Yosemite II

This trip to Yosemite was not quite like the first. The first trip was back in mid June, we had an awesome camp site, and the weather was in the 70's. This time around was a one day trip (we left Livermore at 5 am, and came back at 5 pm), the weather (contrary to the weather forecast) was very warm, and we were just not as prepared as we were the first time. But, we got to enjoy the beautiful vistas of Yosemite.

From where we parked, we walked probably an extra mile to get to the trailhead. Notice how this sign directs you to the trailhead, and isn't the trailhead. We found a couple of these along the way.

We started our hike at 8 am or so, and it was already approaching 80 degrees! Very warm! Luckily there were a few springs along the way to help us survive (literally).

Our mission today? Upper Yosemite Falls, which, as a bonus includes Lower Yosemite Falls. 3.4 miles (7.8 total) with a 2,500 elevation gain.

Nearing the top! They say this hike is the equivalent of walking the stairs of two Empire State Buildings. It was the 'stair master'.

Madie was so good the whole time! She wasn't fussy at all! We just packed her in the baby carrier backpack, and away she went. She loves to watch people and be outside.

She even got in a nice nap along the way.

To the top!

We got to scale some cliffs to get to an observation point.

There was a NICE swimming hole at the top! Water was very cold, but it felt good to relax a bit before the descent.

Madie REALLY liked it up there. She sat on the shore and played with all the rocks that were offered.

The weather at the top was beautiful. A lot cooler than Yosemite Valley.

The way down we ran out of water! We didn't anticipate it being so warm, otherwise I would have brought my water filter. But, that spring literally helped us survive some blistering 96-100 degree weather! I'm pretty sure we were slightly dehydrated by the time we got down. We went to a cafe and loaded up on electrolytes (I'm talking two 30 oz Gatorade bottles each). It was a fun hike, but it definitely could have been a lot better. We'll have to avoid hiking when there is a huge heat wave, and for sure remember to bring the water filter!

Sven Next Door

One thing that I will miss about apartment life (if I ever get out of it, that is) is the never-ending sources of entertainment at my disposal. The complex we live in now is probably the best in this regards and any other. In others, we've had the pleasure of listening to our neighbors upstairs and down (running, jumping, a baby in a child-less relationship often heard crying, among other noises probably not appropriate for a family blog).

But in this complex, we have windows. Windows that look into other windows.

As long as I've lived in apartments I've felt that the least I deserve in return are interesting neighbors. You know, like in Rear Window. Okay--maybe not the guy who kills his wife or the woman who commits suicide. But somewhere along the lines of the piano player and the ballerina. So far all I've had are noisy people who live above me.

But after 5 years of apartment life, I have finally been rewarded with Sven.

Sven is the name Mike assigned to the Scandinavian man who lives in the apartment directly across the lawn from us and whose two biggest windows face our own. We were first introduced in the middle of a story I was telling the sister missionaries at dinner in our living room--

"And then...Oh my gosh! That man is in nothing but a speedo! Well, I think it's a speedo..." The sisters burst into laughter. He simply threw his curtains aside and stood there at the window in almost all his glory.

Since then we have had the pleasure of seeing middle-aged, overweight Sven shirtless on a number of occasions--and I'm counting my blessings.

Nothing Motivates...

...quite like keys.

We haven't had much luck uploading videos lately. In fact this is the first time in a long time I've even tried uploading pictures onto my comp. iPhoto has been acting strange lately. :( But here we go, trying again. (Of course, I write this now as though it hasn't worked. If it doesn't, I won't even post this blog, and if it does, this little paragraph is obsolete. But, I'm leaving it anyway.)

So, in this video, little Madie-Fi is showing her creeping skills. She's on the move all the time now. She gets frustrated sometimes still, as you can probably hear in the video! But she knows now that she can get into all sorts of things if she sticks to it. I love seeing her butt up in the air! Hahaha! So funny! We think by the end of next week she'll be actually crawling, you know, belly off the floor and stuff, so, that'll be fun!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!

