Cowabunga Birthday!

This year I didn't quite have the energy to have 10-12 seven year old's to my house for a party, so instead we told Logan he could invite two friends to Cowabunga bay. This was such a hard choice for him, but he narrowed it down to his cousin Parker (they are two peas in a pod), and Maylea who just moved back from Australia. This was the first time we had been there, and it did not disappoint. 

 Funny pose, they were so excited. 

 Logan and Parker waiting to get drench by the gigantic bucket of water

 AWWWW...

 Tada! 

 Makay, Maylea, Logan, Parker 

We went on a Tuesday afternoon and got the 4 hour pass, it was perfect. People started leaving about an hour after we got there, and 4 hours was plenty of time. 

 None of the slides empty into a pool so anyone 42" and taller can go down any of the slides alone. 

 If you are shorter then that you can ride with an adult on the open top ones

 I will say this yours kids should be really comfortable in the water to go on the big slides, here's Logan at the end of one. 

Makay would have played at this all day, you move the pieces around and have water run through it. 

There is also a little kid area with a few slides and splash pool, as well as a lazy river (pictures on Dave's phone). Our kids love the water so I know we will be back next summer. It is really school aged and toddler friendly park, I didn't see any teenagers. Logan had so much fun he asks to go back everyday. 

Two going on Ten

Tomorrow Hunter will turn 2! I can't believe it's been two years since he's been born. Our little Hunter had a rough start, he's was so little, had some breathing issues, and many ear infections. 

Thankfully, by his one year check up he had kicked all those problems. By one he made up for loss time by eating everything in site, and climbing on everything as well. 

Now at two he follows his two older brothers around and thinks he can do everything they can do, hence the first broken bone from any of the kids, with this comes many gasping moments from me. He is super busy and super full of life, we love him so much and are so thankful that he fought so hard in his first few months. 

Yosemite 2012

In July we went to Yosemite National Park for 7 days, after our long 12 hour drive with only one place to stop and eat it was amazing. We stayed in a campground chain we belong to about 7 miles outside the park, in cabins with all the amenities of home. I like to camp, but with a 3 month old and being gone for so long we thought a cabin would be best. 

 Here's a picture of all the kiddos, my brother's two kids and my 4, the y were shy at first, but quickly became best buds. 

 The boys slept on the couch bed in the living room, this was so cute. 

Our first "hike" was to Bridal Veil falls

 My sister Sharolee 

 After ward we enjoyed a picnic

 Erik and Logan, attached at the hip all week. 

Later that evening we went on a real hike down to Tulumne Grove, it was 1 1/2 miles down a steep path

 The kids did great and were having fun looking at all the huge sequoias

Here are a few of the fun pictures we took  

This is actually a tree laying down and the kids are standing in the roots. 

On Sunday we kept it pretty mellow and went into Yosemite valley and we to a kids play telling us all about the history of the park. It was pretty entertaining and informative. 

This is a picture of El Captian, it is actually the tallest peak in the park, and there were people climbing up the face of it. It takes about 3 days, and you sleep on the side of the rock, crazy. 

Sharolee, Me, Mom

We went on the lower Yosemite falls hike, the kids were such good hikers.

 You can climb up higher on the rocks behind us, but we thought it would be best to not climb with the babies attached to us. 

We found this cool rock for the kids to slide down

Later that day we had a picnic lunch on a some what sandy beach along the river. 

 Hunter is thirsty

 Here's how Bailey spent most of her time at the river. She was so happy to be out of the car and snugli she slept the whole time. 

We hiked down to another grove, we found the biggest pine cones there. 

 These sequoias were even bigger then the first grove we went to. 

That night we had s'mores...yummy 

The boys eating breakfast before another day of hiking. 

This day we drove to the top of Glacier point, it is the highest point you can drive to and it was just breath taking. 

 Double waterfall

 Behind hunter is Half Dome, one of the most popular and well known hikes. 

 A better view of half dome, one day Dave and I are going to scale that rock! 

Another picnic 

On the drive down there is a great view of the park

 Dave is holding Half Dome in his hand

 I am trying to push El Captian over 

We also went to the visitor's center and watched a short movie about the park 

 Too funny :)

 The only wild life we saw were deer, here's a doe and fawn right next to the visitor center

There is also a recreated Indian village

That night we decided to eat at a buffet in Yosemite Valley, the food was alright, but the best part was that we didn't have to cook and clean up. 

 Oh you should have seen the looks we were getting from people

So pretty and even with all the people at the park it was still really peaceful

We decided to take a mellow day and hang out at the campground

 Mini-golf

 Badminton

 Swimming in the river

My brother Erik's birthday was the day after we left, so we had a little b-day party.

The last full day we were there it was raining and pretty cold, but we couldn't resist taking pictures

 So when you're in the park they are pretty strict about the food storage due to the bear population, here are the bear boxes you have to put your food in. 

 When it stopped raining we went on one final hike

 Cute boys

The hike was well worth it

 It led us to this beautiful lake, peace and quite

On our way down you can see half dome in the distance, this is quite zoomed in. 

Here's the front of the cabins

 All the little boys and big boys have matching shirts, except Hunter 

 Brianna and Makay, two peas in a pod

 All the girls 

 Our last dinner at the cabin

Our last night

The only place to stop on the whole 12 hour drive McDonald's in Ely, Neveda, yeah! 

We had such an amazing time an were really sad to be going home. We will definitely be back someday when the kids are older so we can do more then the easy hikes. I would recommend it as a places that everybody should visit at least once.