Chipmunks and Mule Deer and Bears, Oh My.

Remember I had mentioned something about a family vacation.  Then I said I would blog about it.  Then you didn't see me for over a month.  I'm not going to share the post that has been mostly written and waiting to be shared.  

Our family went on vacation to the Mammoth Lakes and then into Yosemite National Park.  The girls loved every moment of it from playing in the dirt all day, not having to take a bath, and keeping all our food in a Bear Box.  The worst part of the trip had to be the car.  There is only so much being in a carseat that a kid can take, even with the number of stops we made.  Traveling that far with a child LG's age took a lot of patience from everyone.   

One of the fun things about traveling around this part of the country is all of the wildlife that we saw.  Like this like guy.  A chipmunk that hung around our campsite looking for food scraps.  Poor little guys have to work hard because no one leaves food out.  That and the $5,000 fine if you get caught feeding the animals and more importantly, the bears go where the food is.  I wonder how well that is enforced the law against feeding animals?  I liked that one place discouraged throwing scraps by posting that mountain lions liked to hunt were well-feed, fat squirrels and raccoons lived.

The little bugger is so darn cute.  Way better than the nasty LA squirrels but is in competition with the bunnies that come into our backyard everyday.

There were also deer.  Lots and lots of deer.  Like it was deer spotting season.  They weren't afraid of the people either. Not even slightly.  This is about as close to one that I was willing to get.  You never know when a deer might snap.  I kept getting these images in my head of crazy, stuffed deers with their beady eyes charging at me while yelling at me like a drowning elephant.  Weird, huh?  Okay you're right, I have no idea what a drowning elephant sounds like, but I think I've seen The Great Outdoors too many times.

Then there were the bears.  This was the first one that we saw and the best pictures, too.  He couldn't of been 50 feet off the road.  If you are ever driving to Yosemite and there are suddenly stopped cars everywhere, chances are it's because of a bear.

This guy was walking around and then decided to climb a tree.  Note to self, don't climb a tree to run away from a bear.  He was fast.  He got up to the branch in about three seconds.  The really high branch.

Here is a look at how tall the tree is.  You can see a patch of the road in the bottom right corner. 

We came across one more stopped cars bear sighting on the way home.  The Momma bear was in a field far off the road and had two cubs with her.  We had been there for only a couple of minutes when she started heading back into the woods.  The ranger announced that the bear was gone and for us to get in the car.   BG then politely pointed out to him that the bear is "right there."  I explained that he meant she was leaving and we should too.

We did not see any bears while we were camping.  I did learn from some Mammoth regulars that the site we picked to camp was heavily bear infested.  And they were aggressive to get the food.  One year our regular Camper Guy had walk five feet from the bear box and turned around to find a bear in it.  Another year, a mom had put out her kids' lunch, grabbed her kids from a few feet away and bear cubs had already taken off with the juice boxes.

Camper Guy speculated that we missed the bear because we were camping the first week the site had been opened.  The bears hadn't made there way down the mountain yet.  Or that Momma Bear had been relocated because Camper Guy had been seeing the same bear for three years and she was getting too aggressive.

One one animal that we didn't see at all....  fish.

First Day Back

It's the first day back to school, back to blogging, back to walking, and back to the super strict schedule of school drop off and pick up.  I have been looking forward to this all August. 

I would of loved an outfit like this when I was in grade school.

I am excited to see my Monday-Friday friends again.  It really is a loving expression to describe them that way.  But it's the group of mommies that I walk with and gossip with the most.  We walk to school together and then on certain days walk for an hour after drop off.  There is L that lives in my neighborhood, R that wants to burn as many calories as possible and loves that I walk fast, J who is always is so sweet and has the best ideas, and T the runner with three girls.  There are a few others, but those are the ones I see the most. I love my Monday-Friday friends.

Now that we are back together, I think I might skip walking with the mommy group a little bit more.  It is solely because I have to drive somewhere to walk and then pack and unpack the stroller twice.  Now that I am walking 2 miles minimum a day with company, I don't think I need more walking than that.  I don't need to burn the calories, I just do to keep healthy and LG loves to be outside. 

LG loves being outside so much that I have three ways of pushing her around.  The stroller- great for the morning walk or when I want her to nap on the walk.  The wagon- great for when we are going to have a buddy with us or a quick walk to the the neighbors to pick up BG.  And the tricycle- LG's favorite and I have the push handle so I can steer while saving my back.

The toughest part of all of these "first" starting is going to be LG adjusting to the new schedule.  I'm looking forward to when she is adjusted, because it really is better than the laid back summer schedule.

Now if only I could find that list I made of things I can blog about...

A Quick Hello

I've been gone from the blogging world I know.  It's summertime and we are busy.

I've been trying to keep BG from driving me nuts entertained.

Putting LG on a schedule so that she'll sleep better. (the hardest part is putting me on a schedule)

We've had lots of birthdays, LG turned 1 and the rest of our family had their birthdays too.

There are new things like our first, and luckily mild, encounter with lice and a peanut allergy discovery.

Weeks were dedicated to family vacations, golfing camp, and Indiana Jones Lego 2.

We've been to friends' houses, the zoo and a few museums.

And let's not forget all the time spent at the park and the pool.

In the end, I hope to get back to some regular blogging after school starts in two weeks.  There will be some catch up posts, but not many since I haven't knit a thing. The main thing is that I will have to do is put blogging time into my busy daily schedule.  Normally after I check Facebook, emails and the Mommy Group there is not a lot of time left for blogging.  If I don't put blogging time in there, it won't get done.

I hope all of you are enjoying your summers and all the busy that comes with it.

Something very good has come from this.  I haven't been on Farmville  for a couple of months.  I still return gifts though.  I remember how much I appreciated that when I did play.  I may have kicked the habit though.  Yay!