Camping with the Bigornias

One thing I love about our family is our spontaneity especially when it comes to spur-of-the-moment weekend trips, particularly made easier when Mike is on vacation and Fridays are temporarily free from ministry. Earlier last week, I was talking with my dear friend Elaine about our camping trip several weeks ago and she mentioned that she and her family have not yet gone camping; her last recollection was that of her childhood. Then in the same conversation she had mentioned that her husband had the Friday off (which is a rare occasion.) Prior to my conversation with Elaine, Mike and I desired to go on another camping trip - having such a pleasant time camping with the Tolentino's HFG. So we packed all our bags, tents, etc and headed to South Lake Tahoe with the.....

Campground by the Lake is where we found ourselves for the weekend. Situated in the heart of South Lake Tahoe (CA side), our first morning we were greeted by birds chirping, the smell of pine, and the sound of traffic. Besides the s'mores, my favorite times in camping are mornings and breakfasts.

Like father, like daughter

Hanging out with my ate

Visiting Lower Eagle Falls......First things first.....

From the look of Elle and Kaykay, you'd think the water would be warm and pleasant. Far from it! The water was chilly and freezing!!! But these two did not mind it; too busy playing, I don't think they even noticed the water temperature.

One of my all-time-favorite picture of Kaykay.

Needless to say, pulling up her pant legs didn't matter. She ended up sitting waist deep in the water.

Bigfoot and Littlefoot sighting.....

Daddy at play or was he????

It's been awhile since Jimmy, I mean, Chef Jimmy cooked for us. 7 years ago, he would come over and cook us dinner with just the ingredients we had in the pantry, ref, etc. We were once again blessed by his creative, and not to mention, yummy cooking.

Elaine keeping the kids entertained while we cooked dinner. This was "ring around the roses" however, she altered the ending to say, "we all jump up." Spoken like a true, experienced mom who doesn't want her daughter "falling" down on the dirt.

Dancing Queen

After a week without Mike, Kaykay and I needed to spend some quality time with him. So he took us to Discovery Kingdom; we also invited a dear couple along with us - Anthony and Ellen. Discovery Kingdom is right at our back door - literally.

Discovery Kingdom has changed quite a bit since they moved here and changed their name from Marine World, Africa, USA. They don't have a lot of animal shows, which is a disappointment. However, we did get a chance to catch the dolphin, whale, and bird show. What they do have a lot of are roller coasters and entertainment. Kaykay enjoyed the Looney Tune characters and the music.

At the end of the day, all the Looney Tune and Discovery Kingdom characters came out to bid everyone a farewell. During this time, music blared and Kaykay could not resist but to shake her hips.

Daddy is My MVP

Discovering New Friends at Discovery Kingdom

Auntie, is that a horse?

Sitting with Auntie Ellen as we took a moment to rest

I enjoyed hanging out with my auntie and uncle.

Kaykay has a fasination with ducks

but not with cats.... (She was actually trying to pull me away)

Discovering Discovery Kingdom

The Three of Us

This is not my bed!
Family Cruise
Still looking for Kaykay's chair. This one is a bit too big - even for daddy.

Discovering Animals at Discovery Kingdom

My favorite land animal

Life is good

Our nation's bird

Camping Advice

Last week, we had the wonderful privilege and delight to invite ourselves to the Tolentino's HFG 3rd Annual Camping Trip to Van Damme State Park in Mendicino. As semi-veteran campers, we have a few camping advice to prepare those of you who plan on taking a similar adventure this summer.

ADVICE #1: BRING PROPER ACCOMMODATIONS

(Primitive Camping)

(Modern Camping)

ADVICE #2: EAT WELL!

What would camping be without the s'mores

The Tolentinos provided us our first night's dinner: BBQ chicken, corn, mash potatoes

Our second night, dinner was provided by the DaCosta Family: Mountain Men's Steak Stew with dinner rolls. This was well needed as our second night was the coldest

The Harris Family provided dinner on the last night. Since Scott and Jen are the veterans in camping, they treated us to a true camping-dinner experience . . .

Yes ladies and gents, those are steaks!! We even had sausages and stuffing!

