Yosemite Cabin Adventure - Part III, More Waterfalls

After our decent from Vernal Falls, we also took a short walk to Bridal Veil Falls. It was gorgeous! Everyone was snapping photos and recording video...

And here were some artsy black & whites that I took on a letterbox setting:

Yosemite Cabin Adventure - Part II, The Hike

Our merry party made it up the John Muir Trail as far as Vernal Falls.

Well, most of us did. Carlean had a headache and stopped just before the bridge. I got an acute attack of acrophobia when we hit the stone stairs on the side of the cliff at the falls. Needless to say, there was no Smeagol *up, up, up the stairs we go...* for me. Eli made it a little further, but he got upset when he started to get soaked from the mist and had to be escorted back down.

Yosemite Cabin Adventure - Part I, The Picnic

Aunt Pat and Uncle Bear's electrician friend has a cabin that he and his wife rent out that is about an hour outiside of Yosemite park in Mariposa, CA. We got to stay there and day-trip into Yosemite on Saturday and the Mariposa grove of Redwoods on Sunday. The falls were still running at full-tilt because of record precipitation, so the views were spectacular.

 

Our adventure began with a picnic lunch. Luke found some squirrel friends that followed us the rest of the hike. 

Pookie!

Grandma flew Luke down to join us for the trip to Yosemite and spend a couple weeks before the fleeting summer is gone.

Top of the to-do list: Find a skateshop and buy a helmet.
Next to top-of-the-list: Find a good skatepark!

Sidewalk Art

Abi played 'activities director' this afternoon to keep Eli entertained while I made dinner. He loved it. She had an itinerary for him of 5-minute activities like catch, ride scooter, and draw with chalk. This is the drawing they made, a patchwork quilt:

Beads!

I finally finished the necklace with the spiral pattern that Aunt Pat was teaching me - it only took a month of Saturdays!

Aunt Pat has made several with the spiral pattern, the latest being a birthday present for Carlean:

Dragonfly Gules, Displayed

 There were a lot of bugs out today in this balmy weather - starting with the giant red dragonflies at Starbucks. One was divebombing our car kamikazi-style and then decided to light on the antenna. She stayed there until we pulled up to the window.

I wonder if St. Esebell was thinking of us today... ?  :)

Abi's Feeling Better...

Abi was sick for the last week with some kind of stomach bug. She's finally feeling better and more confident now, so we tried our fun shopping trip again to IKEA.


Of course, I was looking for ideas for the new kitchen, for changing out some furniture for more functional pieces that would fit a smaller space, and for fabrics and so forth.

Abi, on the other hand, was trying out for the part of "Goldilocks"

  ... and looking for magical passages to Narnia.

Happy Fourth!

It cooled down a little and turned out to be a nice day to BBQ, despite the scortching predictions that would have had most of the area at over 100F. A dozen friends and family members showed up at the farm and we had a wonderful potluck including Greek sliders on homemade buns, hamburgers and chicken franks, chunky guacamole, couscous salad with mint and craisins. For dessert, Cora made chocolate-dipped strawberries and cookie and chocolate slices, there were Eli-friendly chocolate cupcakes and lemon pound cake.

We headed out early in hopes of keeping Router and Eli safely at home when they started lighting off fireworks - but that plan was totally sabotaged. Every street in our corner of the subdivision had a block party and they were lighting off arials, rockets and screamers right over the rooves! And I thought they were crazy in Idaho! At least no damage was done, and they seemed to run out of ammo by 11pm so we could finally settle down and go to sleep.

Garden Therapy

Abi has been sick all week since she came back from her friend Kierra's birthday party. We tried to leave the house and get her mind off it as she started to feel better, but nothing has worked so far. Today she finally felt good enough to make the drive to Aunt Pat's, and from there Aunt Pat took us to Green Arrow. It's a great garden center, with an indoor and outdoor section. They have tons of roses and landscaping plants, pretty fountains, and a nice selection of veggies.

I picked up some heirloom tomatoes (Pink Brandywine, Green Zebra, Pineapple, and Black Crimini) and some peppers (Fresno, Cayenne, and Habenero) to make a salsa garden for Shaun. Abi is already planning her 'half' of the yard and garden for the new house.