Aaahhh! The sweet smell of mountain air! I was fortunate enough as a kid to expedience this mountain air just about every holiday and summer. My grandparents had a cabin in the Sequoia's and from the time I was around 8 or 9 til I moved out, our family vacations mostly consisted of going to the cabin. The rules first started out as NO TV was allowed. Grandad thought that the great outdoors should be entertainment enough. He was right! Some of the best memories I have were from our family hikes..like Darryl almost drowning, Dave getting hit in the lip after my dad was FREAKED by hornets...( ok, so he's deadly allergic..he had a right to be afraid), and of course hiking to the waterfall with grandma and finding bear tracks...fresh bear tracks.. Yes, those were the days! Crazy, scary stuff like that is what makes memories. I really do cherish the time spent there and had always dreamed of my boys having the same experiences. But, the cabin has been sold and we are no longer living in California...
Still having this in the back of my mind, I decided that this year the boys were going to get some "cabin exposure". Oh, I've been planning this for months! After my failure camper attempt, there was no other choice than cabin time. Usually, Charles has to work during the holidays..which leaves me and the boys alone. Sooooo, why not go to the mountains and do something different for a change? Let's start the countdown now and let you all in on mistake #1...the words RUSTIC implies ALONE, no TV, No civilization, no HELP...yes, there are neighbors, but not during Christmas!
The plan was for the boys and I to go up on Christmas Day and then Charles would come the next night after he slept from all night working. We would stay til Sunday and then come home. The week of Christmas, I kept an eye on the weather in hopes for some "vast amounts of puffy white stuff..snow!" But no such luck. I did however see that there would be some rain the day after Christmas ( Friday), but nothing major. Ok, no big deal... mistake # 2.
Well, Thursday went mostly without incident. However I was totally excited about being at a cabin that I was too quick to go exploring with the boys and locked ourselves out. Now, NO ONE is around, we are the only Crazy's to do this little trip over Christmas. So, I hoisted Keaton up on the back balcony and had him climb ( lucky for him and me that he can climb) over the raling and go through the back door that I was praying was left unlocked. Thank goodness it was! No car keys, no people around...on the CHILLY side...and of course...no cell phone. Yep, could've been disastrous! Mistake # 3.
After this little exciting adventure, I decided it was best to keep the keys with me at all times..just in case. Our first night was fun, we had popcorn, watched movies, played with the legos, a few card games..ate leftover Chicken and Dumplings, hot dogs, hamburger and of course our staple food item.. oreo's. When we finished, I thought it would be cool to disperse our leftovers outside off the back deck so that Christian could use his night goggles to maybe catch a glimpse of wildlife. Yep, mistake # 4... Umm, what kind of wildlife do you REALLY want to see?? I would say it was around 10:00 or so when we heard this loud screaming, shrieking noise out back where we threw the leftovers. Quickly I try to reach my friend and wildlife expert and I get NO RESPONSE...still more screaming and shrieking going on..yet too terrified to step out back and look. Christian thinks it must be some dogs mom.. umm, No son, it's deer. They make this certain noise when they are finding their young..now go to bed. Ok, I have no DOUBT that wasn't a deer, and dogs..yes, but not your standard domesticated dogs...how bout, coyotes or wolves..hmm, yep, after the hot dogs and meat that we threw out for the squirrels.. Dah! Do squirrels eat meat??? Stupid Stupid Stupid !! Umm, later...I was told it most likely was a mountain lion....once again, Stupid Stupid Stupid!!!
So, the rest of the night, we had the fireplace going ( coolest thing EVER, all I had to do was turn a knob..who knew??) and huddled together. I might bring to your attention that the temps were in the low 30's most of the day...a bit on the chilly side. remember mistake #2 and the weather.
The next day we spent it driving around, and made our own Indiana Jones road with it's bumpy, curvy twistyness...we found other crazy folks who were visiting a cabin down the way and talked with them for a bit, we also saw some wild turkeys and did some exploring on the banks of the lake. Temps rising and now a "fire" in the fireplace would make us too hot.. remember mistake #2..it should be raining today as the weather predicted, lucky for us ( i thought) it didn't.. All was good..and then Charles called.
