Category: Uncategorized

We are safely out near Pasadena, California. We are part of the Escapees HOP (Head Out Program) for the Rose Bowl parade. We have a week of fun and activities planned with the group. Today was the first big event and we were up early on the bug and headed to AES in Pasadena to help decorate some floats. We had no idea what was in store for us. We got the introduction and then were taken in groups to our assigned stations.

We would be working on the AgPHD float for the morning.

Everyone rolled up their sleeves and got ready for some STICKEE fun. We would be working with silver leaf. It is a leaf that had a silver appearance not he floats. We had to trim the leaves to take out the bulky stem and then put a first layer of a glue called STICKEE! It was very sticky! Bucket and buckets of these leaves created us at our station!
We got to work and had a nice system going with our little family. We got pulled off the line and were put to work at the next station, glueing the silver leaf on the actual float! We were excited. The task was cumbersome. Breighton got fired fairly quickly but it wasn’t his fault. He went back with Grandma and Grandpa and cut and glued more leaf. Mom, Dad and Emmerson stuck it out and stuck stuff on the float. We had to put it on a specific way. It was very well orchestrated. Except the part we had to start with required that we were tiny, limber and didn’t mind being STICKEE! Thankfully Emmerson was small enough to get the hard to reach places. Soon we got the pace and skills down. We were asked to train the next group! Oh wow, promoted already!We got to take a break and then go tour the workshop. We got to see some other projects that they were working on at AES. We also got to see the floats for the parade. They had several they were working on. I wish we had the putting the seeds on task but the leaf was a great memory. The silver leaf process finally kicked into high gear and it started flying up the silo. E made a buddy, Mr. Joe! Mr Joe and E had a system for decorating and became friends quickly! Back on the bus and everyone was exhausted! One out of place photo from Grandma! Someone actually got a photo of Mom working in the small spaces. Back at the campground for the afternoon. Some down time whittling with our new pocket knives while mom does….  LAUNDRY!

We worked hard on our books and earned our Jr. Ranger Badges at Joshua Tree National Park. We spent the morning with Grandma and Grandpa driving the Geology Trail in the Jeep. It was a great 4×4 road with no-one else on it. You could hear the wind. It was amazing! Grandpa was a great driver. I am sure he was nervous as the road was kicking us all over but he did well. Our reward for behaving int he car was more epic rock scrambling. Mom couldn’t get us out! How high can we go!
The scenery was breathtaking. I want to come back here again in the winter. I dont think I would enjoy it much in the heat of the summer. Looking for life in the bushes. Mom never figured out was I was looking at or thinking about. She said I looked peaceful! We saw a big horn sheep walk past our path at Barker’s Dam.I found the “idol” in the caves and narrowly escaped a giant rolling boulder. I made some Indiana Jones themed videos. Mom found a few canter berry bells tucked in the rocks. We had a great day out with Grandma and Grandpa in the park. We packed up and found we never did our Christmas crackers. We opened them and giggled with the crowns and silly toys inside. Tomorrow onward to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl HOP!

We checked into the campground in the middle of 29 Palms, CA. It was kind of run down but we did the best with what we had. I wanted to go swimming badly. The pool was huge, stunk of chlorine but was empty. I swam for a hour and then realized we didn’t bring towels. I toughed it out back to the motorhome. It was about 45F out. In the morning we explored Joshua Tree with Dad for a while. We loved climbing and rock scrambling. There were rocks everywhere! The called this Skull Rock. It looked like a giant ape skull! It took a while to climb up. You can see Es head to the right on my feet in the photo! He was almost up! Sometimes we would get stuck! Now how do I get off this silly rock!E opted to grab Dad’s hand and JUMP! Mom wasn’t silly enough to climb places she couldn’t get out of. Me on the other hand. I was all over! The trees were amazing. I see why there is a national park here. Santa found us on Christmas. The elves toilet papered the tree and caused some mischief. We had a fun Christmas morning. We each got some arts and crafts, legos and Nerf guns. We spent most of the day outside t the campground shooting Nerf darts at each other at point blank range! Obviously I loved the lego set E got me!

Mom took us to Sabino Canyon for some exploring, hiking and a tram ride through the canyon. It was amazing how blue the sky was against the dusty green earth. We hiked a neat educational trail and did a hard scavenger hunt to earn a Sabino Canyon Forest Services patch. The tram ride was great. The roads were super skinny and the tram driver went really fast! We enjoyed some prickly pear lollipops as we voyaged. Everything along the canyon edges was dark brown and lifeless. When we got to the canyon floor there were greet and yellow hardwood trees! There is enough moisture to sustain their life. One afternoon we went to the University of Arizona to the mirror lab to see them making the mirror for the Faint Magellan Telescope that is being built in South America! We learned an amazing amount about the process and all the steps that go into making these percussion lenses. The polishing system was quite elaborate and super fun to watch. After our tour we headed up to Mt. Lemmon Scenic Byway in search of snow to play in. We found a few spots and kicked around the snow for a while.  We found a cute little bakery and had cookies and a slice of pizza. What a great way to end our time in Tucson. This was an amazing little city with so much to do. We will have to come back someday to explore more!

We started out day at the International Wildlife Museum. It was run by Safari Club International. Which basically means it was a museum of stuff that was killed and mounted. It was rather creepy but we had a great time exploring and learning about taxidermy. I enjoyed the birds of paradise exhibit. This is something you dont see in many places. Some of the mounts were really creepy and realistic. The hall of heads was terrifying to all of us. There were many really cool animals but it was just overwhelmingly creepy. Some things like the wild boards were cute. Then there was a display with Christmas lights? How weird. After lunch we picked up Dad and headed up to Kitt Peak for an afternoon dn evening astronomy program. We sat and ate dinner when we learned about the observatory. We stepped out on a break for hot cocoa and saw some awesome blue birds. Our group walked to an observation area dn watched the sun set from the mountain. The temperatures dropped quickly and the winds picked up. We were prepared but were still really cold. We had a wonderful evening learning about the stars and the observatory. The winds were chilly when the dome moved around to look at new star clusters. It was really neat to see it all happen.