Smith Ranch

Today we headed up to Julian to Explore the Smith Ranch. For years we've heard about this place with it's mine and train and the wonderful family that owns it. Nani & Papa go to church with the Smith Family.

 

We started off by picking mulberries off their over flowing trees. The trees were covered with berries and so was the ground! The boys REALLY liked them and picked handfuls of them. Simeon picked so many his hand was overflowing with them. He ended up pretty covered in mulberry juice.

 

 

 

 

After picking berries and cleaning up from that we hopped on the train. Our conductor told us about the train and about the land, then we headed out. We didn't make it very far because the train jumped the track at the junction and we all had to get out while they got it back on track.

 

While they got it back on line, we heard more about the land and the train. The kids were so patient waiting and watching them get it back on track.

 

We took a train ride up the hill to the mine area. When they bought the land, the entire mine shaft was filled with dirt. They dug the dirt out about 60 feet back. The explored about 30 feet farther in and saw that there was red wood walls which meant that this was a high gold producing mine at one point. The air shaft that goes to the top of the hill was full of dirt and in a rain storm the dirt came back into the mine refilling 30 feet, so now it only goes back 30 feet.

We got to either walk into the mine or go in a mining car. In the mine you can see tree roots and see where the walls were chiseled, and it's always 60 degrees in there.

 

 

After everyone had a chance to go in the mine, we played in the play area. This family knows how to keep kids active. They had a rope to climb up a steep hill. There were slides built right into the hills. They had bridges to cross that were all different-skinny, moving, holding still. The kids LOVED this area and ran from slide to bridge, to rope to bridge to slide. They were all over the place and having a blast!

 

 

 

 

After lunch the kids got to explore another awesome area. This area had a working water pump, a trough to panning for gold, a cute little train, another rope bridge and a cannon. The big kids went on the rope bridge over and over. Rebecca did it with some help. All the kids panned for gold and were so cute with it. Some were finding gold left and right and others couldn't find any. There were many times when one of the kids would be getting sad because they couldn't find any, and a cousin would take one of their pieces and secretly put it right where the sad cousin was panning. It was so sweet to see the kids helping each other. After the kids found a piece of gold they got to take it to the Smith store, weigh it and exchange it for a piece of licorice. (One of our kids decided to take some gold rocks home with them!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Julian Apple Pies for dessert. YUM. The favorite was the caramel topped apple crumb pie. YUM and YUM again!

The kids got a lesson on how to run the train before we boarded the train for the ride back down the hill.

We had such a fun day at the Smith Ranch. It lived up to all the stories we had heard about it.

 

Wet & Wild in the Desert

Today we decided since it was so hot that we needed to get some water out for the kids to play in. Papa brought over his pool and Zach & Madison brought their pool from home. We set the pools up on the porch at the guest house and let the kids have at it.

Rebecca and Zach were the 1st out with Papa and the 1st to discover that the water was COLD! So instead of playing in the pools they decided to put the water on the dirt and make mud.

The cousins all had such a great time making mud castles, having mud fights, spraying each other with water, making mud pies and washing the mud off in the pools. They spent hours out there playing and having a great time.

Ammon wanted to get something out of the van so he ran over to it barefooted and stepped on a piece of cactus. We tried to get it out, but all we did was brake it off. Ammon the cactus magnet had
returned!

When it time came for lunch we had it catered on the golf cart from Nani & Papa's kitchen next door!
Eating didn't last long before the kids were back in the mud.

The big pool got all full of yucky muddy water, so Papa took the plug out to empty in. The water caused a flash flood at the boys castle. As everyone was watching the flood Zach quietly took the plug and put it back in the hole. Everyone was surprised when the water stopped until we heard a little laugh from Zach and saw what he had done!

The girls had the steps covered in mud cakes and the boys had made 2 neat castles built before they decided to have a battle and throw mud at each others castles to knock them down. Zach was a champion mud thrower!



Zach & Rebecca were covered in mud and needed a bath, so they took one together. Rebecca hasn't taken a bath with anyone in years, so this was great fun for her. They had a fun time getting washed together and then they got silly together sticking their tongues out. When they got out they left a big brown dirt ring in the tub!

Later in the afternoon the sky started to get dark and thick rain clouds rolled in. Before we knew it, we were in the middle of a HUGE thunder and lightening and pouring rain storm. Aunt Lisa ran in the rain with the girls. Rebecca liked it so much she ran 2 times. They were pretty wet after their run!

We had plans of going swimming down the street this afternoon, but the rain changed the plans for us. Instead the kids played ping pong, The Honey Bee tree game, watched movies and hung out until it was dinner time.

Down the road in Shelter Valley they had a flash flood come through. The mud was 3 feet high on each side of the road. We saw snow plows out pushing the mud over!

Twentynine Palms & Joshua Tree

Friday afternoon we got to Josh & Irma's house on the Marine Base in Twentynine Palms, CA. We met them at an Italian restaurant on base for dinner, then headed to their house. They have 2 sweet little dogs Lala & Lili that the kids were so excited to play with. Lala was so full of energy that she wouldn't hold still for you to pet her. Lili on the other hand would run out look at us appear excited, then run away. Lili came from an abusive home so she is learning to retrust that people will be nice to her and not hurt her. Ammon decided that Lili was more his speed, so he played with her in a bedroom while Lala played catch in the hallway with us.

That night Lili slept with the kids upstairs. Rebecca really wanted to sleep with Lili, but it made me nervous, so we let her fall asleep with her, then we brought her down to our bed. When she woke up that morning (to Lala jumping on her) she started crying because she wanted to sleep upstairs with Lili.

Saturday we went for a walk on a 3 mile round trip path that the Marines run on. Every 1/4-1/2mile of a mile is a military vehicle. The kids (and dad) had a blast climbing on them and reading about them. Simeon took off running and crashed, scratching his leg and ankle up. With Simeon crashing and the heat, we didn't make it the entire loop. On the way back Ammon and Simeon ended up being in the middle of a group of Marines who were walking/running on path. When they started running again, Ammon tried as hard as he could to stay up with them. It was neat to see, because Ammon has been telling us for years that he wants to go into the military.

We all got a kick out of the "Tank Crossing" signs on base.

Saturday afternoon we went to Joshua Tree National Park. It was a super hot time to go, but so worth it. We would have loved to have spent more time here. Winter time would be a great time to really explore here. The boulders were HUGE! We ate lunch under a giant boulder because it was some of the only shade to be found.

The kids wanted to explore the area, so we all went on a hike. We stayed on the path for awhile , but then we started exploring all the rocks and made our own path.

The Joshua Trees were really neat. Some of them were huge. In some areas of the park it was like a forest of Joshua Trees. There were big rock mountains that looked like someone had been playing with rocks and placed them there.

It was alot of fun to visit with Josh & Irma and their dogs. Josh is being deployed in September and Irma is going to the Phillipines while he's gone for the year.