For the Fourth of July holiday, most of my immediate family went to stay in a cabin near Shaver Lake. We were there for about four days without much phone service and no internet– which explains my absence.
The weekend consisted of a lot of time spent relaxing and enjoying nature, catching up with family, reading and sobbing through “A Fault in Our Stars”, hiking to Brewer Lake, Beryl Lake, and Tocher Lake (see photos below), off-roading in the buggies to Bald Mountain where my husband proposed nearly four years ago, and participating in several epic nerf gun battles which I didn’t catch on camera.
There was so much beauty to be captured. California may be in a serious drought, but it was amazing how green everything was and the amount of wildflowers in bloom!
We had quite a few bites that we released, but Brandon definitely caught the biggest fish and he tasted awesome.
The boys love their buggies and love breaking them even more. We were all surprised the VW Thing made it to the top of the mountain, but none of us were surprised to hear it broke down on the drive home.
On the top of Bald Mountain– back to where Brandon proposed nearly four years ago.
On top of the newly reconstructed lookout tower– AKA the tower of doom.
We watched fireworks from out on the lake and received the most frightening call that evening from a neighbor saying they found one of our dogs. As pet owners parents, our first thought was “Where are the others?” while our roommate was watching them. It’s amazing how fast your thoughts can race when you feel fear. I thought of the worst: someone broke in and all three dogs are missing, or we left a door unlocked and they are all out in the street.
Fortunately, we reached our roommate and she said she had just gotten home. She said that when she came in she didn’t see Jester, who is deathly afraid of fireworks, but the other two dogs were inside so she thought maybe he was hiding upstairs. Turns out that sneaky devil likely ran out the door when she walked in and started booking it down the street. Thankfully he is friendly enough to stop and say hello to the good samaritan that picked him up. She called the number on his tag and reached us. Remember it is important to always have identification on your pets and microchip them if possible. We were so thankful to get him home safe.
The fun continued throughout the weekend, as you can see here: Photo-bombing at it’s finest.
And we can’t forget the instagram photos.
You already knew I was a princess, but now bow down to Queen of the Forest. Until I broke it.
Truth be told, I was pretty disappointed when I broke my crown.
But, I did get a chance to work on perfecting my handstand! Guess I’ll search for another one on our next adventure!
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Oh yea, I almost forgot… I got lost in the woods on Friday. Oops!
I went for a trail run, as I have done before, and I thought I was keeping track of my turns, but apparently I sucked at it made a mistake because soon enough I was not heading in the right direction. Maybe I can blame it on the two bucks that scared the shit out of me startled me by rumbling in the bushes?
Anyway, my quick 30 minute 3 mile run turned into a 4.5 mile run involving sneaking through someone’s back yard and using google maps to get me back and running through a ton of powdery dirt along the way! It could have been worse though!
So, what does your family do to celebrate the Fourth of July?
That House on the Corner 
