Vacation (Days 10 & 11)

Today we headed back to Yosemite and drove down into the actual valley for some hiking and a picnic. It was very crowded but amazingly beautiful.



And then it was over. Just like that. Sniffle. Saturday morning we packed up our trailer and headed home with a little navigation help from Maylee.

We had such a wonderful time, I can't even describe how grateful we were to my parents for putting up with us for 11 whole days. If you've never been to Yosemite you definitely want to put it on your "to-do" list.

Vacation (Day 9)

Yosemite!

Waiting in line to enter the park. We did this a lot. There was construction on the road and so we did a lot of waiting in line.

After getting into the park we headed to see a grove of giant sequoia trees. We went on a short hike to see a tunnel tree. Here's Emma right before we started in front of a big tree.

Emma and Eli, ready to start hiking...or maybe to defeat Darth Vader.

Up the trailhead a bit. You'll notice I am now carrying the walking stick/lightsaber.

Up at the tunnel tree.

While we were looking at the tunnel tree these two bucks came wandering through the group of people standing there.

After we were finished hiking we hopped in the car to drive to an overlook where we could see Half-Dome. You can see it behind David in this picture.
David, Emma, and Eli reaching the summit of the giant boulder at the overlook.

We don't really have this color in Phoenix.

Vacation (Day 8)

Moving day! Saying good bye to the ocean and hello to giant trees. We got up early and packed up the whole trailer after breakfast. We made a quick stop on our way out at the organic berry farm to buy some jam. We got strawberry, blackberry, and Straw-Ollaliberry jam. Now what is an Ollaliberry you might be asking? It is a cross between a blackberry and a raspberry and in my opinion heaven on earth! This is jam is so good it's criminal. I guess all the wacko, eco-friendly people are right, organic food does taste better. :-)

Then we got back in the car and drove...and drove...and drove. It was actually only 3-4 hours but it felt like forever in the car before we reached our new KOA outside of Yosemite. None of us were super thrilled when we got out into the 80 degree heat. There were some wistful sighs for our green ocean-view campground. But we worked at getting our trailer set up again and right into bed. We were all pretty tired.

I think this picture of Maylee sums up how all of us felt after a day in the car.

Vacation (Day 7)

Today's Agenda - Fisherman's Wharf!

We got an earlier start today and made it into the city in decent time. We were all very excited for today's excursion. SO excited in fact that the first thing we did was lose Emma in the parking lot as we hurried toward the pier. Luckily we noticed after only a hundred yards or so. Hopefully she won't be scarred for life. Here's a picture of me and the kids at the pier.

Our first stop was the Bay Cruise. I decked the kids down for this one with long sleeve shirts, coats, and hats. And then when we got out on the water the sun came out for the first time and we all got hot and sunburned. And then the wind came back and we all got cold again. Sheesh. This is Maylee and I on the boat and Maylee is doing her super villain face.

Here's Emma and my Mom, looking lovely and windswept.

My parents...the founders of the feast, as it were.

This is Eli demonstrating that the 90 minute Bay tour was about 60 minutes too long.


After the boat ride it was time for lunch. I also needed to feed Maylee and all of the restaurants around us looked like little cafe's with no seating. So I requested we find a restaurant with chairs so Maylee could eat too. We ended up at a very nice restaurant paying way too much money for food that just wasn't very good. It still makes me all upset to think about eating here! One of these weekends I'm going to make David drive us to San Fransisco just so we can eat somewhere fun on Fisherman's Wharf and then come home. Just to erase the memory of the $60 bowl of clam chowder (yes we did get other food too).


Here is my favorite sign of the trip and I'm sad I didn't get a close up of it. (One more reason for a weekend excursion, right David?)

Next was Aquarium on the Bay which was rather disappointing after the aquarium at The Academy of Science. But we did get to pet rays, sharks, and sea slugs so the kids still liked it.


After that we did some walking around and shopping. I bought some super expensive chocolate that, unlike lunch, I do not regret at all! There also was a funny moment where two Chinese women sat and took like 40 pictures of Maylee. Then we were ready to head back to the camp while my parents went to see Wicked. When we were driving into camp we almost ran over a couple of raccoons which was cool, until later that night when they were breaking into stuff around our camp. We also had a skunk which got into our garbage can and made a mess.


David enjoyed our time in San Fransisco so much. It is totally unlike any other city I've been in. We can't wait to go back and spend more time there.

Vacation (Day 6)

Day 6

Good-bye Santa Cruz, Hello San Fransisco! Today is our first day venturing into the city. Today's itinerary includes Golden Gate Park, The California Academy of Science, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Academy was way cooler than we expected it to be, and our expectations were pretty high. This museum has a planetarium, an aquarium, a 5 story rain forest, a living roof, and various other exhibits. We spent 6 hours there and could have spent more if they didn't kick us out at closing time.
Here is the inside rain forest. There were fish, birds, and butterflies inside. As well as animals from each of the world's rain forests.

Here's the kids in front of the aquarium. Their aquarium was amazing, we spent almost 3 hours down there.

This lady is cleaning the INSIDE of the fish tank. Weird.

These were everyone's favorite.

Emma with the largest mammal ever.

Here we are on top of the living roof. That giant mound behind me is the dome of the planetarium. We didn't stay up there very long because it was windy and cold. (Yes, to us poor Arizonans 50 degrees is COLD)

This is what Maylee and Daddy did while I took the kids to the planetarium show.


The Academy closed about this time so we had to leave (before we saw everything) and we were going to explore the park but by then we were so tired and it was so cold we decided to skip it and head straight for the bridge.


After that it was back to the KOA for food and sleep to gear up for our 2nd day in San Fransisco.

Vacation (Days 4&5)

Day 4

Today's itinerary included the Roaring Camp Railroad. A real-life steam engine that takes you on an hour tour of the Redwoods.

The kids having some fun at the depot before we leave.

On the train.

Emma discovering her FIRST loose tooth on the train.

Off the train at the top of the mountain. Yes those are genuine redwoods in the background.


In the afternoon we took the kids to an organic u-pick berry farm. This was so much fun! And the strawberries were AMAZING!

After the berry farm we headed up the coast to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse.

That was enough for one day so we headed back to the trailer for dinner and so Maylee could spend hours playing with this diaper package. Best toy we ever bought her!


Day 5 was Sunday, so we headed to church. The closes ward we found was 30 minutes away in a small coastal town. We pull up to this teeny tiny church building which only 1 ward meets in. They didn't even have to open the cultural hall, the entire ward fit in the chapel. A very weird change from our Maricopa ward. Our kids would have doubled their primary attendance. After sacrament we headed further up the coast to visit the Oakland Temple.


And here's something you might not know about me. I love to take pictures of weird signs. We got some good ones on the trip, including this one:


Finally we concluded the night by leaving the kids (all the kids) with Grandma and Papa and heading into San Fransisco to see Wicked at the Orpheum.

We didn't take our camera with us that night and I'm kind of kicking myself for not getting a picture of us before we left because it was the only day of vacation where my hair was clean and styled and I was wearing make-up. Anyway, we had a wonderful time and we enjoyed the production so much. This was the first time since Maylee was born that we had a date with no children. Thank you so much Mom & Dad for making that possible.