April's Lassen Volcanic National Park

LASSEN VOLCANIC NATIONAL PARK - our country’s 15th official national park, is located in Mineral, CA, which is about 3 and ½ hours from San Francisco.  Having been to Yellowstone National Park, and fascinated by it’s geysers and boiling hot spots, I was thrilled to realize that Lassen Volcanic National Park has many of the same features.  It is full of hydrothermal areas, volcanic peaks, alpine lakes and mountain meadows.  It includes 150 miles of trails, many of which are sidewalks taking you past all of it’s geothermal activity.  

The hydrothermal areas are described as “roaring fumaroles (steam volcanic gas vents), thumping melting pots, boiling pools and steaming ground”.  All of this is heated by a body of hot or molten rock beneath the ground.  In order to safely see these places you have to stay on designated trails and walk carefully. Some of the trails or sites have the most interesting names:  Bumpass Hell, Little Hot Springs Valley, Sulpher Works, Devil’s Kitchen with a “bubbling cauldron”, and Terminal Geiser which spurts steam located in the middle of a creek.  

Besides visiting these geothermal wonders Lassen Volcanic National Park has more than 200 lakes, ponds and creeks.  Swimming and wading are allowed in the lakes and creeks, as well as fishing and boating on some.

Another unique activity at Lassen is “parkcaching”.  Parkcaching is an outdoor game of searching for objects or information using GPS coordinates with-in the national parks. And in this unique time of life they also offer a virtual parkcaching adventure. 

Lodging choices consist of camping, staying in cabins or at the lodge.

For the past 115 years Lassen Volcanic has been a national park, and yet I’m just hearing about it now!  It is certainly on my bucket list!

#8-week-till-summer recap

Mariah and children and Hillary and children arrived last Sunday night.  We switched rooms around for the week - those two families downstairs, Luke in the office, me sharing with Samantha, and Reggie on a business trip.  The routine became that Mariah came upstairs when I left for work.  Whenever she needed to care for my Mom, Hillary took over caring for all the kids.  (Hillary was not fully vaccinated yet which is why we did it this way.)  

To help the kids pass the time we brought out all the toys that I kept from the kids' childhood, drawing supplies, and puzzles.  I think the biggest hit was the cars and trains.  They had them set up all over the living room and dining room, which was great.  Hillary is home schooling her kids this so they continued with their lessons throughout the day.  When I got home they were then able to get the kids out of the house as I stayed with Grandma.  They went to parks, to the beach, and to walk the Great Highway, and Hillary was in charge of picking up Samantha from work.

Though I didn't have a lot of times with the kids I got a few fun things in.  I was determined to bake treats every day - choc. chip cookies, peanut butter cookies and lemon bars.  We did a flower seed activity, and I enjoyed taking on the floor puzzles with them.  I think that 18 month old Emi remembers us and remembers living here, because anytime I went near the computer in the dining room she followed me so we could do "songs" together (Disney music videos).  As I mentioned in the last post we went ahead and picked Kaia and Grandma's song.  There were also a couple of nights that Emi fell asleep in my lap which was so nice, and we all enjoyed watching her eat a sour cream dinner.

Samantha loved having the kids here and invited them into her room every night to play games and watch movies.  She finished every night watching tv with her sisters when the kids were all in bed.

Luke enjoyed the week as well.  He also baked cookies, and baguettes which were so good!  He and Hillary watched some great, old, classic movies which the rest of the family eventually joined in on.  I think that Eli - the only boy of the group - especially enjoyed when Luke was home.  

And finally, it was good to have the backyard filled with children's voices again.  There were a couple of times, when I was with my Mom, that she smiled and laughed at hearing their voices too.  

I admit, I was teary-eyed at how well things worked out and how my girls came to help their grandma.  I know Julia would have liked to as well.  We can't wait for their summer visit!  

Kaia and Grandma's song - official debut

 Now that I have met 4 month old Kaia it was time to pick our song: a classic, loved by her mother and grandpa back in the day.

