Daddy's birthday trip 2008 Yosemite

We went to Yosemite last weekend to celebrate Nick's birthday. We had a wonderful time even though it rained practically the entire time. The only nice thing about it raining so much was that it kept it a little warmer. We new it was going to be wet so we came prepared which makes a HUGE difference. We made a quick stop at REI and picked up some stuff and then headed on our way. Wills is just like his father and loves the rain so he did great. We brought him three pairs of shoe's, all of which were wet in the first full day, he wore a waterproof jacket and waterproof pants to keep him...well dry enough. Actually other then the bottoms of his pants and his feet he was totally dry. Allie road around in her baby Bjorn attached to mommy practically the whole time (I am seriously loving her Bjorn for anything active.) We bought her a little down onesie "space" suit and a Bjorn cover so she was probably overly warm if anything and I carried an umbrella to keep her dry. She had a great time and she slept fine so that was nice. Mommy and daddy pulled out the rain gear with Gortex shoes and so we all stayed dry.

The first night we showed up at dusk and it was barley sprinkling so we quickly started to get camp set up. I started setting up the tent and Nick worked on getting a fire started (one of his highlights to any camp trip.) Fortunately we were able to have a fire both nights even though it rained practically all night Friday and all day and all night Saturday, the weather took a little break and let us cook dinner and roast s'mores. Our tent held up well and none of our stuff got wet even though the outside of our tent was soaked. Nick and I mentioned several times how thankful we were to have a nice tent that is easy to set up and take down.

We were amazed how much the falls and the river filled up in those couple days of rain. Very impressive. All told we had a great trip and Yosemite, like always, was beautiful and told of the great creation of our God.

William was planning on sleeping in my mummy bag in our tent. He was pretty excited about it when we were at home. The first night when we climbed into our tent he was like "go home sleep in my big bed?" He was pretty upset so he ended up sleeping with me inside my sleeping bag. We borrowed a Coleman from my parents which is as roomy as our bed is when William decides he needs to sleep with us. He didn't sleep that well and kept scooting closer and closer. When Allie woke up to nurse at 3 am we all got up because when I got up to get her he woke up and so we got Nick up to hold him. I didn't sleep that well because Wills was moving all over and I would just sit and listen to the noises and then I would fall asleep and he would wake me up. We both slept better the second night. When Wills and I were going to bed the first night Wills had both his arms around my neck and he spontaneously said "I like You" all I could do was laugh. It was so cute! It cracked me up. He is very fun. When we woke up the next morning he was again sleeping with his arms around my neck holding tight. As I was laying there I though to myself that I love that I am a comfort to my little guy and I know I will miss these days when he is older and he doesn't want to even hug me. I sure love my babies.

We had a great time, and we can't wait to go back, which if it is up to daddy, will be very soon.

Some of the beautiful pictures we captured while we were there. I haven't worked on any of them in photoshop so they are straight our of the Camera. No picture can truly do these sights justice.
The colors were so vibrant because of all the rain. I don't think I have ever seen the granite look better.

Yosemite Falls after several days of rain

This isn't a good picture but I had to include it because these people were walking in front of us and Wills kept passing them and they thought he was the greatest thing. They were from Singapore. He kept going off the path and then they would get ahead of him and he would go sprinting back up to catch up with his "friends".

This was Yosemite falls on Friday when we drove in.


This is on Sunday when we were leaving. Crazy how different the water level is.

I really like this picture and I did a little ps (photo shop) on it

I love how these trees present a grand "entrance gate" to the falls

silly face

He loves to climb on ever rock and tree.

He was sprinting around the rocks.

Such a sweet picture.

Our family

me and Allie getting ready for the family picture

Wills and daddy starting to pack up. We set a tarp up over the bear box our second day so we would have somewhere dry to cook.

Nick did all the cooking while we camped. Amazing how food taste so good when you camp. He cooks on the fire.

Peek-a- boo

Here we are at Glacier Point. You drive up several thousand feet and overlook the valley. Simply Awesome! We were worried it was going to be completely covered with clouds but it was actually very amazing.

Here I am with my babies. Doesn't Allie look funny all snuggled up.

The view from Glacier point.