There is a saying that is very true within our family, "The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys".

For the third time, Steve and at least one son, have attended an amazing desert extravaganza. After the first year, Steve had to get himself a Jeep, not to participate in the race, but to better spectate.As the sun sets, the event gets more magical and the drivers get more crazy!

Steve said that this Rock Crawl race has to be seen to fully grasp its wonderment.
Evenings offer something for everyone including concerts. Sublime headlined. The concert was part of the entertainment lineup for the event, which attracts over 100,000 spectators and racers.

Meet Susie. We have known of each other for years because her husband was a part of the City of Temecula and was involved with the Sister City Association, as was I. We never really got to know one another even though we have lived just around the corner from one another since 2000.

In 2024, at a holiday party thrown for Japanese delegates, we sat at the same table and had our first real chat. It was not only delightful but serendipitous, too.
Through getting to know one another by asking all the usual questions, it turns out that Steve and Susie not only grew up in Whittier but they also went to school together for YEARS (elementary and junior high).
In addition, Susie's best friend's mom was a part of Steve's mom's core friend group for DECADES. What a small world. During that initial reconnecting dinner, Steve and Susie shared childhood memories and spoke of mutual friends who have come and gone.
Both lived in different school zones and attended different high schools. These are the last images of the two of them within the same yearbook 50 years ago- Wow. Interestingly their shared history bonded Susie and I almost instantly. We discovered that we are kindred spirits in many ways. Isn't it amazing how people come into our lives? I believe this quote, “We don’t meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason.” Serendipitous, indeed!

I recently became a fan of Anne Bogel after reading her book about personalities. I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life, her second book, is a collection of essays that celebrates the reading life, exploring the personal and universal experiences of book lovers, from the books that first hooked them to the challenges of a growing "to-be-read" pile. Anne invites readers to reflect on reading as a lifestyle, covering topics like finding the right book at the right time, the joy of reading, and the role books play in shaping identity.

How can a lover of books not love this book when it states so clearly what reading is all about? "People read for a multiplicity of reasons. Nearly forty years in, I can tell you why I inhale books like oxygen: I'm grateful for my one life, but I'd prefer to live a thousand, and my favorite books allow me to experience more on the page than I ever could in my actual life. A good book allows me to step into another world, to experience people and places and situations foreign to my own day-to-day existence. I love experiencing the new, the novel, the otherwise impossible, especially when I can do it from my own comfy chair."

Any boy mommy, whose son has married, knows the delights of getting her boy alone for any amount of time. Due to weekend plans, our younger child was held captive for over 10 hours as we headed south on US 395. I was in Mom Heaven.

Our first stop was only 54 miles from our cabin. Walker Coffee is our new, on-the-road favorite. Great employees, tasty coffee, and they keep my frequent buyer card on file so I don't have to think about where it might be.

My view for 10 ½ hours!
This image captures our parental GLEE.
Our next stop, 244 miles from our coffee pause, was Fossil Falls. 
Fossil Falls don't have either fossils or falls. What one finds, rather, is a spectacular lava flow sculpted by rushing water and wind late in the Ice Ages—a “fossil” of nature’s handiwork.
This is one of the most unique geological features we've seen. The rugged and primitive features of Fossil Falls are the product of volcanic activity from as recently as 20,000 years ago. Lava from the local volcanic eruptions poured into the Owens River channel. The erosional forces of the river acted upon this volcanic rock, forming the polished and sculptured features that now can be ogled here. This is my third visit to Fossil Falls and I am just as impressed.


What fun to discover wildflowers in bloom, too.

With our younger son's family visiting for a few days and with the weather being incredible, we knew the ideal spot to spend their last day in town... Tube Tahoe!

For most of our 1.5 hour session, we were the only frolickers on the hill. It was like Grandpa and Grandma had booked it for a private party. So dang cool.
Steve and I were there as spectators and photographers!

Because everyone at Tube Tahoe was so good to us, our granddaughter created a gratitude masterpiece. How cute is this?! I 🤎 Tube Tahoe.

The hot toy of Christmas 1974 was the humble Shrinky Dinks. I recently discovered that this nostalgic toy from my pre-teen childhood is still alive and well. But first, some history.

Shrinky Dinks got their start in Brookfield, WI, way back in 1973. It was there that Betty Morris and Kathryn Bloomberg invented the amazing shrinking craft while working on a Cub Scout project with their sons. They had read about a fun project in a magazine where you could trace, cut, and color onto plastic lids, place them in the oven and watch as they shrunk and hardened. The kids loved it, and it was a bolt of lightning moment for the pair.After working out all the manufacturing logistics, the promotional beginnings were indeed humble. Betty and Kathryn set up a small table in a suburban mall in Milwaukee. It was shopping season, and plenty of small businesses were peddling their wares in booths. On the table they placed several pieces of plastic, both large and small, and a toaster oven. When shoppers walked by, the two arranged for a demonstration. The larger bits of plastic went into the oven. Through the window, people watched them shrivel up. They emerged only a portion of their original size, as though they had been zapped with a shrink ray. Needless-to-say, Shrinky Dinks became a sensation. Here's an ad that I'm certain made me beg my mom for my own kit.
The women eventually got a distributor, Skyline, who inked a deal with Quaker to offer a specially created "Shrinky Dinks Kit" as a Self-Liquidating Cereal Premium on marked boxes of King Vitamin. How cool would that be?
The first company to sign Shrinky Dinks with an exclusive licensing agreement was Colorforms. It was a profitable partnership. Under Colorforms, this plastic toy became so popular that the toy giant Milton Bradley would purchase the rights in the late eighties, so that they could make and distribute them. Crazy to think these were popular in the 80s, too. My boys did not experience the phenomenon so it's extra special that I get to share my childhood memories with my grandchildren (I guess Shrinky Dinks skip a generation).
True Shrinky Dinks® Creative Packs are still very much available. I was gifted this knockoff kit from a fellow grandma.
Hours were spent coloring these plastic treasures. What a perfect, quiet afternoon activity.