Yosemite Day 2

Oh, the smell of the outdoors! Who doesn't love it? I sure do!


While the guys were going golfing at Wawona, the kids and I wanted to go horseback riding. First we met with the ranger at the ranger coffee at the amphitheater which was right by our camp site. Got some ideas of what to do. We got reservations for the 2 pm trail ride. 2 hours!




I had the kids walk through the history center with me,
and then we met up with the rest of the gals and kids for a swim. The kids also took off on a barefoot rock hike down the river.





Time for our trail ride. Evelyn rode Bucky, Greg rode Tucker and I rode Tuscon. We went on this nice cool shaded trail around Wawona for 2 hours. It was great!







It's just beautiful here!



Back to camp to swim, again, dinner and more s'mores. To bed early as we were headed to the Valley early in the morning.

Vacation Day 1

First day of Vacation! Oh Heaven! We pulled out of Starbucks at 6:30 am and met up with Chris and Martha and their group in Bakersfield. Hit the road again and met up again in Oakhurst around noon for grocery shopping and lunch.


We were at our camp site in Wawona around 3.
Set up camp and the kids couldn't wait to get into the river to play and swim.



This is a bear box. You need to keep all your food, drinks, toilitries, soap, sunscreen, etc... in this box. Then you close it up and lock it, at all times, unless you are loading or unloading or standing next to it (so says the Rangers). This is to prevent bears from tearing off your car doors to get the the food. Or even rummaging through your camp site and going through your coolers. I remember when we had to hang our food from tree branches in burlap sacks!
It also makes a nice extra table or seat or just a place to keep stuff.


Off to the other Murphy site to hang out and dip our feet in the nice icey cold and refreshing water.


There were 4 families/groups and we all had dinner together at Chris and Martha's camp site.
The gals pitched in cooking and getting ready then the guys cleaned up.

After dinner the kids would swim more or play frisbee or bocce ball.
Then the camp fire began and it was time for s'mores.


We headed to bed around 10 pm and boy I slept great! Ready for the next day.

We are so outta here!

Car is just about packed, and we are ready to head outta here bright and early. Whew! Can't wait.

This morning I went on a 4.5 mile run in San Clemente. It was a great way to start the day. Seriously!! Julie and I met our EZ8 running friend at 6:30 am. Home by 8 am to water the yards and plants and get started on the packing. And of course I had to clean the house as I don't like leaving on vacation only to come home to a house that needs cleaning too.


Tom has done a great job packing up my car. We did have to use the cargo carrier on top although we thought we could get it all in and not use it. Oh well.




Greg's birthday is on the 7th and he was just bugging me for an early present. So he did get his wish and got something he can play with in the car. But he had me promise I wouldn't show a picture or say what it is. But he sure did like it and is already asking for more. Well, he and Evy can share on the car ride.
Here he realizes what he is getting and see K dog below hoping for something for her too. That's her couch and she doesn't let anyone forget it either.

so my friends, will miss you for all 88 days that we are gone. Just kidding on the number of days. But that's how many days I packed for. Not really, only 44. I can't wait to share photos of our trip.



Be well.

A whole lotta stuff going on

It's almost vacation time. And it's always a busy time right before. The kids have their clothes out. Just need to toss them in a suitcase. I have to pack mine still and Tom can pack in about 2 minutes.
Besides packing, I have had to move these plants

to this location. They don't like it there very much but it is just temporary. Too sunny for the hydrangeas.


I also had to move out the benches and bistro table and chairs to leave an empty boring courtyard. I have been trying to transform it into a nice comfy court yard with lots of blooming flowers and greenery. I like color and greenery. The stuff is not yet moved in this picture so it now looks even more boring than that. The kids have been moving the garden stakes all around and leaving them in different places.



I have some more things checked off "the list" and hopefully more when we get back. And hopefully then I can let you all in on what I have been listing and checking and waiting in limbo about.


That list also included exchanging the spur straps that Evelyn originally got for her birthday. They were too small. They were plain leather but she still liked them. So, off to Boot Barn (it is a fun store) and our choices were hide or these.

Well, it's not too hard to figure out what our 12 year old picked out. I do admit they look good with the spurs. I hope you can see the bling when she wears them. I have been trying all day to get the spurs on them. I may just have to take them along on our car ride and work on it all the way to Yosemite.
But I think they will look nice when I get them all put together I just hope I don't do it backwards like I did the last time. ugh.

Also on that list was getting birthday presents for Greg. He will be 10 (TEN) yikes. On that day we will be breaking camp in Yosemite and headed to Oregon. Greg will have another adventure on his birthday. One year we were in Cambria for a wedding and went to Hearst Castle on his birthday. Evelyn and I did find gifts. Greg has changed his mind so many times that I hope we got what he wants. I will do my best to hide them in the car and keep them hidden from that sneaky kid until then.

Off to check my list again. This time for the trip. We head out for Yosemite and then to Oregon to visit my dad. Then back home in time for another base ball tournament in Chino Hills.

Oh, update on the San Diego tournament. We played 5 games - 2 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday and 1 Monday morning. Greg pitched 99 pitches on Sunday. pitched in 2 games. He got knocked really hard in the shin by a line drive to him when he was pitching. Knocked him over and brought a lot of tears to his eyes. He was down for awhile but then back up and pitching with a furry. He limped the rest of the weekend. Monday morning he woke up with a sore arm but still played another great game. These tournaments are a lot of fun. A lot of down time before and in between games but us parents have it down now. We know who brings what to keep the boys hydrated during and between games and fed with protein and carbs in between games. The girls also have fun keeping each other busy during the games.

Here is Greg at bat. He had some pretty good hits this time. Getting that power swing back. Don' t know what happened to make him loose it.
Trying to get the pick off at first.
Typical uniform. And most games his pants are dirty before the game even starts. And you should see the front of him too. As one dad said, he Kissed the base sliding back into second to avoid the pick off.
Here is his funny pitcher face. He makes so many different faces while he is playing. This is a pitch before Greg got hit. So this is not a painful wince face.

We play here in August. Then I think it's break time for a month or so as some players (us included) will start playing soccer. But there may be a Friday night league starting up in September. Travel Ball. It's an experience. It's fun.

We are headed to the lake tonight to see the Bee Movie. Going with the Strauss family. Greg is over there now. He doesn't want to come home. Maybe Julie has taught him some more of her great cooking techniques. I sure hope so as that girl can cook! And she has 4 great kids.

TTFN as I am off to pack my clothes and do some more laundry. Oh vey! The fun just keeps on coming.

Family foto

I still have not posted anything from our Florida trip, but here's one of my favorite photos.