Emersyn had two best buddies in Shanghai she met in the 1st grade – Kate and Mimi. Jim and I called them the Terrific Trio. The three girls have a strong bond for meeting at such a young age. They still email each other on a regular basis. Kate moved back to New York after the 2nd grade. Mimi moved to Hong Kong in the middle of 3rd grade and is now back in her home in Australia.

Kate came to visit us for two weeks. We called in Camp Lyon. She flew as an unaccompanied minor from NY to SF. Poor girl had a flight delay at her connection. Being an unaccompanied minor meant locked in a supervised room until the flight departure time. She had to spend three hours in this room! Kate arrived Thursday night.

Camp Lyon adventures begins!

Day one: The Paint

We had to squeeze in another surgery for Emersyn’s bone cyst to be able to get three in for the summer. We were trying to get surgery for Thursday, but no luck. Emersyn went to the Surgery Center at 5:30 am on Friday, Kate’s first day. We spent the morning relaxing while Emmy rest her leg. After lunch, Terri and I took the girls to Petroglyph to paint.

Emersyn painted a frog for me and Eleri painted a frog for Jim. Emmy picked out her frog first and wasn’t too pleased Elle picked the same. That big/little sister thing! Kate painted a penguin.

Eleri’s and Emersyn’s frogs

Day Two: The Sleep over

Emersyn has wanted to sleep over at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for over three years. However, with limited sleepover nights and the time we are in California, we never seem to hit the right weekend. This year, we were able to find a date to share the fun with Kate.

Terri and Andy are members of the Aquarium and take the girls often. It is an amazing aquarium. The Monterey Bay Aquarium (founded 1984) is located on the former site of a sardine cannery on Cannery Row of the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California.

Terri and Andy started their adventure with the girls in Carmel. The girls had fun playing in the waves of the ocean at the beach. After beach play, they ate an early dinner at the “Forge in the Forest” restaurant.

Check in time for the aquarium was 6pm. They decided to sleep by the jelly fish. Later, they discovered this was not the wisest choice. The tank was loud and the lights stayed on all night. They did take blow-up mattress as Terri is NOT the camping kind of girl! I wasn’t at the sleepover, so I don’t have all the details. But when they returned, all three girls were busy telling stories with big smiles. The highlight was feeding the string rays. Elle would not touch them, but Kate and Emersyn loved it.

Day Three: The Drive

The sleepover ended at 8am. Terri and Andy drove the tired campers back to the Bay Area. Jim and I packed the truck to be ready to leave when they arrived. It would be a long travel day, but the girls wanted to get to Tahoe to play. We stopped at our usual stop for lunch, “In & Out Burger”. In & Out is a California fast food chain. They have the best french fries – cut fresh on site.

When we are in America, we always play “slug bug”. Not enough bugs in Shanghai to get the game interesting. Kate introduced us to “skittles”. Skittles are cars that are the bright colors of the candy skittles. However, the skittle car and our car must be moving. I lost many points for yelling skittle when we weren’t moving or the skittle car wasn’t moving! We added skittle bugs for double points. It keeps the car rides interesting.

Day Four: The beach

On our first day of our Tahoe adventure, we enjoyed the beach.

We had gone to the PDQ, the local quick market, to get bread and lunch meat. Jim was in charge of making sandwiches for the crew. I was on sunscreen duty!! We had our camp set up to enjoy the day at the beach. Hum, I can remember the days before kids when we WALKED to the beach with a book and a towel. Now, we drive with everyone carrying a handful of “stuff”.

Emersyn made Kate into a beautiful mermaid!

Paddle boat fun was part of the day. It was a nice mid-week day at the beach with very few people.

We swam out to the docks. There are no photos because we ALL swam. The water is EXTRA cold this year from the late snow fall running into the lake. The average temperature of the lake water at the surface in the summer is around 65F/18C. It takes time getting the toes wet. It takes your breath away when you jump in. I wasn’t going to swim, but Emersyn was given me a bad time. My only thought was how much grief she would give me tonight if I didn’t take the plunge – giving into peer pressure-not setting a good example!!

