Escape From the Heat

A couple of weeks ago we headed to the cabin to escape the 110 degree heat of the valley. We got there Friday evening, ate dinner and spent the rest of the night having dance parties and playing. Emmett is a little daredevil and loved flinging himself off the ottomans into piles of stuffed animals that he made. It's really a miracle he didn't break something!

Saturday I went for a run while Dada got the kids ready for our hike. We planned for a short four to five mile hike to Panoramic Point and back and didn't even take lunch because we thought we'd be back before noon. Turns out we are terrible planners and our short hike turned into eight and a half miles, the first half pretty steep uphill. Clara walked nearly the entire time with very minimal complaining, all for the promise of juice! I carried Emmett most of the way (much to both of our chagrin) with less than minimal complaining! We let him walk for a little while but he kept climbing rocks, jumping off, and falling on his face. He screamed when he had to go back in the backpack.

It was a beautiful hike with awesome views of the valley and surrounding mountains as well as lush ferns and plants on one side contrasted by regrowth after the Rough Fire on the other side. It is amazing how much damage the fire did as well as how different the area looks compared to the non damaged area. At points the ferns were so dense and nearly as tall as Clara and Dada had to carry her. She always requested to be put back down once through because she wanted her juice! Emmett went potty for the first time in a porta potty and did not go in his diaper the entire hike! He ran around sans pants and we tried to get him to pee on a tree but he wouldn't have it!

Although it was cooler in the mountains, it was still pretty warm and we nearly ran out of water. Once we got to the highway the kids and I continued on to Grant Grove and Dada headed back down the highway to the cabin to get the car (there was no way we were walking on the curvy shoulderless highway with kids). The kids and I walked three more miles before Dada finally met us and carried Clara for half a mile. When I told her that he was coming and could carry her she said, "Maybe we should just stop here and wait for him." She didn't complain when I said no. Emmett was whining, "Out, no chilla (mochilla [backpack]), no packpack." and I'm not sure who was happier when he finally got out, him or me! I am immensely impressed with Clara's stamina and more so the fact that she didn't complain even though I know she was hot and tired! Luckily I had packed a million snacks so we didn't starve! 

So happy to be done hiking!

We got back took much needed showers, went to the store and got ice cream as a special reward for the little troopers, had dinner, watched Beauty and the Beast and went to bed. It was a long exhausting day, but we managed to still have fun!

Crying because Clara ate the ice cream he gave me

Sunday Dada went for a bike ride while the kids and I went for a walk around Wilsonia. When he got back we drove to Cedar Grove to check out some waterfalls. It was the first time I had been down there since the fire and I was amazed at how much had burned and how different everything looked. We stopped at a couple of falls and Emmett did his best to kill himself including jumping off rocks and slamming his head into the pavement. We ate lunch at Road's end and headed back. It was nothing short of a miracle that Emmett did not fall asleep in the car and the kids went straight to nap when we got back. After nap we played and had dinner and then headed back to the heat. Clara said that she wished we could stay for five days, she loves the cabin so much! We had a great weekend!