Spectacular Yosemite!

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” - John Muir

Iver holds a Fourth Grade National Park pass (which gets our family in free [assuming he's with us!] to the 63 National Parks during this school year!), and a few months ago, Kelvin had the idea to try to visit to Yosemite. I figured all the lodging in the park would be booked as it's so popular, but he found a cabin rental in Yosemite West, which is still within the park although about 30-40 minutes by car from the Valley.

I've been to Yosemite four times before-- in the summer of 2007 when I hiked Half Dome with Erin (an amazing experience!), in spring (April 2008 with Laura and Tony), and once before in winter with Kelvin and other residency friends (in January 2011).  It truly is one of the most spectacular national parks in the world, and the kids were excited to see it! It took us about nine hours from home to drive here on Saturday, Niall's birthday ("Why do I have to spend my birthday in the car?!" he whined. Road trips are not his happy place). In any case, we had good driving weather and have had a wonderful three days exploring.

There has been recent snow, and many parts /roads and trails of the park are closed for the winter, but the weather (30-50 F) was perfect for outdoor exploring.

We started our day with a short walk to see Bridalveil Falls (620 ft).

(these smiling photos don't capture all the wrestling and fighting the kids were doing on the trail and the responses of their annoyed parents).

We then parked at the day area and walked to see Lower Yosemite Falls.  The entire waterfall of Yosemite Falls is the highest waterfall in North America, plunging 2,425 feet to the valley floor.

 

We continued hiking on the Yosemite Valley Loop, passing the Ahwanee Hotel en route to Mirror Lake.

Amusing squirrel.

Mirror Lake (a bit of a disappointing pond! It was also cloudy)

We had some rain sprinkles and visited the Valley Exploration Center and the Ansel Adams Gallery.

We joined a guided naturalist walk through the valley and Leidig meadow, learning about the waterfalls and trees.

Sentinel Rock

We had other views of Yosemite Falls  - from the Lodge...

... and from Swinging Bridge

We were prohibited from parking in many parts of the park due to the Firefall event, which happened to coincide with our trip! In a couple week period usually in late February, the setting sun can illuminate Horsetail Falls (an ephermeral falls, meaning there is not water flowing year-round so the phenomenon does not happen in flip season, the fall), making it glow orange. (For about 100 years, Firefall was a man-made event where embers were thrown over the falls by Lodge employees but this practice was ended in 1968!)

(not my photo)

We, along with hundreds (thousands?) of other tourists (many with professional cameras) sat and waited for the sun to set, eyes on the falls as they came down the granite. 

We didn't get more "glowing" than this- but it was still cool to be a part of this event!

It was a LONG hiking day. Niall was carried for brief periods, but hiked most of this >14 miles in Yosemite Valley!

The next day, we (all tired!) slept in and ventured out for some playtime in the snow. 

Unfortunately, Badger Pass (ski and snowshoe area) was closed, so the kids played in the crunchy snow near the turnoff. 

Iver, football-obsessed, played catch with Kelvin for quite a while.

We then headed to near the park's South Entrance /Wawona, and and hiked (with some snow trudging) the ~4 miles roundtrip to Mariposa Grove. I had never actually been in this corner of the park before, which was neat! 

Much of it was in packed snow, which was challenging (as a result, we actually took the paved road, closed to vehicles in winter, on the way back!)

These Giant Sequoias are the largest trees in the world by volume (our Humboldt Coastal Redwoods Sequoia Sempervirens are actually taller). One of the trees near this grove (which we couldn't make it to), Grizzly Giant, is estimated to be between 1,800-2,800 years old!

"The Big Tree is nature's forest masterpiece and so far as I know, the greatest of living things." 

- John Muir

The kids (and adults) enjoyed soaking our tired legs in the cabin hot tub!

On our third day in the park, we got an early start, where we saw ice on the sides of Yosemite Falls. (Frazil ice, where mist or waterfall spray freezes and floats down the falls to the bottom is a common phenomenon here).

We hiked the trail to the Vernal Falls Footbridge (about 1.6 miles round-trip), which is the start of the (~17 mile round-trip!) Half Dome hike I did back in 2007, and quite steep in ascent.

The kids wanted to "lock" our gloves together!

Bear-shaped log

We tried to go ice skating at the Curry Village Ice Rink, but due to a technical malfunction, apparently all the ice melted, so we made it an early day and showed the kids the excellent documentary Free Solo, which chronicles Alex Honnold's amazing free climb up El Capitan.  

We had to pass by Tunnel View on our way out of the park, and caught some last lovely-view pics which included the classic El Capitan, Half Dome, and Bridalveil Falls. 

We had again been playing the "get points for spotting wildlife" game and Kelvin and I were ahead on this trip by fourteen points (mostly obtained from spotting gray squirrels), when Iver called out, "COYOTE!" (20 points!!).

(However, the kids were sorely disappointed when we made up the difference in lucky rapid succession with four deer [5 points each] near the western park gate).

It's been wonderful showing the kids this lovely National Park (Niall is even hiking by himself most of the time!). Until next time, Yosemite! 

Sweet Seven!

 Our littlest guy is seven! 