Calling in Reinforcements, and Happy Back to School!

As I mentioned in my last post, there are 8 weeks left of school till summer break.  Woo! Hoo!  Right now my Mom is at the point that she should not stay home alone.  This could change, and she could get stronger again.  But she is also celebrating her 91st birthday in May, so we think we ought to play it safe.  So, we are calling in reinforcements!  I think she is pretty happy about it.  She has gone more than a year without seeing some of these family members.  The vaccine is starting to open up her world again!

For me, these last 8 weeks will be the first and only 8 weeks with children at school, on campus.   Our district is opening back up!  But wow, is it going to be different - the students have been divided into AA and BB groups and will attend on campus 2 days a week (though staff will be there 5).  There are now shields across every teacher's desk, student's desks spaced for distance learning, and dismissal before lunch time.  Those are just a few of the changes.  It's a crazy world but one we are surviving and so I am grateful.

generations

 Though living in a house full of people can have it's challenges I am really seeing the blessing of it as well - especially when the people are of different ages and generations.  

I admit, there are times when I have worried that things are too loud for my Mom, especially as she is not on a schedule and naps throughout the day.  But she has said that most of the time she barely hears it.  I think that is a combination of being true and her being nice.  But I am remembering times, when I was  laying in my bed because of sickness or injury, I asked Reggie to leave the door open because I wanted to hear the noise of the house; I wanted to still feel a part of the family.  So maybe that is how my Mom has felt too.  In fact, there have been times when the house was totally quite, and she didn't realize I had been looking in on her every half hour, and so she thought she was home alone, which made her sad.

This week has been pretty quiet around here - a lot of time of just my Mom and I.  Though it's been nice, I find myself getting pretty happy too when Samantha and Luke get home.  Their energy, talkativeness, music, movies, and basic light-heartedness has been a ray of sunshine.  I also can't express enough how much of a support Samantha is when hanging out with Grandma so I can take a walk or take a nap, and how much of a support Luke is when Grandma has been too week to move herself or has even fallen and he has helped pick her up and gotten her back in bed.

Next week will be a loud one.  Now that our school is opening up for the next 8 weeks I will be back at work but I have called in family reinforcements (who have been vaccinated, at my Mom's request) to be with her during the day.  Some of these weeks will include children in tow, and though they won't be in the same room as Grandma (again, they won't be vaccinated) she will hear their happy noises.  I think the next 8 weeks will bring a nice ebb-and-flow of different generations into our house.

finishing off spring break

 Last of all, Hillary and children came down for a day visit.  It was wonderful!  They just moved back to California and are only a couple of hours away.  We had to postpone our Easter day plans because they had slight coughs.  But now they were cough free and clear.  I finally got to meet baby Kaia.  

Explaining to Audrey the characters from "The Empire Strikes Back".

A Thursday visit

 My sister, Lynette, came to visit on Thursday.  It was wonderful because she got here the same time as my Mom's nurse, so she was able to hear first hand how my mom is doing.  She was able to spend time with her and then we went for two walks:  a short one with Samantha on her lunch break and a longer one up a mountain.  The spring flowers were out and just beautiful.  (We were lucky that Reggie was able to stay home with my mom so that we could go and take our time).

It was very rejuvenating for me.

"I simply remember my favorite things . . .

and then I don't feel so bad".

I realized recently that this song is another way of counting your blessings.  For the life of me I can't remember anything about Wednesday's spring break except that we lived it.  Another day of routine, of life and time together, which is priceless.  I am not talented enough to re-write the song, but she mentions 5 of her favorite things at once, so I will give it a go:

children's smiles

photographs

glistening ocean

my kitchen

spring flowers

These are a few of my favorite things.

old movies

road trips

playlists

blankets

Christmas projects

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad:  I simply remember my favorite things and then I don't feel so bad.

And now I must put this movie on in the background while I go about my day.

