a spontaneous spring break day

My kids are on spring break right now, and since the first weekend of their spring break was rainy, we all started to go a little crazy. By Tuesday, we had to get out and do something. So I got us dressed, but I didn't know what for, and we got in the car, but I didn't really know where to go. Sidney mentioned Bracken Bird Farm in Redlands, so we went there first. We love Bracken. What a nice place of business to visit with kids. Much like Petco or Petsmart, I can trick my kids into thinking I'm bringing them to something equivalent to a zoo when I bring them to Bracken Bird Farm. Our favorites this time were Ashley and Melanie, the talking birds in the big cage who kept saying "hello" to us or making a clicking noise. Hey, we're easily pleased. We were not so impressed with the turkeys, who really seem to dislike us. And the baby goat, we realllly wanted to touch and feel that baby goat, but it didn't want our tiny bits of corn.
So after the bird farm, I didn't know where to go, I just wanted to drive. So I drove and then thought of something as I drove near it - the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. Again, we're easily pleased. But a friend had just told me about some of her finds there, and I was curious, so I stopped in. If I were looking for some specific thing it would have been wonderful, but I wasn't. We were just looking at what it was, and my kids loved it. Their favorite part was the rows of toilets. That got many laughs from them, for some reason. My favorite part was an old stereo console like the one my grandparents have - with the built in speakers and record player all still inside. It was just a pretty piece of furniture, long and decorative, hiding the archaic stereo equipment inside. My kids thought a record player looked pretty cool. Oh, it was cool, I tried to explain to them, but then they were off looking at rows of toilets again. Once I explained to them those were NOT new toilets, we were ready to go.
Off we went, but I still didn't really know where or what to do. So I thought of a store in downtown Riverside that I really wanted to go back to, because they sell large sheets of vintage wrapping paper. The sheets caught my eye one day when I had jury duty and strolled down toward the Mission Inn to get lunch and shop around during my lunch break. I LOVED this tore called Mrs. Tiddly Winkles. So I figured I'd head there, but I wanted to head there in a roundabout way, so we first went to a gas station in Fontana and gas stations are a HUGE deal to my kids only on two occasions - if I get a carwash or if I let them out of the car for ANY reason! I let them out to pick their favorite snack from the gas station store. You would have thought I'd taken them to Disneyland or the moon. I was the best mom ever for the rest of the day. From there, we headed over to Riverside, but since we were in Fontana, that meant going through a few little hills, and one of those hills was Mt. Rubidoux. When we hit the northwest side of it, I noticed a little park I've never noticed before, so we stopped and looked around. Stopping and looking around turned into hiking up to the peak of Mt. Rubidoux, and as I explained before, I prepared us that day for NOTHING, because I didn't know what we were doing. So, we 4 ill-prepared hikers hiked. Without water. Without proper shoes - Sid was wearing mock-uggs, I was wearing my Toms. Toms aren't great hiking shoes. I don't care what Tom says.
Anyway, here are a few of my favorite shots from our impromptu hike:

 I promise, they may not look happy, but they were happy. I think here they just realized we were actually going to go through with hiking it, and they knew we had left our waters and snacks in the car...except for Alyssa's super duper extra salty Corn Nuts, which were great, but made us all more thirsty.

 My Toms say "Carpe Diem." I did. I carped the heck out of the diem that day. You can see it in my shoes now. I almost carped a hole out the front of them.

 POor kids, I make them pose on every rock or vista or semi interesting lookout....so now they just stop at them, and turn around. I was on the phone with Bobby at this point, and I looked ahead and noticed they'd all just gotten on rocks, and quietly turned around...probably thinking that's what I was going to ask of them anyway. Funny. So I had to snap one. Poor trained little lab rat kids.

 Jack has a knack for telling ME what will make a great photo...and he was right on this one....he said if he climbed up there and if I took a picture without showing the ground, it would look like he was high up. The ground is just a foot or two below him, but he wanted it too look like a rock climbing picture. Okay, Jack. It does look pretty cool. I'll give you that.

 What an inspiring place to hike.

I think they sometimes get bored of the same old poses...so then someone goes and gets on the ground. I think he was being a lizard. I think I had stopped listening for a second. Don't act like you don't do that sometimes, too.

 One of my favorite moments on the trip was when Jack and the girls each stopped to pray. The girls were standing on the other side of the cross, praying quietly. But Jack was on the right side for me to capture, and I love it.

 Alyssa got her turn with the camera so you can see what a nerdy outfit I wore hiking....who hikes in a lace shirt and skinny jeans and toms? Lame. I'd have looked even MORE lame if I KNEW I was going hiking, though, I promise you.

 This photo, well I'll just leave it small because on one hand I love it, how Jack's winking all cute. But on the other hand, I don't like how much extra skin I have on my face...I look like a sharpay dog. Is that REALLY what you guys see when I smile? Then I'm not smiling. This is ridiculous. I'm only posting this photo so that maybe you won't feel so bad about your wrinkles, whoever you are. Don't act like you don't have them. You do. I'm sure of it. If you smile big and cheesy enough, I'll see them.

Sometimes I think the pictures that are taken when people are waiting for you to take a picture are the funniest. I was just standing there saying " Alyssa, I'm going to walk over there and then take a picture, okay?" And then I stood there because it looked like she was changing the settings on my camera, and you do NOT want to change the settings on my camera, because I'll show you all sorts of wrinkles you don't want to see from the frowny side if you change my settings.....but then I saw that she was just practicing and focusing, and then I was happy at her, and smiled. And she caught it.

 And she caught this. This was me, carrying 45.5 lbs down the mountain on my back because he was freaking me out by RUNNING down very steep paths, and at one point he looked like he might start tumbling over and over, all the way down the hill. This was safer, I decided. I let him off as soon as my sweat started to drip. His trip lasted a good 3 minutes.

 We walked DOWN from the peak in this amount of time. I'm pretty sure it took us almost twice as long to get up, especially with how many times we stopped for photos or to check out weird lizards.

 This is the sign right by where I parked...I parked AT this dog park. It was a nice place to set off on this hike.

I realized on that hike, and from high above Riverside, that I love Riverside.
After the hike, I showed the kids RCC (because I went there for one summer school course, so I act like I own the place) and then we ate at Jack in the Box, and I really act like I own the place there, too. Then we headed to the Mission Inn, walked around it for a bit, which was VERY interesting to my kids, and then shopped at Mrs. Tiddly Winkles and yes, I did buy my wrapping paper, thanks for asking. Then we played in a fountain, and then we headed home. It was one of the best unplanned spontaneous days ever with my kids. We ALL loved it. We all can't wait to hike Mt. Rubidoux again - with real shoes, real waters, good hiking clothes, and of course, Bobby.