Yep, Chuck got lost. We had to go out and find him in the dark. He was already out of the park by the time we reached him. I guess if you would've asked for directions, this wouldn't have happened!! We got back to the cabin, ate some burgers ( didn't throw anything out this time) and then to my objections... he showed the boys how to gamble. Thanks grandma for sending the gambling chips and dice...nice. Well, of course, Keaton had a blast with this game. I tried to re-direct with a nice game of Crazy 8's.. No go, Keaton is stuck on gambling. I have visions of him taking this new profound knowledge to school... AND of course, Keaton goes nowhere without his new Radio..and what is Chuck encouraging in the music department?? HMM, Fat Bottom Girls makes the Rockin' world go round!! Like I need Keaton going to school singing this and then gambling in the cafeteria.....
Well moving on... no loud noises that night. All was good even though we are HOT..remember mistake #2.... Something going on with the weather and the tempts...hmm cold to hot, what does that spell? TOR NA DO??? Nah!
Next morning, we get up ..do some exploring, playing around on the play equipment. Check out these next few photos and see the talent!
Christian first down the slide.. Then Keaton...
And then......Charles..
With perfect form, I give him a 10 for not spilling 1 drop of his coffee! You go Chuckie boy!
Ok, so by now...it's hot, and VERY windy. Tornado feel.. Lots of clouds rolling in. But lots of wind all day and no precipitation. Wow, how we lucked out, not much rain on our parade... what was I thinking?? The rain CLEARLY was making it's way IN!!! No mention of tornado...it's all good!
So, say around 6:oo Saturday night, while watching Narnia, Prince Caspian... the power cuts off. Windy, yes, but no rain. It's all good. A few looksy looks and all appears to be good. I make a few calls to see if we are in a " severe weather" path..umm, yes we are but nothing big( as I was told). Ok, I could go with it. A thunderstorm, some rain...no big deal.
Since the movie was being played on my computer, we were good to go for another hour. Just about at the best part of the movie..my battery dies. AND the wind is HOWLING by this point.. our little cabin is vibrating some. I make some more calls...but it's now not going through. You guessed it...this is mistake #2. Never Never trust the weather man... if they say rain, expect STORM and if they say Friday..try SATURDAY and ALWAYS bring flashlights and VALIUM...not for me of course, for the kids! And it doesn't help when Charles goes around saying Freddy Krueger is coming!! Yikes is right! I look out and I see a few car's down the way LEAVING! We are still here, major rains, thunder, lightening...WIND oh the WIND!! Later found out that the wind was traveling around 50 to 60 miles per hour! Isn't that classified as a tornado?? It should be to a cabin in the big woods!! Well, no flashlights, no power, what is left but to go to bed and hope for the best. If only Chuck would shut up about Freddy Krueger, we could all go to sleep!
Finally, the storm dies down and it's just rain. Keaton is in our bed, I am on the edge as there isn't enough room in this double sized bed. And everyone is finally asleep but me. I'm still a little on edge making sure we don't have another round of the storm. So, It must have been around 3 and I reach up to scratch ( not pick) my nose and WHAM...something is running out my nose. YIKES! It's a flood of blood. Too much drama for me and I have this blasted bloody nose. I can't see ANYTHING, blood running down my face..I trip over someones shoes to the bathroom and just as I get in there.. I almost fall over my socks. So, after getting this in control. I decide to try and sleep with Christian on the sofa bed. Ugh! The springs were NOT comfortable. I think I only got about 3 hours sleep. But the next morning, it looked like a murder took place, my DNA is all smeared in the bedroom, bathroom ....EVERYWHERE! Ok, time to go home.
So, really besides all this...we had a great time. I really enjoyed having quality time with the boys, playing games, legos and taking a few walks. The storm will be a memory for them like the ones I have from my cabin days. The sun of course was shinning the next day.. today...and all is good. Can't wait for the next trip..anyone wanna come?? Bring your flashlight!
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