After our swim in the lake, we loaded the car and hit the pool – the water was warmer. It is a nice way to end the day. The girls were having a blast with the tubes in the pool.

We enjoyed a steak dinner, cards and board games. Kate taught us how to play spoons. Emmy taught us how to play pig. Pig was similar to spoons. It was funny as Eleri lost every round. We asked her if she wanted to play something else. She said, “no, I am having fun”. That is the best kind of sportsmanship…it is about having fun, not winning!

Day Five: The bike

Tahoe is about outdoor adventures and today was biking. Last year for the first time, we biked all the way from Homewood to the River Ranch. Emmy is old enough and Eleri is on a tag-along as it is 10 miles one way. The girls did great. The big hill at Sunnyside is a tough one. Both girls had to walk their bikes to the top, but they gave it their best.

The River Ranch has a beautiful patio area on the river. We always have a long lunch enjoying the views.

We rode the 10 miles back to Homewood to return our bike rentals. The girls wanted to go miniature golfing. Jim remembers golfing at Kings Beach when he was a kid. We decided to see if it was still there…and it was. We golfed a round of 18-holes.

After a fun filled day, we went back to the house for showers, dinner and more game night.

Day Six: The Beach

The girls decided they wanted to go to the pool first. It was a good decision as no one was in the pool. Later in the day when we returned to the pool, the girls were told no tubes. There is a sign that says no tubes and with more people the rule is being enforced.

We spent most of the day crawdad fishing. Jim did this as a kid with his Dad. To catch the crawdads, a stone is tied to a piece of rope/string. A piece of bacon/meat is put on the stone. You lower the stone into the water and wait for a crawdad to climb upon the stone. Then, you carefully lift it out of the water and catch it in the net before it jumps off. It is a challenge and fun. There were many laughters and “oh, almost”.

The girls did take time out from fishing to get an afternoon ice cream – part of our beach day.

Jim steamed the crawdads for an appetizer. We didn’t have too many – about 8 crawdads. Kate and Eleri were excited to taste these little creatures. They taste like shrimp which is one of Eleri’s favorite foods.

Day Seven: The Road Trip

Today’s adventure was a “road trip”. After many nights searching for a puppy for the girls, I finally find a breeder in the Reno area. We loaded the excited girls and drove the hour to Reno. Once we arrived at Reno, the “big City”, we wanted to find a Target or Walmart. The beach activity at the pool on Friday is tie dye t-shirts. We found a Target and the perfect t-shirts. We grabbed lunch at “In & Out” before driving north another hour to Milford, California. We arrived at the breeder’s home to see the puppies. They were so cute. We had six puppies to choose from to find our one special puppy. After playing with them, we had narrowed it down to two puppies. Emmy, Elle, Kate and I thought puppy 834 (chip number) had a cuter face over puppy 596. Dad liked the big nose of the puppy 596, but he didn’t care. We went with the 834 as the family dog. Now, we would have to wait another week to get her. Amazing, I forgot to take any photos – so not like me. The girls discussed names on the way home. Roxi is the favorite.

We drove back to Tahoe to meet the family all coming up for the weekend. We had pizza in town with Mimi & Papa and Terri & Andy. They couldn’t believe I didn’t take a photo either!!

Day Eight: The Bike

Another beautiful day in Tahoe and we are biking to the River Ranch with Terri and Andy. We only biked about 10 minutes down the road when Terri had a blow-out tire. It took Andy 45 minutes to ride back and fix it. We all hung out at a rock while we waited. The three girls had fun discussing names for the new puppy, #834. We still beat the crowds to the Ranch to get a good table along the river.

Mimi and Papa join us for hamburgers on the patio.

We rode into Tahoe City to get ice cream and do a bit of shopping. The girls have a toy shop at the Boat Works mall they like to “check out”.

Day Nine: The Beach

This is the most time we have spent in Tahoe since we moved to Asia. Everyone is enjoying the relaxing beauty of Tahoe. Today is another beach play day. This time we have photos of the swim. Andy stayed on shore to “capture the moment”!

After the swim, we enjoyed our sandwiches. Jim had a few more to make this morning, but he has his system. The girls tie dyed their t-shirts as part of the beach activities provided by the Association. Then, Eleri was busy building her sand castle – stairs and all.

