Sept. 2, 2010 - Downieville, CA

Riley is slowly mastering the art of eating with utensils

We camped in Downieville, CA over the weekend. Riley has a great time on these trips because it means playing in the dirt. This was how she looked 5 minutes after our arrival.

Rock climbing!

She always wants to do what the bigger kids are doing

This is the bear box, where we store our food to keep it safe from animals. Riley thought it was a fun fort

She loved having a headlamp on her head and pointing the light through the darkness

The Sierras always provide beautiful, scenic hikes

Seamus somehow convinced Cris to let him cuddle in her sleeping bag

I hope that is an empty can of pop Henry is giving Riley

Riley was in constant motion the entire weekend

The crew after a wet, chilly night.

Walking on the boardwalk over the marsh

Riley and Daddy at Sand Pond

So much to see on these hikes!

Family picture at Lower Sardine Lake

This weekend we squeezed in another trip to the mountains. Chad is very lucky to work for a company that gives half day Fridays during the summer, so we took off at 12:30 pm for Downieville, CA, which is a little northwest of Tahoe. Its still in the Sierra Nevada mountain range but is more remote and, most importantly is a “Mountain Biking Mecca” as determined by Chad. Friday it was just our family and we enjoyed a nice dinner and some quiet time together by the fire. Saturday we were joined by our friends Jim, Cris, Henry and Jessica. After a fabulous breakfast of coffee, bacon, eggs and toast Chad and Jim went mountain biking. Our campsite was near the top of the “Downieville Downhill” so they descended 4000 ft over 14 miles then took a shuttle back up. The rest of us opted to hike a trail that departed from the campsite then got back for an afternoon nap. Later that afternoon it got pretty chilly and just after dinner it unfortunately started to rain. But that just made the trip more exciting. This year we bought a 6 man tent so all 6 adults, a toddler and a dog hung out in our giant tent, talking and having a fantastic evening. Its so fun to get to spend time with our friends like this and none of us minded the rain.

Riley truly loves these trips. She just runs all over the campsite, playing in dirt and climbing rocks; its really hard to get her to slow down long enough to eat. One evening we put a headlamp on her head which she thought was awesome (right now “light” is one of her favorite words). She likes spending time in the tent and sleeps pretty well in these strange conditions. Probably because she is completely exhausted from the fresh mountain air and non-stop hiking! I love that we can take her camping, we believe its good for her to spend so much time outdoors learning about trees and mountains. How many 18 month olds know what a tent is (another favorite new word)?

This week Riley had her 18 month check-up. She is 32 in (75th percentile) and 22 lbs 13 oz (50 percentile) so continues her long-and-thin trend. She absolutely hates the doctor, even just the physical exam is traumatic. Our pediatrician is wonderful and did a physical on her bunny (she recently bonded to a pink bunny and takes it everywhere now) but that didn’t help, Riley still cried and cried as soon as the doctor looked into her ears. She certainly has a good memory!