We've been preparing for our big summer adventure all month. After coming back from camping at Granite Flats we kept going through the camping gear in preparation for camping on Channel Islands. I spent two days going through the camping gear and cleaning the garage. I took two loads of stuff to DI and we filled the garbage can a couple of times (even after doing the dump run following Granite Flats). It feels really good to be organized and I think it really helped with how smoothly our camping experience went. We also found a new tent on sale that would be smaller to take on our adventure and which we need since the old one is no longer waterproof. Marcus even drew this picture of our trip at the beginning of summer, he is so excited to go camping on an island and see dolphins.
When Steve requested time off for this trip he included Wednesday, July 23rd because the wedding was originally planned for Thursday and it worked out great because it gave him time to finish stuffing and packing the camping gear. He did attend a couple of meetings and work a little but overall we were finalizing things to hit the road early Thursday, July 24th. I also had to quickly attend some onboarding for my new job that day which gave me some online training that I did while on the long drives (good use of time if you ask me).
We were aiming to the hit road about 7:30am. It was closer to 8 but the kids travel so well now. I packed snacks and some salami, cheese, and crackers for a light lunch along the road. I had also reserved the Paddington movie series from the library, well I couldn't get the first movie so we rented it from google and let the kids watch it Wednesday night while Steve and I finished packing. We also decided to relisten to Inkheart because I don't think we've finished it (I believe we started that on our trip to Yosemite).
Carole had invited whoever was around for dinner Thursday night and we managed to pull up to her place right at 6pm (which was the estimated time we told her). There was this great view of the temple out one of windows at Carole's rental.
We had a nice visit with Terry (Carole's youngest sister) and her husband while we were there. Katie kept saying how excited she was to be getting married and how excited she was for us to meet Jonathon. Steve's brother Greg, the father of the bride, was also there. We helped Katie and Carole think through a few things about the next day then we headed out to check in to our hotel which was about 30 minutes further south. I booked a Staybridge family suite with two rooms, free breakfast, and a kitchenette. It was half way between Levi stadium and the temple.
Friday, July 25th the boys and I got up and got ready to go to Training Day camp. We ate breakfast with Steve and Lila before heading out. I was a little nervous to drive but we made it safely and caught the shuttle to the practice field. The boys were totally excited. Sourdough Sam was out on the field as we waited for practice to start. I asked the boys if they wanted a picture with him but they never really wanted to.
I don't know why I held on to Marcus like that but I did. We were all having fun and so excited when #23 McCaffrey came out onto the field, Marcus's favorite player.
They even let us out onto the field for a bit and I held Marcus up on my shoulders and at one point he was within 30 yards of CMC #23 he was so excited.
We had fun. Marcus was a little disappointed that they didn't scrimmage more but their QB was out having a baby that day. I told him that practicing is more than just playing which applies to instruments and all facets of life. Also they stayed down the field from us because I guess a spectator got hit by a ball the day before so it was a little ways off but still way closer than being in the giant stadium. At the end Kittle came over to do signatures but we never got close to getting one which Marcus was ok with because he doesn't really like Kittle (that boy! I told him before we went that he could only say nice things about all the players).
As we were heading back to our car I started getting texts from Steve that they were out of the temple waiting for Katie and Jonathon to come out for pictures. Steve's brother Doug who lives in Templeton was nice enough to pick up Steve, Ellie, & Lila on their way to the temple.
I felt a little bad missing the sealing in the temple that day but felt it was a good split to send Steve with the girls to the temple while the boys and I did something they were really excited about. When we got back to the car we ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some snacks before heading to the 49ers museum (you get a discount to the museum when you attend training camp). We really had a great time in the museum. The guy behind us in line asked where we were from and when we told him Utah he said, "Steve Young! One of my favorite 49ers of all time!" I said, "Yeah we're BYU fans too." The boys did not know who Steve Young was and I'm going to have to look up some old football games with him to watch with the boys. We had fun taking pictures with this green screen like thing on our way in and out.
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| the hall of fame had life size statues and we of course took a pic with Steve Young |
We loved the quote below and you can read about the piece of field they saved from the old stadium and all those balls hanging represent the 197 touchdown catches Jerry Rice made.
Looking at the rosters for all the superbowl wins I realized Tom Holmoe was on the 49ers team with Steve Young when they won. I worked with Tom at BYU Alumni so that was kind of fun.
Ellie decided to stay at the temple and help with pictures then headed to Atascadero with our niece Lexi that night. She helped setup for the reception and played games and hung out with the older teen girls.
