Peaches and Creme... Or Maybe Not...

Sometimes things are fine and dandy, like peaches and creme...
And other times, it's not...


(*He threw his shoes off prior to this..)

I'm sure my parents are laughing and thinking
"Payback's a beeeeeyyyatch!!"

Feels like Summer

First of the summer heat waves! This kiddie tub looks much smaller than it use to... Not too bad though, it's lasting us 3 summers now for water play.

Kamishibai

"Kamishibai (Japanese: 紙芝居?, "paper play") is a form of Japanese street theatre and storytelling that was popular during the Depression of the 1930s and the post-war period in Japan until the advent of television during the twentieth century. Kamishibai was told by a kamishibaiya (kamishibai narrator) who traveled to street corners with sets of illustrated boards that he or she placed in a miniature stage-like device and narrated the story by changing each image."
(reference from Wikipedia)

Emilia's class had an art exhibition of Kamishibai stories. Here's the kiddo.



And that's a wrap to this school year!! It's officially SUMMER!!

Black Mountain

Finally! A family photo! In our typical style, this is as good as it gets for getting us all in the same shot.

For Memorial weekend we were invited to join several other climbing families for a weekend climb/camp trip to Black Mountain. Kids made new friends fast and had loads of fun.

There was, of course, climbing things.

Checking out views...

Hiking in search of boulders...

Getting lost and proceeded to bush-whack on steep terrain with a bunch of little kids...

To find, and arrive, at the mothership of boulders... Once Upon A Time, v1X.

(not my photo.. found on Google to show the scale and look of this amazingly formed and placed boulder! Notice the additional pads placed at the bottom, left corner. It covers a crack that drops VERY FAR below.)

This was pretty much as close to climbing it as we got. Okay, several of us did walk up to the climb and feel the first hold. =)

Photo above IS my photo and is the view of the boulder on approach. While it is only a V1 rating, the "X" after the V1 means there is minimal protection for this climb. Aka.. spotters and pads might not be enough to stop a fall. And if you fall, don't fall into the crack cause it can result serious injury.

And to think, Alex Honnold just free soloed El Capitan via Freerider, a 5.12d/5.13a, with some V7 boulder moves in it...that's essentially like 10x harder and 200x longer than this climb that none of us was willing to try.

Break time = Snack time..

Definitely one of the nice things about car camping with lots of other people is that there is no shortage of food or anything that I might have forgotten to bring. I am so accustomed going about it in a minimalist, backpacker style.. my kids automatically knew to rushed over and asked the other parents (the ones cooking pancakes and eggs and bacon) if they could have some breakfast.

I admit, I also went asking around for extra coffee since I typical bring convenient pre-mixed coffee/cream/sugar servings which are just so-so coffee.

The climbing was pretty decent there too. A lot of boulders were relatively close to the campgrounds, so there was no need to drive. One of the climbs that I had picked to project was Gypsy's Day Out, V3. It's a short, but all power moves from start to finish. I came a few centimeters short from being able to reach the last hold. I stubbornly kept attempting a big throw to the end, but in hindsight, I think I need to change up the sequence to find a short person beta for it. So, this will hopefully be a send next time we go out here.

And here's Ryan on Gypsy's Day Out. It did take one try for him to figure out the moves, but he sends it. Liam's first time as camera man.



Ryan also sent another awesome climb, Visor Direct, V6. I kept taking videos of him as he attempted and worked the moves, but, of course, the one time that I was focused on tending to the kids instead of paying attention to Ryan, he completes and sends the problem. It was an amazing send too. Lots of people spotting him from below... he's hanging on the top of problem, feet dangling, figuring out how to get over the lip with people yelling all sorts of beta. "Step left".. "Heel hook right"..etc. He got it and there were cheers all around. It was great.

Ryan also set up a top rope for the kids to climb. This boulder turned out to be just perfect for the kids. There were good holds and feet, but due to the angle and slope of things, it required a bit of figure out body position and movement. All the kids gave it at least one try. There were a few tears, which required parental encouragement, but most kids did reach the top anchor.

Liam surprisingly had the cleanest climbing on this one. He likes to high step a lot of things, and for this climb, it turned out to be the right move to get him to the top.



Liam was the first to climb, and then Emilia next. First part of this video is funny as you hear Liam giving Emilia some advice.

All in all, it was another fun camp/climbing trip. We are starting to refine our gear and process for being more efficient on these trips. Each time, I learn more about things we need versus things we don't need, and how to make packing, food prep, etc more efficient. And the kids, they amaze me. They are becoming accustomed to these trips. They handle being out in various kinds of weather really well. They can hike several miles on rugged terrain with good balance (better than mom).

Getting More Technical

Kiddo is improving significantly on her technique now that climbing is a regular thing. Actually, both kids have improved a lot, and it's been really fun seeing them progress in skill, strength, and confidence.

Less than a year ago, E's hips were always a bit parallel to the wall and body movement was less efficient.

