Our favorite landmark in Yosemite is half dome.
We arrived at our campground in the early afternoon and had everything set up in no time thanks to our seasoned camping children.
The boys love having their own tent and we love that they keep their mess to themselves.
The Eames family campsite (with the Lowe's tent in the background)
The Reid family campsite
The LeFevre campsite (way smaller than the rest)
The Lowe family campsite
Bryant and Parker's tent with Parker hanging out in the hammock
Our tent is ENORMOUS for just 3 people! It's so nice to be able to spread out.
While Katrina and Stuart were setting up their camp, Aileea and Kara had fun in our hammocks.
Erin's favorite thing to do during our trip was read in the hammock. She restarted the Harry Potter series again and is glued to her books.
Bryant had this look on his face during most of our trip. We can't decide if he's bored, indifferent, or just relaxing.
Our family made the first group dinner - barbeque pork sandwiches. They were so good!
The morning after we arrived, the whole family headed to Glacier Point where there are spectacular views of the whole valley. As we neared our destination, we were held up by cars that were stopped and conjesting traffic. I had a feeling that there was a reason for the craziness, so I hopped out of the van to find out what was going on. This was the reason.......a momma bear with 2 cubs! So cute, but not so safe. We were so lucky to see them since it ended up being our only bear sighting of the trip.
Once we all arrived at Glacier Point, we admired the views and then took as many pictures of the valley and half dome as we could.
The view of the whole valley (the 2 water falls are the ones we hiked to the top of 2 days later)
The top of Vernal Falls
Let the pictures in front of half dome begin.......
The only picture of our entire family - if only the kind lady taking the picture wouldn't have tilted the camera. Oh well, photoshop can only help so much.
The only picture with all the grandkids
After a couple of hours at Glacier Point, we all headed back by way of Bridalveil Falls (with the exception of my mom and dad who took a sick Tanner back to camp). Everyone hiked to the bottom of the falls for some photo ops and then Erin, Bryant, and Parker decided they wanted to go higher.
After not being able to see my children for a while, I got a bit nervous so Tiffany and I headed up the rocks to go looking for them. Once we finally found where they were, they convinced us to go with them even higher. It was a fairly dangerous but thrilling venture.
The first of many rainbows we would see during our trip. I LOVE RAINBOWS!
Parker was a great help to us old moms! He helped us find the best and safest route up the rocks.
At the top, we met 2 young men from Holland who were kind enough to take our picture.
After a full day of sightseeing and hiking, we returned to camp where Mom and Dad had dinner ready for us. Taco Dip - YUM!
That evening we had a special visit from Hansa and Fransa (Jolene & Tiffany) and the Sisterhood of the Traveling Bandana (all of us sisters) bestowing the "Manly Bandana" on Stewart. He was given this honor due to his "manliness" in helping the women in camp. In the end, Stewart donned a pink bandana......something he said he'd never do!
On Thursday morning, our family went on our own to do some more strenuous hiking. The kids had all hoped to hike to the top of Half Dome but we weren't able to enlist additional hikers to assist me, so we had to go to plan B. After looking through our hiking book, we decided to hike to Vernal and Nevada Falls. The hike was almost 8 miles round trip with a 2000 ft. elevation gain. It was more tough on us adults than the kids, but the trip was so worth it!
The view of Vernal Falls about a half a mile up the trail
The "mist trail" with it's hundreds of steps to Vernal Falls. We were soaking wet by the time we got there.
Another rainbow from the mist of Vernal Falls
Our family at the top of Vernal Falls
The views from Vernal Falls - lovin' the rainbow!
We took a break at the top of Vernal Falls to eat our snacks and rest. We were visited by a squirrel we named Scrat who went to each of us and begged for food. It was pretty cute. **I took pictures but for some reason they didn't upload to the blog so I'll have to do without them.
Beyond Vernal Falls, the trail was dry but still had hundreds more steps to climb.
When we finally made it to the top of Nevada Falls, we were exhausted so we took off our shoes and soaked our feet in the river. It was freezing but it felt amazing. The boys ended up going out deeper and splashing around in the water.
The views from the top of Nevada Falls - another rainbow!
We decided to take a different route back down in order to safe Rick the anxiety of going down the slippery mist trail steps. We ended up on the John Muir trail which was much drier except for the part we named the "rain trail".
Just another great photo op
Such a beautiful hiking trail!
When we arrived at the bottom bridge, we found the Reids and the Lowes (the Reids had just finished their hike to the top of Vernal Falls - not bad for having younger children). We all hiked together the rest of the was down.
After the hike, we headed to a sandy beach so the kids could cool off in the water and the adults that were brave enough to freeze in the water could rinse off their dirty bodies. I was way too chicken to go in past my knees - that water was COLD!
Dad at the river
That evening we found a dirt monster! I'm so glad he wasn't mine to clean up.
Friday morning we planned an easy hike to Mirror Lake so that even the little ones could come. As we waited for our shuttle, Tiffany read from the Junior Ranger book.
Parker just wanted to get on with the hike
It was a nice, shaded hike where the only difficuly was avoiding the horse poop (there was LOTS on the trail)
Mirror Lake was an appropriate name. The reflection was beautiful.
Another view of Half Dome from Mirror Lake
Bryant rode a bike that Grandpa Jim had rented. Again.........great views!
When we were done with our short hike, we went with the Reids to get our rafts ready to ride down the river. It was probably my favorite thing we did on our trip. There's nothing like rafting with such amazing views!
On our last full day in Yosemite, we all hiked to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls where the kids found the most beautiful natural water park. We had so much fun climing up the falls or just watching the kids play in the water.
My kids were great with helping their cousins climb up and down the rocks.
On our last full day in Yosemite, we all hiked to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls where the kids found the most beautiful natural water park. We had so much fun climing up the falls or just watching the kids play in the water.
My kids were great with helping their cousins climb up and down the rocks.
On our last evening at camp, Bryant really started entertaining the little cousins. For some reason, they thought it was funny to bite his shirt.
Uncle Stewart couldn't resist getting in on the action
At the campfire that night, Parker, Trent, Alex, and Kolby sang us a silly song they had been practicing.
We all ended up having a great time during our first family reunion and we're already talking about the next one.
Uncle Stewart couldn't resist getting in on the action
At the campfire that night, Parker, Trent, Alex, and Kolby sang us a silly song they had been practicing.
We all ended up having a great time during our first family reunion and we're already talking about the next one.