Friday, July 25th we had a baptism appointment at the Oakland temple so we decided to head up that way. The freeway was a little packed so Steve headed to the carpool lane. We heard someone honk but didn't know what it was for then right in the middle of this crazy stop and go traffic the car in front of us shot out into the other lane than cut back in front of the car in front of them. That car tried to do the same thing but slammed into the car that had originally passed them. Then it sped off. Talk about witnessing a hit and run. We talked with the kids about how things easily escalate and to take a breath and recognize the situation is not as big of a deal as we think it is. We got parked and took a family picture then Steve took Lila and Andrew in while Marcus and went up top to the garden area.
Then Marcus and I ventured over to the visitor's center where we found several pamphlets in Chinese so I asked him if he could read any of it. He was finding words he recognized when a sister missionary walked over and told him he was doing well. When I looked up her badge was in Chinese, she is from Utah and did the immersion program so cool. She played the message from the Christus in Chinese for us then gave him a few more things to practice his Chinese. He told her he was hoping to be called to serve in Taiwan, I did not know this. Then she offered to play a video for us in the big room, she was listing the options when he stopped at the one about the football coach to tell her we went to the 49ers training camp today and he would like to watch the video about the football coach. Steve and the kids were done with in 25 minutes and headed over to the visitor's center to meet up with us. They watched the end of the video with us and then we explored the center a little together and looked at the Golden Gate bridge through the window.
Here are some pics from Ellie helping setup on Saturday for the reception.
Saturday morning, July 26th we were hoping to be able to catch a couple of the new Phineas and Ferb episodes on the Disney Channel but unfortunately they aired at 9am eastern time which was 6am our time so we missed them, boo! Steve and I did a quick little workout after breakfast and before the show time. Then when Phineas and Ferb didn't come on we decided to pack up and hit the road. When we arrived at Doug and Joddy's, Doug offered to take the boys flying or they could go swimming or whatever. They just wanted to play for a bit so we sat outside chatting, the weather was so lovely the whole time we were in California. The boys jumped on the trampoline and eventually everyone got in on the action. Then they changed into swimsuits to go swimming. It was fun to watch Doug and Steve showing a little brotherly love as they pushed and jumped around throwing the frisbee in this team game of keep away.
I decided to go take a nap for a bit and after 20 minutes I received a text message from Carole saying Rick and Phyllis needed the code to get into Doug and Joddy's place. So I sent the code and got up to tell Steve and Doug that they were on their way in. At which point Doug decided it was time to start cooking dinner and I helped the boys pick up the pool area. Then they got in the hot tub for a bit. I visited with Rick & Phyllis while Steve helped with dinner and then showered the boys. We had a lovely dinner then made a quick change to head to the reception. I always forget how spread out things are there. It was a 40 minute drive down to the reception so we were a little late but still had time to mingle with all of the family and see some fun celebration activities with Katie and Jonathon.
We stayed until the reception ended and helped clean up a little then we decided to leave Steve and Doug to finish the cleanup while Joddy and I took the van and headed back to their place to put the boys to bed. When Steve and Doug got home we stayed up visiting for a bit before going to bed.
Sunday, July 27th we attended sacrament meeting with Doug and Joddy. Ironically they had a missionary reporting who had just returned from the Ivory Coast where one of Stephanie's boys is heading. It was a beautiful meeting but I told the kids we could not tell Aunt Stephanie the stories we heard until after Gabe returns. Carole joined us for sacrament meeting and asked if it would be ok if she joined us for lunch which Doug and Joddy were gracious enough to be willing to provide food for whoever wanted to come. We skipped out on the second hour of church and decided to drive by Steve's old house. The kids don't remember it much but it was fun to drive the old roads. I took a quick little nap before Doug and Joddy got home. Steve was kind enough to do a load of laundry while I relaxed. We helped them prep lunch. Carole came over by herself which was unexpected. We enjoyed a yummy lunch and visited with Carole for a bit. Ellie texted me asking if Lexi, Mary, and herself could come over for lunch. I had invited them earlier and they had originally declined due to their church time but it worked out because we had lots of food for the company we were expecting to come with Carole. So they came over. Just as they were sitting down for lunch Carole excused herself because she was tired, can't blame her, it was a busy wedding weekend. We visited with the adult cousins for a bit and tried to convince Ellie to stay the night with us but they had plans to play games with Carole that evening. So I told her we'd pick her up on our way out in the morning and that she needed to be ready by 9am.
