Magic Candles

My sister-in-law had her birthday while she was visiting, so we made some special cakes for her. She's a naturalist, so we had to make something nature-related. First we made a butterfly cake, and Desert Boy enjoyed decorating. Does he look at all guilty about eating the decorations? Nah, I didn't think so either.

And we also made a ladybug cake. Okay, these aren't exactly masterpieces, but they do look slightly better than my attempt at Elmo cupcakes!

The finished butterfly cake.

Then it was time for blowing out the candles--both Desert Boy and his cousin Maria were happy to help.

But these weren't just any ol' candles, these were magic candles that apparently shoot fire. To see the action, check out the video below.

Ready for me to make your cake? Ha, ha.

Into the Cave

While our visitors were here, we decided to take a trip into Lehman Cave. This is always a great destination for kids, with so much to see. I gave Desert Boy a flashlight so he'd have something to hang onto and then his hands wouldn't be free to touch the cave formations. Plus he thinks he's pretty cool having his own light.

The first room in the cave is the Gothic Palace, and my brother got the awesome shot above. The parents had lots of fun taking photos as we went on the leisurely tour.

Some of the passages are narrow. This one in particular has a very interesting ceiling.

There it is! Covered with draperies, the ceiling and narrow passage is really awesome. Thanks again, Pete for the photo!

Desert Boy had fun looking down dark holes and wondering if the passage went anywhere. Desert Girl was awake for most of the cave trip and didn't even make a squeak. I guess that means she liked it!

We had some typical kid moments in the cave, too. I mean, kids have to squirm and pick their noses somewhere, right?

Here's Peter, the photographer. He had to duck a lot.

Lehman Cave is known for its multitude of formations. Although the cave isn't long, only about 1.5 miles, it has a very high concentration of speleothems along the tour route, making one feel very much a part of the cave.

I like how the light silhouettes these three stalagmites.

Peter had more ducking as he went further into the cave.

We found a nice place for the cousins to pose for a photo. Except they don't seem to keen on the idea.

Once we let them do their own thing, they were a lot happier.

In the Grand Palace are some beautiful cave shields, including the parachute shield.

We peaked into the Sunken Garden, where some cave restoration is in progress, with the old trail being removed and hauled out five gallon bucket by five gallon bucket. Over 38 tons of material have been moved out of the cave this way so far.

Back in the Grand Palace, these funny bulbous stalactites hang from the ceiling. It's almost like we're getting an under-the-soil view of turnips growing.

Desert Boy looks like he's ready to be a cave guide. He's even got the hand movements down!

You can see that the two little ones are a perfect height for navigating the cave. A small build is definitely an advantage for cave explorers.

Near the end of the tour, the route crosses some natural cave floor with tiny rimstone dams. The calcite was deposited as water slowly spilled over from one dam to the next.

The exit tunnel was made in the 1970s, and they had to dig down through the cave floor to make a human-sized passageway out. That left some layers of calcite with beautiful banding. Some researchers have been doing work dating cave formations to get a better estimate of cave age and should have their results public within the next year.

The tunnel is a place where the kids can finally run! Desert Boy took off with excitement.

Right by the exit door we saw some cave life: a daddy-long legs spider and a cave cricket. What a great trip!

The Treehouse

My brother and sister-in-law kindly offered to help us do house repairs while they were here. Fortunately the house is in generally good shape, but I've been toying with the idea of building a tree house for Desert Boy for some time. Since my brother's an engineer and creative, I figured that might be a good project, and he agreed to give it a try.

I had picked out a location, next to a big poplar tree in the yard. There's an old dead stump for part of it, and I figured that would be a great location for a tree house for a three-year old, only a couple feet off the ground. The next step was assembling all the materials, which included a trip to the ever-fun equipment yard and its menagerie of stuff. (My husband continues to insist that it's not junk.)

Peter decided an old pallet would be a good floor.

It took some creative engineering to get it attached to the tree and make it solid.

Little Maria (wearing Desert Boy's coat) helped. She thought it was great fun to hammer with the little toy hammer.

Sarah helped add more stabilization while Maria peeked out of the new wall.

We found a fun sign for the tree house. Desert Boy helped put it up, although he had it upside down at first. He thinks the sign says that it is his tree house and every one else should stay out. I guess that's the gist of it!

Maria had fun climbing around the tree house.

Part of the tree house is a slide.

Besides sliding down it, Desert Boy decided it would be fun to send his little vehicles racing down the ramp.

Desert Boy was thrilled that he has a tree house. He even found a way to climb through the tree to get into the tree.

Maria thinks her dad is really cool.

She really enjoyed playing in the tree house and on the tree next to it.

Maria added a few final touches to the tree house.

And Desert Boy climbs through the trap door under the tree house.

A tree house with a tunnel is pretty cool.

Desert Boy is so happy to have a tree house. Thanks, Uncle Peter!

Our Fishing Expedition

First I have to start with a few photos that my brother and sister-in-law took on their super duper fancy camera. They took awesome photos! And they let me keep the ones I wanted. How great are they! And the best part was I didn't have to lug the heavy camera around. Because I would be highly likely to break it. I usually break my camera every year or two, and in fact both my cameras are cracked, one from a caving trip and another from photographing calves. But I digress.


Here are my brother and niece Maria clearly enjoying our gorge adventure.

A little assistance now and then made it possible for the little ones to do most of the trip on their own. Desert Boy's cowboy boots perhaps weren't the best choice for climbing footwear, but he managed. I have a feeling he would have done most of the hike wearing just about anything.

Oh my goodness, I look pregnant again! That's just Desert Girl tucked away next to me. She was a happy camper. And now we're ready to start the next adventure, the adventure that got Desert Boy into the van. We were going to go fishing.

We went to the rocky shore of the nearby lake. After we all piled out of the van, the two guys who had been camping there left. I guess we were making a little too much noise for them! Usually no one is at this lake, so we were surprised to see them.

Desert Boy loves to go fishing, even though he's never caught a fish. We knew he wouldn't catch anything here, even though there were Sacramento perch and catfish in the lake. How did we know? Because we took off the barbed hook to avoid painful injuries and replaced it with
a sinker.
Maria's approach to fishing was using the net in the puddles. You might be able to tell that her pants are soaked from the knees down. She was so happy to do fishing her way.

The pole was a little long and heavy for Desert Boy, but he didn't let that stop him.

It was a perfect day for a fishing excursion, with the rocks blocking the wind, the warm sun keeping us comfortable, and nothing else on the agenda. We would have stayed longer, but somehow two little kids managed to get very wet in a short amount of time. Desert Boy was already in his second outfit of the day and didn't have any other dry clothes in the vehicle, so he got to go home wrapped in blankets.