Yosemite 2012, part 3

We continued our day in the Valley with a swim in the river and some classic shots of the famous Half Dome.
 

 

The last site we wanted to see was Yosemite Falls (lower and upper), but sadly they were almost completely dry due to a low level of rainfall this year.  So, we headed back up to Tuolumne to roast hotdogs for dinner.  We were all pretty pooped after a hot and action packed day.
Thursday, our last full day in Yosemite, was a great recovery day.  We took a walk along the river in the morning, then we went to nearby Tenaya Lake to relax and swim in the afternoon.  Mom and Dad K took our family here when we were kids, and many fun memories were made here.  It was really fun to take our kids there now to make more memories!
Arie loved it by the water's edge!

Getting all the way into the cold mountain lake was another story!  Most of us made it all the way in, though, simply becuase it felt so good to wash off some of the dust and grime from the past few days.

 

Tenaya is such a beautiful place, with sparkling water, a sandy beach, and huge impressive rock formations on either side.

 

One of the memories we have as kids is riding the driftwood logs around the shallow water.  Jonathan collected different pieces and gave log rides to anyone who wanted one! 

 

 

 

I just love these buddies!!!

 

Our last night around the campfire was so fun!  We roasted marshmallows, made smores, sang, talked in silly accents, told scary and funny stories, and laughed til we cried.

 

On Friday morning we packed up to head home.  Once our Bear Box was emptied of its food, Jack and Jman pretended to be the fierce creatures!

We are so grateful that we had this opportunity to be together, be with family, and make memories in God's beautiful creation.  While it was lots of work to plan, execute, and recover from this vacation, we are more acutely aware of all of the sacrifices made and effort put in by our own parents to provide us with memory making trips like this when we were kids.  Here's hoping there are many more camping adventures for our family in the future!

Yosemite 2012, part 2

Back at the campsite, we played and waited (and waited) to set up our tent, in hopes that our "neighbor" would show up and be willing to let us put our tent on her site, putting us a little closer to the rest of the family.

Arie had a blast all week, crawling and climbing on rocks, practicing his walking (still only taking 4-5 steps at a time) and screaming in delight at his surroundings (much to our "neighbors" dismay, we're sure).

With the exception of a wiffle ball and football, he didn't not play with one toy all week.  He was perfectly happy to explore.

 

 

 

Oh, and he just couldn't leave out the sense of taste when exploring his surroundings. ;) 

 

We had finished dinner and decided we couldn't wait any longer to set up our tent.  We got it up and staked in when our "neighbor" showed up and agreed to let us put the tent on her site.  There was nothing inside the tent yet, so everybody pitched in to carry the raised tent to a new location!  It was a funny sight!
We thought it would be great to be in this new location, so close to the rest of our family... but later regretted it a bit due to some very loud and inconsiderate campers nearby. They made for two very frustrating nights until they mercifully moved on, which provided us with more peace and quiet at night for the last half of our trip.  The only challenge, then, was keeping warm in the 40* temps!
On Tuesday we set out for a morning hike to a nearby lake.  We had fun and saw some beautiful sights.
 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday afternoon was spent resting (for our boys, at least) and swimming in the Tuolomne River.
On Wednesday, we headed down the mountian into the busy Yosemite Valley for the day.  It was a cold and early start to the day, so our boys stayed in their pjs for the ride down.  Arie was happy to see his cousins outside of his window when he woke up in the valley.

We first saw Bridalveil Falls, then headed down the road to view the impressive El Capitan.  After that we headed out on our big hike of the day to Vernal Falls on the Mist Trail. 

 

It was a pretty steep and strenuous hike, so some of us took our time at a pace that worked for us. ;)

 Ben carried Arie the entire way up and down... we were all very impressed!

 

 

There were lots and lots of big rock steps, so Jack needed some help to navigate them.  But our big boy hiked almost the entire thing up to the top of the falls!  We were so inspired and proud (as were many others on the trail).

"Tah Dah!"

 

Amazing!

Yosemite 2012, part 1

Our summer vacation has finally come and gone!  We've been hoping to camp in Yosemite for quite some time, and were lucky enough to score reservations (thanks, Laura!) six months ago.  We've been eagerly anticipating and planning for these 5 days since then. 
Here's our little Honda, all packed up and ready to head out.  We had been a little concerned about fitting everything we wanted to take, and we were concerned that our four-cylinder car would be able to make the climb into the Eastern Sierras with all that stuff packed in (we even briefly considered purchasing our next "family car" in time for this trip, but decided to hold out a bit longer).  It certainly was a challenge to pack minimally and to fit it all in, but it all turned out just fine!
 

I didn't get any pictures, but we drove most of the way last Sunday afternoon, then grabbed dinner and a hotel room in Bishop so that we could finish the rest of the drive on Monday morning.  It was a really nice way to split up the drive and do something fun/different with the kids.  We ate at Jack's Waffle House for dinner and swam in the hotel pool before tucking in for the night.
On Monday morning we enjoyed sleeping in (thank you, room darkening shades!), eating a hot breakfast, and savoring our last showers for the next several days. ;)  Mom and Dad K, Laura, Jonathan and Meg, and Katie had all arrived at the sites in the Tuolumne Meadows campground the day before, so they were all set up and ready for us when we arrived.

They had scored a great, big site that backed up against some woods, which provided an excellent natural playground all week.  Jack loved this "rock slide." 

The cousins were SO great, playing with our kids all week.  Jonathan and Meg are attentive, patient, and sweet with our boys, and we were SO grateful to have them there as playmates.  Grandpa, Grandma, Auntie Laura and Auntie Katie were so supportive and helpful all week as well.  It sure would have been a different week if it would have just been the four of us.  We missed the family members who couldn't be there with us, too!
 

 

 

We had lunch, then headed out on our first hike: near Lembert Dome and to Soda Springs.

 

 

 

 

 

At Soda Springs, we filled our cups with the fresh bubbling water and added some flavored powder for a delicious and FUN treat!

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at the river's edge to practice our rock skipping. :)