Jumping off the roof

Hi people!

Teaching the nephew.

"You can jump off the roof when your homework is done!" Only awesome moms can say that! Always making sure the homework is high on the priority list. Making sure the kids stay smart. :)

Yup, we went jumping off the roof. It is another fairly common thing in the Pinnegar home. I had heard about it and seen pictures of it but hadn't done it till Friday. We had been packing to leave California but were able to squeeze in some wholesome repelling off the roof. Hunny got us set up and fashioned a harness out of some tubular webbing. Such a boy scout, knowing all his knots and being so handy and prepared.

Look ma' I'm repelling!

He went down first to make sure everything was ready and then helped me. I have 'repelled' before but that was just getting down from a wall that I  ice climbed. I didn't have to throw myself off a roof and hope the rope would hold. Needless to say it was a little unnerving making that initial step over the edge. But I took the advise from We Bought A Zoo and had "20 seconds of courage" and jumped! WEEEEE!!!! Nothing to it but to do it. Jump jump jump...

Over the edge.

Hanging from the ceiling.

After I went, a lovely sister in law-Shooting Star Child-went next. It was her first time off the roof as well. Too funny watching adults throw themselves off roofs and repel down the side of a two story house. We both went twice and allowed some of the children to go before Hunny had to fulfill the agreement to being allowed to repel: clean the walls. When living in a two-story house that doesn't allow the top floor to reach all sides of the roof, cobwebs tend to form. So Hunny redirected the rope to go in a roof top window where he lowered himself in and swept the the ceiling and walls. It is too funny to me to see someone sweep a roof. But, that's a Pinnegar for you. Always serving :)

2012 Pinnegar Games

Welcome to the 3rd Bi-Annual Pinnegar Games! It is hard to get so many people together at one time (especially when two are in the military) but it has worked out that about every other year most everyone has been home to participate in these Games. This year we had our lowest turnout because, though people were home they were still busy. But we still had some fun games and enjoyed time together. And now with more and more grandchildren joining the games we have had to modify and fine-tune the rule book—notional rule book anyway. Most of the rules are decided right there on the spot as sort of a majority consensus; in that way it might be compared to Calvin Ball, my brothers would appreciate that.

So what are the Pinnegar Games?

As families grow older some traditions must change. Some traditions do not change with time, such as a tradition of family service; however, a grown family cannot all go to the beach together every Memorial holiday like they can when they are all young. Nor can a grown family can go doorbell ditching friends and relatives to secretly distribute Christmas goodies like they can when they are adolescent. Traditions are a big deal for me and for many of my family. With the fading of many family traditions the question was posed to my industrious mind a number of years ago as to what traditions an aging family can hold.

During a Christmas trip home those number of years ago I attempted to organize a competition amongst my brothers, code named The Pinnegar Complex (a dual meaning play on words). That attempt failed as it turned out to just add more busy-ness to and already busy season. From that however was born the Pinnegar Games; a series of short, simple, non-gender, age neutral competitions that tally together to determine an overall Pinnegar champion. I even made a little plaque for the winner.

The competitions are just for fun but most (if not all) are reminiscent of childhood or of family life. Some of the competitions this year were:

• Coin Drop- hold a coin to your nose and, while standing, try to drop it into a jar.
• Laundry fold- how many towels you can fold in a given amount of time
• Paper Plane throw- build and throw a paper airplane
• Ro Sham Bo- or as they call it in Korea; Ki, Bi, Bo
• Marksmanship- shooting Nerf darts at a target drawn on the window with whiteboard marker

We have had a slight variance in the competitions from game to game but those are the ones that seem constant.

Each game has also had a unique competition just for it. The first year was Pin the mustache on the Pops because my dad, who had always had a beard (at least a mustache) had shaved it all off at that time. So, similar to pin the tail on the donkey, there was a drawing of a face on the wall and we all had paper mustaches which we had to pin between the lips and the nose. The second year we had a family Pinewood Derby, each of us making and racing our own car. And this year we had a game where you had to land a remote control helicopter on a make-shift oil platform. Unfortunately that game kind of flopped, seeing that only one person was successful at landing on the deck. It probably would have gone better had I invested in a little more than the cheapest helicopter on the market.

