Mather-ific

Do you know what Camp Mather is? I didn't for awhile but am so glad I found out! It's a family campground near Yosemite National Park that's owned by the city of San Francisco (it was originally the site of a sawmill that provided lumber for a railroad that carried supplies to build the Hetch Hetchy reservoir, where SF gets its water). Residents get priority and enter a lottery in late winter to have a chance for a week-long stay in the summer. We were thrilled to go June 11-18.

We were fortunate to get a newer model cabin (there was only one other like ours) that had a screen door, a deadbolt, and a heater we didn't end up using; we had beautiful weather the whole week.

I ended up on the double bed with 2nd Brother, and 1st Brother got the top bunk with my husband below. We also had outlets, a chest of drawers and other good storage.

The price of the camp included 3 meals a day, and the food was great! They also had shared bath houses with hot showers, and coin laundry was available. This is probably the only way I'd camp anywhere for a week, especially with kids.

They had lots of great facilities: a basketball court, ping pong tables, swimming pool, playground, badminton and tennis courts, a lake, and a baseball/soccer field. There was also a general store and lots of paved trails for kids to ride bikes. 1st Brother made some good friends we hope to stay in touch with.

Several classes, crafts, talent shows, tournaments, etc. were offered throughout the week. 1st Brother and I tried archery. It was incredibly cute to see this guy with his little bow and arrow. I kept asking people if they'd read The Hunger Games when it was my turn.

We went on a hay ride that ended with a cowboy campfire for some extra $$. The on-site stables also rented out donkeys and horses and offered guided rides.

Amped on red Kool-aid at the campfire:

It was always nice to have some down time with the iPad in the middle of all that activity:

There were many nearby hikes to explore. This one to Carlon Falls was beautiful:

Here we are on Poopenaut Dome--I wanted to go because I thought the name was funny. This one was led by volunteer Mather naturalists and was a little treacherous for a guy with a toddler on his back--eeek!--but they made it through unharmed.

We spent one afternoon in Yosemite National Park, which was stunning! The Sierras have reportedly had 178% of their usual snow pack, and the waterfalls were roaring!

We also visited Hetch Hetchy reservoir and O'Shaughnessy Dam, which was extremely impressive/scary:

The low point of the trip was 2nd Brother throwing up milk and scrambled eggs all over himself and his car seat about one hour into the 4-hour ride home. Poor guy! We'd been on some windy roads to get out of the mountains, and he got motion sick. We cleaned up the best we could and bought a new car seat later that day.

But overall we had a wonderful time exposing these City boys to a convenient and fun version of the wilderness. Thanks, Camp Mather!

Thanks, Pal!

A few months ago, I decided I'd like to lose a few pounds. I thought I was doing okay with watching what I ate and exercising, but my snug-ish clothes said otherwise. I wanted to look a little better, but really it was my desire NOT to buy a new set of clothes that got me wanting to commit to a plan.

My husband introduced me to the My Fitness Pal iPhone app--they have a website too. Counting calories is a pain, but it's eye-opening (the first day, I only had 200 calories left for dinner--oops!). And it works. I lost 4 pounds in about 6 weeks, and that's with a week of "I'll eat what I want" vacation in there and sometimes not tracking weekends. Hooray! I haven't been sticking to it as strictly as I was, but I know what I can do if I get that snug feeling again.

P.S. If you really want to be effective, have your spouse or friend track what they eat too and then agree to swap and review the other person's food diary at the end of the day! Shame = motivation.