Yosemite

On our way home from an Epic Road Trip this summer we stopped in Yosemite National Park to hike and camp and play. It was end of June timeframe and we didn't think we could get a place to camp, but we did. It was on the East side at about 8500 feet in elevation. Most attractions are the the West side of the Park and the drive can take up to an hour each way. We were up for an adventure though and decided to camp there in  bear country. Everywhere in that park is Bear country.

We hiked and played and waded in the rivers. We saw waterfalls and wildlife (not bears) and amazing views of huge rocks. We watched climbers doing death defying feats and saw a mama duck teaching her little ones how to scavenge and snatch food from pic-nickers. We had a lot of fun, but we also just about froze our self into Popsicles. The first morning we woke up it was below freezing and the next two mornings weren't much better. It took a while to get to the warm side of the mountains. We had tons of s'mores and used every last bit of the hot chocolate we had packed. The kids slept in the same sleeping bag  with the other one and two blankets over them and the baby snuggled himself between mom and dad and stayed perfectly warm with his cute hat our friend Pam knitted for him.

Our surprise for the trip was having to buy new tires while in the park. Something about a rock and some damage that had to be fixed right away. Not a typical vacation expense, but I was glad we were able to cover it and get our family home safely. You should have seen us with 3 kids and a soft top car top carrier on top of our VW Passat. Good thing Justin can pack a sea bag well. It translates well to car packing too. We were sardines in there. And it was especially fun on the way home when the drivers side door decided it wouldn't shut all the way any more and we had to strap it closed with the roof bag straps and then climb out the back doors. Oh what an adventure.

The kids took lots of walks and collected rocks that didn't actually come home with us. One night Meg needed to make a potty run in the middle of the night. In a campground with no power at all in the dead of a cold night with no glasses, we headed out. We got lost coming back because I couldn't see. She was patient with me for a while, until she got really cold. Then she started calling for Dad. After that when she woke up she asked him for help first. Smart girl. Or smart Mom, depending on who you ask. I am so glad we were able to go and I hope at least the big kids remember it for some time to come.

Family campout

We took our kids on a camping adventure this weekend. They had a blast. Bug was deemed old enough and responsible enough (with supervision) to light the camp fire and keep it going. He was thrilled. Meg was just thrilled to play in the dirt. That's her favorite thing. She's going to grow up to be one heck of a gardener.  Some highlights were sleeping without the rain fly on to watch the stars. What an amazing place for an observatory. We even saw some shooting stars. A little fox visited us in camp both nights. Brave little thing. He was probably used to scavenging for leftover food from careless campers. We did not feed him, or get pictures of him. He was quick. Meg has been pretending to be quick like a fox. The boys too hikes and found giant pine cones while the girls hung around and played in the dirt and watched the ants.

The only bad thing about the entire weekend was the BUGS. Big, giant, relentless bugs. We ended up with two kinds of bug spray, on with deet and one "natural" and neither one worked. They didn't work in combination with each other either. Almost a week later Meg still looks like it's possible she might have chicken pox. It was brutal. I am not sure how to be more prepared for that in the future, but I will do some research before we go on another adventure. Enjoy our camping pictures.

These were some tuckered out kids by the time we left.