I'm on Top of the World

Yesterday we got home from our weekend adventure hiking to the top of Mt. Whitney (the highest point in the contiguous United States). Kyra (my youngest sister) and Sean and I made the journey, and we met a few of Sean's old college roommates there. We left Friday morning and drove up to the Mt. Whitney portal. Then we carried our backpacks 6.3 miles to our campsite. It was quite a workout. We didn't make it into camp until about 9 PM that night. We tried to rest of up for the rest of the trail the next day. On Saturday we left most of our gear at the campsite and just carried our camelbacks and some food with us. We headed out at about 9 AM, and began the morning with over 92 switchbacks hiking straight up the mountain. Then we hit the Crest at which point you can see both sides of the mountain (our side and then the Sequoia's on the other side). There was some crazy wind gusts. At this point we hiked around to the back of the mountain and continued up to the top of Mt. Whitney. It was HARD! But, it was awesome! The view was incredible. Sean made a phone call to both of our families at the top (can you believe that?). The sun was just baking up there (I mean, that's the closest I have ever been to the sun...and I could tell). I put lots of sunscreen on, but I forgot about my neck (yep, it's fried). Kyra started to get sick right before she got to the top. I don't know if it was a flu bug or if the elevation was getting to her. So, we quickly headed back down the trail. We had to take it pretty slow because she was not feeling good. We made it to the campsite and started dinner, but she just got worse. They say if it's elevation sickness then you need to get lower. So just as the sun went down we packed up our gear and headed to a lower elevation. Poor Kyra - she threw up 3 or 4 times as we hiked that night. We finally found a spot to camp, and she went right to sleep. We slept that night and got up at 6:30 the next morning to complete the journey. She was much better. We finished our trip at about 10:30 Sunday morning. What an adventure. I was surprised that the elevation didn't get to me more, but I was totally fine up that high (no headaches or nauseau or even difficulty with the oxygen). It was an awesome trip.....and boy we were sore and tired when we finished, but it was worth it (not many people can say they have been to the highest point in the Continental US). That's pretty cool.

Blazing Heat of Arizona

We had a great trip over to Sean's parents house in Arizona last week. It made us really appreciate the southern CA summers...Man, it's HOT there. We had a blast swimming, swimming and more swimming. Ben got brave and wanted to try swimming underwater - after one time he was a fish for the rest of the time we were there, and Caelan practiced diving (and actually did pretty well). Megan liked the pool as long as Grandma was out there to hold her (I think she wasn't feeling quite right while we were gone). One night we even put on a movie on the projector while we swam in the pool.
Fun times! We also got to attend the Mesa temple with Lindsay (Sean's youngest sister) which was a special day, and go to dinner with all the adults afterward. While we were in town we also took advantage of our Dentist Grandpa/Dad (Sean's dad) and all of us got our teeth cleaned and checked. This was a first time for Ben, and he had to go back to get two tiny cavitites filled (he was still and calm - I was pretty surprised). This was also the first time for Megan - she wasn't as well behaved. She WOULD NOT open her mouth for the hygienist. She would only open it for a moment for Grandpa, so he just took a quick glance, saw that things were good and let her pick a prize from the "treasure box." Ben and Caelan also LOADED up on goods from the treasure box - I guess it's okay when your Grandpa owns the office, right?

First Day of School

My 1st grader - I can't believe it!! We went to a new student school tour a couple days before school started. All week she kept telling me that she was excited, but "just a little nervous." She went right in like a champion. Having full day Kindergarten last year made sending her a whole lot easier this year (she actually goes to school for 45 minutes less each day than last year). Even still I had a pit in my stomach all day (I know she does fine - it's just thinking about how grown up she is and sending her away for 6 hours a day - it's tough). She is loving it.

Lots of Animals

Sean's parents came into town a couple of weeks ago. We wanted to go the zoo with them, and we ended up getting an annual pass to the Zoo/Wild Animal Park (it was cheaper than buying a single day pass - by far). Well, we have already gotten our moneys worth - we went to the zoo twice and the Wild Animal Park once. My brother, Garrett, and his family came down for a visit and they wanted to go while they were here, and since it was going to be free for us we thought, "Let's go again."

Milestones

In the space of one weeks time we hit three milestones for the kids in our family:
1) Nathan started to crawl (now he is a little moving machine)


2) Megan had several days in a row of successful potty training (YAY - she was pretty quick). This is one day when she wanted to try and go potty before she took her "rest." I came into the bathroom within a couple of minutes and she was falling asleep on the toilet.


3) Caelan learned to ride her bike without training wheels (I knew she would be able to get it fast once she decided she wanted to...and she did. Got on the bike and rode off).