The end of our summer is pretty busy and a bit exhausting. Whenever we have too many weekend events planned it becomes difficult because our work schedules require us to work weekends as well. For example we had our Socal road trip then two weekends later we had our LSCC camping trip and then two weekends after that we have a camping trip with friends and then two weekends after that we have the LSCC retreat and we end up working most of the days in between the trips. Still, even if we're a bit tired, the trips are fun so we're still keeping it up until school starts (next week!) and we get a brief respite.
Just a few things to round out the summer.
Joe and his family made it to Thailand. This is more for their family so they were all around Thailand and visiting Michelle's family in the northeast but also stopped to see my mom and dad for a week.
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| Her health is still failing but good to see my mom smiling here |
Jad finally got both of his COVID vaccinations so he as immunized as possible (until stupid COVID mutates more). He is not good with shots and cried all the way into the clnic and while waiting. Boy, how embarrassing :p
In between our busy weekends, Amy and Joyce ran the SF Half Marathon! Amy did amazingly well, despite having some stomach cramps and came in 13th in her age class in a bit less than 2 hours. Great results for all the training she did this summer! Pretty awesome. She thinks she could have even cut it by a few more minutes if she didn't have the GI issues (for which she had to go to the med tent and get hydrated for after the race.. aiya.)
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| The two runners :) |
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| Kai mis using the pool covers to great effect :D |
The big event of the last two weeks was the LSCC camping trip. It always amazes me that they can plan so well for all the people that make it. We had 96 adults and kids total this year. As usual it was a lot of fun and great to catch up with the church folks that we don't normally talk to on Sundays or in small group. The kids had a great time playing in the outdoors (enforced no electronics, of course), starting fires, roasting smores and hanging out with new friends. We ate amazing food (for camping) cooked together in shared rotations, went swimming in an ice cold mountain river, toured a giant cavern and saw grand giant sequoias. Of course, there were also endless hornets, dusty dirty campsites, uncomfortable sleeping bags, fighting and crying, but that's what selective memory is for.. Camping is great! So much so that we're going to do it again next week with friends :p
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| Hard to capture but here are the kids (many of whom are bigger than I am now) .. our gray tent in the back right |
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| Burgers with friends in the outdoors! |
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| Kai didn't want too many pics taken but he spent much of his time setting up and burning things in the fire |
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| Jad became good friends with Jubilee on this trip. They are almost the same age and were super cute together |
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| Nighttime fun with flashlights |
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| Sora and Jad spent lots of time with Noe and Sophie building several wooden structures |
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| Day at the river. It was a perfect day for a cold dip then you'd warm up in the hot sun :) |
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| Sora, Kai and I went in the cold water up to our necks.. Amy and Jad waded until their thighs.. also lots of time with Penelope on this trip |
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| 2nd day dinner was epic with bbq chicken, korean beef, bao buns and more! |
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| Jad loved the laser tag guns that someone else brought along |
The only true mishap of the weekend was when Amy and Joyce woke up to go running on Sunday morning and found the fire was still going! The kids had gotten a bit too excited and found a giant dry stump that they put in the fire pit on Saturday night. I was surprised it even caught actually but it did because Kai had built such a good base of kindling and wood underneath. Apparently, the late night revelers put the fire out when they went to bed but there must have been some hot coals still underneath and over time, I think, the water must have evaporated off and the log relit. Scary..
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| Unattended fire.. sorry, Smokey.. |
The next day, we went to the Moaning Caverns. The grounds around Arnold are full of caves and there are a number of them that you can climb into. A few years ago, a friend knew a guide who led us on a tour of some smaller caves. We had to wear masks, knee and elbow pads and have headlights. Some places, you had to crawl and squeeze in on your stomach to fit. And there were bats! Yes, looking back, maybe not the best idea but a unique experience to be sure. Moaning Caverns is much larger and more tame. The Spiral tour basically goes into this giant cave (16 stories tall) where they have built a spiral staircase so you can walk down and looks at the cave formations, stalactites and such. This one was was so even Jad could do it but there is a more advance spelunking tour that goes through some of the smaller offshoot caves from the main chamber. Still fun for the kids to see though and good exercise going down and back up :)
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| Down the steep stairway first |
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| family picture 200 feet underground |
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| There were some cool rock formations that have formed over many thousands of years |
We got back from there and went on a mini hike through the Big Trees grove with Joyce, Derek and Penelope. There's a reason why it got it's name and we saw some giant sequoias along with other huge evergreens.
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| I like the way Kai is smiling here |
We ended the last night there singing worship songs around the campfire. I still really don't believe in God but certainly there is plenty of love in the church so I guess I'll take what I can get. The morning was massive clean up of the site and then everyone headed home. I'll leave you with this picture of Jad and Jubilee who had both climbed onto the recycling container while no one was looking. Til next time!
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| A couple of cuties |
