Lake Serene

For our February backpacking trip, we headed to Gold Bar to hike Lake Serene. Since we were still into the basketball season, we had to leave as soon as Peter got off work on Friday in order to be back on Saturday. That also meant hiking in the dark. We made it pretty far before needing to use headlamps. It was Kristjan taking a minor tumble on some rocks that made us decide it was time to dig those out of our packs. The surrounding area on the hike was pretty. The major issue with this particular lake is you can't really camp there overnight. Peter did some online searching prior to us going, and nothing that he found told us that you can't camp there. Even at the trailhead, the only thing posted was a sign saying you couldn't camp 1/4 mile from the lake (this led us to assume that you could camp there, just not close to the lake). Nope. No camping anywhere. Unfortunately, because we arrived when it was dark, we had to make due with whatever spot we could find, which happened to be within that prohibited 1/4 mile of the lake. We set up our camp, ate some dinner, and actually watched a movie on Netflix with Peter's phone (because we got amazing service at that lake!). All was well until about midnight, when the rain started in. Wouldn't have been much of an issue, except on this trip we were trying out a new tent/gear idea that Peter had been wanting to try. Though the boys stayed dry and warm inside their sleeping bags, the outside of their bag and pads got wet. I myself couldn't get comfortable and didn't sleep well. Before bed, we had decided to set our alarm for 7 am, figuring that would give us plenty of time to fix a quick breakfast and pack up before anyone were to hike it. So the next morning, our alarm hadn't gone off yet when Sheeba started barking ferociously and startled us all awake. Turned out there was a small group of day hikers...BEFORE 7 am (!!). After Peter and I gave a few grumbles about this, we got up, packed up, ate a quick breakfast, and headed out. Not sure if I'd classify this as a fun trip for us, but it was definitely an experience. Hopefully we'll be better prepared for our March hike.

Happy Birthday Clifford!

Last month Clifford officially entered double digits....and turned 10 years old!!! A WHOLE decade old! His birthday landed on a Tuesday, which is currently designated for basketball practice. Once school was over for the day, and a little bit of homework was done, we let Clifford open up his gifts before heading out for his birthday dinner at Red Robin. We then booked it to practice before making a side stop to pick up some ice cream before heading home for the evening. Later that Friday was Clifford's friend sleepover party. Everything was a success, and most importantly, Clifford had a great time!

Last day as a 9 year old! He's turning into such a handsome young man!

 Happy Birthday Clifford!!

 Our new school encourages dads to come in and volunteer on (or near) their child's birthday, so Peter took the day off and volunteered as a Watch DOG

Clifford super excited to open his stash of gifts. He got pretty much everything he asked for (lucky boy!)

 Treating the birthday boy out to dinner

Clifford requested a Walking Dead birthday cake, so along came zombie-themed decor. I had a lot of fun getting crafty with this party!

 Zombie Eye Balls (!)

 The cake....I spent more time searching online for the Daryl and Meryl cake topper than I did frosting and decorating the whole thing (took me about 5 min!)

So, I gotta say.....the entire process of going through cake and presents with these boys literally lasted 5 min!!! No Joke! 

Peter and I agree that Clifford's friends know him well. 3 out of the 5 gifts he received were EXACTLY the same (a Nerf zombie crossbow gun...which in fact is one that he already owned, making it a total of 4 lol). As for the remaining 2 gifts, one was a different nerf gun and the other was a collection of Walking Dead items.