Now she's learned how to make her movements more efficient both in strength and reach with body positioning.



Such fun to be able to go climbing with my kiddos...

The Friendly, Neighborhood... Batman??!

So... look who we bumped into in our neighborhood!

The kids wanted NOTHING to do with Batman and Batwoman. They wouldn't come close to the cape crusaders and stood a good 30 feet away, not even when Batman tried talking to them. Haha. Well.. at least they stay away from weird looking strangers!

However, the instant the cape crusaders stepped away (they went into the deli to buy drinks) from the Batmobile, the kids pounced at their chance to check out the car.. esp Liam.

The novelty wore off really fast. Here is Batman ready to drive away in his Batmobile.. with lots of adults (not in the photo.. they were all where I was) taking photos and videos, and there is Emilia... hanging out by the tree, reading her latest library book.

Well.. at least kids know what's important.. not the fancy suit, but the car and the books. =)

Rock Star

We left Yosemite bright and early at 6am so that we could make it back to a friend's surprise birthday party. Kids still in PJs... we made it just in time to the evening affair and a celebratory "Surprise!". Well, at this party, they had hired a live band to play in their backyard. Next thing I know, Liam was announcing the next gig over the microphone and Emilia, well... she joined the band!





The kid played with the band for the rest of the night, ~1.5 hours, as a little backup stick drummer. In between sets, I heard her ask "How much break time til the next set?" She was committed to her part of drumming away. The drummer even gave Emilia a set of drumsticks for her to keep and practice at home... which of course, the next day, both kids did their own version of rock band to their stuffed friends in our living room.

Yosemite : Part III

Continuing from Yosemite : Part II

Day 5 --> Candyland Boulders

Day 5 we ventured to a new area called Candyland Boulders. One of the more remote bouldering areas in Yosemite. Kids were excited to go to Candyland...well.. until we got there and there was no candy. Haha!

(photo by Roger)

Kids stopping to have a lesson about cairns, aka trail markers. Also teaching them why they should not knock these rock stacks down.. which Liam wanted to do, of course.

Candyland was hard to find. We followed the directions from the guidebook, as well as GPS indications through Mountain Project (which turned out wrong). It took over an hour to location these set of boulders, hiking off trail. But we found it, and along with it, a highly-rated 4-star, V4 climb called "Once Upon A Time".

I didn't take too many photos here cause this problem worked me. See how Roger is all contorted? It's a stemmy, delicate footwork kind of problem that is a bit of a highball. At 15', it is not that high, but the slope of the mountain and the surroundings make it feel more.

Next we moved on to find a problem that Ryan wanted to check out, The Diamond, V8. Still located somewhere in Candyland, but we needed to find it. So off hunting again...

Gorgeous view of El Cap along the way.

And we find it!

This is an amazing problem that requires strength, technique, body positioning, and solid core strength. So.. of course we all flail. =) Hopefully this is a start for a progression video for Ryan.. but the fact that Yosemite is not easy for us to have access to (hard to get camping reservations, far away, etc)... it will be a TBD for the future.


In the meantime, the kids had a try at their hang time on the crimpy edge of a start.

Emilia's Hang Time


Liam's Hang Time


At this location, the kids also decided to start a moss-carpet installation service. The rocks here have patches of green mossy, shrubbery growing which the kids would peel off and put together and "sell" carpet plus installation services. They created this area where we were hanging out climbing.

Neat looking natural balance rock in the background.

Day 6 --> Curry Boulders

Our last full day at Yosemite, we stuck close by and searched for climbs right by Half Dome (aka formerly Curry) Village, called the Curry Boulders.

We thought it would be easy to find, but the guidebook is outdated and the description to find the boulders are now inaccurate. Mountain Project and GPS failed us once again, so we spent a bit of time looking for climbs and climbing unknown, unnamed things.

In the meantime, the kids found things of their own to climb and play on.

Emilia climbing up a kid-friendly slab.



Good thing I kept the kids rain pants on, even though it was not raining anymore, but nice and warm, and sunny. Both kiddos have put holes in many of their pants by doing exactly this. I'll find the kids rolling and butt sliding on all sorts of things.



Seriously, if anyone knows of pants that are re-enforced with kevlar butt protection.. please let me know.

We finally found the boulders and played on several of the ones around.

Ryan trying the start to The Angler, V3

We also worked on the Unnamed, V3 that connects to Kevin's Traverse, V0. No photos or videos, but the Unnamed V3 had a fun, hard start that took a bit to figure out. Ryan's beta of using a toe cam was the key!

And lastly, to end our Yosemite highlights.. this small waterfall was amazing to look at. It flowed down the mountain like a staircase. Ryan didn't know the name to it, but said it was like a staircase waterfall. That turned out to be the exact name and it doesn't always flow like this at Yosemite. This year the water level is high with all the rains and so we get to see the Staircase Falls.

(photo by Roger)

(View of Staircase Falls from Kevin's Traverse)