My amazing Grandmother, Connie

This is my Grandmother, Connie. Her father built the cabin at Pineridge (I believe in the early 20's) and the cabin at the Lake (early 40's), including the granite outdoor stove/oven at the Lake. This October, Connie will be 91. She has been going to Pineridge since before the cabin was built, they stayed in wood-floored canvas tents with my Great Grandmother Bombie. They brought their horses up from the valley and rode them. They also brought up a cow that stayed in the meadow. My Great Grandfather came up on weekends and brought fresh supplies to the family. At 90, my Grandmother still makes a 3 week trip to the Lake cabin every summer, despite there being no electricity, flushing toilet or running water more than a pipe coming out of the ground from a spring my Great Grandfather tapped. She bathes in the Lake every morning and in the afternoon heads down to clean up before putting on her evening clothes.
This year the Lake was unusually low and the trek to the water was much longer than in a typical year. However, my Grandmother still made the trip, for the first year, using a cane. I have included pictures of her heading up from the water and a second one from approximately the point where she was standing in the first picture to show how far she had come (she was at the water by the stump). Now, it may sound like she was some old lady hobbling up the bank with a cane to keep her up, but don't be fooled! She barely leaned on the cane, I think it mostly helped her keep her balance. In the other hand she carried a bucket with some water in it! Although all of my 3 living grandparents are amazingly healthy and active, I am still honored to be a descendant of this family.

After a day at the Lake

So after a day of swimming, running, playing, kayaking and the like, this is what Isaac looked like in the 4-Runner on the way back to Pineridge. Isaac stopped napping when he was two, so pictures of him sleeping in the car are quite rare. This picture is proof of how much fun he really had. Of course once he got to Pineridge after a 20 minute nap, he was as energetic as ever and was playing at full speed until his inevitable vacation bedtime of 10pm.

California, here I come!

While exploring one day with my dad, Isaac found what he called the "sand pit," which is essentially a small inlet that stays full of water. The bottom of the pit is extremely fine, silty dirt which is soft and squishy between your toes. Every day after finding it, Isaac wanted to return to play in it. Shelty also found the sand pit interesting. It was just deep enough that she could stand in it, or swim, as she chose. Mostly she swam around pawing at the dirt and stirring it up. She seemed fascinated by it and did it almost the entire time we were down there. Isaac made a game out of running and jumping into the pit. Out of the blue, he came up with the idea of yelling out "California, here I come!" each time he started running toward the sand pit. I found it hilarious and Isaac didn't seem to tire from it, he ran and jumped over and over and over. Kids say the darnedest things, don't they?