A Beautiful Wedding

 What's summer without a wedding? This summer one of our nieces was getting married, and she asked if Desert Boy would like to be ring bearer (he didn't at first, but warmed up to the idea) and if Desert Girl would like to be a flower girl (once she heard a pretty dress was involved, she was all in).

 The flower girls were all darling.

 Desert Boy really liked being ring bearer and getting all dressed up and standing with the big guys. I didn't watch him walk up the aisle because I was keeping an eye on the flower girls, but I heard he waved at a few people and put on his best smile.

 Here the bride gives her dad a hug.

 The weather cooperated for the outside wedding, thank goodness.

 During the short ceremony, the flower girls couldn't help but get a little distracted. Hopefully they weren't too distracting to everyone else!

 And then Kori and David were married and walking down the aisle as husband and wife. They both looked fantastic!

 Aunt Tana gives the girls a hug.

 Then Desert Girl sees her friend Ella and they can't help but show off their beautiful dresses to each other. The moment was priceless!

 Soon it was time for formal pictures. Here's one for the outtakes--I love Desert Girl's expression.

 While we were waiting, we got a quick family photo.

 Happy bride, grandfather, and parents.

 I wish I could have heard what was being said here!

 This photo turned out cute as the flower girls looked for Kori's bright red shoes.

 Cousins!

 This was another posed photo that came out cute.

 The guys seemed to be a little more serious...at least for a little while!

 Brothers!

 Desert Girl was being a real imp so I couldn't resist a few more photos.

 Sometimes she cooperated.

 But by the time we tried for another family photo, both kids were tired of photos.

 That is, until Henry got to be involved. He even had his own red bow tie.

 Happy girl!

 This was a very-well photographed wedding!

 Desert Girl wanted to be Lola the rest of the time.

 Desert Boy had taken off his suit jacket and put on his junior ranger vest. Not sure why, but my kids love to accessorize!

 Ruby was ready for fun!

 Now the junior ranger vest is off and cupcake eating is about to commence. The food was delicious.

 Before long it was time to dance (in more comfortable footwear!).

We all had a great time and wish the bride and groom a long and happy life together!

The Red Cabbage Juice Science Experiment

 We have gotten behind on doing our science experiments, as Desert Boy has repeatedly reminded me. So we finally made time this week to do the red cabbage juice experiment. I had bought red cabbage months ago, and we ate half of it. The other half has been sitting in the refrigerator for months. Fortunately red cabbage keeps really well.

The Red Cabbage Juice Indicator Experiment
Red cabbage juice contains flavin (anthocyanin), which is an indicator of pH. If something acidic (low pH) is put in the red cabbage juice, it turns pink. Something basic (high pH) makes it turn greenish. Something neutral (around pH 7) leaves it purple. (pH is measured on a scale of 1 to 14).

Step 1: Boil a small pot of water (about 2-3 cups) and put cut red cabbage in the water. Boil for 10 minutes. Then strain and keep the juice.

Step 2: Get four test tubes (or glasses or jars). Find some common household ingredients. We chose vinegar, lemon juice. washing soda and baking soda.

Step 3: Have the kids make a hypothesis of which items are basic and which are acidic. Remind them of what color acids and bases will make the cabbage juice turn.

Step 4: By this time the cabbage juice should have cooled enough that you can pour it into your test tubes. Don't fill them too high.

Step 6: Add a little of your first ingredient to the cabbage juice. We found a funnel to try to minimize the mess.

Step 7: Watch what happens. If the color doesn't change, add a little more. You might need to stir. You also might need to lift a little water to see what tint it is.

Step 8. Repeat steps 6-7 with all your ingredients, seeing if your hypotheses are correct.

 The kids were really good at taking turns pouring in our test liquids and powders. They were very excited because it felt like real science to them. (Test tubes are pretty awesome that way!)

 We ended up with vinegar and lemon juice turning our cabbage juice pink and washing soda and baking soda making the water greenish.

It was so much fun, and we had enough cabbage juice left over, that we decided to do our experiment again with different ingredients.

 This time around we used apple juice, milk, salt, and cream of tartar. Any guesses on what pH these have?

This was a fun, simple experiment. And since we didn't knock it over, the clean-up time was minimal.

