Spring Break Day 3, time to relax some

Because day two was such a difficult hike, we decided to take it easy today which meant riding the free shuttle bus around the park to see all the sites, getting off and exploring without any hiking! We even slept in and caught the later bus which we were happy wasn't full.

My boys at the bus stop.

One of my boys wanting to take a picture of us.

First stop half dome village as it was the last stop before returning to the visitors center. So we hopped off and made our way to Mirror Lake for a walk, not hike as Ben started saying "hike" was a bad word and for no one to say it!

Lots of stops and resting on this day which meant lots of photos of my boys.

Some of the most beautiful scenery was around this lake.

My favorite thing to look at was my 3 guys. They really enjoyed kicking back and being able to climb rocks, walk across logs, etc. It gave me time to get some cute individual pictures of each of them.

Ben is 8 years old, and in 3rd grade.

Zach is 10 years old and in 5th grade

Josh is 12 years old and in 7th grade. We had to wait for this week to go on vacation as he was only off this week, unlike his brothers who were off the week before as well.

None of these guys know how to stay on a path which was fine here as it was nice and flat.

You can see the rocks make up the path. There were some great paths and trails to follow to all the falls and scenic spots such as this one.

And this is why they call it "Mirror Lake."

I only wish that it were a clear day, but it was cloudy and gray.

We even ended up with a little rain.

Half Dome was closed because there was still snow up there, but yesterday we hiked half way up. Some day my kids and I will hike the all the way to the top!

We took a walk to go around Mirror Lake, but didn't see an end in sight!

So we saw some logs and decided to cross them.

Sean went first and took the camera, then went Zach who we had no fear of falling into the river.

Then Ben went because he was eager and we knew we could trust Josh and Zach on the sides if either Sean or I had to jump in to rescue Ben.

Josh's turn. The family you see behind him was wanting to cross when we showed up, but were still deciding and wanted to watch us go first.

Mama's turn. We all made it safely to the other side, and that family decided they'd make the walk back in the scattered showers.

My 3 lovely boys being silly on a log, but so happy that there was no "real" hiking today!

Spring Break Yosemite Day 2

Day two started off with a bus ride up to Yosemite as we camped outside the park.

The bus ride was beautiful and we saw so much on the drive up. It was a great time for us to plan our day. And this was planned as a BIG hiking day to witch my boys were frustrated, worn out, happy at times, enjoying a few thing along the hikes, and exasperated during much of the hike. However at the end of the day they were happy with all we had accomplished!

My boys inside the tree stump outside the visitor's lodge.

The river from Vernal and Nevada Falls

We opted out of taking the shorter "mist" trail as it was cold with snow on the ground and we didn't want to freeze our butts off or get sick during this vacation. For some reason, my kids always get sick while on vacation!

Starting up the very long trail to Vernal Falls

Family photo just before the climb in the trail.

So much beauty from the bottom, why did we even climb all that way?

My boys just before the climb on "National Sibling Day" and probably wishing they were spending it in Hawaii, like many of their friends instead of hiking with mom and dad.

Family photo at the bottom of the river.

What was behind us in the above family photo! Absolute beauty, unlike nothing else!

Vernal Falls from the bottom.

Lots of snow and icy trails on the hike up

Zach found this frozen "ice crystal" that he pretended to eat.

So much snow, which we all enjoyed seeing and playing in a bit!

As you can see, even Half Dome has snow on the top of it!

Photo of the falls along our hike, about half way up!

Another photo of the falls, they were breathtaking.

And more...I know there are so many photos. That is why I made my posts by day instead of vacation. It was just too hard to narrow down the photos, I took hundreds each day!

Once up at the top we were able to look down on where the falls start. There was a separate hike down to this area. All of my boys complained and said they didn't want to go any further as they were able to see it at this point. Sean said he wanted to get closer as we will probably never get the chance again. I would have gone, but the kids and I were exhausted at this point.

Most people stopped and turned around at this point. The "mist trail" leads straight to this fall as it's the shorter more direct route.

Lil photo op with my boys up there!

And then I thought it would be good to stretch my back and had Sean take a pic of me in this Yoga pose.

Do you see the people gathered up by the top of the falls?

Zach decided to join Sean and made the hike down (and back up) with him. So these are the photos Sean and Zach took.

Top of Vernal Falls

The water really crashes down

Beautiful views Josh, Ben and I missed out on, but we enjoyed our time alone, relaxing a bit.

Picture of the people and where the trail back starts.

Josh, Ben and me waiting for them to return and looking for them!

A view of the trail we hiked up.

They had these markers on every trail and showed our altitude, which was 504X feet above sea level, date marked 10-18-1905 and slightly difficult to read as seen by my "X" as it's over 100 years old!

“There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than the Yosemite, the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods…and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred." 

– President Theodore Roosevelt, 1905 

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”

― John Muir, 1918