Oh how i wish i was able to blog our trip the way i did last summer, but alas there is no electricity with tent camping and no electricity means no computer. So i am just going to write a few favorites so when i look back next year i can smile and hopefully my kids will read these someday! :)
Our perfect campsite. Our tent & bear locker were shaded. The only flaw was that our table had to sit on a slight angle. The crayons and pencils kept rolling off the table into the dirt.
Bears are no joke here. Anything that had a scent had to be locked in this metal cabinet. Kyle had to sign a form stating that we would not leave anything in our vehicles or tent. At one of the parking lots they would peer inside your car & issue you a 'Bear Ticket' if anything was seen.
We actually spotted a black bear, whom is really brown, on the side of the road. I felt like the Bear Paparazzi. That dark shade of brown is him. He was HUGE!
i found these stats posted at our campgrounds interesting.
We camped in
Wawona, Yosemite National Forest. Initially, i was bummed we weren't able to get a spot in Yosemite Valley, but after seeing the campsites,
i'm waaaaaay happier with where we stayed. We were right by the
Merced River and so of course that made the fishing a lot better! At night i would tell the kids as we laid in the tent to listen to God's music while falling asleep. This included the sound on the small river waterfalls and a few crickets.
It was so peaceful and calming.
We loved swimming in the Wawona waterhole & sliding down God's rocks. Kiera kept up with the 2 older ones never missing a beat.
This is the root of the Sequoia. AMAZING!
The "Grizzly Giant" is the largest living thing on earth. One of the tree branches is 7 feet in diameter. These sequoia trees are 2000 years old some of them in existence when Cleopatra ruled Egypt.
We adventured on an unplanned 4 mile hike through
Mariposa Grove home of the sequoias. This included a 1000 foot inclination.
This was how
kiera "hiked" on the way up.
It was the 2 miles downhill in
crocs that i hiked with her like this. Well, i hiked 1 mile & kyle hiked 1 mile. Fantastic workout!
~We marveled at butterflies~
~We played together.~
~ After completing a well written Lil Cub Ranger Book & participating in a Ranger Hike, Kienan & Mackenzie were sworn in as Lil Cub Junior Rangers. They are now committed to preserving our earth :)~
Funny story: The Ranger was explaining to the kids that you can identify animals by their tracks and their scat. She brought out some bear scat to show the kids and then decided to eat it. Here's Mackenzie's face when she asked if anyone else wanted to try the "Bear Scat" aka chocolate covered peanuts.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
We fished rainbow and brown trout. Kienan and Kyle both caught some and then released them back in the river.
~ We cooked delicious meals without the conveniences of the kitchen.~
We all hiked to Yosemite Falls. Kienan and Kyle hiked though the boulders to get to the bottom of the falls.
The kids
journaled. I took some pictures of their drawings so i could remember them forever.
~ We realized more than once that we were the guest and not the host.~
~ We were reminded to breathe, cherish, ponder, unite, relax, listen & remember the world's a lot bigger than ourselves.~
Even though i don't have a picture, i want to remind my kids how we laid in the bed of dad's truck and gazed at the spectacular view of the night sky absolutely filled with stars. We saw satellites zooming through the sky & learned the importance of them in our modern world. We saw shooting stars and made wishes. We saw the Milky Way and then Kienan asked if there was A Chocolate Milky Way. Hahaha!!! Funny :)
One more memory was after the kids went to bed and kyle & i were sitting by the fire with the lantern on. I asked him if he could turn if off as to better enjoy the night atmosphere. Within seconds of him turning the lantern off and the world around us becoming pitch black we heard rustling in the bushes right behind us. We both jumped. I slightly panicked as the rustling continue telling him to hurry and turn the lantern back on. It wouldn't light and wouldn't light and wouldn't light. I used the flicker of the fire to run to the tent and grab a flashlight. As he continued to try and light the uncooperative lantern i lit up the bushes with my light. NOTHING! But we kept hearing the noises. Finally, he was able to light the lantern and the noise stopped! 10 minutes later we heard the rustling again and this time with the help of the flashlight we were able to spot the glowing eyes of a doe. Not bothered by us, she continued her midnight snacking.
i also want to make note for the record so there are no future discrepancies: kyle and i were only able to play 2 games of cribbage. We are tied one to one. Although i beat him so badly that mine should count as two wins ;)
And the sticking MOSQUITOES!!! We were eaten alive even though we were practically bathing in OFF. Let's not forget how we were covered in bites!
i could post a million more pictures, but that's what shutterfly is for! i recommend to anyone that loves to camp to pack up the family and head out to yosemite. it's an amazing place to be~
DELICIOUS BOOK!!!!!! I can't even remember where i found this book. It wasn't the bookstore, but somewhere very random. We read it together tonight & the kids TOTALLY GOT IT!!!! With every step to bed they were deciding if they were getting a DRIP or a DROP. I explained that maybe mommy's bucket was near empty at dinnertime and that's why i was grumpy, but now that we had read a story together my bucket seemed a little more full. :)
In the meantime, i am going to fill out a drop for each kid and hang it in their room so they'll see it first thing in the morning! :)
