Afton-isms

"Don't step on a crap, or you'll fall and break your back." (For those of you unfamiliar with "Land Before Time," it's supposed to be "Don't step on a crack or you'll fall and break your back.") Probably works either way.

We were driving through Charlottesville the other day so then she asked where Millie-ville is. (She's got cousins named Charlotte and Millie.)

California Vacation - Part 5 (Last one, people)

So after bidding farewell to the beauty of Yosemite, we drove to the slums of Bakersfield. I had booked a hotel online that was supposedly great (4.7/5 stars and over 1000 reviews) and when we got there, we were afraid to get out of the car. It was across the street from bail bonds and a liquor store and there were sketchy people hanging out in the parking lot. We think that maybe the reviews were fake or something. So we drove away and spent the night at some other hotel that wasn't that much better, although it's going to get renovated soon so that will be nice for everyone else.

Anyway, Saturday we drove down to the Santa Monica Pier and spent some time soaking up the sun and sand.

Then we tried to discreetly change in the car, which is always fun. We took a stroll along the Promenade then drove to LAX to take a LATE LATE flight home. If you're being observant, you will notice Dan's beard progression through these posts. When we went to church on Sunday, it was the talk of the ward.

It was such a fun trip! We got back on a Sunday and moved out of our Houston home less than a week later. That week was not very much fun and things have been pretty crazy ever since.

California Vacation - Part 4

After Tunnel View we drove around a little bit more and took a walk through a meadow.

"Y" for Yosemite!

 

 Anything he can do, she tries, too.

 That night we introduced our children to s'mores. The chocolate had been in the cooler, though, so it didn't melt and was super hard to bite. Oh, well. We also did JiffyPop, which I remember eating when I was little. It took way longer to cook than I remember.

 Zonked for the night.

The next morning (Friday?) We played by the river and a deer came walking right on by. Don't you love Afton's outfit?

 Then we took an open-air tram tour of the valley.

 Our poor kids got the one bench on the whole tram that faced backwards.

 El Capitan.

 If you enlarge this picture, you can make out rock climbers about 3/4 of the way up the rock in the center crack. It takes 2-3 days to climb that and the ranger said they need about 3 gallons of water per day. That's about 25 pounds per day of extra weight they've got to carry.

Dogwoods.

 The tram took us back to Tunnel View.

 Such an incredible view!!

 After the tram tour, we had a spotting of some crazy old guy who lives in Yosemite (I'll put a link up once I remember his name). Then we went back to eat a picnic lunch at the falls.

California Vacation - Part 3

Okay. Things have momentarily settled down enough for me to write up part three of our trip.

Wednesday morning Ryan, Zoey, and Aiden came to our hotel and led us to a great park. It was so great to see Ryan and the kids (we missed you, Teresa!) and catch up.

After we'd worn the kids out (or at least attempted to) we went to In-N-Out. Delish.

(And can we just take a minute to observe how straight my hair is?? Dry weather is my hair's best friend.)

After this, we went our separate ways. I was so glad I got to see you, Ryan! Thanks for driving to see us! Next we started the long drive to Yosemite. We arrived at our campground, Housekeeping Camp, around dusk. We had a three-sided room with a canvas flap for the fourth side. One double bed and bunks. Right outside the canvas flap was a picnic table and the table was walled in for the most part. Not so bad, really.

 And our site was right next to the Merced River with an awesome view of Half Dome.

Bedtime story for the munchkins.

 The next morning Dan and Sam were throwing rocks in the river when Sam slipped and fell in, doing some kind of crazy backwards somersault and landing head first. I didn't see it happen. Dan was afraid Sam hit his head on one of the big boulders, but thankfully he was just freezing. The water was REALLY cold so we stripped him naked, wrapped him in a towel and threw him in my sleeping bag until he warmed up.

 Then we got him dressed and put him in the sun.

 And hung his other clothes to dry.

So after that mishap, we got a real start to our day. First, another view from our campsite.

Then we headed to Yosemite Falls.

Pretty sure I took about 100 pictures of Yosemite Falls during our trip. We went at a really perfect time of year when the water levels are up. It was about 80 degrees during the day down to around 50 at night. The dogwoods were blooming, too. Here you can see Upper Yosemite Falls and Lower Yosemite Falls.

That jaunt (1 mile roundtrip or so) took us a while but we had some more time before lunch so we took a shuttle over to the trailhead for Mirror Lake and walked 1 mile up and stopped for lunch on a rock.

 We made it.

  While the kids napped I walked around taking pictures. Then Dan decided to take a dip in the glacial waters.

He's crazy.

When the kids were done napping (their only nap all trip long!), we drove over to Tunnel View - a great scenic spot overlooking the valley.

Part 4 to come. That's about all I can muster today!