Dinner tonight...

Last October Ben, Hannah and I planted a bunch of seeds in the garden box. I had little hope for them to grow because it was getting cold. It was the experience that we were after. Well lo and behold, 5 months later, we grew some giant sunflowers and some carrots! We had planted more (radishes, tomatoes and some flowers…) but they didn’t grow into much. It’s been too cold. Tonight we decided to eat the carrots. Ben and Hannah ran to pull the carrots out of the ground. It was great. Each one was a different size and mostly the same shape. They were delicious and everyone ate their veggies tonight. That makes this Mama happy ☺.

Playgroup...

Today was our weekly playgroup. Since it has been a beautiful week I decided to pack up and get to the park early and stay late. We brought the kids bikes, lots of balls, lots of food and snacks and we were ready to stay a long time. Marissa, Ryan and Heather were going to join us too and when they got there I hardly saw my kids. There were so many Moms with their kids at the park that we hadn’t seen in a long time, I was tickled to see so many of our friends out! The kids played together nicely, they had made teams of one older kid paired with a couple of little kids. They played hide-and-seek together, played ‘house’ with all the ‘babies’ and ran around after each other. One Mom brought a parachute to play with and that attracted the kids for a while too. The kids were so busy that I could barely keep up! It was a nice day at the park, we look forward to next week!

Swiper...

Tonight when the kids got home, they brought me dinner. It was after my class and I was starving. I was looking forward to the side of fries after my sandwich. Noah and Hannah climbed on the table to watch me. Noah got the giggles and when I asked him “what are you laughing about” he replied with “nothing”. So I just went on eating my sandwich. He started to giggle again and so I asked him again what he was laughing about and I got the same answer, “nothing”. But I could tell that he was up to something, but I just didn’t know what. Then all of a sudden he started to try to control his giggle and slowly moved his hand toward my food. He quickly reached out and swiped a handful of fries and stuffed them into his mouth as quickly as he could. All the while, he was out of control with laughter. Silly kid had planned it all along and was successful at being sneaky about it.

Avocados...

While I was watching the kids this morning everyone took a little break and we took a little walk down the hill to the avocado trees. It’s always hard to walk down a non-graded hill with 5 kids with the fear that their might be a rattlesnake in the bushes up ahead, or with the stinging nettles that they might trample into unknowingly, or they might slip and roll down the hill. There are many scenarios that go through my head as I am holding one child on my hip (seriously, he won’t go in the Ergo anymore) with another hand grasping another childs hand who is nervous (of falling) to go down by herself. We finally made it to the tree with the giant avocados and Uncle Chris set up the ladder (very creaky and old) against the tree trunk and Ben jumped right on it first. Of course he always has to go first.

The avocados started being picked and tossed to those of us on the ground to put in the bags we brought. Each kid had a chance to climb the ladder and get a couple of big ones. Even Noah and Ryan found some big ones under a low-lying limb. We came home with a big bag of avocados and are excited about eating them. They are all very hard and we need to wait until they ripen, so we’ll wait. ☺

Cousins sharing hummus and crackers

The troops are going in

Hannah's turn

Grabbing...

Ryan loves this spot

Helping out…

We took off early this morning and headed to Granny and Grandad’s house. I am helping my sister out a few mornings this week by watching the little ones while she does some major spring cleaning. She and the kids are on Spring Break. Noah and Ryan played all around the house today, they really liked being in the sandbox together making sandcastles. Noah chose the biggest shovel and kept digging under Ryan’s foot. They thought it was funny and giggled about it. Ben, Hannah and Marissa got their suits on and went running in the sprinklers. Brrr… cold! The sun was out and it was warm but not warm enough for the sprinklers! They didn’t mind though, Noah didn’t want anything to do with it.

