One Fine Spring Weekend Outing

It was a one nice spring weekend last week.  The weather was getting much warmer so I had decided to bring my girls to the Upick strawberry farm last Sunday. 

Then on Thursday of that weekend, Si Si asked me whether we would like to join her to Crocker Art museum located in Sacramento downtown.  It’s the museum which is right next to the freeway where I get onto it on the way back home.  In other words, I see it every time on the way back home and sometimes make me wonder of what will be inside. 

Every Museum’s Day which occurs annually, a free admission is allowed to all museums within Sacramento including this one but we always seem to overlook it as the girls always win by wanting to go the zoo and the fairy tale town.  After playing at those two places, they are usually exhausted and we usually end up going home instead of visiting to other museums around. 

Therefore, I of course replied yes to Si Si and we had joined her to the museum last Saturday.  When we first stepped into it and looked around, nothing appeared to be really special.   I saw a lot of those art works, sculptures and potteries on the first floor which are normally seen in an Art museum. 

I was wondering that it would just be a quick walking tour of the museum.   However, the more we walked in and the deeper we explored, I started to witness a lot of masterpiece art works and paintings.  Some of them are really quite amazing and did really capture our attention.  

For example, there got paintings whereby the fire in them were glowing like real one we would see outside.  And a lot of those masterpieces paintings are in 3D, meaning that I could feel the whole person like in the real world.  In one painting, the artist was so extraordinary that the eyes of the person are so live and it made me feel like I’m seeing the actual person’s eyes in that painting.  There also got a painting of a bird in 3D: it’s just a simple bird but it appears to be like seeing an actual bird which was about to fly when I looked it at from the distance.

We visited to the Asian art corner and saw a lot of arts collection from several different Asian countries including China, Japan, India, Nepal, Thailand, and even from Burma.  As always, I was so excited to see Burmese exhibits in museums here. 

At that time, we had spent nearly two hours in the museum.  As we came straight from Sophie’s ballerina and tap dance class, all of us hadn’t had any lunch, instead of the brunch thing we had at home before her class.  The girls started to get cranky and grumpy since their lunch and nap time has been well pasted. 

We went to cafeteria downstairs but it had almost done for the day and nothing much had left there.  So we decided to head off and had a lunch somewhere in downtown instead.   So, we had to say goodbye to the museum and call it off.  I honestly still wanted to explore a little bit more since there seemed to have a corner which we hadn’t visited.  Oh, well, with my girls what do I expect?  They are our priority as always.  Oh wait!  He’s my priority too.  As usual, when his stomach started to complain him, I could not offend his grumpy face until he got refueled and get away with that grumpy face. :P

By the way, Crockers are so amazing for having such a huge collection of arts.  The amount of effort, time and yes the money they invested for all those collections are just so amazing and impressive.   Just like William Rudolph Hearst at Hearst Castle we saw earlier this year in San Siemeon, they are arts lover and did a vast collection indeed.  Oh and I hadn’t mentioned that Crockers also had the collections of superior Chinaware in top notch porcelain and upscale carving and colorful and some gold lining patterns. 

Anyway, after having a lunch at the nice sandwich shop at the downtown, we headed back home to relax and enjoy the rest of the day at home and in our yard. 

The next day was equally eventful as well.  We brought the girls to U Pick Pacific Star Organic Strawberry farm which was located around Woodland.  

They were so excited once they had got there.  They both picked an empty bucket each and started to pick the fresh organic strawberry from those strawberry trees.   

Sophie has a good eye and she tried to pick the big red well ripen strawberries.  Michelle was so funny in the sense that she would pick any strawberry she saw on her way including those small tiny ones, and even the green ones. 

I followed and guided her what to be picked and what not to be picked.  Still she would pick some green ones sometimes and when I told her those were not good enough then she would throw them away.   Shhhh….  Luckily, there was nobody watching us.  I had to tell her to stop throwing them away and to pick the right ones instead.

They both got even more excited when they continued their DIY pickings at the blackberry farm.  It was my first time seeing the black berry trees as well.  

They both were attracted to the red ones and started to pick the reds instead of the black ones which were ready to be eaten and picked.   It was so much fun and pleased to see them having such a good time there.  

As I forgot to bring the sun screen, we were concerned that they would get sun burn so we decided to leave after a while.  But on the way back to the weight scale station where the fruits were to be weighed and paid, they kept picking strawberries again while we passed through the strawberry farm again.  

Even before weighing and paying, Michelle started to pick a few and started to eat them.   It was so cute of her who couldn’t just wait a little bit longer.  I had to stop her and Daddy went to wash some off so that they could eat them right away.   

Even before getting on the car, they started to eat them and their mouths all turned red from the juices of berries.  They let us try and we ate some as well.  It was so yummy.  They were so fresh, tender and so juicy.

Then it was about the lunch time and we went to Cache Creek since it was not too far away from the farm.  It was a very gorgeous day to drive along the County Road to Cache Creek.  

