December 7th, 2010 by Busy Mommy

Hike stats:  We climbed 1800 feet in 6 miles to Eagle Peak at 2369′ in Mt. Diablo State Park.  1800′ elevation gain and 6 miles means it was GRUELING for me.  But I was pretty proud to reach the top.  My legs were screaming the entire last 1/2 of the hike up.  Nolan was with Grandma and Papou which was good this particular day since it was a longer hike and quite cold.

Pros to hiking with my hunny:

1. I didn’t have to carry him on my back. (Good thing- he weighs a good deal more than Nolan’s 20 lbs.)

2. He’s fun to be with

3. He can speak and we can have an adult conversation.

4. He carries all our stuff on his back.

5. He can help me down the steep mountain in the dark with one headlamp.

Cons:

1. He chooses hikes that are 3x harder than I normally choose for my fitness level (but for him it’s a piece of cake).

2. He chooses hikes that are 3x harder than I normally choose for my fitness level. Lol.  It’s funny now that I’m no longer limping.In all seriousness now, I love hiking with Nolan and I love hiking with Ben and if I could hike with both more often I’d be in heaven.  They’re my two favorite men after all!

December 2nd, 2010 by Busy Mommy

My wonderful parents-in-law just celebrated their 40th anniversary this year.  40 years!  10 more years and that would be half a century!  The great thing is they sure look pretty happy still.  These are the photos from the lovely family vacation we had in October to celebrate.  Isn’t this a great photo of them?  Actually their anniversary is August 1st, but coordinating the schedules of basically 4 separate families is always a job.  Sorry it took so long to get these up- there were so many photos to go through!

I have to share the photo of the “cake” i made.  It’s carrot cake, as it’s said to be Joe’s favorite, but notice the red “frosting” that looks remarkably like blood splatters. Ben and I literally laughed out loud when it was completed. I think I’ll stick to quilting.There was a peaceful manmade lake a short walk from the cabin we stayed at.  The water was nice and clear and we saw frogs and tadpoles in it. Nolan found the gate at the cabin and kept trying to squeeze throught the 2″ slats.  When that didn’t work he jiggled the latch (he loves those things!) Man does he look like a tiny muscle man or what?? And what did we find by the lake but Eldberries! Nolan seemed to like them which proves he is a true Castner.Elyse and I played ping pong and then some other game I forgot the name of and we laughed so hysterically we could barely carry on much of the time.  It was belly-aching. Hmmm, let’s try grammy’s glasses on for size shall we? Nolan wasn’t walking in Ocober yet, and Elyse was helping him learn by dragging the cooler around with Nolan attached to the cooler. A hike was in order- it was freezing and a bit rainy, so we majorly bundled up, garbage bag clothing and all. The view from one of the cliffs was breathtaking- honestly I felt it was almost more beautiful than the view at the top of Half Dome because it was completely uninhabited which really adds to the beauty. Our stopping point was at a foggy still lake here we had lunch in the frigid cold but loved every minute of it! On our trip out it was pretty cold, so we bundled nolan’s hands up in an extra pair of Ben’s hiking socks and he fell asleep. Monday on our way out we had a great afternoon at Cover’s Apple Ranch. Look at these guys!  Aren’t they handsome? These are my favorite pair of work-worn hands…they’ve done so much for me. Here we all are!  It was a lovely way to commemorate such a special anniversary of 40 years.

December 2nd, 2010 by Busy Mommy

You’re probably thinking, where in San Ramon can you go hiking???  Tucked away in a residential neighborhood is a little place called Bishop Ranch Regional Preserve.  It’s 529 acres.  The hike Nolan and I did was 2.55 miles.  It felt like a lot more.  Here’s why.

1.) There were some VERY steep spots- I’m serious.  The angle was so steep on the first hill that you could practically fall off.  Added to that it was muddy and slippery.re

2.) It was muddy!  I mentioned in this post about mud sticking to shoes creating very heavy feet to lift every step, and bigfoot sized impressions in the ground.  The nature of the wet ground there is very sticky because it seems to have hay and grass mixed with it.  I can see now why mud + dead grass = bricks.  I had wet bricks on my feet the whole hike.

3.) There were cows hanging around, which is usually not a problem, but for some reason they looked scarier than usual- maybe it’s because they were all black and their eyes looked kind of hollow or blank- made me suspicious, although I haven’t really heard of any cow maulings so I knew that was just silly.  Of course Bulls are another story and I’m always careful around them.

4.) Oh yeah.  I’m out of shape.  With extra pudge.  I’m thinking of publishing a book someday- “Living An Active Mommy Life, With Extra Pudge On Top.”  It will contain my memoirs of raising Nolan.  :)- I see pictures all the time in magazines of these extremely fit moms wearing their babies on their backs in the wilderness, and they look so….fit and gorgeous.  Well, I can do the active wilderness mommy thing too!  I just don’t look so cool doing it.  And I think there’s a lot of other moms and would-be moms and will-be moms out there like me.

Here is the first section of trail that is really steep.  What I just really don’t like is that pictures never show how steep it really is!!! arggh.  I try all different camera angles, and it just never shows.  This photo looks a like a slight uphill meander.  DEAD WRONG! I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of taking pictures of trees.  Especially Oak trees.  They are just so gorgeous.  I can see why Maxfield Parrish, one of my favorite artists, often painted them.Here’s one of his paintings, called Sheltering Oaks: I forgot to mention that before these hikes I’m doing now, I first take Nolan to a playground so he can wipe himself out (yeah yeah, I love the little guy and want him to be happy and feel guilty making him sit in the backpack too long if he hasn’t had a chance to toddle around and exercise those growing muscles.)  It’s fun discovering different playgrounds in whatever city I head to.  Then he’s usually tired enough to nap on my back for at least part of the hike.He’s excited because he found a puddle.  The kid loves water.