The girls had fun playing in the pool with Terri and Andy.

Day Ten: The Drive

Jim left on a bus to Reno this morning. He had a business trip in Minnesota. We packed the car and cleaned the house to begin our travels back to the Bay Area. The girls decided they wanted to go home a day earlier than planned to have some more fun in the Bay Area.

Day Eleven: Carmel

Terri has three strikes at buying things for Elle. First, she was going to buy shorts that were too small in Nebraska. I jumped in to get her the bigger size. On the way home from Nebraska, Terri stopped at the crocs store at the Denver airport. She came home with shoes too small! At the sleep over, Terri and Andy bought sleep over t-shirts for the girls. Terri came home with a toddler 2 for Eleri. I guess she gets the excuse she doesn’t have kids! We needed to exchange Eleri’s t-shirt. In addition, the girls wanted to go back to play at the beach in Carmel.

The first stop was to be a quick stop in the gift shop to exchange the t-shirt…but we were here so the big girls wanted to go to the Touch Pools to touch the sting rays, again. Eleri wanted to go to the Splash Zone. As we were getting ready to leave, a diver was in the kelp tank feeding the fish.

The kelp tank – The centerpiece of the Ocean’s Edge Wing is a 10 meter (33-foot) high 1.3 million liter (1/3 million gallon) tank for viewing California coastal marine life. In this tank, the aquarium was the first in the world to grow live California Giant Kelp using a wave machine at the top of the tank (water movement is a necessary precondition for keeping Giant Kelp, which absorbs nutrients from surrounding water and requires turbidity), allowing sunlight in through the open tank top, and circulation of raw seawater from the Bay.

By the time we left the aquarium, we were a hungry crew. We went to “Bubba Gump Shrimp Company” for lunch. The is a seafood restaurant chain inspired by the 1994 film Forrest Gump. Bubba Gump’s in Monterey was the first restaurant which opened in 1996. The girls have not seen the movie, but they still had fun at the restaurant. We asked for a table outside as it was another beautiful day in California.

Dessert was down the street at Ghiradelli’s Ice Cream Shop. The ice cream sundaes are worth every calorie.

After filling our tummies, we drove to Carmel to enjoy the ocean. The girls had a blast running and chasing the waves.

Day Twelve: The Santa Cruz Boardwalk

The Santa Cruz Boardwalk is something I haven’t done since Emersyn was little. Eleri has never been there – a perfect outing for the day. We were going to eat at the Boardwalk, but Terri got a bit lost driving and we found a pasta/pizza place that we all couldn’t resist. Good thing, as the food at the Boardwalk was all grease and fried. I had to take a photo of this booth. We didn’t have one, but the saying, “a heart attack on a plate” would cover these tasty treats!

Terri and I were surprised how expensive the rides were at the Boardwalk. Kate, Emersyn and Terri went on the the roller coast twice. Eleri was too little. The one ride Eleri really wanted to do was broken. We told her we would come back another day.

The miniature golf was Aunt Terri’s kind of golf…inside. She didn’t have to worry about the sun! The golf only allowed 4 people in a group. I took a stroll down the boardwalk while they golfed. They reported back it was fun!

For Kate’s last dinner out, we went to The Cheesecake Factory. It is one of Kate’s favorite places. She knew exactly what she wanted to order. Of course, we ordered a few cheesecakes to share.

Day Thirteen: The Last day of Camp Lyon

At the Cheesecake Factory last night, we were discussing how we would spend the last day of Camp Lyon. Jim came up with the idea of $100 for the three girls to spend at Michaels to have a craft day. They loved it. Kate and Emmy were so cute as they came up with a time line for the day. Of course, it was completely off as we spent longer than allowed at lunch and shopping at Michaels.

When we got home, the girls spread out a blanket, set up music on Emersyn’s computer and spent the afternoon outside drawing and creating.

Day Fourteen: Home

Kate and Jim left for the airport at 4:30am. Kate was on an early flight out. We had such a fun time with Kate in California – it was hard to say good-bye. She is such a delightful young lady. I know this friendship will continue to be special for Emersyn and Kate.