 

Luke's contributions to my Spring Break (Luke's Job!)

Tuesday was a full day.  The one thing I want to mention right now is Luke's contributions. He made us his artisan-style pizza for dinner.  I believe he inherited the cookbook pictured below from Julia.  It was wonderful - I especially liked the mushroom/goat cheese variety.

Last summer, during the shut down,  Luke avoided boredom by learning how to bake - really well.  He challenged me on my cookies, looking for new recipes.  But what he concentrated the most on is bread.  I wish I took pictures of the loaves he made.  Recently, when California started opening up again, he took his skills into the workforce and applied at a really nice bakery in our area called Rosalind's.  It is known for it's bread, and Luke is now one of it's professional bakers.  We love it when he brings loaves home! (He is still in school but enjoys this variety of life, and paycheck of course!).

I am so proud of Luke.  He brings such a happy spirit into the house; he loves when the family visits and is all in with spending quality time.  I am proud of him for trying out BYUI for a year and now making his own life while still at home.  I do my best to honor that he is an adult and a free spirit, coming and going as he chooses, but continuing to check in out of mutual respect.  I have more of a testimony and peace of the principle of free agency.  Whatever he dedicates his time and attention to needs to be his choice.  If he were to, just for me, follow every step on the path that I want for him, I don't think he would be happy or successful.  I still have hopes and dreams for him, but they will have to be at his choosing.  And so I am enjoying watching him direct his life and I am treasuring his time and contributions to our home.

Spring Break

 Usually I like to plan out my weeks-off, even if I'm not going anywhere.  But this Spring Break needs to be taken day by day.  I guess each morning I will allow myself some ideas of what I want and should do and see if it works out.

So far Monday is kind-of going as I thought it would.  The plan for Monday is to be sick.  Though that is pretty funny, it is actually true; I got my second shot yesterday and multiple people, including health care workers, have told me that most people my age feel pretty sick for a day afterwards.  So, I am forcing myself to not look at or make any to-do lists today.  I will not be cooking (hurray for Easter dinner leftovers) and not be cleaning (hurray for Reggie & Samantha in getting the Easter dinner dishes done and kitchen cleaned last night).  I will lay down as often as I want (just not on my sore arm) and watch some movies.  So far I am having body aches and a never-ending headache, which happened with my first shot and when I had the virus.  But hopefully that is it. 

I guess we will see what Tuesday brings!

a good day

 Thursday I stopped at Rosalind's bakery with a plan in mind.  I bought a chocolate chip croissant for each of us at the house and put them in individual bags.  I added a quote to each bag, as this was a way to acknowledge what happened the Thursday day before Easter:

My Mom really enjoyed this treat and the packaging - for many reasons:  she likes chocolate, she loves the Savior, and maybe most of all right now it brought some variety to her life.  At almost 91 years old she does not feel well enough to leave the house, and quite often not even her bedroom. 

But she did feel well enough to leave her bedroom Thursday evening and watch some of "Sing In The Rain" with us.  As she was going to bed that night she said it was a good day.  Unfortunately she has not been feeling well since, but I am holding out that she still has some good days to come.

Spring candle and flower for her Easter Weekend

                                                 

Happy April!

 Spring has never been my season, but this year it is meaning a lot to me!  As I posted, I am noticing the colors, I have started a "gardening" project which I will blog about soon, and I am feeling all around hopeful (with only on occasional gloom which I have been able to shoo away quickly).  

Today is Easter Sunday and I am looking forward to our 2nd day of General Conference, and listening to "The Messiah" from beginning to end while I make dinner.

And I will now leave this post with some pictures and words I recently put on facebook:

The ice plant is in full bloom again and the perfect place for hiding Easter eggs. Yesterday I walked at Fort Funston which borders Daly City & San Francisco (thanks for the tip Michelle Draper!) There are so many trails it could take years for me to walk each one; sounds good.

. Happy April!