First Day of School Pictures

Monday, August 25th was the first day of school for everyone except Howard (who happens to already be in school, albeit temporarily). Lucas entered full-day Kindergarten, Jackson began second grade, Erin is now a sixth grader in middle school, and Howie is a seventh grader. I am a Junior at UNLV, full-time on campus. I'm taking 15 credits, half  of which are upper division classes. Life just got even busier than before! Here's to a great school year!

Balboa Beach

July: The weekend following our epic camping trip was spent at the beach. We celebrated Erin's birthday a little early since she was going to spend her actual birthday in Missouri with my sister and her family (without us). It was a quick trip to California. We picked Howard up from work and went straight to Riverside (my hometown) and stayed with my step-dad. The next morning we left bright and early for the beach. We found a great spot near the bathrooms and the pier and set up camp for the day with out new shade canopy. Once the kids learned how to navigate the strong waves, they had a blast. Even though we spent 4 years living on an island, Luke was a newborn when we left and Jack was a young toddler, so they don't remember the ocean. In addition to that, it was warm water and generally no waves, so it was a very different experience than what Howie and Erin were accustomed to. We took Howard's best friend, Jon, with us and enjoyed visiting with him. All in all, it was a successful day except for the fact that I didn't know my camera settings were jacked up and all of the pictures turned out grainy (although some are worse than others).

We packed a picnic lunch, but Ruby's seemed so much more inviting, so we skipped the picnic and ate lunch on the pier. 

After we were done at the beach we headed over to Irvine and ate at a Japanese chain fast food restaurant. There are only a few in America. We ate at CoCo Ichibanya all the time in Japan and it was wonderful to eat there again. You can see the restaurant behind the picture of Howie in the back right of the photo. We also saw this crazy expensive car and Howie wanted a picture. We weren't the only ones taking pictures of it. 

Wheeler Peak Campground

Howard was gone for 4 months and has since returned home and left again. Despite my lack of blogging, life has carried on at full pace since my last post.  Howie has already completed his Scout Camp and Erin flew to Missouri to attend her summer camp. The kids and I are now hanging out in Missouri with my sister's family until school starts because Howard had to leave again. During his short time home, we squeezed in a little camping trip in the first week of July. We decided upon Wheeler Peak Campground at Great Basin National Park at the recommendation of a fellow military spouse. After quite a bit of research and preparation we were all set. We drove through the middle of nowhere for 5 hours along a desert highway.  Books on CD made the time pass quickly. Once we arrived we were not disappointed. We left the 110F heat of Las Vegas and relished the highs in the high 60s and low 70s on our trip. Combined with low humidity, minimal bugs, and beautiful views - we were in heaven. The pictures don't adequately do this place justice, but they will just have to make do. 

This is pretty much what we saw for 5 straight hours. Boring...

but is was all worth it for this...

camping in a grove of aspen trees, waking up to birds chirping...

enjoying the warmth of a campfire...

and spectacular views from our campsite.

A 1/2 mile walk from our campsite is a short nature trail full of pine trees, creeks, flowers, and fallen logs. It was a great way for the younger kids to get acclimated to hiking and the high altitude (approx. 10,000ft).

View of Wheeler Peak from our campsite.

Just one of many logs we sat on or walked across.

We took a nice little break along the creek on our first hike with the kids.

Along the way we passed meadows with deer grazing. Sometimes butterflies would follow us and even land on my clothes. 

Luke had a hard time on the first day of hiking, but by the end he was a pro and did great! 

It's hard to see, but there are deer in this photo.

The following pictures are at Stella Lake, near the base of Wheeler Peak. 

The patch of snow close to the lake was too much of a temptation for the children, so we went off the trail and ventured up there.  Luke got tired about half way up, so he and I waited patiently on a rock while the older kids played in the snow for about 10 minutes. 

As we hiked up, I felt like we were the Von Trapp family hiking through the Alps. 

Howard instructed the children on how to properly build and start a campfire. 

The deer visited us every afternoon/evening at our campsite.

One morning I went on a hike by myself and it was probably my favorite part of the trip. It was so peaceful and no one else was on the trails, so it was extra quiet. 

It was so beautiful and almost looked staged. It was like Walt Disney's set designers created this little patch of heaven. Had a bird or bunny came up to me and started singing or talking, I would not have been surprised. I felt like I was on the set of a classic animated Disney movie. 

Another day was spent taking a tour of Lehman Caves. It was really interesting and a great experience for the family. I highly recommend it. 

The views were simply amazing.

One day Howard and Howie hiked up Wheeler Peak (13,000+ ft). I stayed back with the younger kids, but I hope to make it up next year.