Vacaciones!

During the car ride this weekend we were talking about how we never go on vacation. We don't need to. We live in a place where within a two hour's drive in almost any direction, you're on vacation. On our list of major hot spots we hit this weekend were Salt Point, Bodega Bay, Napa, Jackson, and California's Gold Country. Had we gone just fifteen more minutes out of the way we could have stopped in San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.

Our intention was to camp on Saturday, but then it got cold- like forty-six degrees cold, and Ani found the bunnies in the camp. I don't do cold and try telling a Coonhound, "don't bark at the bunnies." Know what the definition of insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I could ask her not to bark, I could command her don't bark, I could yell at her not to bark, I could probably attempt to beat the bark out of her, but for a bunny a Coonhound is going to bark. In order to save my mental health and that of the other campers, we decided to bag it and come home. John only got to see his tent up for about an hour, but we found a really great HEATED Mexican food place in Petaluma.

The next morning we took an U.C.H. (Unofficial Church Holiday), and went to Moaning Caverns. Little Miss (and I have to say myself), were troopers this weekend hiking three miles with her in her wrap. (Yup, I'm feelin' the burn.)

But I drew the line at climbing the 234 steps down into the largest open cavern in California. About fifteen steps down into the blackness, I remembered I'm clostrophobic. About the same time, Little Miss realized Mommy had stopped breathing and it was dark. I chickened out and used her as an excuse. While Papa went on the tour, Kensley and I watched the Moluccan Cockatoo they had on the property, and for a ways home Little Miss practiced her best bird calls.

We'll be going back again with a third wheel (i.e. one of my sisters) so we can both do the 1500 foot Zip Line down the mountain. After raiding the pamphlets at the visitor's center, the rest of our summer is pretty much booked with mini-vacations in our backyard.

I could learn a few things from this kid. Even when I know she's not feeling 100%, she doesn't complain. She just wants to be held and cuddle. She was super cuddly this weekend and this morning I discovered why. She officially has a tooth- bottom right. It's not going to be long before she's talking back and wanting to shave her legs.