Niall is now SEVEN! He's still a tiny guy-- ~38 lbs and about 3 ft 8 inches (another weigh-in and growth check is coming next month to keep an eye on it as we didn't want to be remiss). He's in size 4-5T clothing, and size 10-11 shoes. He hasn't lost any teeth yet, which we find quite interesting but apparently is not a concern of his dentist! He loves skinny jogger pants, zip-up hoodies especially a navy PUMA one which you may recall from many pictures, some new-ish waterproof high-top shoes, and being warm and cozy (like his mama).  He is doing well in school, well-liked by teachers and students alike, and surprises us often with his vocabulary, sharp memory/recall, and mental math skills!

He still doesn't really eat much meat or protein, but will eat tofu, eggs (especially the cheesy eggs he's learned to make), chicken (or faux meat) in nugget form, pho meatballs, and occasionally turkey bacon.  He loves noodles, soups, rice, cheese, milk, yogurt, and his favorite fruits are berries. He will eat cucumbers, and can be coaxed to eat green beans, broccoli, peas, corn, and raw carrots. He definitely has a sweet tooth, and loves chocolate and ice cream. 

He sleeps more than Iver did at his (any) age, even past 7 a.m. on some weekends! He has occasional nightmares (or gets cold) and likes to walk over to our room/ snuggle in bed with us. He loves lying on the floor "heater vents" to get cozy, snuggled in his blue blanky and a larger fleece one, and lying on a heating pad to drift off to sleep. 

He still loves being read to (his favorite books include the Dragon Masters Series, and he's started to get into Wings of Fire and Harry Potter). He's learning to read and does pretty well at grade level.  He loves pencils, notebooks, and paper crafts.  He has great pitch and is very self-motivated to practice the piano (thanks to the Simply Piano App, a gift from my parents for Christmas). He's gotten interested in some tablet games (Minecraft and Duo Lingo math), and likes to watch kiddie cartoons on the weekends.  He likes to wear his watch and can tell time on an analog clock.  He still likes to build things, and also likes hoarding 3-D printed objects and shopping for small "things" (we're considering an allowance soon!).  We're working on his grace (when losing) in board games, as he's pretty competitive (like his brother), and has picked up Monopoly and Chess.

He can ride a bike (still, we think!) although it's been a while since we took it out, and he's back in swim lessons to get him more confident in the water. We'll be skiing next week and will sign him up for a couple of days of ski school, over his objections. He's more energetic and getting more interested in sports like his brother, including running, racquet sports, football "catch," and basketball.  He and Iver actually get along pretty well these days, despite normal sibling conflict and competition over what is "fair."

He is generally a very even-tempered, sweet, creative, snuggly, and happy kid.

We hosted a small birthday party for him last Saturday, where he invited a few friends (all the G's-- Grant, Gene, and Georgie), along with some older kids (friends of our family), where they played bowling and laser tag and enjoyed some chocolate cake we baked.

Proud of his high score!

We let him open presents from family on Valentine's Day since we're going on a little road trip for Presidents' Week.

Some cookware!

He also got some dragon books (Small Flames), a glow-in-the-dark Quip electric toothbrush a landmarks building kit, wallet, and some Harry Potter activity books from my parents!

Flashbacks:

Niall is born

Newborn photoshoot

Niall at 1

Niall at 2

Niall at 3

Niall at 4 

Niall at 5 

Niall at 6 

Iver at 7 

Here's to growing, and another great year!

Super Bowl LIX

Iver has recently gotten into (watching and playing) football, so we've had it on a lot in our house, along with talk of players and stats.

I thought it might be a good year for the Bills but, alas, Josh Allen couldn't get it done against Patrick Mahomes, who is just too dominant (with some help from the refs) ! 

We were excited to see the Washington Redskins make the NFC Championship game led by exciting rookie, Jayden Daniels. 

In the Big Game, I was rooting for the Eagles, even though I have no Philadelphia ties. I don't like dynasties and a three-peat for the Chiefs (who beat our Niners last year) sounded too much like a monopoly (even though I don't actually mind Patrick Mahomes, who has the potential to be one of the greats)! 

We went to our friends' (Jen and Miles') house to watch the game, enjoy food, and enjoy NOT hosting like we did last year. The kids (so.many.boys!) played some outdoor football in the cold-but-sunny weather, and I mainly got to enjoy the game in piece in the warm indoors (some people watched from the TV on the outdoor deck- BRR!) while chatting with friends. I was actually shocked that the Eagles held the Chiefs scoreless through most of the game, and that they pulled off the win. 

I honestly cannot recall a past Super Bowl game where the team I was rooting for won the game! I was excited to see the Eagles take home the trophy on Sunday! 

Homemade Root Beer

Iver got a root beer making kit from Santa for Christmas and he tried it out last week. We had to make a yeast-water mixture and a root beer-extract/water/sugar mixture, and then let it sit on the counter for a few days for carbonation.

I'm not quite sure what went wrong, but ours never got bubbly-- we have flat root beer in a milk jug.  I think we'll try again for round #2!  

A long month

It's going to be a long four years of a Trump regime.  I'm having a hard time balancing staying informed while trying not to be so outraged from the news that my mental health takes a serious hit. I wonder if/how his extreme supporters (and even reluctant voters) will feel any of the pain from what this administration promised to inflict and has already started implementing, including effects on health centers and the "least of these." How do I find and show mercy/compassion/grace for those complicit in his extreme cruelty?