Hike

Friday afternoon John decided he wanted to do something on Saturday.  So he called my grandpa and asked him he wanted to go for a picnic and hike on Saturday, he said sure.  My grandpa loves to go on little adventures, and he is getting ready to undergo surgery and radiation for prostate cancer in a few weeks, so now was as good of a time as ever.

We were not real sure where to go, but after some discussion and looking through some books of the local area near my grandpa's house, we decided to go to Carlon Falls and we are glad we did.  The hike for the most part was easy to moderate.  The weather and scenery were perfect, and the girls said several times, that this was the best hike we have ever been on, so everyone was happy!

At the start of the hike there was a tree log that had fallen over, so the girls went to the log and started walking on it.  Mikayla looked down and noticed some lady bugs. Soon we all looked around and there were thousands of lady bugs everywhere.  The ground was crawling with them.  It was unreal.  I have never seen anything like it.  But this was the only place, along the entire hike we saw them.

All the red things in the pictures below are lady bugs!

 The hike follows a stream/river and at the top of the hike is a waterfall.  Shortly into the hike you cross a gate and enter into Yosemite National Park, then you come across the outside perimeter of what use to be a swimming pool.  Apparently there use to be a resort there, from what we read.  Kind of weird, because I don't know how people got to the resort, without hiking in.

Some of the water fall.

John and Mikayla

John, Grandpa Billy, Ashlee and Mikayla

Once we got to the waterfall, there were lots of rocks to climb and so only John and Ashlee went on to the top of the waterfall.  The rest of us stayed a little farther down and watched them.

Mikayla

The waterfall made these holes in the granite surface.  Ashlee is posing above.

After the hike we had a picnic, and took the "scenic" drive, although it wasn't so scenic, since everything was pretty much destroyed by the 2013 Rim Fire.  It's crazy to see how much land and acreage that fire destroyed, it's going to take a really long time for the forest to replenish itself.  

Once we got back to my grandpas house, Mikayla did some target shooting.  She likes to shoot her BB gun, but now that we live in town, she doesn't have anywhere to shoot.  We ended the day with Mexican food in Jamestown and headed home.  One of the nice things about living in CA, you can take a day trip to the coast or mountains and be back home that same day!

Ashlee's 14th Birthday

This year Ashlee decided that she wanted to have a small party with her friends from her old school Whitmore.   It was kind of last minute thing, it's just too hard trying to plan something for a winter time party.  So we decided to take them to have pedicures and their nails painted,  followed by lunch at Chili's,  After lunch we came back to the house for a while and Ashlee opened gifts and the girls played outside for a while.  All of her friends were able to make it and she enjoyed being able to see them again.

Ashlee, Alyssa, Lauren, Mariah and Sarah

The birthday girl.  The nail place provided cupcakes, a drink and chips for the girls.

 The ladies at the nail salon were quite entertained with these girls.  They kept laughing at the things they were saying.  Even a few customers in the salon were laughing at the things they were saying.  Which is good.  I was afraid they may get upset, but come to find out, I knew one of the ladies.  I went to school with her sons.  Small world!

Back at home opening gifts.  Ashlee bought all her friends a cup and filled it with candy, and nail stuff.  

Outside playing basketball.

That evening we went to pizza with my Mom and brother and his family.  My nephew, Landon has a birthday a few days after Ashlee so we just had a mini family party for both of them.

Landon opening his card from grandma.  

Ashlee opening her card from grandma.  My mom always writes them a note about things they have done during the year.

Sunday (the day of her birthday) she had to give a talk in church.  Coincidently she ended up speaking with her Uncle Danny.  They didn't know they were speaking together, until we got to church that day.

Monday, Ashlee didn't have school.  She spent the morning at the orthodontist and then we met Aunt Teresa for lunch at Panera.  After lunch, Teresa took Ashlee and I to a salon.   Ashlee got to have her make-up done and taught how to put make-up on.  

Your a very pretty, smart, bright, dedicated young lady.  We are proud of you,

Christmas

For Christmas we got to enjoy 5 days at The Cabin Under the Pines.  It was so nice.  We always love going to the cabin.  As soon as we arrived at the cabin on Christmas Eve it started to pour down rain. We thought it may get cold enough for snow, but it didn't.

Christmas morning the girls actually slept until 7:30am.  That was nice.   The girls opened their gifts.

This is what Our Christmas Tree at home looked like.  

Teresa had a tree decorated at the cabin.  All we had to do was put our gifts under it.  

Ashlee and Mikayla opening their gifts.  Christmas didn't consist of any big ticket items.  They got what they needed...clothes.

After gifts, John and the girls went for a walk to the pond across the street and they captured some awesome photos.

The pond was frozen.  They were able to capture this reflection.

The morning sun shinning through the trees.

Ashlee and Mikayla

Mikayla

While they were at the pond, I set the table for our Christmas Lunch/Dinner and started cooking.  My mom and her husband Terry and my Grandpa Billy and Kay came up to spend a few hours with us.  Teresa had a nice center piece already on the table too.  I took the simple route.  We ate on paper plates.  I had been sick all week, and so simple was nice and easier.

After lunch we went for a walk, exchanged gifts, visited , had dessert and then our family that came for the day headed home.

The day after Christmas, John had made arrangements for us to go snowmobiling up at Bear Valley, Alpine Lake, Ebbets Pass Area.  This was a first for all of us.  I am glad we went ahead and bought snow gear for the girls before leaving home, because it was cold.  We ended up using our ear bands for our faces, because the helmets kept our ears warm and our faces were freezing.

John and Ashlee on the left. Mikayla and I on the right

 Libby and Mikayla

 Alpine Lake Frozen over

 John and Ashlee

Ashlee, John and Mikayla

 Mikayla

Mikayla, Libby, Ashlee and Mikayla

We had fun.  If we ever do it again, we will bring masks for our faces.  Your face definitely gets cold,  

I seemed to be the joke of the day.  I had to get a child's helmet because my head is so small.  Then when we were headed back in on the snow mobiles, I took a corner too fast and Mikayla and I flipped over.  Luckily we didn't get hurt.  Just a little sore.  And before heading back to the cabin, we stopped at the store to grab a few items, and as we were walking through the store my shoes kept making a sound like there was something sticky on them.  A bit later we noticed my shoes were literally falling apart all over the store.  Everywhere I walked I was leaving pieces of my shoes.  I had these shoes for about 10 years, but had only worn them about 5 times.  I couldn't believe they were coming apart.  At least they didn't fall apart while we were on the snow mobiles!

Saturday we went on a short hike.  Every time we are at the cabin John researches a new adventure for us to go on.  This time we went on a hike above the Logging Museum in Arnold.  A nice, short paved (for the most part) hike.

 Libby and Ashlee

 Ashlee and John in front.  Mikayla in rear.

 John, Mikayla and Ashlee

 Selfie time

We had a great trip.  We love going to cabin.  Every time we go, we never want to come home. John and Mikayla always come up with a bunch of excuses and reasons to stay.  Thank you Danny and Teresa.  We appreciate it.