June Recap Via Instagram

We started the month of June in Sequoia National Park. June 1st was mine and Jason's 10th anniversary, and he surprised me with a beautiful pair of earrings while we were walking among the sequoias!

 We tried In-N-Out for the first time....the boys like the milkshakes!

 Then it was on to Yosemite.

 The Pacific Ocean

 We got hot chocolate from Starbucks to try and warm up while at Half Moon Bay, CA.

 We saw the Golden Gate Bridge,

 Lombard Street,

 and the fortune cookie factory in San Francisco.

 We cooked hot dogs over the campfire. 

 Our view in Malibu:

 Skimboarding at Zuma Beach

 The Hollywood sign

 Hot dogs from Pink's

 Santa Monica Pier

 The long drive home...

 Exit zero in Texas:)

 Steak for dinner in San Antonio...

...and yummy breakfast the next morning!

 We visited the Alamo.

 And I got to meet my bloggy friend Julie:)

 We found out what Beaver Nuggets are! {google it}

 We finally made it back to MS!

 Then I did laundry for almost a week!

 Jason had to go back to Texas for work two days after we got home.

 We made cupcakes for Father's Day.

 Jason got a new grill for his Father's Day/late anniversary gift.

 We ate yummy watermelon in the backyard as the sun was setting.

 We spent the week at VBS.

 Eli tagged along with me to the doctor's office.

 We made yummy fourth of July treats for a family get-together.

 Eli sampled the blue food coloring while he was helping me:)

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.