Over the last few weeks Mason has been working with Grandpa Mark to build a rocket. And today was the all important launch day! They headed out early to beat the wind and had a successful launch and recovery. Olivier was excited to be there to see the launch!
Today is the kids first day of school. It is the last year they will be at the same school for a while. We took the standard pictures by the front door. Harder to tell their heights this year because I painted the door!
And then because they were being silly, they did a silly photo too! :-)
Today was our last day in Yosemite. We went to see a blacksmith demonstration. It was very interesting to watch. And although it wasn't as humid as when we saw a blacksmith in Alabama a few years ago, it was still very warm, in the 90's! Those are very dedicated volunteers!
We then took the kids to get their Yosemite junior ranger badges and they had a very official swearing in!
We had lunch and enjoyed the shade before heading home!
And during our trip we kept track of the number of state license plates we saw and we saw 34! And one Canadian Provence! Wow!
Today we drove all the way into Yosemite valley and then started our adventure, taking advantage of transit in the valley, especially because it was very warm!
Anna took this photo of the upper falls which we could see from where we parked.
Our first stop was Happy Isles. It was really beautiful and the Merced river was really flowing.
We visited the Nature Center and then headed back to the car for lunch. After lunch we took the bus to the Ahwahnee and went along the trail looking for the Royal Arches. We didn't get a great view (almost too close). It was interesting to see the rocks and the layers!
And a good view of half dome too!
This is the closest I got to the arches.
After getting back to the Ahwahnee we headed to the Yosemite Valley Visitor Center and they had a better photo of what we had been hoping to find. This is the Royal Arches!
The kids also listened to a presentation about the skulls of some of the various animals in the park and why their teeth look the way they do.
As we left for the day I did get a bit more of a photo of the Royal Arches.
And of half dome. I think this is the best photo!
On our way out of the park we stopped at tunnel view and I took a photo of the valley. So breathtaking!
Today was our transition day. We went to Yosemite and started with lunch in Wawona. We visited the Pioneer Yosemite History Center and saw the old stagecoaches.
They had a collection of some of the historical buildings that used to be scattered in the park in this area. The kids really liked visiting the jail...should we be worried?!!
We checked out the fountain at the Wawona hotel.
And then it was off to Bridalveil fall. The weather was warm so the water was very tempting!
And it got more tempting...
Yup, we all put our feet in the cool water from the falls.
After telling Matt that I almost fell, he slipped but thankfully his phone didn't get wet! Whew! As proof he got these photos of the waterfall landing on the kids heads!
And he managed to get a photo with only Mason in it even in a crowed area!
We drove around a bit but decided we would rather get settled and return and really enjoy it tomorrow.
Today we started the day by checking out the General Sherman tree. Yesterday we saw the 2nd biggest tree on earth, and today we saw the biggest! At the start we had a good view of one of these fuzzy caterpillars. We saw a lot of them!
The kids wanted to make sure I took a photo of this tree because it "has a butt"!
To give you an idea of the size of the tree...
And here it is with real people in front!
Yup, that's them!
Another twin tree.
The fire scar on General Sherman.
And a panoramic photo to try and get the full tree!
There was a lot of informational displays that did a great job of putting the information into context, such as this one on the age of trees...
That had this to go along with it!
Got a photo of the kids in a twin tree.
It is bigger than it looks!
They were in the right tree of the tough twins!
We stopped at the Giant Forest Museum, checked out beetle rock, and enjoyed lunch.
Then we headed to Crystal Cave!
They asked for someone to be the sweeper at the end of the group (I called it the caboose) and Olivier was happy to volunteer, and by doing so he got to hold a flashlight! :-)
I wasn't able to get a good photo, but they call this the dragon (and it does look like a dragon in person).
And this is the side of what they call Jabba the Hut.
Anna, Mason and I were out of the cave earlier than Matt and Olivier and I was able to take their photo with the gate at the opening. And the spider in the middle moves to lock it!
We enjoyed the creek while we waited. The only time during the trip we wore our sweatshirts!
Then we headed for a quick trip through tunnel log.
After driving through we went past this really cool looking monarch.
It was another great day! And the kids all got their Kings Canyon and Sequoia Junior Ranger Badges! One of the things they had to pledge was to not pick their nose in public! Along with protecting the natural environment. :-)