So, this past weekend has not been what we expected, but a lot of fun just the same. We were planning to go camping over 4th of July weekend. In fact, we already had reservations up in Redwood National Park. I was so excited! But Sunday and Monday nights, Mike and I took turns not being able to sleep. I'd finally doze off around 2 in the morning and then Mike would get up around 3 or 4 and not be able to fall back asleep. Then, Tuesday and Wednesday nights Madie was sick with a fever and (we think) a stomach flue, so that kept me up those nights too.

This is how Daddy found us on Friday morning. She couldn't stay asleep at all unless she was right up next to me, which meant I didn't sleep at all. The second night wasn't quite as bad as the first, but they both were pretty miserable for little Madie-Fi.

On Friday, neither Mike or I felt like camping with Madie for two nights. So we cancel our reservations, and decided to just do a day trip into Oakland and Berkley. We had a blast! In Berkley, we had lunch at Cheeseboard Pizza. They had a live boogie-woogie band. This woman, Wendy DeWitt rocked the keys of this piano! She was awesome! And had a great, old-timey sounding flare to her voice. She played with just a drummer and guitarist, who both helped on the vocals. They had great report with the audience and between themselves. They were so much fun to watch!

Then on Sunday night, we had a little barbeque with some neighbors of ours from Korea. They have a 14-month-old daughter who is very quiet and shy, but who seems interested in getting to know Madie. Madie loves her, and Mira (the mom). Jong Tae, the dad, works as a mechanical engineer at one of the labs. They'll only be here until November, so we thought we'd show them a good American celebration. So after the barbeque we walked over to the church ball field and watched the fireworks from Robertson Park. (Madie's not wearing any clothes in this picture, sorry!) Tamin (the daughter) was scared by the fireworks, but Madie wouldn't take her eyes off them. She loved all the noise and colors. Mira promised to repay us with some homestyle Korean food. Alright!

Mike had Monday off as well, so we headed into Monterey. We had a picnic at Denise the Menace Park, and then crawled around and played in the sand and went down slides and let little puppies lick our hands, all of which made Madie's day. (She cracked up when the puppy started licking her hands. That was a new experience.)

Then we went to the beach and Mike took Madie all around to look at tide pools. I didn't join them since it was high tide and there were no tide pools. Haha! I sat on the beach and read my book. Madie loves the ocean. She likes the birds, the sand, the wind, the water. She's a girl after her parents' hearts!

We took a little family shot on the rock wall along the beach. Mike and I would love to spend a night or two at one of the bed&breakfasts in Monterey. It's so pretty!

Finally, we ended in Salinas and visited the John Steinbeck Center. Since we arrived about 45 minutes before closing, they let us in for free! I have just finished Travels with Charley and Mike just started it, so it was fun to see Rocinante and all his other, bigger contributions to America. It's shocking I've only read two of his books. I am going to quickly correct that. What I didn't realize though, is that so many of his books have been turned into movies! I had no idea! All I knew about was the version of Of Mice and Men with Gary Sinise.

Happy Independence Day!

Ways to celebrate America's special day

The fourth of July is upon us. We started our celebrations early...ya know...to get prepped. Here are some things we did this weekend to make sure we are ready.

What's more American than BBQing?

AND having a grill assistant is always a bonus.

Ahh...spending some time at Fentons Creamery to grab some ice cream.

That's right...by far the best ice cream ever!

After some Fentons, head over to AT&T Park to watch the Red Sox square off against the San Francisco Giants! Sox won 4-2. It was a good game. Right as found our seating section and approached the field from the corridor, we witnessed a Sox player nailing a 3-run homer. Pretty much iced the game in the 1st inning. Giants couldn't recover.

AT&T Park itself is quite the venue. This is a view of right field where players will typically hit homers into the bay. These Kayakers are like sharks at feeding time.

It was a cool and breezy day in San Francisco. Doesn't matter what time of the year you visit, you will always need a hoodie on hand.

Madie was so good. She really didn't have any melt downs, though she did get antsy at times. She did very well.

The Bay Bridge on the way home. Great weekend, and we are looking forward to the 4th of July weekend!

A Day at the Park...or Zoo...or Whichever!

