Yosemite

The final segment of our Spring Break 2018 was a road trip to the spectacular National Park of Yosemite. Ben and I had visited the park ten years ago as a couple, and Ben had also traveled with some of his buddies there years before that. It is a place that never gets old and that I'm sure we'll visit time and time again. This particular visit was special because we got to share it with our children as well as my parents. 

We stayed at a super cool house in a town called Groveland, that was a little over an hour from the valley floor of Yosemite. The house was a nice base for our family for meals, downtime, and it had an awesome game room in the garage for the kids. We were also able to spend two of the evenings around the fire pit in a very peaceful yard.

Our home base

Building forts and playing army amidst extremely tall and beautiful trees in the backyard of the house.

Night time fire pit at the house.

The first viewpoint we stopped at

Family photo at the tunnel view; Bridal Veil Falls on the right, El Capitan on the left, Half Dome in the middle.

Great picture of my parents!

The boys with Papa and Titi

First waterfall visit: Bridal Veil Falls. The waterfalls were so full that the mist totally soaked people as they  viewed them. My parents and I took the path: Ben and the boys tramped through the woods, over rocks and gathered sticks.

Dad and I in front of Bridal Veil

We then drove further down the valley and got our first view of majestic Yosemite Falls.

While the adults admired the view, the kids found a cool fallen tree to test their climbing abilities on.

The kids had so much fun climbing.

Another view of Yosemite Falls, which is the 3rd tallest waterfall in the world. Ten years ago, when Ben and I visited Yosemite (pre-kid, course), we hiked to the top of this waterfall. We hope to hike to the top with the boys some day!

After seeing Yosemite Falls from afar, we couldn't wait to get a closer view.

Notice Ben's arms tucked inside his shirt...silly man didn't wear a coat! 

The falls were so powerful that we were getting wet even from this distance.

Another great picture of mom and dad!

The boys spent the entire walk looking for the best stick gun. Once found, of course they ran around the path making shooting noises indiscriminately. 

Josh heaved around this "gun" for way too long...he got many second glances.

Our picnic lunch in front of the "Three Brothers"

Twins in front of twin trees.

View of half dome

Gathering some wood for a fire pit in front of El Capitan

Day 2 Yosemite:

There was a car line-up for check in to the park, so the boys and I had a photo op in front of the national park sign.

On the drive into the park, we stopped at another viewpoint of the valley. 

Our goal of day 2 was a hike to Vernal Falls on the John Muir trail. 

The boys were obsessed with climbing every large rock they could find.

Most of the hike follows the Merced River, which was very full of water and created lots of small waterfalls and rapids along the way.

Vernal Falls from a distance.

We were proud of mom, as she hiked to this point in the trail...all with a boot on her foot (she had surgery a while back). She's one tough woman!

Ben, the boys, and I continued a bit further up the trail to get a closer look at the falls.

Josh does a great job keeping up with us!

We had hoped to hike to the top of the falls, but decided to turn back and wait until all the boys were a bit older. Sam was so disappointed to not go further, he cried. 

Vernal Falls

Resting on the way back (Josh, Sam, Dad, Seth)

Best family picture of the trip 

The hike back

Lunch on day 2 was a blast! We brought hot dogs to roast on the open fire. Ben found us an awesome campground by the Merced river with a view of El Capitan.

We had way too much food!

I love this picture!