This year’s winner was the David Pinnegar family which is somewhat ironic because David was unable to attend this year. His family made up for it though is scoring remarkable in several events. Congratulations! ...but prepare to be crushed in 2014!

Last Games champion, D4 (right), passing award to this year's victors.

 It has been fun putting these games together and spending time with my family laughing and reminiscing while competing against each other. Sibling rivalry is not a foreign concept amongst my brothers and sister; I am glad, though, that we can do it in a more constructive manner than most.

Camping

Sun sets behind smoke from Robber Fire in Northern California.

So one of the major plans for while we were in California was to go camping. The number of people that actually went was significantly smaller then the number of people that planned to go. But we still made the most of it.

Nephew's victorious accent to the
top of a bolder nearly twice his size.

After a long drive up in the mountians we were able to squeeze Hunny's truck into our claimed camp grounds and set up. We are pretty awesome and used our parachute as a sort of tent. We just tied it up, set a tarp beneath it, and put our sleeping bags ontop of that.

The weather was a good 10-15 degrees cooler where we were then in Sacramento and it was so nice! There was also a lake just less than a minute down the trail from where we were and after lunch on the first full day we went out and splashed around. It was very chilly!! I was only able to last about a half hour before I scampered out. But the weather was perfect for laying out and soaking up some sun, so I did so while talking with Shooting Star Child.

First time skipping stones!

We also had some great food while camping. Fajitas the first night, tortellini another night. Veggie omelettes for breakfast. We also brought and played some board games like Othello and Life. One day we even went for a short walk. We tried following the creek but the brush was too thick and difficult to maneuver around. Hunny spotted a red and yellow flower that looked like a crown. Back at camp we looked it up and it turned out to be a Crimson Columbine...and edible. Nom Nom Nom!! You know we torn into it after taking lots of pictures.

On the last night Hunny and I tried hiking up a hill to watch the sun set. The vista at the 'bottom' was already gorgeous but we thought it would be even nicer going up. Well, we kinda left a bit early and part way up the mountain the trail disappeared and the only way was in between huge, prickly bushes. Determined to hike we went up until it was way to thick and there was no longer a way through. We sat and hung out there and enjoyed one another's company before deciding that it might be too dark after sunset to see our way out of the mess we had gotten in. Just as we got out of the thicker brush the sun snuck behind the mountain. What a beautiful sight and evening!

The famous parachute tent.

More photos to come!

The last morning we packed up and cleared out. But in order to get out we had to get Hunny's truck out too. But someone had parked right in the way so now Hunny seemed trapped. If it were Korea we could just look at their cell number that they leave in the windshield and get them to move but alas, this was not Korea. So, with much back and forthing trying to get between a tree and a truck, they decided they needed to move the tree. I laughed at the idea but after they strapped it up and tightened the straps, sure enough, it was just enough for Hunny to make it through. I learned then to doubt not, but to have faith.

POW!

While in California we had the opportunity to go and see many places and people. We got to eat out and dine in. One of the fun things we also got to do was go shooting up in the mountains at a range; well more of a make shift range. We left just before lunch to go and shoot. On the way up we stopped at the Foresthill bridge, the tallest bridge in California, and took some pictures on it. Then we headed into the Tahoe National Forest a short ways and found a small shooting ground. It was more like an open spot where people did their shooting. There were SO MANY shot gun shells littering the place!! We knew we made it to the right spot.

Lost Boy took Hunny and I, and J4. We brought two rifles and two revolvers. We enjoyed setting up old left over pieces of skeet and used shotgun shells, and whatever else we could find, to shoot and challenging ourselves and each other. Lost Boy showed me one revolver that kicked hard and loud. I did not want to try that one! But the smaller one made me feel like an Agatha Christie murderer or some old timey cop. I liked it the best even though my aim was much worse. It made me realize that when people in movies try shooting drive away cars, it is completely pointless. :P

Hunny was really good at shooting. Makes sense. One neat thing that the Army does is every so often everyone goes to the range to certify their shooting on certain guns. Last time Hunny went he almost got a perfect score. He would have if he had just kept track of which targets he had already shot. He is my sharp shooter!!