We all enjoyed the panoramic view alongside of the road.  The girls rolled the windows down, were giggling and had a lot of fun to feel the wind on their faces. 

Finally we had a buffet at Cache Creek.  I particularly loved the BBQ ribs there and so do the girls.  Oh and not to mention about those enticing wide varieties of desserts there.  It was so funny that the lady at the dessert station was asking me of where and how to get Michelle’s haircut.  She was surprised to learn that it was a home cut. 

On the way home, the girls fast fell into asleep as usual.  It was an eventful, yet relaxing and fun spring weekend.  The weather was just perfect, at least for me since they were in 80s.  It might not be true for the girls though since those two little chill lovers started complaining that it was too hot.  I love such family outings where everyone enjoyed and not too busy and tiring as well.   Summer is right around the corner and hopefully we have more fun with such road trips when the summer progresses!

Fun Hiking at Mount Diablo

The long awaited Memorial Day holiday has finally come!  We were debating on a couple of places and finally we made a call for Mount Diablo, one of Northern California's most significant historical, cultural, and geological treasures. 

I've been wanting to go there quite a while but it didn't happen previously.  He had been there for a couple of times during his conference trips to the States before we've settled down here. Yay, we were on our way to there finally!

The weather was beautiful on that day. This spring has been pretty bizzare and I even feel like it's still winter sometimes. It rains very frequently and the temperature deems below normal than the past.  The rain makes it cooler than it seems I guess.  Anyway, I was glad that it was sunny and beautiful on that day though.

After we had admitted through the South Gate entrance, our winding journey had begun. The strictly two lanes road: one lane for going up and the other one for coming down reminded me of the very very curvy Highway1 to Hearst Castle earlier this year.

What was even worsen for Mount Diablo's winding road is that there is no road barrier. At some point, it appeared that our car was so close to the road edge when the road is narrow.  It was my side on my way up there and I could clearly see the steep valley on my right.  The higher, harder and further our RAV4 had climbed, the thriller I felt.

But the girls seemed to be doing really great though. They rolled their windows down and were enjoying the panoramic scenes.  As Sophie was behind me, she could see and feel the same way as I do.  But nothing seemed to bother both of them at all.  Both of us had to tell them to roll the windows down.

Just like that, 1000 feet had been well passed.  I think it might be when we were approaching to 2000 feet, the girls demanded for the snacks and juices in the trunk.  So, we stopped at the Livermore Valley Overlook. While they were enjoying the food, we stepped out for a while to stretch ourselves and enjoyed the view from there.  I was able to capture a couple of snapshots as well of course.

 Then we headed back to the road to resume our journey.  2000 feet and 3000 feet were passed.  And finally we were at the summit whose elevation is at 3849 feet.  We had reached our destination.  Hooray! Well, it wasn't quite hooray since the parking lot at the summit was full.  We had to patiently wait quite a bit to be able to lock in a spot. 

The view was spectacular from there.  We were able to spot the Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco downtown from there.  It wasn't super clear but it luckily wasn't as misty as I would have thought so we were able to see and figure out what was what.  And we saw the I680 from where came from as well.  It is said that people might be able to see the Sierra mountains, even at the Half Dome at the Yosemite if the day happens to be so clear when one is at the summit.  Too bad that we weren't able to see that far as it was a bit hazy.  We didn't bring the binocular anyway.

Then he and the girls had led me to the trail by the summit.  I think it was along the summit trail and part of Mary Bowerman trail.  The trail was rough, uneven and narrow at some points but I was so amazed by their braveness and fearless. 

At one point, there was this cliff where the rock formation was on top. We saw a couple who were having their lunch and enjoying the nature and far-reaching panoramic view on the edge of the cliff.  They even hang their legs against the cliff.  That was so cool, wasn't it!  Well, only when you have the gut and could have forgotten the steep valley below you of course! :P  I don't think I have that gut!  Thanks for trying though, :P

And Sophie was sitting on the aforementioned rock of the cliff.  There was absolutely nothing from stopping you not to fall off if you ever slipped accidentally.  From where she was sitting, it might be about 1 and half feet or 2 feet away from the edge of the cliff. And that fearless girl freaked me out when she started to crawl towards the edge out of her curiousity I guess.  Before I had noticed myself I was yelling her, most likely with my harsh and pitchy voice to stop.  I know he was just next to her and holding her tight but Michelle was in one of his hands so I was so freaked out that he couldn't handle both of them.  Thanks to my gut: I didn't go anywhere close to the edge and enjoyed the view from the distance!  Well, I don't take such risks!  LOL :P

When we were there, we encountered another passer-by family.  The mom was also so freaked out for her son and yelling from the distance when he tried to get a closer look to the edge.  At the same time, she looked at me and explained that she was afraid of height.  Well, you were not alone! :P I didn't say that to her though.  Anyway, I was glad out of that thriller that I was not alone :D

We did quite a bit of walking along the trail and headed back to the original route. I think we could enjoy the scene more if we had done a bit further.  But we couldn't put up hope too much with two little toddlers tough.

