Beetles Have Feelings Too

The Eagle

Mrs. Hawk
The Bob Cat Hissed at Us!

The kids were so proud to keep the shirts secret!

We went camping in Arrowhead with our friends The Byuns and the Woods. What a fun trip! I've said it before, but one of my favorite things about Murrieta is that we can be at the beach in an hour, the mountains in a hour, Disneyland in an hour, the desert in an hour...the list goes on.

On our camping trip we were able to visit a wildlife refuge. This organization takes in animals who have been "adopted" by people (yes, people think they can adopt baby bears!) injured, found, etc. and they rehabilitate them. We saw owls, coyotes, bears, eagles, hawks, bobcats, mule deer...all kinds of animals native to the San Bernardino mountains. They were doing an educational tour through a UCLA-run summer camp, and we got in with the tour. It was very interesting. I plan to send Emma there for an internship when she gets a bit older. Hee hee hee.

Back to our camping trip: We road our bikes, told stories by the campfire, visited a lake with a waterslide, went out for pizza (yes...while we were camping...but Arrowhead Village is so CUTE!) and ate really, really well. (Don't we always?)

The highlight of the trip was the big "Beatles Have Feelings Too" reveal. The background: Years ago we camped with the same two families in Big Bear. The campground we were staying in was being bombarded with these giant, whiskery, aggressive beetles. They would dive-bomb our food, our hair, our drinks, and our kids. Finally, we'd had enough, and when a beetle landed nearby, one of our friends speared it with a wire hanger used for roasting marshmallows. He then held the flailing beetle over the fire as it crackled and squirmed. Our other friend, Chistine, who is more earth friendly on a bad day than me on my best day, was irrate! "Beetles have feelings too!" she cried, and stormed off.

Our goal ever since is to make "Beetles Have Feelings Too" shirts to surprise Christine on our next camping adventure. We unveiled the shirts at our pizza outing; even Christine's 9 month old daughter Kathleen got a shirt. All of the kids AND the adults proudly uncovered our shirts when Christine was inside the restaurant. We were all cracking up about our silly inside joke when she came out, but we tried to keep straight faced. It took her just a minute to notice, and then like a good sport she went inside and put her shirt on too. Then we all went for ice cream wearing our crazy shirts like we were in some strange Beetle Lover's Club or something. :)