ADVICE #3: ENJOY THE. . .

a. SCENERY

Van Damme is right across from the beach

Thursday, we went hiking; first we stopped at the Pygmy forest and then took a 3 mile hike (round trip) thru a fern forest (located right in Van Damme Park). The fern forest reminded me of Hawaii with all the lush vegetation and interesting creatures.

On Friday we went to the tide pools (I forgot the name of the beach). This was great fun for the whole family as we spent several hours looking for sea creatures, enjoying the sand, and some even braved the chilly waters.

b. WILDLIFE

You can tell when the wild life is use to people as they relinquish all fear of humans and boldly approach.

I don't know if this is a grass hopper or what, but it decided to rest on my car.

This is a Banana Slug. We found one in our campsite that was about 4 inches long (or even longer)

These "wild life" are dangerous! Indigenous to these parts, using their cuteness to get everything they want. Fortunately we had this cage to keep them abay.

c. EACH OTHER

Kaykay and I enjoying a stroll on the way to the tide pools

The Harris' taking a family picture; Mace decided he would look at Mike's camera instead.

Everyone resting after our 2 minute walk thru the Pygmy forest. It took us longer to get all the kids out of the cars than it did for us to walk thru the whole forest. Nonetheless, it was a nice walk!

"Ma" and Mace having fun in their tent

A group pictures on our last day; we spent lunch in the town of Mendicino.

ADVICE #4: SIT BACK AND RELAX!

Daddy, Kaykay, and Cayden

Daddy and Kaykay having a laugh at the beach

The true treasure of camping!

ADVICE #5: PONDER ON LIFE'S GREAT MYSTERIES

Found at a chocolate shop in Mendocino.

Tag, I'm It!

One of my girlfriends, Haar tagged me to reveal 6 unremarkable quirks about myself. So, now I'm it. My six unremarkable quirks are:

1. I'm slightly dyslexic, so sometimes when I want to convey something verbally, I end up flipping my words around or when it gets really bad, I'm unable to convey anything at all. Writing numbers are the worse for me.

2. I have 3 different places where I make my weekly schedule. I think and plan my days in 30 minute intervals. And I have to write down everything I have for the following week on Mondays; if I don't, I panic and don't know what's going on!

3. I must, I need to be always on time, even though I know people will be late. This is truly connected to my #2.

4. I'm not fond of putting make up or fixing my hair (hence the perpetual ponytail/bun).

5. I can't stand raisins in cookies, cakes, macaroni salads, empanadas, etc, but I can eat them plain.

6. I need to have music/t.v. on when I go to bed; if it's too quiet, my mind starts racing and planning the following day, etc then I can't fall asleep.

OK...the following people consider yourself tagged, Mike, Shannon, Susan, Savannah, and Lora.

Here are the rules:
Link the person who tagged you.
Mention the rules in your blog.
Tell about six unspectacular quirks of yours.
Tag six bloggers by linking them. (They shall be "it")
Have fun and Happy Tagging!

Party All The Time

On Saturday, our family was kindly invited to Chan's Nanay's 75th birthday (surprise) birthday party at the Front Room. The night was filled with laughter, a slide show (great job Chan), hula performance from the great grand kids, cake, and delicious food.

(The great grand children of Nanay performing hula to Pearly Shells)

The Front Room has a nice view of the water front and Kaykay was smitten with the boats as they passed by, carefully explaining to her dad every detail of what she saw outside.

The after-party turned out to be at our house. Mike recently bought me a new game for the Wii, Beach Party; one of the sports on the game is volleyball and boy were the dad's having fun playing them. By the end of the night, Al and Angelo looked like they just got done with playing a real volleyball game. It was really nice to just sit and hang out with them as we seldom do. Kaykay's curfew was even pushed to later as she couldn't put herself to be put to bed while her ates and kuyas were in the playroom across the hall.

Sunday was truly a "day of rest." We did get a chance to have lunch at the Reyes' and then dinner with the Harris' and Bigornias after evening service.

What will this week hold for the David Ohana? Well, for one, we will head out to one (of our 2) camping trips this summer. But before we do that, we'll have to re-charge from our action-packed weekend.