We had a great time with family and enjoying the great outdoors. Even if we were being loud and destructive. :P

Yosemite

I often say this word phonetically and, incidentally, I have done it frequently enough in talking about it with Bee that she actually thought that is how you say it. Sorry Bee!

If you have never heard of Yosemite (yoh-sem-i-tee) before it is a popular National Park in central California with some breath-taking scenery, magnificent waterfalls, and incredible granite rock faces.The most common, of these monument rocks and center piece of the park is Half Dome, a 1360 foot granite slab that resembles, oddly enough...a half-dome.

I was born and raised about three and a half hours from the park but it wasn't until I was in my 20's when I finally visited. It is true that people will go and visit far away attractions and tourist spots before visiting the ones in their own back yard.

My family and I love camping, but we will never camp in Yosemite; there are just too many people there for our tastes. We love camping in the mountains where it is just you, a few good friends, and nature. Nature has a funny way of loosing its naturalness when you have to accommedate several thousand people. That said however, I am of the opinion that everyone should visit Yosemite once. There is just something about its towering vertical walls and lush mountain meadows that provide the human soul with a deep sense of perspective.

The day trip is the way to go. Leave about 4:30am, get to the park at about 8:00am, spend 4-5 hours climbing to the top of Half Dome, have lunch and enjoy the view (and the accomplishment) for a while, rest, take about 4 hours getting back down, hop back in the truck at about 6:30pm and stop for dinner on the way home. It makes for a full day but it is the best way to go.

I have climbed Half Dome twice with a different person each time and was planning on doing it again this time with my wife but the park service recently changed the rules for climbing half dome and it is no longer free. To control the number of people climbing the rock they give out tickets based on a lottery system but you have to buy into the lottery and then buy the ticket IF you win. You have to enter the lottery at least two days before you climb and I found all this out a day and a half before the trip. I have only ever been to Yosemite to climb Half Dome but since I already had it on the schedule, and invited my parents to join us, we decided to go and enjoy the rest of the park and see 'what else was about it.'

So Bee, my mom and dad, and I woke up early Tuesday, packed a lunch and some trail snacks and made our way south to Yosemite. I had a few hikes in mind that we could do during the day but no particular agenda. I thought we could start at Glacier Point and see Half Dome from a different angle. While on top of Half Dome with some binoculars I have looked down at Glacier Point and spied the people there staring back at me so I figured we could take the opportunity to be one o those people. Unfortunately I did not realize how long of a drive it was to drive to the top of Glacier Point, in hind-site we probably should have hiked it. Most of the way to the point the gas light camp on in the car and the nearest gas station was on the other side of the park, close to 30 miles away. That's right, oh no! We turned around right there and fortunately for us we made it. We were going up hill most of the trip so the gas gauge was actually reading less than there was but it was still a stretch to make it.

On the way to get gas we stopped at a few trails on the way to get gas since we we driving right past them and would not be coming back that way. We hiked most of the way to Inspiration Point but did not go all the way because a fellow hiker coming down the trail said it was a bust, and that there were better views part way up the trail. So we went a ways further, found a nice vista (and a tree to climb), had a snack and returned down the trail.

Our next stop on our journey to gas was Bridalveil Falls. I love waterfalls! There is just something majestic about them. Unfortunately, waterfalls in California are not up to par in mid-July. The best time is spring when the snow melt recharges their fury. However, everyone knows this, so it is much, much more busy that time of year; and with the crowds we encounter in July I can't image what it would be like in peak season. It was still pretty seeing the wind-blown waterfall and we had a blast climb up the rocks to its base. After our fun of climbing over the rocks we found a quieter place along the stream to enjoy lunch and grubbed out.

