The Bug - Take 2

Two years ago, Smunch had to make "a bug" for his second grade class. It doesn't seem like our school demands a lot of home art projects from the kids, so it's hard it object. And Mam was raring to go when it came to her turn this year. Again, it was supposed to be made of household objects. This time, we used some wooden bits intended for parrots, popsicle sticks, jewels and stray edges of gold ribbon.

Introducing "Jewel bug", a Mamrific, glittery creation that apparently went over quite well at school.

Fly Away Home...and Fantastic Lava Beds

If this has the look of someone planning...possibly plotting...there's a reason for it. Just because we needed to go home on Wednesday, I wasn't about to give up on seeing something else awesome on our trip. I'd had my sights set on Boiling Springs Lake or Devil's Kitchen, but the ranger told me that was a two hour drive from Manzanita Lake and I'd promised Daddy we'd get home before midnight. So, we opted instead for the trail to Cinder Cone and a nice little swimming lake just 45 minutes from our campground...or so they said anyway.So, first thing in the morning, we packed up our cheerful little campsite. It always makes me a little sad. We'd had so much fun already and I wasn't ready to go. But between cooking breakfast and loading everything into the van, we were out before 11 o'clock. Not before another cool bug sighting though.I couldn't help noticing the similarity between this:and this:Both taking off for home.

But we had more adventures ahead before we got there. First, we stopped by the visitor's center, where Mam got her Chipmunk Club sticker and Smunch was roundly applauded by all vistors as he was declared an official Junior Ranger. Very cute, but so unexpected that there are no photos. Then we got on the road to Butte Campground, where our next trailhead began. We got confused and thought we were lost. We turned around, then determined that we were just confused, not lost, and turned around again. We missed the turnoff for the campground because I couldn't believe it was a gravel road.

It was.

It was not only gravel, but super bumpy too...for six miles. And I'm sure I'd still be feeling those bumps today if the trip hadn't been worth it and then some.

We arrived at Butte Lake, a pretty lake on the edge of an area called Fantastic Lava Beds, right around lunchtime. It's a very cool lake with green-colored water, forest on one side and massive beds of lava rock on the other.And by massive, I mean unfathomably large.

We began our hike down the cinder trail, alongside the lava beds. They looked more like a construction zone than lava, if you asked me. Smunch said it looked like a big junkyard.But just seeing the kids stand next to the giant pile of rocks made an impression as to just how microscopic humans really are on the grand scale of things geologic.There was no snow here, so it was a warm hike, but not terribly steep and the kids did pretty well. Mam was kinda whiny...again. But Daddy magically placated her by inventing a game where they counted sticks on the trail along the way. I think they counted about 1100 sticks all told.

We saw a bunch of grey jays along the way. I don't know why, but I have a particular fondness for these birds and we hadn't seen any anywhere else in the park. I had to take a picture.The culmination of this hike was Cinder Cone. Which is...well...a cinder cone. It's actually one of the most remarkable vistas I've ever seen and I'm not sure I photo can really do it justice. Cinder Cone itself is more than 800 feet tall and a tremendous moonscape of a thing.And that squiggle up the right side? That's a trail to the top. We didn't go.But plenty of others did.What's even more impressive is that this cone is surrounded by an area called Painted Dunes...sand dunes (or probably cinder dunes, I'd imagine) with really amazing bands of color. And beyond those dunes, you get a much greater picture of what the Fantastic Lava Beds are really like and how truly extensive they are. It's really, truly awe-inspiring. A photo does it no justice.After some snacks, we headed back to the van where we had lunch and changed into our swimsuits for a shorter hike just over the hill to Bathtub Lake.The lake is named for the fact that it's warm...or at least warmer than some. I got cold pretty quickly, but having not showered in a few days, the swim was awesome and refreshing. Having left the goggles at home, Smunch was not at all sure about this whole swimming-in-a-lake thing.He didn't want to put his head in if he couldn't open his eyes. And, well, one can't open one's eyes without goggles on, right?

Mam, however, was eager to give it a try and did pretty well. Daddy swam out to the middle and hauled in a long tree trunk for her to ride on. She had a grand time.She even tried swimming after a bit and did a great job.Tooling around on the bank, I found a little group of reeds where a group of iridescent blue damsel flies had "docked"...for lack of a better description.It was kind of a funny sight and reminded me of some kind of insect space station.

Daddy hung out in the water with the kids for a while. Since he's by far the stronger swimmer, I guess that was appropriate.Although he occasionally walks on water, he's just sitting out on a submerged tree here.

And, after trying for some time, I finally got a shot of this guy...not really as handsome as my own, perhaps, but kind of magnificent nonetheless.Once we were all cooled down and slightly less stinky than we had been, we headed back over the hill to the van.We all changed into dry clothes and bumped back down the road...towards home.

