We picked up slingshot catch and the other outdoor games for a bit. Then the kids entertained us by doing their best George of the Jungle impression, climbing this giant tree and swinging *coughfallingcough* down by clinging to small branches. I really wanted to videotape it, but I decided I'd rather have plausible deniability. As the sun got low, the bugs started trying to take over our bodies by invading every orifice, so we opted for a "scenic drive".
All six of us packed into a car with four seatbelts. Hey, everyone had a seatbelt on. It's important to teach kids about sharing. My dear husband made all the girls scream (myself included) by threatening to drive straight off the cliff. He was distracted from his mission when the boys spotted a huge tarantula in the road. Apparently I forgot to tell them that it was tarantula season. So then we went tarantula-hunting. When we spotted one and pulled over, the kids were so eager to jump out of the car I thought maybe it had caught fire and I'd failed to notice. The tarantula we stopped to visit with was much smaller than the one we first spotted, yet still too big to resemble an insect. I hate spiders as much as the next arachnophobe, but I was fascinated too. It moved like a robot. Then that sweet husband of mine made a little girl cry by provoking the animatronic tarantula so that it stuck its butt in the air all threatening-like.
I will post the nighttime shenanigans tomorrow... Starting with kicking the kids out of the car and leaving them in the woods...
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I already have a post planned for tomorrow -- since I had to give up and post this one halfway through. Silly work.
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Yay! Tarantulas!
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I'm posting the second half of this adventure as we speak...