As we were leaving Grandad was coming down the driveway with the empty trashcans and quickly told me to get a shovel because there was a rattlesnake in front of him. I wasn’t quite sure what he was going to do with the shovel but Marissa heard him and ran for it. By this time, Ben, Hannah and Noah were running up to see the snake. Marissa carefully gave the shovel to him and then he went slowly to it. He was going to kill it. All of a sudden I didn’t want the kids to watch anymore and I was desperately trying to shield their eyes from what he was doing. He took a jab at it and it scurried into the bushes. We don’t know if he got it. Grandad couldn’t find it. On our way home Ben, Hannah and I had a little discussion about killing animals. We didn’t like that he was going to kill the snake but Ben brought up a point that Daddy kills rats in the attic. Hmmm… we don’t even like to kill bugs around the house and are sad when a roly-poly bug is dead by one of our hands. We talked about how beneficial the rattlesnakes are to the environment and even though they are poisonous we shouldn’t kill them if we can help it.

We’ll probably be back tomorrow because there’s lots more playing to do.

Easter…

Happy Easter! Today was great. The Easter Bunny made it to our house and the kids had lots of little goodies in their baskets to open in the morning. We went to Mass at 9, and while we were there, the Bunny had come and hid the eggs that the kids had dyed yesterday! Wow, what a busy Bunny! They hunted for the eggs and did manage to find all of them. They couldn’t wait for Marissa and Ryan to come over, they pined for them all morning and into the afternoon. They were good helpers and made the backyard presentable for our guests as well as cleared the toys from the floors in the house.

We had an egg hunt that Uncles JP and Chris put together hiding all the eggs very well. We ran after them and helped them find them by letting them know if they were “hot” or “cold”. There are always stray eggs that are found months later, but I think we managed to find them all this time.

First egg hunt

Second egg hunt

We’re home!

We got home late last night. Not one of the kids fell asleep in the car last night. We drove the car into the garage and left everything inside it to unpack today. We all dropped into bed at about 10:30. We made good time but it was very long. We made lots of stops and ran around with the kids at the rest areas. So that made it fun for them. While in the car they watched movies so that helped pass the time in the car.

Today we are unpacking and getting ready for Easter! We've had a rental car all week so we need to take care of that and get our car back. The Easter Bunny is not ready to come to our house, so shopping is in today’s schedule. We are having my parents, siblings and Corey’s Mom over for an Easter dinner potluck so we have to get ready for that. What a busy day we have ahead of us!

My walk & the Falls...

Ben started to whisper to himself early this morning and woke me up. I couldn’t stay in bed anymore (not that comfortable) so I got dressed and went for a walk. It was about 7:30 and everyone else was still sleeping. Ben didn’t want to join me.

I used to work in Yosemite about 17 years ago, and in Curry Village where we were staying. I walked around my old ‘stomping grounds’. I found my old cabin where I lived with my roomie, Clarisa, and I even found the cabin that housed 4 of us for the first week, before they knew where to put us, new employees. I had 3 roommates for the first week that I was there and we are all pretty close still ☺. I took pictures to show everyone. It was cold and all of the puddles in the streets and on the trails were frozen. I thought I’d walk across the meadow but as I got halfway across I heard construction trucks and could tell that they were working on something over there, so I started to turn around. But as I did I spotted a coyote in the meadow. It saw me and started to move away (I know this because every time I moved it moved farther away). I managed to get a picture of it, not clear but he’s definitely in there.

When I returned to the cabin all the kids were up and playing around. Time to pack up!

A frozen puddle

After breakfast at the Lodge Cafeteria we decided to do a little hike with the kids to see the Falls. We decided last night that we were going to try to drive all the way home so we would be in the car all day and into the night. A walk this morning would be nice since we were going to be stuck in a car all day. We all barely made it to see the Falls, Noah was getting tired and did not want to walk, but he also didn’t want to be carried. He was very happy playing in the dirt right where he was. Ben and Hannah ran all the way to the base of the Falls where we sat on rocks and watched the waterfall. None of us wanted to leave, the kids were having fun rock hopping and being kids playing with sticks. But we had to get on the road, Noah was getting tired and we were trying to drive all the way home (about 9 hours) today. On our way back to the car, Ben and Hannah played hide-and-seek with us. As we came down the trail they would jump out from behind trees and bushes scaring us and then running to hide again. Ben found a couple of boulders to climb. He actually was able to rock climb them and slide down a couple of them. Clarisa might be right, he might be a rock climber when he gets older. There were snow patches all over the place and Noah loved walking in the snow.