Knowledge in the Wild

This is Desert Boy's masterpiece. He wants to have it published. Now it's published on this blog, complete with translations.

 "Nolij in the Wild" 

(Knowledge in the Wild)

 "Streems owees go bowne hil" 

(Streams always go down hill.)

 "I no that bees liv in a house that is cald a hive." 

(I know that bees live in a house that is called a hive.)

 "I no that cactis have spicse and flowrs."

(I know that cactus have spikes and flowers.)

 "I know the water sikol."

(I know the water cycle.)

"I know to not to go into abndin minse."

(I know to not to go into abandoned mines.)

It is a cool book. He still writes his books starting on what we would call the back cover and going in reverse order. Maybe someday he will excel at Hebrew, Arabic, or Farsi!

Escaping the Heat

 We've had a long stretch of hot, which leaves three natural options to escape it: go to water, go underground, or go up high. We decided to rise above the heat this last weekend and drove up to 10,000 feet. When we left the house it was 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Two miles above sea level it was a very comfortable 75 degrees.

Our basic plan was to meet some friends from a nearby town (nearby being relative in our remote part of the high desert) and camp out together. Lots of other people had the same idea of escaping the heat; we arrived at the campground at 2 and by 2:15 it was full. Whew, just in time!


Despite the temperatures, what Desert Boy wanted to do most was make a campfire with his flint. We both tried for a long time but eventually had to use a lighter.

 Then the fun was to make a torch and watch the smoke.

 Desert Girl managed to get filthy. Imagine that.

Our friends arrived and the girls played dress up. It was pretty funny.


After dinner we went to the campfire program.


The kids were all excited, but alas only Desert Boy lasted the whole presentation.


He even volunteered to be a helper. I enjoyed the campfire program, it's fun to see a topic be explored in a creative way.

Afterwards we meandered back to the campsite. When we got there it was clear to me that the kids needed to go to bed. We all slept well. I woke up really early and wandered around taking some photos.

 Then I went back to sleep until the kids woke me up. I told them to get up, be quiet, and feed themselves. Instead they wandered over to our friends. At least they managed the get up and be quiet near mom part. I guess I've trained them well!

Desert Girl decided to be a fashionista. I so loved it that it was cool enough for a winter coat (in the 50s)! I knew we were heading back down the mountain later in the day, but I was really wishing we could stay a lot longer.

 We were back to trying to start a fire with a flint and magnesium shavings, and although three of us adults tried it and got some good sparks, we couldn't keep a fire going. I've watched a YouTube video about how to do it, but I guess I need to watch some more!

 In the meantime, Desert Girl played with the baby.

 Then it was time for THE HIKE. The kids were ready, the adults were ready (with patience), and off we went. The first stop was the bridge, where Desert Girl spotted fish. Or maybe not, since fish don't live there. But we went along with the fish idea.

 We had to stop for a Bandaid moment. Dr. Desert Girl helped her friend. It was a charming moment.

 We had plenty of logs to balance on. And a good-humored Dad who didn't mind wearing his daughter's pink hat.

 We eventually had to limit the girls to how many logs they could walk on.

We arrived at the paltry Teresa Lake. Desert Boy called it a pond, which is about right. Nevertheless, it was water, and water means fun!

We promptly rolled up pants legs and went wading. Our friends were geniuses and brought water guns, which made the kids very happy.

Eventually Desert Boy fell in. Then Desert Girl did, too. My kids are somehow good at that.

We decided we didn't want to to the whole sub-alpine lakes loop, but we did want a little shade, so we went to the other end of Teresa Lake.

The Parry's primrose was blooming and beautiful.

I challenged Desert Boy to make a shelter with his emergency poncho. That kept him busy for awhile.

The girls liked it too. We had our picnic lunch, except Desert Girl wasn't eating or drinking well. So I told her to go have a tea party.

That worked well. The girls found a quiet place where they could talk and drink their "tea" and "cookies."

Eventually we decided it was time to head back.

But instead of rushing we dawdled, especially at the bridge, where Desert Boy did his Bear Gryll's impersonations and started jumping off the bridge and pretending he was on a huge adventure while I filmed him. It's so wonderful how their minds grow in the great outdoors. It's also so wonderful to put your feet in a cold mountain stream on a hot summer day. I look forward to heading back up high in the near future!