Oops! I did it again...

I let a month go by without blogging at all. Sheesh!

Summer is racing by. The first two weeks after school got out were all about preparing for our trip to Mammoth Lakes. While my parents have vacationed there multiple times, it was my first time to the area. I was really impressed by how beautiful it is there, and how much there is to do.

Off the 395 on our way to Mammoth - the backside of the Sierra Nevada.

My parents LOVE the Sierras!

Lunch in Lone Pine.

My dad rented a pontoon boat on Lake Mary twice and we attempted to catch some trout. I think we do everything right, but we had no luck - this is somewhat of a family tradition. Even so, I really enjoyed our time out on the lake and could have spent more time fishing.

Lake Mary from the shore. We tried fishing from the shore the first day.

Michaela was so excited to use her FROZEN fishing pole that Papa gave her!

One of my students who spends lots of time in Mammoth had recommended several things to do while we were there. On her recommendation, we took the tram up to the top of the mountain and had a really good lunch there. The views were amazing!

Just enough "snow" left for a little fun.

Another of her recommendations was a horseback ride. Unfortunately, Michaela was too young for a group ride - so, we couldn't ride together. However, the stables offered a ride for little ones where the parent leads the horse on a wooded path for about 20 minutes. Michaela's horse, Pablo, was gentle enough but he was also a bit stubborn. I had no luck getting him to walk with me, so I handed the reigns over to my dad who also had limited luck. Thankfully, the cowboy wasn't too far away and he got Pablo going for us. Michaela didn't mind the extra minutes spent in the saddle.

Our condo faced a picturesque meadow, and I enjoyed the view early each morning. Even without Koa waking me, I was still the first one up. In the evenings, my mom and I took our chairs and a glass of wine out on the lawn in front of the condo and enjoyed the sites and sounds of the meadow. One evening we were even treated to a visit from a deer in the meadow.

My view each morning.

Best buddies! Michaela really enjoys palling around with Papa.

It was windy and cool our first day there when we explored the meadow - had to bundle up a bit.

We spent a lot of time in the Sierras camping when I was a kid. One of my favorite day trips was going to the Bodie ghost town back then, and I wanted Michaela to see it. Thankfully, the road is now paved for a much greater distance than it was back in the 1980s! We only had three miles of dirt road to traverse this time. Not surprisingly, nothing had changed in Bodie. Ha!

After a couple of hours in Bodie, we continued north to Bridgeport. We used to camp outside of Bridgeport, but I hadn't seen it in 25 years. Dad loves to get a Jolly Cone in town there, and we had a late lunch there, too. It's a real small town and charming.

Jolly Cone!

We stayed for ten days, but I could have stayed longer. I absolutely love getting away from the hordes of people and traffic here at home, and having the natural beauty outside our door. It's good for the soul.

Thanksgiving Break

Just a quick rundown on our Thanksgiving Break. We spent the first four days up in the local mountains at Big Bear with my parents, and my sister and brother-in-law.

About a week before our trip, a storm blew through and dropped a few inches of snow. Surprisingly, it was still on the ground on the shady side of the valley by the time we got there, and that was just delightful for Michaela. Unfortunately, the neighborhood we stayed in was on the sunny side, and so there was no snow around us. However we did have a nice view of the ski resort areas:

The most snow Michaela saw was at the Big Bear Zoo. She was far more interested in the snow than the animals!

That's a really nice little zoo. We visited last year, too. This year, maybe because it was so cold, the animals were very active.

We took a few rides down the Alpine Slide, wandered around The Village, played lots of Crazy 8s with Michaela, and enjoyed the cool temperatures. Fall comes late to this part of the country, and I can't tell you how good it felt to have to wear a jacket.

In addition to the Thanksgiving gathering at my sister's, we spent this weekend decking the halls. Now I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation!

And then it was November...

Wait. What?! Where did October go? Whoosh! It blew in and outta here like a hot, dry Santa Ana wind. (Like my attempt at descriptive writing?)

While being a middle school teacher is seriously much more manageable for me ('cause middle school is AWESOME) than being an elementary school teacher was, I still find that I am busy, busy, busy. I'm just busy with other stuff. I was elected as vice president of my teachers association last spring, and that means I have additional duties after school in that capacity - not every day. But several days a month I have meetings related to that.

My other new endeavor is a little eBay business I'm dabbling in. That's a post for another time, though. Suffice it to say, Michaela and I spend some of our "free" time thrifting after school and on the weekends. We have high hopes for our little business.

October wasn't all work. We did manage to have some fun together. A couple weeks ago we visited Riley's Farm in the local mountains for a taste of fall. It actually cools off there and feels like fall a little bit. Here are some pictures from our day trip with Grammy and Papa:

It was a beautiful day! I seriously love getting out of our urban sprawl and into the rural areas. If it weren't for my family and my job, I'd move in a heartbeat. Wide open spaces...