Yosemite!

We went camping with the kids in Yosemite for the first time this weekend.  Success!  Two downright pleasant car rides (!!!)  and two days and nights of truly enjoyable family camping.  

Excited to be on our way!

 This playground was the answer to my prayers on the way up.  When we hit Oakdale, 1.5 hours into the ride, Shira had just woken from her nap, and Samuel had listened to Dr. Seuss' "The Bippolo Seed" about as much as any of us could stand.  Oakdale was the last town of any substance (and that is being very generous) before we hit the 2 hour beautiful, but civilizationless, haul to Yosemite. We were heading for the Stanislaus River, hoping it would be a good place to run around, when we drove by this cool, all wood park.

 The kids did play on other things than this tire, but the tire was the main attraction, and they insisted on many pictures of themselves climbing up through it.  And of Steve climbing through it...

 Shira does her crazy dance

 And gets help climbing through the tire

 And then we hopped in the car and got to Yosemite before dinner, with minimal whining.  I even brought the big guns - cheesy bunny crackers, two lollipops and fruit leather - and I never needed to use them.

 Some of our fellow campers (including our fearless leader, Debbie, with Holly on her back) on the shuttle ride to Little Yosemite Falls.

 Shira and Samuel play with a caterpillar on our hike to the falls

 The iconic picture

 Shira loved bouldering.  She was very insistent on doing it on her own, and took her own path everywhere. 

 Samuel, Max and Owen also climbed and explored everything they saw

 Hike through the meadows 

 Samuel and Shira couldn't get enough of Debbie.  She helped them make nature books and she is now their new best friend.

 Shira and her balancing act.  (Those two people behind Shira were bizarre to watch.  They put a video camera down on the ground behind them, and held hands and did this weird walk toward us, then turned around and vamped back to the camera.)

 Saturday Night Dinner

 It was awesome to camp with so many kids.  Samuel and Shira loved having so many people to play with.  Samuel was especially fond of Max.

 I actually got to finish my book (and Steve got to drink beer with the boys)

 Can't go camping without s'mores

 Samuel and Shira loved their sleeping bags and their tent.  The two tent method really worked.  Samuel and Shira were very concerned about the bears, but vacillated between being worried about them coming into our camp (and their tent) and being disappointed that they might not get to see one.

We didn't end up seeing any bears, though the ranger told us there was a 2 year old that was wandering the campsite at night trying to find any unsecured bear lockers.  

Shira tried to soothe Samuel when he got nervous about bears by repeating my mantra, "Bears aren't interested in people, they are only interested in food."

 Sunday's oatmeal breakfast, courtesy of yours truly

 And one of the highlights:

Rock Climbing

 Samuel's first outdoor rock climbing opportunity

 How many almost five year olds can say they've climbed on granite in Yosemite?

 They LOVED the bouldering

 Shira got on a wall too

 Steve can now say he has climbed in Yosemite

 And I was excited to get a chance to climb again too

A huge thank you to Debbie, Andrew, Max and Holly for planning such a fantastic trip, and especially for the special treat of facilitating climbing in one of the most amazing places on earth.