Steve went with Doug to his office to install something, the last piece of the upgraded equipment they've been working on. Joddy and I went for a little walk while they were gone. Then we played games, ate sandwiches, and just enjoyed a chill evening. We got up Monday, July 28th with the plans to continue south for our camping trip. Doug got up early that morning for work so we said goodbye to him the night before. We enjoyed breakfast with Joddy and the boys then headed out around 10am. We picked up Ellie then headed to Target to look for some water shoes since Ellie left her camping backpack with her water shoes at home. We also grabbed a few food items we needed for our camping trip. Steve went across to Costco to gas up the van then I sent him in to get a box of applesauce pouches for camping. We managed to find Ellie a pair of shoes in the kids section. I was hoping to get Marcus a watch, his broke on Saturday but we could not find anything that was not a gaming watch. Then we hit the road for Ventura. We decided to stop in Santa Barbara. I had read there was a Channel Island Visitor's Center there. . .It was a little dinky room with some info and a spotting scope, not too impressed but we walked out on the boardwalk and saw dolphins and at lunch there in the harbor, it was so delicious. Steve and Andrew split a swordfish dish, I had a yummy salmon salad, Lila had shrimp, and Marcus had fish and chips, while Ellie had a giant chicken sandwich.
Then we went straight to the visitor's center in Ventura to pickup Jr Ranger books. They had a lot more information about the islands and a cool exhibit.
Then we checked into our hotel which was only 5 minutes away from where we catch the ferry Tuesday morning. I could not have gotten any closer, so I was happy with that because we needed to be at the docks by 7am. Everyone took turns showering while we transferred clothes to smaller backpacks to take camping. Then we watched a movie together. We could hear the sea lions barking in our room so fun.
I woke up Tuesday, July 29th at 6am. I started to quietly get ready for the day while everyone else slept for a bit. Then Steve took a few things out to the car as we waited for breakfast to start at 6:30am. Everyone snagged some breakfast then we drove over to the dock. Steve checked us in then we started carrying gear down to the ferry including the three double kayaks we rented. Then we had a quick orientation about kayaking before getting in line to board the ferry.
We saw bottlenose and common dolphins on the way out to the island. They are playful and like to ride the wakes of the boats.
We were told to not kayak east to Scorpion rock after 11am because the wind picks up making it hard to get back to the harbor, but has we went out a guide was taking a group east but we decided to head west and explore for a bit. It was our first time in double kayaks so we wanted to see how everyone did and we had a blast. The boys did start to get cold towards the end so we were glad we bought and packed wetsuits for them to wear the next day.
Seriously amazing and the water was so calm that day. We got out to where the waves were breaking pretty hard and decided to turn back.
After changing into dry clothes I took the boys to this little bush fort like thing I saw people climbing in and out of earlier. They all had fun exploring it a bit.
Then we went back to camp, had dinner, and then decided to go hiking. We did Potato Harbor which was the most beautiful hike ever! It was a bit windy up top but we were all so glad we pushed through to do the whole hike that evening and it was almost sunset as we reached the end so beautiful.
It was just starting to get dark when we got back to camp. We made hot cocoa and had some nutter butters with it. It was a great little treat to top off the day with. As we were getting ready for bed the rangers came by and told us there had been an 8.8 earthquake in Russia and that there were tsunami warnings for the coastline. They were only expecting 1-2 feet increase right at the coastline around midnight. If anything changed they would come down to the campgrounds and let us know. To be honest I was pretty calm about the whole thing. As I have told a few friends this story they have made comments like, "kids we're sleeping with our shoes on" so I was pretty proud of myself for not freaking out in the beginning.We said our evening family prayer and went to bed as normal. It took Steve and I a little bit to fall asleep because there was a young men's group taking up a few of the single sites next to us who were up pretty late playing and chatting. Then at 11:30pm the wind picked up and the trees above us blowing in the wind sounded like ocean waves. I woke Steve up in a panic asking if that was the ocean. Steve calmly said, "No. We're fine." I laid there panicking for a bit, I may have even thought, this is it. Then I took a few breaths, said a prayer in my heart that it would calm down, then asked Steve if he was for sure we were ok. I finally fell back asleep a little while later.
I woke up, Wednesday, July 30th, at 6:30am and snuck out of the tent while everyone kept sleeping. Then Lila popped her head out. She always pokes her head out like this in the morning.
Steve and I slowly started making breakfast for kids as they woke up. We finally woke Ellie up so we could get out kayaking earlier. She then shared a funny story. So Andrew lost his pocket knife at Deacon's camp the week before. As we were packing for this trip he thought it might be in his sleeping bag. He checked his bag when we got into the tent but then we realized he and Ellie use the same style bag and we don't really keep track who's is who's so we yelled out through the tent to have her check her bag but the girls were off to the bathroom. Anyway, Ellie came out that morning with Andrew's pocket knife to which she said she dropped it open after finding it because Lila was freaking out about a spider then forgot about the knife until the morning. I said it was a good thing the tent or mattress didn't get punctured. To which she said well in the middle of the night said spider ran across my face so I ushered it outside the tent quickly and quietly. We were all teasing her and laughing but Andrew was happy to have his knife back once again.
