Memorial Day...

I can't believe I'm just now getting to our Memorial Day re-cap. Of course, between my cold and Joseph's, a lot has slid this week. (Including the garden, much to my dismay. More on that later...)

On Friday evening, we drove over to Fresno to stay the night with the Fresno Crew before heading to Dinkey Creek for a weekend of cool weather and camping relaxation. We woke up fairly early and were able to get on the road by 10:00. Dinkey is an hour and a half from Fresno, up twisting roads and through towering trees. We finally arrived shortly before noon, set up our site and ate lunch. As sad as it sounds, by the time we finished setting up, we were ready for naps.

After we woke up, we took at drive to the McKinley Giant Redwood Grove. Stunning. I took so many pictures, trying to capture the sheer size of the great trees. I don't think there's any way to truly depict them in film. One of my shots was almost magical. While I understand that the "sparkles" is light reflected off pollen, dust and bugs, it still lends an enchanted air to the picture.

At one point the bug population was so great, it reminded me eerily of that X-files episode. You remember...the one that took place in the Pacific Northwest where loggers were cutting down trees centuries old and inadvertently releasing tiny bugs that could cocoon a person in a night? Or is that just me?

We came across a gorgeous tree covered in a seemingly delicate white flower. If anyone knows what it is, please let me know. I joked that I took 75 pictures of the flowers alone, but the combination of the giant redwoods with this delicate little flower was stunning. And while we're on the topic, these little red things were growing up out of the ground all over the place. The color was so brilliant. Does anyone know what they are?

By the time we got back from the grove, it was time for dinner. We grilled up burger while the Fresno Crew grilled up chicken. (For those of you who know Adam, did you really expect anything different?)

After dinner, we put the kids to bed and sat around the campfire chatting. Chad was the first to hit the hay with Adam following. Danielle and I stayed up way too late catching up. By the time I crawled into bed, the temperatures were plummeting below 40. We've camped in much cooler environments, but after the heat of home, it was a little disconcerting.

When we woke up the next morning, the first thing to catch my eye was Joseph's runny nose. At this point, we were convinced he had allergies. His eyes were watering, his nose running and he was sneezing. We gave him some allergy medication, which seemed to help immensely. We spent the rest of the morning eating pancakes and bacon and eggs. Our camping neighbors, a nice couple named Nick and Neely who had two adorable little ones, stopped by to see if Joseph wanted to go fishing later on. We were more than happy to tag along (which meant that I didn't need to get a licence on the off chance the kid actually caught something).

We finished up breakfast and went to the end of the campground to hike down to Dinkey Creek.

Side note: The hike wasn't long, nor was it particularly intense, but...at 30 weeks pregnant, it was a bit harder than I thought. Either that or the high altitude started to get to me.

I brought Joseph's fishing pole so he could throw the line in the water a bit. No bait, so no worries that he'd actually catch something. I started him out with a stick, a bobbin and a line. After I got his pole set up, I switched him to a larger pole. I'm glad I didn't shell out the dough for a license. The child got bored with fishing about two minutes in. He may be more like his dad than we thought. I did, however, manage to tangle my line in the rocks not once, but twice. Obviously I'm an amateur.

We played around the water until lunch and then headed back to eat and take a nap. Again. Something about that mountain air just made me sleepy. Or maybe it was Little Gertrude*. Regardless, when we woke up Joseph was even more congested and surly as a little bear. We gave him more allergy medication and contemplated heading home. We were just at the point of deciding to go when he started perking up.

We headed to the other side of the campground, grabbed ice creams at the general store and walked down to a small beach to relax and let the little ones throw rocks and sticks into the water. We slowly made our way back to our campsite and started dinner. Hot dogs, of course. While Chad and I attempted to give J a bath, Danielle and Adam made an amazingly yummy Bisquick and cherry cobbler. We invited Nick and Neely over and spent the rest of the evening chatting.

We're always more tired the second night of camping and as a result, head to bed earlier. It was a rough night, with Joseph waking up a couple of times. When morning came, we packed up and headed back to Fresno. We stayed long enough to cool off in the pool and then finished with the drive home.

Overall, it was a pretty nice trip. It would have been a whole lot better if the J-man hadn't been sick. Oh and remember how we all though it was allergies? Yeah. Tonsillitis. Officially feel like the worst mom ever. But then I look at the pictures and I think...you know...he had a lot of fun and it wasn't until we got back that it really kicked into high gear...

To prove it...I attached a slideshow of some of my favorite pictures. I restrained myself from including all 75 pictures of the white flower.

Memorial Day Weekend 2009

*No...we haven't decided on a name yet.