Yosemite

Yosemite Falls right outside our lodge.  Looking the other direction from the lodge, Half Dome.  Perfect location

  

The 4 kids, Jesse and Christian braved it up a river bed to the bottom of Lower Yosemite Falls.  The rest of us waited nervously at the bridge, watching.

 

One Fabulous Trip –Jesse says he looks pregnant in this picture, we all know he isn’t fat

Thanks for planning this wonderful Thanksgiving Papa- much appreciative!

Thanksgiving

Our private room for Thanksgiving dinner, which was one of the tastiest Thanksgiving meals I’ve had.  I ate the green beans and sweet potatoes AND liked them!

Our group in Yosemite, 27 family members!  We need a private room, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to play our traditional game of clap which gets very rowdy.  I made it to the finals and lost, again, to Christian.  Jesse, Mike and the 3 boys performed a few skits for everyone which were hilarious.  I think Jesse has a future in the acting business, he was impressive. Then, of course out or no where (typical) my mom pulls out trivia cards and we played guys vs. girls.  What a memorable night of fun!

 

We looked like a panel of judges while eating

Hailey performing her gymnastics skills throughout the meal.  The boys doing one of their skits

Future pickle jar label

El Capitan

We took a short hike to the base of El Capitan after brunch .  There were 2 guys climbing it when we got there about 1/3 of the way up.  Pretty Amazing!

 

When we got to the base Shane seemed a bit confused.  There were a few ropes in place but he was wondering where the rock pegs were that you use to hold on too.  I had to explain that those are only for the playground.

Climbing El Capitan- Beginners vs. Professional rock climbers

Potential Xmas card gone bad

Ahwahnee Brunch

We went to brunch at the Ahwahnee Hotel, probably the best brunch we will ever have, beautiful and delicious. 

Tutu was a regular at the Ahwahnee-her 3 sons taking her out for meals all weekend long

   

Gluttony- Hailey ate her money’s worth at brunch, chins to prove it.

Boys being boys

After brunch the kids went outside to burn all their energy, wrestling each other.   They got along so well.  Hailey might have annoyed Pete a little too much, she likes the much older ones

  

Rock wall

The kids went to a rock wall bday and both loved it! Hailey was by far the youngest but fit right in. She would go up the same walls as everyone else without hesitation. The instructor told Shane numerous times that he was the fastest kid going up the wall. I think our trapeze has helped both of them tremendously, or maybe it was all the training in Yosemite!

6vs6 tournament

I put together a soccer team for a one day tournament. I chose a bunch of kids that we hardly know but are good soccer players. We practiced for a month and were undefeated in the tournament -3 tied games! The boys really had fun and made some great friendships.

Blog Distro Erased

Dear Family and Friends,

For some reason our blog distro was erased by our ISP, so many of our recent posts did not go out to your email as scheduled. I am going to try to fix the distro and repost the ones that didn't go out.

Jesse