Memorial Day weekend

We had a great Memorial Day weekend... just enough relaxing, just enough adventure! The week was a bit busy with the last of the homework packets, Violet's last week of gymnastics (she's taking a summer break), Open House on Thursday night and piano lessons and karate, so we didn't leave until Saturday mid-morning. This also allowed Randy to get in a long (19 miles) weekend run before we left (only 7 weeks until his marathon). To start our "first weekend of summer" celebration I took the kids to Sonic on Friday after school. We sat on the small patch of grass in the sun to stay warm. Well, when we left on Saturday morning for Huntington Lake with our friends, the Co family, we weren't sure what to expect. Huntington Lake sits at 7000 feet in the Sierra National Forest and had received a bit of snow a few days before. Many family friends have cabins at the lake, including the Cos, that they usually open on or before Memorial Day; however, this year the road around the lake was still closed a couple days prior. So in preparation for any kind of conditions, we packed like we were backpacking and threw the snowshoes in the car in case we had to hike in to the cabin from the parking lot at the General Store. All the kids had their own clothes and toys in a backpack, Randy and I each packed our own bags and scaled down the food supplies to one small ice chest and a fabric bag. Luckily, the road was plowed a bit past the Co's cabin and we could park off the side of the road, making the hike a few hundred feet versus almost a mile, and no need for snow shoes. The weather was fantastic! The clear, sunny skies made for a perfect nap on the porch, while the cool breezes felt refreshing as you walked through crunchy snow around the lake! Sunday we hiked in towards Rancheria Falls with a picnic lunch and found a great little hill to let the kids play and slide. Who needs a sled? Wheee! Fun around the cabin...notice Isaac's knee is already bandaged up. We don't know how he gashed it, but he and Jackson were around the front of the cabin playing in the snow and he managed to get a good size gash just below his knee. We cleaned it, used some steri-strips to close it up, a big band-aid on top and a bandage so Isaac wouldn't mess with it...aah, boys! And evening walk, throwing rocks around the lake. Settling in for the night. Enjoying the view. Randy observed this osprey nest all weekend (unfortunately, there were none in it when he got out the camera). We did see some diving in for fish at the lake...pretty neat! Searching for more wildlife. Isaac's trying to sneak up on the lizard. He did manage to touch one, but not catch it.

After lots of eating, games, hiking, relaxing, reading, and exploring, we packed up and cleaned on Monday afternoon and headed down the hill. It felt so much like summer had begun, I didn't want to wake up and take the kids to school the next morning. Ah, summer, it will be here soon. Thank you, Co family, for spending the weekend with us, and sharing your family's cabin!