I told you my life is a song! Why does everything I think of match a lyric? Or a paraphrased lyric – “Someone’s in the cabin with Gramser, someone’s in the cabin I know -o-o-o.”
But first, Creative Every Day’s August theme of FIRE is getting literal. There is a forest fire in the town of Riverkern, moving towards Kernville. I don’t think it will get near the cabin, but it is in the general vicinity. So while we think about fire in all it’s manifestations, sometimes it is exactly that – fire. On New Year’s Day I drove through Riverkern with two of the grandkids to enjoy the Kern River.
This is my granddaughter Ali and grandson Xavier standing looking into the Kern River just above Riverkern. Of course I digitally manipulated it so it looks like they are shadow skiing. You can see more pictures of the Kern River here. The fire is really moving I guess, and jumped the Kern. But let’s get back to who’s in the cabin with gramser.
Actually, 11 “someones” were in the cabin with Gramser. All nine grandkids and two daughters. Got home from Orlando on Friday instead of Thursday (the trip from Hell), stayed home on Saturday, and went to the cabin on Sunday to prep for the onslaught. I say onslaught as if it were negative, but there is nothing I like more than being with all the family.
The Davies Three were visiting from Colorado (in November, they’ll be the Davies Four when Baby Boy Davies arrives).
They are sitting in the metal chair I refinished and painted (boy, that was its own adventure) waiting for blue jays. Cooper is holding the cup that held the peanuts. I told the kids they had to be still and quiet for the birds to come. They had very carefully lined the entire balcony railing with peanuts! The birds must have thought they were in peanut heaven.
I had a small slate of activities for this visit. Not nearly as elaborate as last year, but we did tie dye again. Actually, Sarah wanted to and she helped me pick out shirts. We tried colored shirts instead of white this time.
Does anything strike you about this photo? The older you are, the more you will notice. Cooper is sitting with her legs twisted like a pretzel, and Annabelle and Jackson are squatting. When is the last time you comfortably sat like this? I know, me either.
The shirts came out nicely. Even if they hadn’t turned out well, they would have been good. If you know what I mean.
Since one picture is never enough, we lined them up by height.
And to think, in November there will be another little one on the end.
Gramser took a walk with Things One and Two. (The shirts were a last-minute purchase at Universal Orlando.) Cooper is carrying Crookshanks while Abbo has Fawkes. Jackson did not bring Fluffy because he was currently not liking Fluffy and wanting Fawkes instead. For some reason (silly me) I thought a boy who loved dinosaurs and crashing toy cars would enjoy having a three-headed dog.
A group played Catchphrase.
Sarah sat with the Davies Three.
You’ll notice Crookshanks in this photo.
We used big bubble wands.
The big girls painted tissue boxes.
Then they helped the little ones paint coat holders for their rooms.
We went down to Kernville and challenged the Killer Kern.
Seriously, it is called the Killer Kern by some. Do you know Merle Haggard’s song about never swimming the Kern River again? It is deadly – the waters run deep and there are all kinds of entanglements down there to catch and hold you. Every year there are drownings and usually they are people from Los Angeles who came up for the day. The signs tell people to stay out, etc. but no one believes them. This is absolutely as far as I would let the kids walk out. A few steps more and they would be in the current. I told them ahead of time, “When I say stop, I mean it.” They knew I was serious as a heart attack – no messing around here.
Annabelle, who is fearless, was more interested in picking up rocks this time.
Jackson made a tower of blocks and dared anyone to knock it over. I don’t know what he was intending with his lizard – to balance it on the tower or destroy the tower?
It was a good cabin trip. Although I enjoy the cabin in solitude, there’s nothing like having someone in the cabin with gramser – especially when they are grandkids.
