Yosemite National Park: Day 9, 10, and 11

We spent two full days exploring,{day 9 was technically a driving day} and that wasn't nearly enough time to see all the amazing things that there are to see at Yosemite National Park. I think we probably only saw a third of the sights! We spent most of our time in the valley riding our bikes, hiking, and exploring. 

 Silly boys! I think Jason took this picture of the boys while I was trying not to pass out climbing up the {super steep} trail!

 We climbed the Mist Trail {almost} to the top. We quickly learned why they call it the Mist Trail...the mist from the waterfall started getting us wet right after we turned the corner up those steps. 

 The climb was well worth it when we got to the top! The view of the waterfall was awesome!

 And the boys were amazed at all the rainbows:)

 We hiked to Mirror Lake and walked across the freezing water. We splashed around in the water for probably 15 minutes and my feet were numb from the cold!

 The next morning we went to check out Yosemite Falls.

 We tried to go tubing on the Merced River, but Eli was 5 pounds too light for us to rent a raft! The boys were disappointed but there was plenty of other stuff for us to see and do. We did a little more exploring and hiking around the valley. 

After lunch a storm started rolling in, so we found some inside things to do for the rest of the day.

Hoover Dam and Sequoia National Park: Day 7 and 8

Day 7 was our REALLY LONG day of driving. We had at least 13 hours to go to get from Grand Canyon National Park to Sequoia National Park...and when your towing a camper behind you, and you can pretty much go ahead and add at least an extra hour to your time. We left the Grand Canyon before the sun was up and headed toward our one {planned} detour of the day: the Hoover Dam. 

 We left Arizona, drove into Nevada and then when we crossed the dam we were back in Arizona....that majorly confused the boys:)

 This picture was taken from the top of the dam. The bridge straight ahead is the new bypass.

 This place was HUGE and there was a ton of cement! We only had a few minutes so all we had time to do was park, walk across the dam, and take a few pictures. Jason would have loved to tour the dam and power plant, but with ten more hours of driving ahead of us there just wasn't time

 Then it was off to California!

 I'm not going to lie, the worst day of our whole trip was second half of day 7...I was in tears for probably two hours. We ended up driving up the Sierra Nevadas into Sequoia National Park after sunset. For someone who is used to the flat lands of Mississippi, those mountains were terrifying...especially after dark. The road was curvy and mountainous and we had no idea were we were going and how long it was going to take to get there. When we finally got to our campsite, it was too small for the Airstream! Talk about tears! We ended up just parking in the parking lot and sleeping for a few hours until the ranger station opened the next morning. Luckily we were able to find a new site the next morning and things started looking a little better. So we set up camp and headed out to see the Sequoias.

 They were amazing.
The boys were in awe...and so was I. They found this group of three trees and called them the brother trees: Henry, Grant, and Eli:)

 The General Sherman...the largest living thing on Earth.

We climbed to the top of Moro Rock. I think there were more than 400 steps!

But the climb was worth it when we got to the top! The views were amazing!

We finished the day with a hike along the river that ran through our campsite.

Star Spangled Waffle

The 4th of July is in one week! I seriously can't believe that June is almost over and we are moving on to July! I am still working on recovering from our big roadtrip {I'm just now getting around to washing the sheets & blankets from the Airstream!}, so life has kind of just been floating by. We did do a little to celebrate Father's Day, but I completely skipped over my birthday except for Jason making me a peach cobbler. I haven't even thought about getting out all my fun 4th of July decorations. But I did decided to break out the waffle maker and work on some patriotic waffles this week. The colors didn't end up quite like I wanted and the star isn't as prominent as I was hoping, but they still kind of worked. I usually end up cutting the boys' waffles so their plates are always a jumbled mess of colored waffles anyway:)

 Start with the usual suspects: waffle mix and food coloring...you will also need a metal star shaped cookie cutter.

 Mix your batter according to the directions on the box.

 Divide the batter into two bowls. Make one bowl of batter blue and the other red.

 Pour on your first color and let it set up for a few seconds. Then place your cookie cutter in the center of the waffle iron and fill it up with the second color. Make sure all the way to the edge and inside all the points of the star. I made some waffles that were blue with red stars...

...and some that were red with blue stars.

Carefully pick up the cookie cutter. 

 I wish that the colors would have turned out a little better...and that the star was a little more noticeable. Maybe I'll try them again with a white star so that you can see it better! Even though these weren't as successful as I would have liked, the concept of using a cookie cutter to make a shape in your waffles is kind of fun and I think we will be doing it again soon!