We headed to the car and started our long drive home. But before we left the view of the Valley we stopped and took a family picture…and this time, Noah was awake!

Running to the Falls

Tubing...

During Noah’s nap, Corey took Ben and Hannah to Badger Pass for some tubing in the snow. Ben was excited to finally go to the snow where they can have some fun! There is snow here in the valley but it is dirty and there really isn’t that much to have fun in. Except for the little hills that they rode down on with the cardboard that we brought!

They had a blast! They rented 2 tubes (one for Ben and one for Hannah & Daddy) and started up the hill. They had to walk up the hill and then go down on the tubes. What fun it looks like. They were tired and took a rest with their quiet activities (books, Legos, dolls...) for a while before dinner.

Our plan was to go back to the Ahwahnee for a storytelling by the giant fireplace but we never made it. I think it would have been way too much in a day and besides we still had to find us some dinner! There aren’t very many places around that are open yet (still on a winter schedule until tomorrow) so the choices are limited. We ended up going to the pizza place we went to with Clarisa the other day. The kids didn’t mind and neither did we.

Ahwahnee...

Our plan this morning was to get to the Ahwahnee for breakfast. Surprisingly with our late night last night, we all woke up early enough and we made it just in time, and we hadn’t figured that the shuttle would take so long to pick us up! It was delicious and the kids really watched their manners! We all got the buffet so we had our choice of everything there, the kids stuck to their pancakes and sausage meal. They loved being able to go back for more. And the best part was that Hannah and Noah were free!

After breakfast (which ended up being more like lunch) we walked to the Village to see Clarisa again to say our good-byes. We love seeing Clarisa, dinner was so great last night and the kids will remember it as the night with the glowing balls.

Waiting for the bus

Knitting on the shuttle

The dining room in the Ahwahnee Hotel

Noah (green shirt) walking on the snow with the falls behind him

Us with the best Park Ranger around (that's Clarisa)!

Dinner...

We went to Clarisa’s house for dinner tonight. It took us a while to get there but we finally made it and they (she and her boyfriend, Mike) had a nice spread for us. The kids were really interested in finding her kitty under the bed but the kitty just wanted to hide. Clarisa also found some juggling balls (yoho!) that she let the kids play with. They loved them. They were very cool and very entertaining. We ate dinner and headed back to our cabin in Yosemite. It was a bit hurried because they are doing construction on the road, it is only one lane and the road was closed to traffic at 10pm, we barely made it in. It was a late night but we had so much fun.

Pooh sitcks...

First full day in Yosemite and it was awesome! We slept in until almost 9am! That is unheard of at our house but here the windows are blackened-out with dark curtains and it isn’t too bright in the valley until later. Anyway after a quick breakfast in the cabin we headed to the bus stop. This was Noah’s highlight. He jumped up and down each time we mentioned taking the bus. We took it to Happy Isles for a short hike since we were already running out of daytime! It was the perfect length for today, the kids were picking up sticks and leaves, and climbing on the snow that was on the side of the trail. We followed the Merced River up a bit, crossed it a couple times over the bridges and then got an idea. We’d play “Pooh sticks” like on one of their favorite TV shows (Adventures of Tigger and Pooh). We gathered a bunch of sticks of all shapes and sizes, went to a bridge, pickes one stick out and dropped it in the water, then we ran to the other side of the bridge and waited and watched for it to float under us. Some were slow and some were super fast depending on the size of the stick and the speed of the current. Luckily we saw all of the sticks come out on the other side and later we even found some of them in calmer water downstream! Pooh sticks was Ben and Hannah’s highlight of the day, they loved it.

