Hiking

Tim and Trent have been going on hikes for at least two years now.  Tim always extends an invitation to me and my usual response is, "Are we hiking up hill and if so the answer is no."  I am not a big fan up walking up hills or hiking when it's hot.  I know, we live in California and it's usually warm here, so more often than not they are going on hikes when it's a little too warm for my liking.  I have been on a few hikes (I think only 2 last year) when it's been overcast out or when we had friends visiting and I didn't really have the option of saying no.  In the new year though, I have already been on two hikes, which I am pretty proud of myself for.  Since I have been working out on my awesome elliptical I feel a bit more fit and want to continue feeling fit, so I am trying to get over my dislike of hiking up hills and in the warm weather.

The first hike of the year was in Eaton Canyon.  I have done this hike before, but I forget about the 10 creek crossings there are.  Tim, of course, didn't remind me of my dislike for this hike because he wanted me to go along.  So, we hiked down into the canyon and I quickly remembered what this hike was all about.  Our destination was a beautiful waterfall, but crossing the creeks with Freddy was not much fun.  We had some new hikers with us, my brother, his girlfriend and his kids.  Todd's older boys hiked up in the front with me and we had a good time.  Todd's youngest son, Jake who is almost 4 years old did a great job crossing the creeks.  He was a bit scared at first, but by the end of the hike was doing great, I think Uncle Tim helped him out a bit.  This hike isn't too strenuous, but maneuvering over the crossings is stressful. What the hike did have going for it was the weather was great.  A bit chilly which was perfect.

First creek crossing...

I just love the looks he gives me.

The gang making their way across the creek.

A great picture of a father helping his son.

We made it to the waterfall.

The 3 T's.

Out of the canyon and just about a mile to go.

We had to hurry because the sun was going down.

Our second hike of the year was up in the mountains behind Sierra Madre. The neighborhood is nestled right up against the mountains, it is gorgeous. We had beautiful views of the San Gabriel Valley and when we hiked down you could see downtown Los Angeles and then the reflection of the sun off the ocean, not too shabby. Again, Tim wasn't too forth coming with details about the terrain of the hike. He said he wasn't too strenuous.  Sure Tim!  We start off going up hill, in the shade, but up hill.  The path was narrow and it was up hill.  I am pretty sure Tim knows my dislike of walking up hill.  Freddy and I took the lead, but soon Freddy got pretty tired and we ended up in middle of our stretched out group.  My brother, his girlfriend, Jake and their crazy dog Keystone came on the hike again.  Since the hiking path was so narrow it was a bit stressful hiking with Jake because being almost 4 he isn't too aware of the need to walk very carefully up the path because the drop off is pretty far down. We all managed to get to the destination, which was a picturesque stream set down in the canyon.  The best part was it was so nice and cool down there.  I took us almost 2 hours to hike to the stream, but only 45 minutes to hike up out of it and back to the car.  The hike back wasn't all that great, hiking down hill can be just as strenuous as hiking up hill.  The only plus was it was cooler out.  I had Freddy who is a dog that has to led the pack and know where everyone is at all times.  He is constantly checking on Tim and Trent.  We were in the back of the group, so he was basically pulling me down the mountain.  Good times!  For all our hard work we treated ourselves to some yummy pizza and almond champagne. The pizza tasted so good and Tim said it's because we earned it.  I am not sure if I buy that because food always tastes good to me earned or not.

Check out Trent's hat with a spinner on top.  Perfect hat for hiking...NOT! During the hike the week prior Trent was complaining about his sun hat rubbing against his neck because of the backpack.  Well, this hike Tim said he could wear a ball cap and this is what he picked out.  Oh well it's not on my head.

Ready, set, let's go!

Great views.

We made it to the creek.

Freddy was so happy to see water, he ran to the water and sat down.

Taking a break.

Can you guess what Trent is doing with this stick?  You are right, it's a gun.

Making our way down the mountain.

The view of downtown Los Angeles.

Still smiling after the hike.  He's a pro at this hiking thing.

I have to say although I complain about the terrain of the hikes and sometimes the weather, I am glad I have been hiking with my family. I have gotten some great pictures and I am glad I am in on the adventures.

A New Year Begins...

We wound down from our Christmas festivities and were looking forward to going out to Oxnard to celebrate the New Year.  Tim's parents very recently bought a beach house in Oxnard.  Tim and Trent had seen the house a month or so before, but I hadn't, so I was looking forward to spending time at the new house.  We made our way out to Oxnard Thursday morning.  Of course, Tim cycled out there, well almost all the way out there.  Trent, Freddy and I (and a few bikes and lots of stuff) made our way on the 101 freeway (not my most favorite freeway since there is no carpool lane) out to Oxnard.  We were greeted with windy and chilly weather, but that was ok since the house was amazing.  Just two days prior the furniture and appliances had been delivered.  The house was awesome and everything looked great.  
We had a fun and relaxing few days.  We took a family bike ride to the beach, played Kinect, did some shutterflying, watch some quality reality tv (Jersey Shore and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) and just had a good time with family.  We are looking forward to summertime in Oxnard.
The house.

Trent playing Kinect.  He had so much fun.

