A Blast from the Past

I found a bunch of old pictures on Vân's Nokia when I uploaded the Wallace Lake pictures. I don't think we've ever put these pictures up on the blog. So here they are. Vietnam and France 2011. I can't believe it's been a year since we left Saigon. We don't miss Vietnam at all, but we miss France a lot.

Botanic Towers in Saigon

What are you looking at? It's called a walker!

Voilà. C'est comme ça, mon amie!

Hey, do you know how to get out of here?

Aix-en-Provence

I can't reach the keyboard.

Mixing flour for mommy

On Our Way To Paris

Look, I got a broken toy for my first Happy Meal!

How do you say chicken nuggets in French?

I don't like it!

Fries. No, frites!

Mommy, you can't have my frites!

Beaune

Waiting for restaurants to start serving dinner

Paris

Eating - More mommy!

Wallace Lake - Gold Bar

With summer ending, we've been trying to squeeze in as many hikes as possible. This time, we headed East to Wallace Lake in Gold Bar for a 5.4-mile hike, round trip, with 1,100 ft in elevation.

The hike was not as challenging as Lake 22, but it left us all very tired at the end. Disappointment might have something to do with it. People told us to bring extra clothes because the water falls would spray us, and books showed us pictures of mist rising out of the water falls. But due to the drought, what we saw was a mere trickle. 

I forgot to bring the camera, so we used Vân's Nokia to take the pictures below. They're pretty low quality, but I'm sure they'll do.

You call that a water falls?

No more picture!

Smile, please!

Upper Wallace Falls - That's it?

Family picture

Paint 'em nails!

Vân and Sophie went shopping at Target for an hour. And what did they buy? Two bottles of nail polish and a tea set. Here are some pictures of what happened next.

Be patient. Let it dry!

Purple toenails

Blue and purple

 

Low Tide at Discovery Park

Last Sunday we went to Discovery Park for some light hiking, and it happened to be low tide. We saw barnacles, mussels, starfish and anemones -- and poked at a few of them. We secretly wished Sophie would grow up to be a marine biologist one day and do research somewhere in Hawai'i.

Low tide

That way!

Which one of these can we eat?

The lone barnacle

I don't know what these are

Starfish

 

Lake 22 - Gold Basin

We went camping again last weekend. This time we stayed at Gold Basin on the East side and did 2 hikes. The first hike was to Lake 22 -- 5 miles round trip with a 1,300ft climb. It was a bit rough because we didn't have proper hiking boots. But it was worth it. Sophie loved wading in the cold water. The second hike was to Lake Boardman. It was an easier hike, but we got lost. By the time we found the correct trail, we were too tired to continue.

New Tent!

Sleeping in Ergo during hike

View from Lake 22 trail

Lake 22

Smile!

Wading in cold water - with energy bar

River by Gold Basin

Bratwurst on a stick

It's cold!

Splashing in Lake 22

Wading in river