Declan Hercules & Keevah Nyx House: Keevah Nyx: Fall fun! Houseboating and Opal Mining!

Holy Macaroni! We just had an amazing family road trip that I have to tell you all about!

First, though, I wanted to show you our special jammies for the Fall!

Spirit loves his jammies too!

Shenanigans when getting ready for bed!

We had an amazing trip to Lake Shasta for a three day houseboating adventure with our friends the Hagerman-Fisher family & the Sciandri family. No one had ever done house-boating before, and now we are already planning to do it again next year! We rented a house boat and a ski boat, but my favorite part of the whole trip was the PARTY BIRD that Mama bought. It was one huge big sucker flamingo, and I spent so much time playing in it with my friend Lucius - turning it into our own personal kiddie pool! We pulled anchor each night to discover a new cove, and during the day we enjoyed the on-board JACUZZI, water slide, and all the floaties that Mama brought. We also jetted around in the ski boat - watching Dada on the water skis and knee board, and doing some tubing ourselves! I crashed every night, happy that I got to sleep with Mama, while Dada and Declan slept on the top deck under the stars. I wanted to do that too, but apparently I am not to be trusted since I like to climb all railings... Declan Hercules also loved finding "treasures" in the water, like old fishing lures and golf balls, playing with his buddies Levi & Indy, throwing rocks into the water, and fishing (they caught a TURTLE on accident, which Mr. Ryan then had to release).

This was our set-up; 3 story houseboat, ski boat, and 13 foot tall PARTY BIRD

Dada was a great captain, but I helped some too

My Mama and my Dada

Hercules even got to drive too!

Mama, me, Ms. Nicole, and Lucius in the Party bird

Declan giving Party bird a hug

Mama and me just chilling...

I loved jumping off the bird into the pretty warm water

Lucius and me just being crazy kids

Love my Mama and Dada - enjoying the ski boat

Tubing with Mama and Declan

Mama and Ms. Nicole going 50mph on the tube

Declan Fishing with Dada

Mr. Ryan teaching all 5 kids to fish: Levi, Lucius, me, Declan, and Indy

The whole gang (minus Levi who took the picture):

Mama holding me, Ms. Nicole, and Ms. Heather

Declan holding court at sunset

Me and Lucius loving the jacuzzi

Me & Lucius on the alligator

We got one short video before bedtime since we had to go to bed before the big kids

Enjoying sunrise at the lake

Indy, Declan & Levi showing muscles while throwing rocks into the lake.

Dada showing us some impressive moves

Declan & friends going down the water slide into the inner tube

After an awesome three days on the boat, our family of 4 continued our journey into the far North West corner of Nevada (a 5.5 hour drive!) to visit the Royal Opal Peacock Mine. This was mostly because brother LOVES digging in the dirt and wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up, but I like getting dirty too. This was basically a campground in the middle of nowhere (over 100 miles to the closest grocery store) - but they had one tiny cabin that we rented. It was super comfortable, complete with tiny kitchentte and a bbq. We were the only people visiting and got to roam to our heart's content. We spent an entire day at the mine, chipping away at the rocks in search of opals. We learned all about the many kinds of opals and how they are formed. We found SO MANY OPALS! I found many all by myself by "raking the tailings" - basically combing through the rocks by hand to find opals missed by the people "digging the bank". I also picked out a tiny turtle necklace with an opal shell for a souvenir, and Declan picked out a small vial of fire opal pieces and an obsidian needle.

Dada, Declan and me at the Opal Mine

Our little cabin...

Me and brother at the Mine - beautiful high desert

Hard manual labor!

Mama got dirty too!

Declan laying on his belly combing through the rock pile for opals

Mama and me searching for opals - I found many!

Me lugging the bucket up the rock pile

Declan holding one of his opals

Short family hike

Mama, Declan and me in the high desert

The boys

Dada and me! I love hitching a ride on his shoulders!

Declan found an arrow!

Getting ready to BBQ dinner

Dinner at the firepit!

The last stop on our journey took us 5.5 hours South to Virginia City - and Old West town where there were a lot of gold and silver mines. We spent several hours exploring the old shops, especially the rock shop! We got our "old time" photo taken - and I chose the bank robber scene! We also got to go down into an old silver mine, and learn all about how old-timer miners used to do their jobs. I wan't scared at all, and absolutely loved it when they turned the lights out!

Our old time photo- sorry we can't figure out how to flip the image

Posing on a camel!

Old silver mine - Chollar Mine

Me balancing on a rock

Inside the mine

Checking out the silver veins

We finally drove home and took our first shower in a week! Phew! It was an amazing trip with lots of memories and a few fun souvenirs. I spent the next few days telling my teachers and Gee & Grandpa all about the trip. I can't wait to do it again!

We also celebrated Grandpa's birthday in Napa, complete with a sunshine cake and a pinatta!