We stopped by at the summit museum. As always, nothing else could convince our Sophie better than reading books.  Both of them read and flipped almost all books at the book corner of the museum. 

After that we looked around inside. I was so amazed to learn that some of the ocean stuff such as sea shells, etc could be found from the earth of Mount Diablo.  It was showing a projected and narrated picture of those super amazing geological transformation that how the floor of the ocean was pushed up through six or eigh miles of overlaying rock and soil, tilting and distorting the rock layers and in some places turning them completely upside down during millions of year ago.  No wonder how the ocean stuff were found and embedded in Mount Diablo?  Nature is just so amazing, isn't it?

I would love to finish watching the film but our stomach started to signal us so we'd better off from there. We drove down to find a picnic area.  

We stopped by at a picnic table under the huge shady trees.  It would be a perfect during the warm summer days with those cool shades.  But with that elevation and being a bit windy on that day, it was a bit chilly for me.  Thanks myself for making and packing some sandwiches for us.  There was no restaurants or whatsoever to get the food from.  As usual, we brought more than enough for snacks and drinks for girls.  That means we got more than enough food for four of us.  Both of girls were so excited for the picnic.  Sophie said that she wanted to do it again since she enjoyed the picnic so much.  Definitely, dear!  Mommy will let you enjoy another picnic next time I promised!

The fun didn't end there.  More fun was awaiting ahead of us since he brought us to Rock City and Wind Caves later.

We also drove through the campground area on the way and saw a lot of overnight campers.  It looked so fun and it did convince me and we were talking about camping in the future.  Well, a couple of more years later when the girls grow up bigger, perhaps we could do it by then.

My two incredible fearless girls had a lot of fun hiking there.  They were such a pro!  In fact, they did really freak me out mostly. As soon as we got to Rock City Sophie started climbing on the huge rock.  Michelle was always a copycat of her big sister and she did keep up with her big sister.  When the daddy stepped out for a while for the restroom, they gave me headaches by running up and down on that relatively steep and high rock.  I was just so worried that they fell off and got injuried.  Perhaps I was too cautious.  They both did pretty good job.

What had thrilled me most was that when Sophie took another much bigger challenge by climbing onto the steep and really high rock hill.  That fearless little girl was climbing so fast ahead of him and just freaked me out more when I learnt from him that there was an open steep cliff at the peak.  What freaked me out much more was that Michelle was trying to catch her sister and following and climbing on the slope.  I was trying to hold her tight not to let her go but she cried and pushed against me so that she could keep climbing.

When I released her, she started to take her shoes and socks off, just like her big sister did so that she could have more grip on the trail for climbing. When I stopped her and told her to stop climbing she seemed so mad and yelled at me that her daddy would let her do it and I was just so speechless. 

By knowning that I would not be able to get to the peak, he came down again to hold Michelle and went back to the top.  I was holding my breath until he got the top.  Because the trail was just wide enough to step a foot at a time and there didn't have enough stepping point to grip the foot properly on those rocks.  Plus, Sophie was sitting on the top by herself and waiting for Daddy and her little sister.  Even though Daddy had asked her not to move and I kept telling from where I was not to move, I was still so worried that she might have moved and so concerned that she might fall off. Thanks God, I felt relieved after they came down safe.  I didn't have any picture for the record keeping.  I wish that I could take the pictures of those adventurous moments but I could barely breath by then so what do you expect?  There were a couple of adults sitting at the bottom of the rock hill and they seemed so amazed to see my girls climbing all the way up.  What's a hiker!!


After getting off from it, they both seemed more confident and started to hike on the adjacent rock hills along the trail.  He told me that I wouldn't be able to keep up with them a couple of years.  Well, he might be right.  I realize that I'd rather keep myself fit so that I wouldn't be left out :)

And our last stop was at the wind caves.  It's so amazing that how the wind had hallowed those sandstones over the time.  When we got there both of them were so tired as they had climbed quite a couple of big and tall rocks on the way here.  He wanted to climb through those hollows and see inside but Sophie wanted to follow with him even though she seemed so exhuasted at that point.  It would be difficult for her age to hike up there.  He had pretty tired at that point after following, guiding and carefully holding both of them not fall off from their hikings along the way. The stubborn girl insisted that she wanted to hike up there as long as Daddy would do hiking even though we both tried to comfort her to stay with me at the bottom and let Daddy take the adventure alone.  Michelle had also given up as she was exhausted already so she had no problem waiting and sitting with me at the bottom.  Finally he gave up his desire of wanting to hike up there since he knew that she was so exhausted already and it would be too much for her with another adventure. 

 

When we all got back to the car, they both were starving from the exhausting their energies for hiking. After refueling their engeries, they fast fell into asleep on the way back.  When she woke up, Sophie requested to bring her for more hikings next time.  She also said that she wanted to do the camping. 

It was such a fun and adventerous day at Mount Diablo.  The girls had a blast there.  We all had fun and relaxing Memorial day weekend there.  Apart from those of my thrilling episodes of course!  More hiking will be coming up so stay tuned, girls!