After finding the gas station and getting gas we made our way back down the valley to the base of Half Dome. I have always seen it from the top down but had never seen it from the bottom up. After hiking the 1.2 mile trail to its base I decided I prefer it from the top down. It is neat to see its enormous rock face from the bottom looking up but you are not right at the base of the rock so I think it is hard to grasp the full magnitude of its massiveness. Maybe if I were at the base of the rock wall looking straight up it would be a different story. It was still delightful to see it from the bottom, but it is a just little more breathtaking standing at the top looking down some 4000 ft to the valley floor than standing in the valley looking up that same 4000 ft. The hike was much much easier though. Very enjoyable!

After hiking back from Mirror Lake at the base of Half Dome we concluded our visit to Yosemite after driving past Yosemite Falls (the tallest waterfall in America) and started our journey back home. It was an enjoyable visit to the Park. We did not do everything that I would have liked to do and a few things turned out differently than anticipated but all in all it was a wonderful day spent with the most wonderful people I can think of.

RPM

RacePlace Motorsports (RPM) is an indoor kart racing track and conference center that I used to work at. It is an awesome facility in Sacramento for those who love the thrill of speed. I am a little bit of a speed junkie myself; so I fit right in there as an employee for several years of my young adult life.

Sense we were in town on vacation I had to stop by with Bee and show her around. After visiting with a few people who still work there we signed up for a race. It has been several years since I last was in one of those karts and of course it was Bee's first time. There is a little briefing video that they have you sit through explaining the rules of the track and some techniques of racing. One of the rules is 'don't run into the barriers' and this made Bee a little nervous to go fast, but she warmed up to it after a few laps. I thought Bee did exceptional for it being her first time and for not doing it in such a long time I feel pretty good about my time.

 Thank you Brent Webb for such an awesome facility and for the opportunity of working for you. I maintain many fond memories of my years at RPM. May your dream continue to succeed.

Leatherby's Family Creamery

So I realized recently that my favorite dessert is ice cream. Well, favorite common dessert. If we are talking about a nicer dessert it would be cheese cake. But if we are gonna have dessert my pick is ice cream over cookies, brownies, and cake. Pie is close, but you can't have pie without ice cream... YUM! Anything that is tasty is made better with ice cream! You can even add whatever you want to ice cream. Cookies and brownies, cheese cake or even peanut butter!

I had been talking about it all day and pointing out every Baskin Robins while driving around; a habit from Korea. I was in the middle of reading an article to Hunny when he pulls into a parking lot. Curious where we were I look up and stop reading mid sentence when I see "Family Creamery," "Ice Cream," "Leatherby's!" I was out of the car before Devon could unbuckle from his seat. This was a beautiful place. Divine! All sorts of different types of ice creams and apparently all made right there, from scratch.

We looked over the menu and settled on splitting Traci's Peanut Butter Cup; a large glass overflowing with peanut butter ice cream smothered with their own special made peanut butter sauce and whip cream on top.

Excited from looking at everyone else's ice cream, I couldn't wait for ours. Finally, after waiting for several MINUTES! it came! But we were confused. The ice cream looked like chocolate, but smelled of peanut butter. Trust me, I know what peanut butter smells like. I took a small taste and sure enough it tasted of peanut butter, but it was the best peanut buttery goodness!! There was a fluffy white peanut butter cream falling down the sides that made my taste buds sing. From the time I took the first bite to scraping the bottom I was making all kinds of noises. Yummmm!!! MMmmmm!!!! So good!!!!

All too quickly the ice cream was all gone.

Good thing they also sell sandwiches so that I can make an excuse to go back. Lunch at Leatherby's? :P

God Bless America!

So, Hunny and I were able to make it back to the states in time to enjoy Independence Day in the states! It was much better then trying to celebrate it in Korea. Hunny and his family have a tradition of volunteering to help set up and take down the barriers for the parade. I was a bit clueless to the whole thing but was very excited to help out. We arrived on the scene in Hunny's truck, that's been missed Very Much! and hooked up to a trailer full of barriers. We were assigned our route and with Hunny, V, Pops, stranger, and me on a moving contraption. We were spread out and each had unspoken tasks and when we stopped at the various points, we would jump to them. I was almost racing V to grab barriers from Pops and Stranger and put them up quickly, which is a good thing because as soon as we were done, we got the instructions to place the barriers in the road instead of beside the road. We were go go going and it was made even more fun to place the barriers in the road and laugh at the cars that couldn't use them anymore.

