Yellow Jacket 2

This week, LolaOllie and I carried on, for a second year, a new tradition of camping at Union Valley Reservoir with Grandpa at the start of summer break. Whatever pain was involved in spending several days in the mountains with two young children without my indispensable partner must have quickly evaporated the last time because we were all eager to return this year. There were many important lessons and perspectives I gained from camping with my family through the years so I am grateful that Lola and Ollie seem to have a good time. The highlight of the trip, as it was last year, was a hike to Bassi Falls. I'd say on balance we had a good time. Of course, the kids and I both have a lot to learn about attitude and discipline that makes the trouble-free trip elusive. So we'll keep practicing. Here are a few pictorial highlights:They were both super-helpful packing. Lola read the items off our list, Ollie would yell "check" or "skip" and in the end the only thing we forgot were wine glass.They fight a lot, but they love a lot, too.Central California readers may have witnessed a cool atmospheric phenomenon on Tuesday, which I had never before seen. At first I thought it was something unique to the Sierra Nevadas, but apparently not. It was still pretty cool from our view.Grandpa is always a steady hand with the marshmallow roastingHere are a couple of pics from the Bassi Falls hike.Every time I would turn around to take a picture of Ollie in action, hiking down the trail, he'd immediately stop and say "cheese."Grandpa enjoying a beer and a view of the reservoir from our campground.Here is a pic of Ollie doing what he likes most, that is, throwing rocks into the lake. And that is followed by Grandpa having some fun telling the kids they can push this big ass rock down the hill into the water (which would be the king of all rock throwing in the water).This last pic is Lola taking one of nearly two hundred pictures she snapped during the trip photo-journaling her adventure. I'm going to put them into a short video and will make that a near-future post for y'all.