Ka-Boom! July's Gone...

Just some pics of an evening of sparklers after a fun parade and neighborhood water fight/party. Sadly, we did not bring our camera to any of the aforementioned activities. :(

We returned just last night from a family reunion in beautiful Yosemite. Parker was more than excited to go camping. I wonder if the experience met his expectations. I know that he and Stockton are still exhausted, and recovering from late nights, early mornings, lots of hiking, lots of sunshine, lots of junk food and a total of 24 hours-ish in their car seats.

On the way to Yosemite, we stopped only once in Tonopah, Nevada to gas up and have lunch. Unfortunately, Parker was asleep and we didn't want to wake him. We couldn't find anything to eat anyway. When he woke up, we kept telling him, "When we hit the next town, we'll stop and have lunch and you can get out."

There was no next town.

Poor Parker was in his car seat for 9 hours straight. Stockton at least was out in Tonopah for 20 minutes or so. The way home wasn't much different. Just one stop in Tonopah to eat a sack lunch and both boys were able to get out for, again, 20 minutes or so. However, both were excellent travelers and either slept or ate or... slept.

All but two of the pics are from my wonderful father. We, again, forgot our camera. Lots of hiking and sunshine, baby!

Stockton was up at 5:45 every morning. He was simply sleeping on a blanket in the tent, so at the first sign of light, he happily crawled onto the air mattress with us. And promptly went back to sleep.

After one of our hikes, we gave Parker his PB&J sandwich and drove out of the parking lot. Two minutes later, we asked him if he had had fun. When we didn't receive an answer, we turned back to find him sleeping soundly, his sandwich almost untouched.

The hike to lower Yosemite falls had no trail, but rocks and boulders through which we had to pick our way . Some of the rocks were as slick as a metal slide in a children's park because of how much the water smooths it out when it's at its peak.

Why, look at this massively charming man! I think the backpack makes him look even better, don't you? I don't know how I would have done any of this without him! I love you, Cam!

Personally, I LOVED wearing the backpack. Was it hard? Heck yes! But it made me feel THAT much better and made me feel so... outdoorsy and cool!

Towards the end, Stockton got SO tired. Poor li'l guy.

He eventually fell asleep. Again, poor li'l guy...

From left to right: Jan McBride, Ryan Padilla, Josh Padilla, Shauna McBride, Parker, Cam, Me, Stockton, Mom, and Dad (the group that hiked to the top of Vernal Falls that day).

Looking out over the falls almost made me dizzy. Sooo high! Before the falls, there was, obviously, the river. But before THAT, rocks and trees had placed themselves in such positions that made a little lake. Water rushed gently down a slanted rock into the lake, making Yosemite seem like a naturally-made water park. It was beautiful and perfect.

This Sequoia tree fell over 100 years ago, I believe. These are merely the roots. Pretty sweet, yeah?

Parker and his best buddy, Nate.

Hopefully we can go to Yosemite again someday. So worth the hard work.