4 June 2017

Gibson felt better on Monday so we spent Memorial Day in the Redwoods and at the coast.  We hiked the Boy Scout Tree Trail in northern California.

Here is the Boy Scout Tree.  It's made of two trees that have grown together and is 31 feet around at its base.  

We met another hiker on the trail who was disappointed the Boy Scout Tree is not the tallest tree in the world.  She tried to dissuade us from completing the hike, telling us it was a B. S. tree.  When we got to the tree, we found a sign that literally labeled it the B. S. tree.

Fern Falls are a short distance away from the tree.

The hike was about 6 miles long, but nearly level and the trail meandered through giant redwood trees.

The fallen trees are irresistible to climb on.  Abe, Helen and Gibson walked up this long tree trunk.  They are tiny next to the massive trees.

 After our hike, we headed to Secret Beach.  Brandan climbed up a stream and took this photo of the beach.

We never expect warm weather at the beach, but Monday was especially cold.  Becky huddled in a blanket for the couple of hours we were here. 

Here's Helen climbing on the rocks.

 Here's Gibson

Abe and Helen both went boogie boarding in the freezing water.

 Abe changed into warmer clothes.  Gib buried Abe's legs in the bank of the stream and then sculpted fake legs and feet on the end of his knees.  He put Abe's shoes on the end of the fake feet to add to make the legs look more realistic.  Even though it was cold, it was a beautiful day.

Gibson and Brandan worked on Gibson's fidget spinners this week.

 Becky, Helen, Sofi, Abe and Brandan went to the temple to do baptisms on Friday night.  Our temple reserves Friday nights for families and the baptistry is a little quieter and more relaxed.  It was a wonderful evening.

 Abe played in his last Tablerock soccer game on Saturday.  He'll be too old to play in the fall on the club team, but he's hoping to play on the high school team.

Brandan's nephews, Parker and Logan, drove out from Utah to spend time with Sofi before she leaves on her mission.  Parker turns 18 next year and will leave on his mission after he graduates so they won't see each other again until 2020.  We spent Saturday afternoon at Lake of the Woods.  Sofi's friend, Logan, came along.  Our church owns a girls' camp on the lake and the caretakers welcome families out to play on the weekends.  In the photo, Sofi, Parker and Logan are sitting on the dock.  Helen and the other Logan are paddling out to the dock.  Gibson and Abe are off in a canoe (not in the photo) trying to catch one of the very large pelicans that were swimming in the lake.

Here's a photo of Logan, Abe, Sofi and Parker.

 Here's a photo of Abe, Gibson, Parker and Logan ready for church.  Helen and Sofi had already left for choir practice when we took this photo.

We had the missionaries over for dinner on Sunday.  It seemed like a great night to try out the ice cream maker Sarah sent Becky for her birthday.  Except the part that we got out of church at 4 and the missionaries arrived for dinner early at 4:30.  We handed the missionaries the ingredients and the instruction manual and put them to work making ice cream.  They did a great job making strawberry ice cream with fresh strawberries from our garden.

Parker and Abe took charge of making the bacon stuffed cheeseburgers.  They made a small burger for themselves which they called "the sampler" to test for quality control.  Our kids like having the missionaries for dinner because Becky plans food like cheeseburgers instead of bean burgers or rice bowls.