Lone Pine

The Stutelberg family decided to get out of town for the weekend! We left midmorning on Saturday for Lone Pine, CA. Lone Pine is located about 2 hours North of the Antelope Valley at the base of the Eastern Sierra Mountains. Lone Pine is the portal to Mt. Whitney. My dad hiked up Mt. Whitney about 10 years ago and said it was an amazing (literally breathless) experience! Someday Karl and I would love to hike it. We just need some babysitters for a day or so...hint hint!
The boys slept on the drive to Lone Pine so we didn't immediately stop in town. We drove up Portal Rd a few miles and pulled off the road and had a picnic lunch and hiked around. The rock formations at this spot were really cool. The pictures of Matt squatting and leaning on a rock and Micah by the rocks were taken here. They were in "forts." We had a good time scouting out lots of "forts!" We then drove up Portal Rd to the Whitney Portal. It had been about 70 degrees out when we had our picnic and just another 10 miles up the road it was 45 degrees at the start of the Whitney trail!We stayed the night in an old hotel in town that was built back in the 1930s to house actors and movie crews that were in the area filming old Westerns. Matt was VERY excited to stay in a hotel! Both boys were bouncing off the walls! We had dinner across the street at a pizza place which was also a special treat for the boys and added to the excitement! Once we got the kids in bed (no small feat) it took them over an hour to fall asleep! Karl and I were trying not to laugh because it was kind of cute/funny how excited they were!In the morning we ate breakfast at the greasiest (yummy yummy) cafe in the world. We then drove back up Portal Rd to Lone Pine Campground. We hiked a bit, Matt rode his tricycle, Micah pushed his toy, and hung out by the stream. When the boys started getting tired we loaded back in the car and drove home! It was a great weekend! Hopefully all of you had a nice weekend!

GOODNIGHT!!

Matt's First Race

Matt ran his first road race with Karl. The annual Turkey Trot was this weekend. There was a 1/2 K race for kids and Matt ran with Karl! He did great! He refused to wear the number (another two year old thing) but ran the whole way! All the kids got medals at the end. Our family friends, the Schneiders, ran as well. Karl paced Clay for a fast time and my dad, Bill, Dawn, and myself ran a nice easy run!

Happy Birthday Micah!!

We had a very busy weekend! Lots of family came to town for Micah's birthday on Sunday. Erin came last Tuesday evening. She had the week off for "fall holiday" and chose to spend it with us! We are so glad she came. The boys and I LOVE having her here. I keep trying to talk up the Antelope Valley with the hope she may be blinded by the the cuteness of her nephews and move here! No such luck! While she was here we went to a really cool pumpkin patch that has a train ride and animals. Jeanette had Friday off so she came on Thursday evening. We babysat Luke on Friday so we dressed up the 3 kids and took them to Karl's work then out for frozen yogurt. Matt was a bee, Micah a spider, and Luke a bear! I had originally planned to have Matt and Micah be monkeys but Matt refused to wear the outfit (a two year old thing) and a friend gave me the spider outfit and it was just too cute. So, we had two insects!
Halloween night we carved pumpkins then went to our church for "trunk or treating." People from the church and school park and decorate their cars and hand out candy. We took Matt last year and it is perfect! Karl's brother, Jack and his girlfriend Raina came on Friday night and joined us.
Sunday was Micah's birthday party. The theme was zoo animals. I made Micah's monkey cake and a banana cake for him to smash into. Thanks Uncle Jack for the assistance! The party was lots of fun. We wanted to keep it fairly small so only family came. My aunt, cousin and two of her kids came. We haven't seem them in over 2 years so it was really nice of them to make the drive.
Micah performed great as you can see from the pictures! Matt "helped" him blow out his candle. I can't believe my little baby is a YEAR old. Where did the year go? I still think of Micah as my little new born and he isn't even a baby anymore but a toddler. The kids had fun with the pinata and playing in the backyard. Everyone had to leave in the afternoon after the party. It was hard to see everyone leave after such a fun long weekend! I want to send a big THANK YOU to everyone. We are very lucky to have such wonderful family that cares and loves our boys so much!