Sorry we're having so much trouble uploading things. First Mike's internet connection was always askew, so now he's purely a Firefox man, and that seems to work for the most part. (We're still having trouble with videos.) Then, my iPhoto started to go NUTS on me, so we're lost on that front too. I think maybe it needs an update, but because I don't have internet at the apartment, I can only get updates while I'm at the library, and that's hard sometimes.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Mike, Madie and I went to the park on a Saturday morning. Livermore has some incredible playgrounds. This one has a rubberized top, and is brand-spankin' new. The only downside is when they put in the new playground, they didn't plant any tree around it. That's not all that smart considering it was above 90 all last week. Hmmm... anyway, we hit it up in the morning and found that Madie-Fi LOVES to swing!

Technically she's still too small for the swings, but she just loves them so much.
We just push her lightly.

Here she is peeking through a little hidey-hole. Look at that grin!

Last Friday, a girl in our ward had her 3rd birthday party, and since her mother is in charge of play group, she decided to just move the play group to the Oakland Zoo and call it a birthday party. One of the women had a guest pass so she got me in for free! I didn't even have to ask! It was so nice.

Madie liked to look at a lot of the big animals, but the smaller ones didn't impress her much unless they were right up close to the fence so she could really see them. Luckily, they have a sheep/goat petting zoo area. I sat her down next to this beauty and she loved to feel it's fur. Then a veritable miracle happened: it SNEEZED! What more could a 10-month-old girl want than a sneezing, furry, animal with a long face and funky eyes that sits perfectly still while she tugs at its coat? Nothing beats that. She cracked up and laughed the whole rest of the time she sat there. (Of course, this was AFTER I had switched to still shots.)

We had so much fun at the zoo! We'll have to go again with Daddy next time. It was really impressive. (I have quite a few pictures of animals, but figured ones with me and Madie would be more fun to see on here. I could be wrong though...)

Yosemite

We had the amazing opportunity of visiting Yosemite National Park last Thursday and Friday. I cannot use words to describe the majesty of the rock formations, waterfalls, and ambiance of the Yosemite Valley! It was quite an experience. I grew up a mere three hours away from the park, and through my 18 years of living that close, not ONCE did I visit it! So, we made a point of visiting it this time around. A couple of friends of mine, Indy and Faris, came with to embark on a grueling hike on Thursday while Mallory and Madie hung out at the shops and held down the fort. For those interested, we took the Four-mile trail up to Glacier Point, and then the Panorama trail back to Yosemite Valley. Totals miles hiked: 12.6. The original plan was to hike Half-Dome, but the cables to the summit aren't up yet due to late snowfall/slippery conditions. I'll admit, I was initially disappointed with not being able to hike Half-Dome, but after going on this hike I feel redeemed. We got to see the entire Yosemite Valley from our hike, and multiple angles/distances of Half-Dome. I don't know that it would have been as rewarding to hike it as it was to watch it all day. On with the photos.

Lower Yosemite Falls in the background. The largest waterfall in the United States (photo of the entire falls is further down).

Nevada Falls, and a slab of granite that looked like Patagonia, right behind Half-Dome.

We went on some short hikes on Friday, and Madie LOVED it! She slept really well (thank you to whoever invented the pacifier) this time around, and loved the outdoors so much! She was in such a happy mood the whole trip.

Vista from our hike. We started down where those trees are in the valley. It's overlooking El Capitan (right ridge).

Amazing views of Half-Dome all day. I must have taken 50 pictures of it.

Here is a view of Yosemite Falls from the ridge we climbed. It falls 3,500 ft. from top to bottom.

Faris, Indy, and I from the top of Glacier Point.

On the Panorama trail, we found some water on the trail! Mixed springs, snowmelt, and whatever else was just dumping on the trail. Fun to walk through.

Another shot of Yosemite Falls. I think I counted 7-8 'official' water falls that emptied into the valley.

Madie fell asleep while walking around. I think she was out for 20 mins or so.

Walking back to the car to head home. We are already plotting a return trip to hike a trail that takes you to the top of Yosemite Falls, and to bring our bikes to ride around. It really is a magical place to visit.