The ride home

The ride home was a perilous one. First we went up (and then down) 16 miles of steep, incredibly windy roads to see the view from Glacier Point. It was definitely worth the effort but it added that much more time on to our car ride home and it was pretty tricky driving.

On the way home we saw a terrible accident that had just happened (there were no emergency people there yet). Probably around 20 cars involved and a few dead bodies along the road side. Thankfully the kids didn't notice as they were watching a dvd. It was pretty horrible.

Then we hit some traffic delays due to the Santa Barbara fires which were right along the highway. The 2 right lanes were closed for a while due to the fires and it was hard to see, at times, due to the smoke.

Needless to say, we were very thankful to make it home safely around 6pm on Sunday. The first order of business was baths for the kids. They were filthy from head to toe (and we weren't much better). But, I guess that is a mark of a successful camping trip.

Yosemite Family Photos

Brad found a cone of a sequoia tree and carried it around for a bit. It takes the trees 30 years to produce a cone and the park prohibits people from taking them so Brad just held on to it for a bit. Apparently, it is very difficult for these trees to reproduce and it takes them a very long time to grow to the great majestic trees you see in pictures.

The 2 hour tour of Yosemite

On Saturday morning we took a 2 hour open bus tour of the valley floor in Yosemite. I was amazed at the rock climbers climbing up El Capitan, a sheer rock cliff. It takes the average mountain climber 3-5 days to get to the top and then they have a 9 hour hike down. They sleep, eat, etc. on the side of the cliff.

I also took a moonlight tour with Christine that night (there was a full moon) and we saw the climber's lights flashing all over the cliff. It was soooooo cool how the moon reflected off of these cliffs made of granite. I really couldn't capture the beauty of it in a photo. Christine took her son Sam out to see a moon bow. It's like a rain bow and it only happens once a year and we happened to be there that day! The moon reflects off of one of the waterfalls creating a moon bow with the entire spectrum of colors. They really enjoyed it!

We came to Yosemite at a great time because there were so many waterfalls from the melting snow. Sky said that the waterfalls were her favorite part of the trip.

Sequoia trees in Yosemite National Park

For Mother's Day weekend we went with our friends, the Jensens, to Yosemite. We left at 4am on Friday morning and arrived in Yosemite about 6 hours later. We first went to the Mariposa Grove, an area with many Sequoia trees. These trees are in the Redwood genus and they were enormous, magnificent trees. Many were thousands of years old. We saw the 5th largest tree in the world as we hiked about 2 miles. I love the picture in front of the uprooted tree. That tree fell 800 years ago I think they said. There was much more to see there but Brad and I could only go so far. So we went to our campsite and settled in. We stayed at housekeeping camp, which is a bit deceiving because no one did any housekeeping for us. There were 3 cement walls and 1 canvas wall and a canvas roof. There were bunk beds and a double bed and we brought our own sleeping bags. There was also a firepit and a table and chairs provided at each site. The Jensens stayed on the other side of the tent in exactly the same arrangement. We brought the pack and play for Brad but he wouldn't have any of it so I ended up sleeping with Sky and Brad in the double bed and Ken slept on the bottom bunk. What better way to celebrate Mother's Day?

House #3 Falls Through

We found out today that the third house we've put an offer on was given to another "superior offer". We'll just keep looking... Hopefully we can find something soon as it would be great to move before the baby comes. Please keep praying. Sorry if you are getting bored hearing about our housing troubles. This is just a good way for us to communicate what is going on with us to many people at one time. In a few months it will be all about the baby, I'm sure.

Housing Update

Well, we found out today that we did not get the house across from Gardenhill Park that we had an offer on. It was listed at $315,000 and needs a new roof. We offered $350,000 and apparently we came in fourth place. The first guy had cash but declined because he had found another investment, the next guy had 30% down but he decided the place was too small and the third guy is offering $355,000 and is putting down 10% (we are only putting down 4%). The third guy is taking the place and is very excited so we ALMOST got that one!!!
We went out looking at houses again tonight-2 houses in Whittier. Both are 3 bedroom, 2 bath and both have in ground swimming pools (although one had no water and was a disgusting mess). This would be a bit further from school for Ken but still definitely manageable. We will put an offer on the second house (the one with the good pool) tomorrow night. This would mean a different school for Sky too.
The realtor was told that the bank wants to make a decision on Monday and close within 2 weeks! Now, this is what the bank SAYS. But we have dealt enough already with how the banks say one thing and do another so we'll see... So, if we get this one, things could really get crazy! I would really like to move before the baby is born though. We would definitely have some work to do on the place and we would definitely have to put a security fence around the pool. We'll keep you updated as things progress.

Road Resurfacing

This morning we woke up to some serious machinery on our street-graders, street sweepers, dump trucks, etc. It seems we have entered the process of resurfacing our street. Our street really doesn't seem to need it (not by Connecticut standards anyway)-there are no pot holes-but apparently, as my grandmother always says, "men must dig". It provides great entertainment for Brad and his little friends that come over to play.
On another note, we found out yesterday that Sky got into the elementary school that we had hoped she could attend for kindergarten next year. It's a public school but it has a very strong BIOLA/Christian presence. This is, of course, assuming that we stay renting the house that we're in. If we move to another city we'll have to figure things out all over again. I can't believe that my sweet girl will be going to kindergarten!
I worry about all the things that I'm sure every parent worries about: is she ready? will she make friends? will she be able to handle an all day school routine? will she lead others or be a follower (she's had some trouble being a follower at preschool lately...)? will she enjoy school or loathe it? can we handle the homework? ETC.