Yosemite Thursday

Thursday we did Yosemite Falls.  We started with the lower Falls hike/walk which is about .5 round trip.... plus all the winding trails you can explore.  Aunt Amy went and rented a bike and had a fun ride around the valley with Walter.  Jer and Sam took the 6 or so mile hike to the top of the waterfall... Yosemite and Multnomah Falls are the two tallest waterfalls in the US and Jer's going to do both this year.  The two hikers met up with Grandpa, Jay and Emily.  Ada wanted to paint with me so we set up a painting station at the bottom of the falls.  Ada and Evelyn made quite a few paintings while Seth made one or two and spent the rest of the time climbing rocks and rolling in the dirt.  We stopped to make a couple of rock stacks too.  That was really fun.

This picture is so cute of Sam.  It makes my post surgery hurt just looking at it.  As of Thursday last week my doctor said that my inflammation wasn't gone but I was cleared to do some hiking.  The only two things that bother me right now are steep up hill (hurts my plantar and Achilles tendons) and very rocky paths.  I'm glad I decided to paint with Ada instead of climb the first couple of miles of this with these guys.

Sam and Seth went to the bathroom together.  Seth wouldn't let Sam put his clothes back on so he walked back to camp like this instead. 

Evelyn took my camera and was taking pictures of me waiting for Ada and Seth outside the bathroom.  She also walked over and photo bombed an Asian lady taking pictures by a giant redwood.  They both thought it was pretty funny.

Wed, Sam's 9th birthday

Sam's birthday was an easier day for Daddy to recover from the 19 miles the day before.  We went to swinging bridge, Tunnel View, Bridal Veil went to the Valley store and played games at camp.  I let Sam pick out the menu and he chose to have pancakes and bacon in the morning, walking tacos for lunch and Mac'n cheese for dinner.  We didn't have a camp stove so we cooked over the fire.  That was fun.

Sam and Evelyn made walls and took turns destroying each other's walls.  Sam was a tiny bit disappointed the Swinging Bridge didn't actually swing.

Ada is a fish.  Jer called her a mermaid and several of the people I was talking to on the shore called her a polar bear.  She wanted to swim and swim.  Jer got in for a while hoping that it would help with sore muscles.

This is Bridal Veil Falls.  The kids kept saying that it was the wrong Bridal Veil.  Seth fell asleep in the car and when we tried to get him out, he screamed the entire .5 mile until we got him some food.  That made him happy.  We kept running into my friend Michelle and her Dad.  That was fun.  It was hard for her to find dog friendly and diabetes dad friendly hikes.  We saw them three times and every time complete strangers stopped her to take pictures of the dogs and to talk.  By the time we saw them at the Swinging Bridge, her dad's blood sugar was terrible.  He was sitting there looking stunned and she had to get him and the three dogs to the car to get him some food.  That happened another day too.... We saw each other at the base of Yosemite Falls just as his blood sugars bottomed.  She works so hard and they're all on their own.  I wish the best for her.

Sam requested to play giant Uno again for his birthday.  That was a blast.

Ada spent every second she could with the dogs.  I liked animals an awful lot growing up, I think she's got me beat.

My day Tuesday

Monday, I drove everyone up to pick up their car at Glacier Point.  We stopped to take some pictures at the overlook.  It was gorgeous.  We almost saw the sunset up there, but we were all tired and Jer needed to get some sleep before Half Dome.

On Tuesday, the Half Domers left early morning, I set up our camp shower, bathed kids, searched for lice in their hair, refilled our water stations, etc.... Then Amy and I took a little 2 mile hike/walk to Mirror Lake.  I loved this one.  It was easy enough on my foot and the kids had an absolute blast.  It was fun to chat with Amy.  I really do love my sister in laws.  This is all at the lower pool, but the kids really wanted to play on the big rock, so there we stayed.  About 7 we decided that it was time to get back to camp.  We started a fire, heated some stew and hot water for cocoa and waited for everyone to get back.  Sam kept telling everyone that we met that Daddy was on Half Dome... once he even said, "If my Dad doesn't die today, he's going to take me when I'm older."

These guys have my heart.  They are the reason why I do all the work that it takes to camp.  I like camping, but I think it's so much more fun with kids.