Yosemite

The day started pretty early to try to get to Yosemite close to our check in time which was noon. Of course, there's always something unexpected that happens. We had my nieces Ana Marie and Priscilla ride with us to Yosemite. As Ana brushed her teeth at 5:15 am her back wire came loose. It's hard to have a quick mind at that time and we were just about ready to get in the car to meet up with others at 6am to a caravan. Poor Ana looked concerned about with would happen. I tried to see if I could put it back. That wasn't going happen as the wire holding it in place came off and we didn't have the tools to fix. At this point my little bathroom is packed with quite a few people. William and I decided the best option would be to trim the wire since Ana would only be Yosemite for 5 days. The first thing William picked up was a pair of nail clippers but before he could cut Lily asked, " Did you wash that?" Ana looked like we were about to perform surgery. He ended up clipping it with a pair of wire cutters while I held it with a small pair of pliers. All was well at the end. 

We arrived in Yosemite at about 3pm after stopping for breakfast and at a fruit stand. We had 22 people at breakfast! What fun to be in a big group. The weather in Yosemite was perfect, except for a short thunderstorm on Sunday. We rafted down the river couple of times, star gazed/saw shooting stars with family, hiked to a Yosemite Falls which we learned is the tallest waterfall in the US. The thunderstorm was quite exciting as we scrambled to get our stuff under a shelter we brought. My cousin Joanna and the kids actually played in the rain. We learned that 2 people died due to the thunderstorm. I just want to say that there are signs everywhere warning people not to hike during thunderstorms. I can see how accidents happen as people are enticed to do things that are dangerous in the name of adventure. I saw people crossing the river right below Yosemite Falls. We had our share of adventure as my girls went down the river in a donut shaped floaty that was tied to our raft. That was exciting but the river was running pretty gently and all we had to do was steer. 

Lucia's favorite thing in Yosemite was seeing deer close up; they named each one they saw. Some of the names were Kevin, Karen, Lucy and Lauren. Lily's and Julia's favorite thing was floating down the river. The water was so cold it stung but was quite refreshing once you got over the initial shock. I went in just to get to get a layer of dust off of me. Camping is messy. William and other family members jumped off a bridge into the river.  William's most memorable moments were going down the river, seeing deer in the early morning and climbing rocks with the girls to be misted by Yosemite Falls. I enjoyed all the things everyone else did as well as watching bats fly above over our heads and talking to the kids about them, which included quite a bit a talk about vampire bats with Jose, my cousin's son. It was awesome to see the kid's amazed faces constantly as they experienced nature firsthand. Yosemite is so beautiful that the background almost looks fake. We drove east to exit Yosemite and it just as beautiful as the valley in which we camped. There were many green meadows with a few lakes as well as snow on the mountain peaks. There was a little bit of snow on the ground. Lucia said the scenery was "pure awesomeness" ~ she loves nature. We stopped to throw snow balls and use the restrooms. They quickly realized there were many bug around and by the end we were rushing to get into the car.  We certainly made many memories on the first leg of our trip.  Next stop will be Mount Rushmore which will take up a couple of day's drive.