Yeah. I promised Daddy we'd be home before midnight. I know he had designs on leaving Lassen by 1 or 2. It was after 4 when we finally hit the road. We were home at 11:30. Promise kept.

The Bug

I arrived home from the road trip to Los Angeles to find the front door open...because Daddy was home...because Smunch was sick. Oh, that hadn't been part of the plan at all! As if abondoning Daddy on our anniversary wasn't enough, he ended up taking the day off work to tend to a sick Smunch!

Of course, Mam had strep recently, as mentioned in a previous post, so naturally my mind went there and I took him to the doctor just a few hours after I arrived. No strep. But he had a 102 fever, which meant I had to keep him home the next day. That was O.K. with me, although my discombobulated self forgot to call the attendance line the next day...when he awoke with no fever at all. I took Mam to school and left him at home.

When I got back, I decided this was a plum opportunity to get started on an at-home art project Smunch needed to do. He needed to make a real or imaginary insect out of "household objects". I started gathering random stuff. A strawberry basket, tissue paper, a Ziploc plastic container, poker chips, leftover jewels from Mam's birthday party, wired ribbon, old wine corks and popsicle sticks, whatever. It just had to have all the parts of an insect that Smunch had learned about.I let Smunch play creative director while I handled the hot glue gun. We had a lot of fun...when Smunch was paying attention. And I think you'll agree that the outcome was...well...creepy crawly at the very least!

Bugs!

As room mom for Smunch's class, I wanted to make something fun and festive, but fairly healthy, as a snack for their Halloween party later this week. I made these last week as a practice run. These were so easy and so cute. Who can resist a herd of creepy cheese and chow mein noodle bugs?

Well, hellooooo....I think

I think I finally figured out who was devouring my string beans all summer long. I don't know why it took me so long to catch him. But what is one supposed to do with one of these?I certainly couldn't squish this lovely shiny specimen. Besides, he's about the size of a quarter...and that's a lot of ewwy guts. Not gonna happen. I figured the damage was done. The beans are pretty much history. Live and let live. I left him for Smunch to see when he got home from school. He thought this beetle was pretty cool and he looked really awesome as he flew off over the rooftops too!

Impromptu beach

After planning so much of this summer, we've had a couple of fairly unplanned weekends. Somehow, they've ended up being some of the more memorable ones. Last weekend (yes, I maintain my record of belated posts) we made a last minute trip to the beach. This was a letterbox-inspired trip, so we had some particular beaches to visit. But Daddy and I remembered a tiny little hole-in-the-wall cafe where we could pick up yummy sandwiches on thick, fresh-baked bread. We hadn't been there in about 10 years, so we were relieved to find the tiny cafe was still there.

We found two of the letterboxes we were after and settled for lunch on this lovely little beach, which was nearly deserted when we got there.The beach was really too steep for swimming and even made it a little questionable to going wading, but it didn't keep the kids from doing their best to get wet.
As we left, the kids found several of these gem-like beetles. Mam wanted so badly to take this one home with her. I somehow convinced her it was better off with its family and would certainly die at our house. Although leaving it with its family failed to move her, she was completely stricken with the idea it might die and put it down immediately!

Guest Post

Hi, Geek Husband here; I am going to be filing in for this post as Momma Writer is currently unavailable. Now, lest you, dear reader, panic, fear not, for it is highly likely that she shall return. Read on....

One of Momma Writer's not too secret identities, aside from wife, mother, cook, maid, nurse, counselor, chauffeur, writer, business person, teacher, banker, and Boss is nature lover. Unfortunately, this is a problem as she is married to me, Geek Husband. I firmly believe that if God intended us to live outside (on vacation or otherwise) then She would not have invented room service or 1,000 thread count sheets. This means that while under lesser circumstances I will do nearly anything to help bring the kids up "right"; I sadly draw the line at sleeping on the hard ground communing with spiders, beetles, mosquitoes, bees, skunks, raccoons, and other "wonders" of the great outdoors. Especially with a perfectly good house, complete with bed, less than 10 feet away.

Anyway, as a direct result of my incomprehensible lack of appreciation for the wonders of the great outdoors (or something to that effect), every couple of years her "raw nature" level dips to critical levels and need to be replenished NOW.

So Momma Writer is currently in a small tent in the backyard with both Mam and Smunch "sleeping". Now, given the fact that, according to all reports, both children were totally wired today and bouncing off of the celling (walls are just SO passe.) I just can't imagine sleeping (or anything even close) is actually occurring.

So, dear friends, I am sure that Momma Writer will return to us sometime tomorrow with her nature (and small child in a tight enclosed space) levels *totally* refilled. And, while she probably will not be quite as well rested; I am quite sure that she will be happier with many tales to tell.

p.s. from MommaWriter: This is what happens when I leave to go camping mid-post and leave my laptop here!
p.p.s. from Geek Husband. I don't need an "unguarded" laptop to sneak in, but it does help. ;-)