Look at that face!  He is so expressive.

Determined one minute and very serious the next.

Oxnard Beach


Trent exploring.

Not sure why he likes throwing sand...oh wait he's a boy!


Sisters (in-law)

Ready for a bike ride.

And they are off...

The Fun Continues while on Christmas Break

With all the rain we were having in the last two weeks, we bolted out of the house at the first sight of sun.  We spent the day at Kidspace and had so much fun.  I used to take Trent there all the time when he was a toddler. They have a great toddler room where it's a mini indoor playground for toddlers.  They have a rope ladder, a slide, building blocks and a ball pit. Trent loved playing in there.

We hadn't been to Kidspace in about 2 years, so I was a bit nervous about there being age appropriate things for Trent to do.  It did seem that Trent was a bit too old for the activities there, but he still found things to do and have fun.  We had a yummy lunch there and then played some more.  The good thing about Trent being older was he was able to climb to the top of the glass tower by himself.  It's a bit claustrophobic for me, so I was happy that he could do it himself.

We had such a nice day and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Trent being a spider on the spider web.

Making his way up one of the towers.

Trent insisted that I take a picture of him at the top.

Having fun feeding the insects.

Here are a few oldies, but goodies of Trent playing in the toddler room and at the water table.  Good times for sure!

Trent making his way up the robe ladder.

He is making sure he is not missing any of the action.

All smiles!

Such a big boy going down the slide.

Playing at the water table.

Christmas

The holidays are over and it all went by too quickly.  We had a great Christmas. I have to say that seeing Christmas through your child's eyes is amazing.  It gives me a whole new prospective and I see how much each tradition we do means to Trent and how it relates to his overall experience. Trent is a creature of habit like myself.  Every morning he would eat his chocolate (don't judge me) from his Advent calendar, cut off a ring on his Christmas chain and then right before we would leave the house each day he would place his magnet on the felt Christmas tree counting down to Christmas.  All was right with the day when we kept with our traditions.
Trent was so excited going to sleep on Christmas Eve, I wasn't sure if he would ever fall asleep.  He woke up Christmas morning just as excited as the night before.  He ran into the living room to see what Santa left him.  He loved all that Santa brought him.  The first gift he went for was the Hedgehog game he wanted.  He was so excited that Santa remembered he wanted it.  He moved onto the DS games, the globe, the Star Wars and Super Hero books, Mad Libs and so much more.  Santa definitely spoiled our boy, he must have been a good boy in the past year.

Tim got some fun stuff from REI that he really liked.  Trent was excited for Tim to see what Clif bars he had picked for him.  I was excited to see what jewelry Trent had picked out for me.  He got me a beautiful silver cross, a very pretty, but a bit too bling for me bracelet and a gorgeous pair of fancy earrings.  Trent had picked out the jewelry for me all on his own.  Tim is so good about letting Trent decide what to get me.  There was one piece of jewelry that Tim had to put his foot down and tell Trent to pick out something else for me.  Trent wanted to get me this ring so bad that he was willing to give up going to Disneyland for a year and told Tim he could just work harder so he could get the ring.  Tim told Trent that the ring was too expensive and he wasn't sure if it was quite me. Trent disagreed and was adamant that I would love the ring.  Tim and the salesperson were able to persuade Trent to get me the other pieces of jewelry.  I love finding out what Trent thinks I like, it's so precious.

After opening our presents, we headed off to church.  I was a bit nervous on the way to church because I was going to read a bible verse, Luke, Chapter 2, verses 1-14 in front of the congregation.  It would be the first time that a bible verse would be read by a church member after the text word was read by the minister.  I had read the verse numerous times in my head and when the time came to read it in front of the church members I did a pretty good job, Trent agreed too.  Of course, I could have slowed down a bit more, but all in all it went pretty well.  

From church we headed up to my Grandpa's in Tehachapi.  We were looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my family.  My Uncle and his wife were in from Minnesota, so it would be good to see and spend time with them.  For dinner we were having ham and a turducken, which everyone was looking forward too.  I am not a big fan of ham (Tim says I can't even say the word ham without making some sort of gross look), so I was hoping that I would like the turducken, which I did.

Trent loved playing Santa again and Jake was his helper.  They were so cute handing out gifts.  My parents got Tim and I a single cup coffee maker.  I was so excited to get this gift.  My Mom and I had talked about the coffee maker, but I was reluctant to get it because I wasn't sure we had the counter space.  Well, she thought we did and got it for us.  I am so glad she did.  I was like a kid when I saw it and started to shriek a bit.  I found counter space (as soon as we got home) for the coffee maker and we are enjoying delicious coffee each morning.  

I will say it again, we had a great Christmas.  I love our families and we are so lucky to have all of them.

The beautiful ring Trent wanted to get me.

The goodies Santa left for Trent.

Trent hugging the Hedgehog game.

Reading the note Santa left for him.

Playing his new Batman DS game.

Trying out the dual lightsabers.

A goofy smile, of course.

Pictures before church.

Trent and Jake delivering presents.

Trent opening his keyboard from Grandpa and Grandma.

Playing outside in the cold.

Shooting the bebe gun.