When we got to the beach things were really quiet. We wondered why the early ferry hadn't come in and if it was safe to go kayaking, remember there had been a tsunami warning. We saw two kayak tour guides pulling gear out and asked them what was going on and one of them said, "The world as you know it has ended." I looked at him and said, "Don't mess with me dude!" 😂 He then explained there was no early ferry that day and that we were good go kayaking just to watch the dies and currents as they were affected. So off we went. We headed east to do Scorpion Rock since it was before 11am.
This may or may not have been Marcus's default position. I had to keep telling myself, I workout so I can kayak with my 9 year old. 😂 He would help steer when we really needed or I would ask but often he was just chilling like that with his paddle resting.
We rested in a little cove area for a bit and had lunch. It was nice to fuel up before continuing. It took some convincing to get the girls to eat something out there but they were glad they did.
We saw so much wildlife this day out kayaiking. We saw seals, star fish, and Steve even spotted a crab amongst the seaweed.
We made it a little farther than we did the first day before the waves started to get really big. We decided to brave going around one more corner just to see what we could see before heading back. The girls had already told us they didn't want to kayak our last day on the island and I felt like it wouldn't be worth all the effort to get back out to that point either. This is where I wish we would have gone east to Scorpion Rock the first day. The water was really pretty calm day that day and we had fresh arms so then we could have possible made it farther out west before the waves started crashing. So that is one thing I wanted to note that I would have done differently but we did the best we could with the information we had and who knew a tsunami would come and make crazy waves for the next few days.
When we got back to camp. Steve hung up the hammock while the kids had a little snack of cold cereal. The hammock is a nice addition and a great place to relax.
Then Ellie took a nap and the other three read and relaxed. Steve and I decided to do a quick hike on our own. It was fun but we definitely did the best hike with the kids. I had a slight slip out on the way down from that hike. It really didn't hurt but I decided it was time to buy me some trail running shoes as my camping shoes. I had just bought the boys some before Deacon's camp.
Then we had dinner and decided to a movie in our tent together. We have never done that on a camping trip before, we totally unplug but we were all tired from our long adventure and it was a fun thing to do. Then we went to bed. Ellie managed to catch a fox up on our table checking things out that night. Good thing we kept everything in the fox box and our latching containers we brought.
The next morning, Thursday, July 31st, after breakfast, I took the boys down to the pier to meet the park ranger to get their junior ranger badges while Steve started stuffing camping gear back in their bags. The park ranger was nice and visited with them for a bit. When he went to swear them in, Marcus said, "I've done this like a hundred times." I laughed and explained we're from Utah so we are spoiled with National Parks.
We left our big tent up for a bit with all of our gear in. We were at a point where it would be a quick take down if someone came to checkin to our site that day. There were 5 sites around us vacant the whole time we were there which was nice. We sat at the table playing a game and chilling.
After the game we took down the tent and Steve and I took a load of stuff to the camper lockers near the pier. While the kids chilled in the hammock and took more pictures of wildlife.
Then we had a little lunch, took down the hammock, and hauled the rest of our gear to the camper lockers. Then went exploring this little area by the pier where we saw some more crabs.
Here we are waiting for the ferry to take us back to the coast. The waves were really big on the ferry ride back and water was splashing clear up on the side of the boat so not too many people ventured out on to the balcony area even when we did see dolphins on the way back. The captain even noted a weird current he saw as we were pulling into the harbor which was a side affect of the earthquake/tsunami.
So there you have it. We loaded up are vehicle and headed out for our three hour drive to Barstow. We stopped for dinner at an In-n-Out about an hour into our drive. When we got to the motel we had two rooms so we all quickly took turns showering and then went to bed. We were tired. We got up Friday, August 1st, had breakfast and were on the road by 8:30am heading for home. As we drove through Vegas we pointed out the giant Raiders stadium (because the 49ers and the Raiders were once arch rivals) and we have not driven through Vegas in a very long time so it was a new site to us. It looks like a pretty cool stadium. After we made it through Vegas, I ordered some delicious smoked pizza to be picked up in St George for lunch. It was really yummy and I even got a peach cobbler dessert one that was delicious. It was a fun change of pace but still a fast way to get food (even faster than our In-n-Out stop the night before). It was definitely a good adventure to end the summer, we did a little of everything. We feel so blessed to explore this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for us. We also feel of His love as we spend time together seeing the beauty around us.