Peres Family Adventures

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Mommy Gives In...Can't Stand a Broken Heart

Well, I never in a million years thought I would ever be a pet owner, but I am as of August 24th. After dropping the kittens off and saying goodbye, Noah cried and cried. I offered to make him a picture collage to hang on his wall. This was good for a while, but he still would have moments of tears at random times because he missed the kittens, Meller especially. This went on for a week until the lady who did their shots and stuff called to let us know the kittens would be at Pet Smart on Sunday ready for adoption and that we could come by and see them.
So, after church I took the boys over there to see them. Three of the kittens were there because they'd had their surgery, but Hairy was not because she was too little for the surgery. She was still in foster care. The lady told me it wasn't too late to take some home. After seeing Noah's face light up and watching him love those kittens I started to rethink my decision. I needed to discuss it with Steve, though, who was working in the ER in Stockton. I wouldn't be able to talk to him until Monday morning.
We decided to go ahead and get two of the kittens so they would be friends since they would be living outside. I called the cat lady and she said they had all been adopted very quickly the day before, but we could still have Hairy who was in foster care and another gray kitten who was in foster care with her. I agreed to have her bring them by and see how I did since it was my allergies we were concerned about. We kept them, bought them a nice big cage and things to play with, and Noah has been so happy ever since. Of course, we all like the kittens and are happy to play with them.
Yes, I am allergic, but not terribly so. I just have to limit my contact with them and wash my hands right after I hold them. If I get scratched, though, it itches like crazy and I get welts where the claws got into my skin. Allergy cream seems to do the trick for that. I'm just happy I could make my little boy so happy. I guess I can't be a mean old mom all the time!

Noah and Tiger Lily ( I named her that because she looks like a tiger and the lily part just makes it a feminine name.) Note the big smile on Noah's face.

Noah and Tiger Lily. Still smiling.

Little Hairy. She has been my favorite from day one. She and Tiger Lily are almost the same age, but Hairy is so tiny.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Women On A Mission!

I am fortunate enough to live in a ward where there are lots of active women. One of the sisters in my ward asked if anyone was interested in hiking Half Dome in Yosemite with her. This is no small task. In about 8 miles you gain about 4800 feet in elevation bringing you to well over 8,000 feet. Of course, after you pull yourself up the side of a cliff hanging onto cables, you have to go back down. This ends up being roughly 16 miles. There were 16 of us who decided to take on this arduous task. All of our awesome, supportive husbands agreed to stay home with the kids from Friday afternoon on August 28th until Sunday afternoon August 30th. What an opportunity! We stayed at a hotel, got up bright and early, conquered the mountain, and headed home the next day. It was so cool! Yeah, it was hard, but so worth it. I actually ended up hiking most of the way with Jenn Collins, the girl who organized this whole thing in the first place. We both had knee issues and were a perfect match. The cable part really wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The crappy part was just waiting an hour on the cables to get up because there were so many people there at the same time.

We had the hardest time trying to get a decent timed photo. We had four different cameras going off at different times and cameras that wouldn't stay put. It was so funny I had stomachache and a headache from all of the laughing.

Get these women away from their families and responsibilities and they turn into a bunch of screaming little girls who jump on beds and have as much fun as possible.

On the trailhead at 6:15 a.m. with Jenn P., Susan D., and Jenn C.

Pointing to our destination, Half Dome 8.2 miles. We met a guy who was headed off on his own to backpack all the way to Mount Whitney---211 miles. We got on his case about not having a hiking buddy, so later when we ran into him again he showed us he met some cool guys to hike with. Safety in numbers!

Taking a break at Vernal Falls.

Almost the whole hike was either climbing stairs or climbing a dirt trail that just went up, up, up.

Vernal Falls was pretty cool.

Jenn C. and me with Half Dome in the background.

Ya think?

This part was a bit freaky, but cool. More stairs.

"The ants go marching one by one..."

The pile of discarded gloves at the bottom of the cables. If you forgot yours you could take your chances with these...

This was more of a test in patience to see how long we could hang on to the cables while waiting for all these slow pokes to get up the rock. Some people didn't feel like waiting so they climbed up the outside and cut in. That didn't help things any. Others decided to completely lose their marbles and climb a good 20 feet away from the cables and just hope their shoes had good traction. STUPID!!!

I conquered Half Dome! Unfortunately, there was a big forest fire at the moment so the air was all smoky and we couldn't truly appreciate the view. Sad.

Cody S. was brave enough to look over the edge. Not I.

The trip up was taxing on the heart and lungs and made your legs burn. The trip down was a test for the knees. Jenn and I used poles and took it very slow. Every time we rested I tried to get my feet and knees elevated and just kept taking my ibuprofen. Not too bad, but we were feeling it about 2 days later.

That's where I was, way up there. The trip was a little longer than we anticipated. We parked a little further from the trailhead than planned, so that added about 2 miles to the trip. Jenn and I opted to take the John Muir trail back down instead of the Mist trail. Better on the knees, but almost 2 miles longer. So all in all, we probably hiked almost 20 miles. It took us about 12 1/2 hours. Go girls!

Boys Bathroom Redo

I just couldn't stand the flowers, leaves, and dragonflies and pale greenish blueish walls anymore, so I decided it was time to paint and decorate the boys bathroom. I kinda like how it turned out.

17-mile Practice Hike for Half Dome

A few weeks before I hiked Half Dome I went on a 17 mile practice hike with several other women. It was fun, but very educational as far as what to eat, what to wear on my feet, etc.

I'm the sweaty one on the right.

Comparing dirty legs (and those who obviously don't do manicures...me)

August 10th--First Day of School

Scott and Noah both started at a new school this year, again. Since we're in another new home we are in different boundaries. The boys are now Oak Chan Dragons! Yeah! Scott started 2nd grade and Noah started Kindergarten. It was a great day. Mommy was so proud of her boys. It was fun to finally see Noah head off to school. He loves being the oldest and biggest kid in class (he's 6 already). Joshua loves that he gets to ride the tandem bike with Mommy while we bike with the boys to school every day.

(These last few pictures were taken with my camera phone, so the quality just isn't as good.)

Round 2 at Rancho Seco for Steve

On August 8th Steve competed in his 2nd triathlon. I chose not to compete because I went to Utah and ate way too much, came home, and found I lost my oomph. I decided not to pay $55 and completely embarrass myself. Unfortunately, Steve didn't have a great race. He didn't feel great, plus, as we discovered after the race, his rear brake was locked up and made it incredibly difficult for him to go very fast on the bike leg. At least he had an excuse...