Yosemite, June 18, 2010

To celebrate Father's Day with Josh's family we took them all to Yosemite.  It had been a while since they had been to Yosemite and no one on Josh's side had ever been to Glacier Point, plus it was Cara, Chloe and Micah's first time.  We made good time getting up there and decided to made a detour and see the big trees at Mariposa Grove.  It had been a while since Josh and I have seen the trees and it was a nice chance to get out and walk around for a bit, Abi sure liked running free.  Need I say more, the trees are BIG!!!

After Mariposa Grove we headed to Glacier point.  Because of the high elevation (Over 7,200 feet) there was still snow on the ground.  Once getting to the parking lot we found great spots at the front of the lot and got unpacked and ready to walk to the point.  I had told Cara and Chloe on the way up that they were going to see some huge rocks and a valley that we would soon be driving in.  They were so excited to get out of the car and see the huge rocks and waterfalls!

The above picture is the first family picture we have with the four grandkids.

We all enjoyed a picnic lunch at Glacier Point in the back of our Traverse and Randy and Monica's van.  After lunch we drove back down the mountain to Yosemite Valley.  There was a lot of construction on 41 so it took a little longer than usual to get to the Valley.  We were stopped before the tunnel for about 30 minutes and towards the end of our time there Abi got delayed car-sickness and puked.  We were stopped but i knew if we got her out then traffic would start moving again and there was no where to pull over.  So we waited a few more minutes and was able to find parking at the Tunnel View parking lot (which was a surprise since it was the middle of the afternoon).  Stopping gave everyone else a chance to take pictures while we got  Abi cleaned up.  After that she was much happier and was very chatty while we drove around the valley showing everyone different sights.  Cara and Chloe were excited to see the huge rock that we were just standing on over 3,000 feet above us.  Our last stop before heading to dinner in Oakhurst was Lower Yosemite Falls.  Since the park service removed the parking lot finding a place to park is very difficult especially in the spring and summer months.  We got lucky and found a spot in the lot of the Yosemite Lodge right across the road.  We got the kids out and walked to the base of the falls, it was very wet and really beautiful!

Overall the day was great, the kids all had a great time, as well as the adults!  The weather was perfect and so was the company!

Happy Father's Day Josh!

Last Monday Jolie and I were on a secret mission to surprise the guys for Father's Day.  Jolie had seen this great idea of having the kids hold letters that spell "daddy", so we got to work last week and tried really hard to get the kids to pose with the letters.  We were pretty impressed and the kids did pretty well, despite the distraction of the pool.  The bottom picture is the framed finished product that Abi gave to Josh this morning.

Yosemite, June 12, 2010

My birthday was June 11th and to celebrate I wanted to go to Yosemite with Josh, Abi, Jon, Jolie and Ethan.  But this trip I wanted to hike to Vernal Falls instead of just walk around the Valley.  Let me start off by saying that we had a fabulous time, the kids did great and we all had a blast, but oh were we all tired!!!!  We started the day early, leaving around 8:30am.  Josh and I decided that we would drive thru Mariposa figuring that the line into the park would be shorter (since it was the first weekend after school has gotten out).  Good thing we went through Mariposa, the line there was super long and we had to wait 20-30 minutes, I can't imagine how long we would have had to wait at the main entrance.  Once making our way through the valley to Curry Village we found the last parking space and got packed and ready to embark on our journey.

From Curry Village you have to walk or take a shuttle to Happy Isles where the Vernal Falls trail head is.  We had to wait for the second shuttle to arrive because the first one was too full, and the second shuttle was standing room only, gotta love summer in Yosemite!  While waiting for the shuttle a dear walked through the crowd of people, random.

We arrive at Happy Isles and started to make our way up the trail.  It has been many years since I have done this hike and I didn't remember how steep the trail was.  This wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that we were hauling two 21-month old toddlers!  If I was just carrying the camera the hike would have been fine but Abi is heavy and so was all the supplies and lunch that was also packed in the backpack.  About 2/3 of the way up Josh had to take over and carry Abi the rest of the way.  It was a tough mile hike up hill, but the views were awesome!!!

We got to the bridge where we planned on having lunch and decided that the bridge is as far as we would hike that day!  We found a level spot to set up a blanket and enjoy our picnic lunch.  When the kids were done eating they desperately wanted to get out of their backpacks and walk around.  Mind you this is not the safest place to let toddlers wonder around, more than half the deaths that happen in Yosemite happen on the Mist trail, so with lots of hand holding the kids got to walk around a bit.

The kids even wanted to hike up the Mist Trail a little past our lunch spot.  It was so cute they held hands the whole time and managed the trail pretty well too.

The hike back down the hill was much better and faster, we thought the kids would pass out on the way but I guess there was too much to see.  We got back to the shuttle stop and decided to walk back to Curry Village after seeing 2 full shuttles.  It is about a mile back but flat, so much easier than up hill!

After getting back to the car and having a snack we headed for the park exit.  I had no idea that it would take us so long to get out of the park, traffic is so congested and with no parking the roads are a mess.  Good thing we didn't hike to the top of Vernal Falls we would have gotten home too late.  We had our traditional dinner at Carl's Jr in Oakhurst and got home about 8:40.  As we were dropping Jon, Jolie and Ethan off at their house Abi was throwing a fit and we figured it was because she just wanted to get out of the car, she got so worked up that she puked all over her car seat :-(.  We decided to just drive the long way home and take care of the mess there.  I had to take the car seat apart, again, we went through this in December when she threw up on the way to Yosemite, we had to get her in the bath and into bed.  This was not in our plans for when we got home.  After talking with Jolie later that night it turns out Abi was probably throwing a fit because she didn't get to say goodbye to Ethan.  When Jon and Jolie were trying to get Ethan ready for his bath he took off running to their front door and was trying to pry the door and window open to look for Abi.  I guess we underestimated the strong bond between those two.  New rule: let the kids say goodbye, unless they are asleep.
Despite the icky ending to our day we had an amazing time with the greatest friends we could ask for!  I think I might have been crazy to suggest physical exercise as a way to celebrate my birthday, I am still sore!  But it doesn't matter what you do for your birthday as long as you spend it with those you love!