After they were all placed we got to sit and watch the parade, well except for Hunny. He got pulled into helping at the end of the parade. I got to watch with Lost Boy and his wife ShootingStar Child and daughter, Baby 2 Flowers, Baby X, and D4, J3, V and of course Mama K and GG. It was so fun to hang out with everyone. It was a bit warm so Lost Boy got the parachute and tied it up for some shade. A parachute? Of course a parachute. Doesn't everyone have one? They are very practical. The parade itself was mediocre. The cool things were that not only did they throw out some candy but one threw out Popsicles, old Shiners on Go carts, and a huge ship with the Peter Pan crew. Not sure how any of that has to do with Independence but it was entertaining.

Part way through I got beeped by Hunny to come down with the fellas and help pick up the barriers. Only D4 and J3 went with. We realized we were needed quicker then walking would get us and Hunny was a ways down, about a mile and a half. So we decided we needed to run... D4 did cross country in High School and J3 could very well have done the same with his physique and here I am outta shape and short legs. We go for a while but I quickly got wore out and discouraged and had to stop. D4 quickly picked me up and kept running. This was only SLIGHTLY embarrassing!!!! Poor guy, he is really sweet but with this heavy bum he couldn't go for very long. He set me down and I tried running again but while dodging greedy kids getting candy, I missed and sided a short and chubbier kid and ended up eating road. I tried to quickly get up to apologize to the kid but he was so focused on getting the candy he was pretty much unphased. Not what I can say about my knees... ouch....

We made it in time to help pick up barriers as the parade went by. But we all know how slow parades go by so there was lots of sitting and waiting. I would even get out and race ahead to bring them back. There was another truck and trailer on the other side of the road picking them up and I would walk over and share gummy bears with everyone. People watching the parade cheered us on and we had a good time. It was way fun.

That evening was, of course, fireworks!! We ran down to the Community Center and met up with some fam. There was more going on then just the main event. It was really a Community Center. There were so many people hanging out and playing with fireworks, well more like sparklers. Fireworks that explode or fly are prohibited so the selection is few and boring. Devon got some nice pictures practicing with his camera. I liked that he even showed me a few tips too. He got to practice with the fireworks. There were some fun ones and the finale was spectacular! We had a grand time.

11-Hour flight

Who doesn't love an enjoyable, relaxing, 11-hour flight? I Don't!! That is way too long to sit in one spot. Bee and I flew from Incheon, South Korea to SFO yesterday to make it home for the Fourth of July and spend a little time in the States. It was not a bad flight; just long. And we never could get comfortable in our seats to sleep during the night hours. The best part of flight was that the seat next to us was unoccupied so it gave us a little extra room to stretch out. It was an uneventful flight except on final approach when we were about to land on the runway we had to make a go-around because the runway had not been cleared for us to land on and there was another plane at the other end of it. That put us about 15-20 minutes late but we made it.


I finished Alice's Adventures in Wonderland while on the flight and Bee read a little but slept a lot. We were fed two meals, a fish (yes please!) or chicken dinner and were awaken with a tasty breakfast sandwich and yogurt. I enjoyed the meals, considering they were from a box. I found the breakfast sandwich especially tasty but Bee thought it was a little spicy.

Because our flight took us across the international date line we arrived before we took off on Tuesday morning. Consequently our Tuesday was about 36 hours long. It was great! Mom and Dad picked us up at the airport and we drove home. Before leaving the Bay Area we stopped by and saw the Oakland temple. It is a gorgeous temple. I love it there. Growing up I thought it was a little odd and not like any of the other temples but I love it now. It is unique and the temple grounds are beautiful. After a quick visit there we made the drive to home.


All said, we made it safely, and it is great to be home. Happy family, nice weather, starry night skies, and people that speak our same language! America, we missed you.