Twin Lakes and Yosemite

In the summer our first camping trip was to Twin Lakes with a day trip to Yosemite. Here is one of the falls. The place was gorgious and we went early enough in the season that the falls were flowing full force. Unfortunately it was a very cloudy and occassionally rainy day. Fortunately on this hike it didn't really matter. We brought our ponchos for the rain but actually used them more just for this hike. You got soaked just from the mist from the waterfall . . . it was quite amazing but also made a difficult hike even more difficult. This is a picture at the bottom of the Falls. It was a much more difficult hike than we anticipated so I hiked back down with Tyler at this point and Tim took Little T. in the backpack with Big & Little J. all the way to the top. What a huge hike!
Much of the hike was full of these stone steps which looks easy but they were uneven, and very tall so you really had to step up on each one. Plus because of the rain and the mist, you had to dodge puddles all over those steps.

This picture is on the bridge at the beginning of the hike before it started getting difficult.

Look at my handsome husband with our handsome baby boy. Little T. is the only one who had was able to get to the top without any work.

Some of my cute boys with me.

This is at the top of the waterfall. Can you see their wet, matted hair from the rain and mist. The rain actually made it very humid and those ponchos were kind of hot. Don't get me wrong, we really enjoyed our trip and the views were absolutely gorgious.

My beautiful boys!

How do you keep boys from climbing trees? I don't really know the answer but this branch was very low to the ground so it was ok with me and they looked so cute.

All my great boys. This picture was at the end of the day after another hike but this time the hike was less than 1/4 of a mile and we had already had lunch and ice cream so everyone was a little more refreshed than after our first really big hike.

Back at Twin Lakes. Since it was early in the season and we went when it was overcast, it was too cold to actually swim in the water. My boys were ok with that but they still wanted to go down to the lake. They made sand castles and threw rocks into the water and thought it was just great.

Remember to check out the blog post called "No lions, No tigers but there were Bears" since this is the same trip where our belongings had a run in with a bear. Luckily we weren't at the campsite; we were still at Yosemite.

Las Vegas Business Trip

Tim had a conference and state track meet in Las Vegas that he had to attend. We all decided to tag along and make a trip out of it. We went to Red Rock and did some hiking around. It was absolutely beautiful there. I know it's the Nevada Desert but all the different types of flowers (and cactus and sagebrush) were in Bloom. We climbed around and found all kinds of interesting rock formations and crevaces and such.

On the last night we had to switch hotels. We found a last minute great deal at an Embassy Suite Hotel. It was amazing. We've never stayed in such a nice hotel before. This is the fountain in the lobby that the kids liked watching. The elevator was glass and overlooked the lobby and all the rest of the hotel. We had cooked to order breakfast in the morning. We definately got spoiled.

We also went to Hoover Dam and we went on the tour which was cool (but a little busy since it was Memorial Day Weekend). The new road they are building is quite amazing.

This is a blooming cactus, just one of the flowers in Red Rock while we did our hiking.While Tim was at his conference, the kids and I went to a Splash Pad in Henderson. The kids had a good time playing and cooling off at the same time.

Even Tanner had a good time at the park. Aren't these boys the cutest things ever?

Vacation

Over Easter Break we went on a short vacation to California. When going over the mountain all the kids had their hands up on the windy road saying, "wheeeea, wheeeeaa, ..." We wondered why we were spending money to go to Six Flags when our kids were just as content driving on a windy road and pretending they were on a roller coaster. The baby even got in on the action too. He LOVES to do whatever the other boys are doing. We stopped at the Jelly Belly Factory for a tour and free jelly belly's. It was a long line but it's sort of a right of passage. Big T. was too small to remember when we went this time. I'm always amazed at how much sugar they can put into one tiny piece of candy. My kids tried some of the new flavors like "Toothpaste" and "Vomit". They both taste just like their name.
One of our stops was John Muir Woods. We saw some giant redwoods, went on a nice family hike and Big J. got to pass off part of his requirements for his Forester Activity Badge for Webelos.

This is a giant slug Little J. found on our hike. He insisted we take a picture so he could show his school teacher. It was fascinating and gross (in my opinion).

More Camping & Hiking

This is our latest camping trip from Aug. 3 - 6. We went on a hike to Eagle Falls and it was quite steep and strenuous but the kids did great. At Eagle Lake, the kids got their feet wet (and Tyler accidentally got his whole body wet) and we had lunch. It was a good hike for all of us.