El Capitan

Looking out the window of the cabin in the morning

Couldn't wait to get outside

Noah on the bus

By the river

Playing "Pooh Sitcks"

Yosemite...

We got on the road a little earlier today. We didn’t have too long to drive but we still stopped for a few things on the way. Our first stop was to Starbucks for coffee and then we needed gas. After that we were on our way, we watched for trains today and spotted a few of them, Noah was infatuated with them. We saw more cows and fields of crops. We spotted a sign for Harris Ranch, we buy their meat sometimes, but never saw the ranch.
We had lunch in Oakhurst, we found a playground, the kids were happy to get out of the car and run around, we were almost to Yosemite.
When we finally made it to the park we checked in to our cabin and noticed a LOT of snow around us, there wasn’t much snow near the Village but near our cabin there was a lot to play on. We had about a hour to wait for our cabin to be ready for us so we went to the store (Noah was still napping) to walk around. I called my friend Clarisa (she’s a park ranger) and we met up with her for dinner. The kids are in heaven and are having a blast here. It’s cold and so different from the city. We plan on going on hikes and playing in the snow. We are glad to be here!

Noah asleep in the car (Half Dome is through the window)

The famous picture spot

In a teepee

Trying out the cardboard we brought from home...it really works!

Road trip...

We are off to Yosemite today. We have been packing up and getting ready for a few days. We finally got on the road around noon. Ben, Hannah and Noah were in the car already waiting for us to go for about 45min. so they were ready to go. We drove for about 20min before we stopped for lunch and then we were really on the road. We drove for a long time and stopped in Tulare for the night. The kids were ready to get out, but we made good headway today. We aren’t ones for pushing through crying and complaining so we make the trip in 2 days.

During the drive we watched the landscape change. We went through the cities, passed the Marine base in Oceanside and even spotted some tanks and helicopters working as we drove by. We drove through the Grapevine and passed trucks carrying various giant things, empty trucks for cows and chickens, bales of hay and so on. We spotted the flat land of the central valley through the mountains as we came out of the mountain and onto the flat farmlands. Strawberry fields, cover crops, nut and other fruit orchards. We saw mostly cow ranches (not many horses, goats or other animals) It was great. And the kids really loved to see everything. The hotel was nice but we can’t wait until we get to our cabin.

It's out!

Tonight before we started eating dinner, Hannah showed me her wiggly tooth. I actually looked at it and said that if it made it through dinner and was still in here mouth, then I wanted to take a picture of it. It was standing so tall in her mouth, the tooth was a couple of centimeters taller than the other teeth in her mouth. It looked like it was being pushed out. So then about 5 minutes later she held her hand out and said "Look Mommy a part of my tooth!" to which I looked at it and said "Oh Hannah, that is your tooth!" She was a little freaked out by it but a few seconds went by and she ran to the bathroom to look in the mirror. So the toothfairy is supposed to come tonight. :)

Tonight Hannah's book choice was Arthur's Loose Tooth. Fitting, for her....

Play date...

We met our friends at the park today. We were there for almost 3 hours together! The weather was beautiful and we (moms) had fun talking. The kids are getting to know each other too. They aren’t as awkward with each other anymore. They ran and played together, chased squirrels, found sticks and treasures, shook the seed pods off of the sycamore trees, blew bubbles, dug in the sand, ran and ran and ran. They were tired out when we got home.

We brought a big party bowl full of popcorn today and the kids stood around it eating and talking. They would run off and play with each other and then come and grab another handful. They finished it off pretty quickly…there were 6 kids.

At one point they were sitting together at a picnic table, snacking on a giant bag of goldfish (the park is all about the snacks we bring). Ben decided to make a picture with the goldfish that he had. It started out like an Escher drawing where they connected in all ways and there was no end, but then it morphed into a ship with an anchor, a sail and some fish in the water. Pretty cool.