Quick Trip to Mammoth

Jon's schedule is such that every 8 days he gets 4 days off. Before we had the kids we would take advantage of those 4 days often with numerous quick trips to Mammoth and other various places. We have yet to do that with the kids but this time the opportunity arose and we seized it. It's a ton of work to trek these two munchkins around for what ended up being only 3 days for us, but the rewards are innumerable. 

A stop at our favorite gas station in Lone Pine.

Alabama Hills

I am over the moon about all of the climbing we have done lately. It is a dream I never fully believed would come to fruition. Up until this point, climbing with the kids was more frustration than joy. But more recently the climbing outings have been incredibly fun. The kids have enjoyed exploring in the dirt and the rocks, cheering us on as we climb, and they have even enjoy trying to climb a bit themselves. I can not put into words how grateful I am for these moments.

Here Eden is trying to coil the rope on her own.

Eden gets the photo cred for this shot.

We don't have a lot of pics from when we were climbing - since it was mostly just the two of us climbing most of our shots turned out like this - giant butt shots. This however is the cutest butt shot I have ever taken.

Lowering off

Pleasant Valley Campground

This is a campground just north of Bishop that we are accustomed to staying at in the spring when it is too cold to camp in Mammoth. We did not stay there this past spring because the spring prior we found it to be infested with ticks. Thank God that is not the case this time of year because it ended up being the only campground open due to the government shutdown. Ticks aside this is a neat spot, a spot where Eden perfected her balance bike riding a year and a half ago (?) and where she perfected her big girl bike this year. 

Poor Zion however just can not seem to get the balance bike down, and it causes him a lot of frustration. He wants to go fast like he sees sister going and like he goes on the scooter but he just doesn't seem to understand how to make it work. I am waiting for the day it just clicks for him. Eden was a few months shy of her 3rd birthday when it truly clicked for her.

Snowboarding!

Ever since we took Eden snowboarding last spring she has become a bit obsessed about it. Every time we talked about going to mammoth this summer she asked if there would be snow. Once we decided to go back in October and Jon saw the forecast he told me that Eden must pray a lot because there would be snow for her when we went up. And there it was, just enough for her to get a couple little runs in. 

If you know Zion at all you can only imagine the fit he was having over it being his turn. Once he did finally get a turn he was thrilled and wanted to do it over and over again.

Can you see his stance? He is crouched so low...Jon kept trying to reposition him but he kept going back to this.

Just last month Eden was no where near being able to ride her bike on her own around the lake. This month she did great and was able to make it at least half way around on her own. I was so incredibly proud and happy for her!

Fishing

The fishing was not quite as successful this trip as it was last trip. In fact, we did not catch a single fish. But if you ask the kids what their favorite part of the trip was they will tell you it was the fishing. They must be their father's children. 

Or maybe it's just the donuts the size of their heads that they get to eat while fishing...

The resident Bald Eagle put on quite a show for us again.

Trifle Towers

This was Zion's first time on the swing by himself!

Chris Christenson's Cabin

Jon's good friend and surfboard shaper was up at his cabin while we were there, actually working on building a shaping room in his garage. He was so generous to have us over for dinner one night. He has a beautiful cabin with spectacular views. It really gave Jon the bug again to try to buy a place up there.

Chris is a shareholder of Saint Archer beer. Pretty fancy right?

Clark Canyon

This trip I was complaining a lot about how we never see deer at any of our backcountry climbing venues. They seem like the perfect places for deer spotting, then like a gift from God on our last morning we saw a pretty big herd of them on our way into Clark Canyon.

Hiking In

Kisses for daddy

Perspective & Views from The Top

Eden decided on this trip that she prefers bouldering to rope climbing. I'm not sure if this decision was influenced by the fact that we bouldered so much with her when she was small or by the fact that Chris was claiming that bouldering was all he ever did, or maybe it's nothing as complex as all that. Perhaps it is simply what she feels most comfortable doing.

Watching dad climb

Reading books while dad climbs...

Zion trying to figure out the complexities of a locking carabiner.

Eden LOVES to help. She was so stoked to rack all the draws up on her own!

Lake Mary

Back to Lake Mary to fish, we still didn't catch anything....

Bike Path

To end the trip we decided to ride the bike path into town. Eden was bummed that we would not let her ride her own bike, but she still had fun. Poor Jon had to run 3.5 miles uphill back to the car, but I think even he would say it was worth it. The path was filled with such beautiful fall colors and such spectacular views, it was an incredible way to end the trip!