Jack's 1st day of 2nd grade

Well, I am finally caught up...TODAY we dropped Jack off at school to begin second grade. He was very excited to see his room again and get back into the groove of things. So now Molly and I are at home (she starts after Labor Day). Not getting much done (well, updating the blog was pretty big). Molly misses Jack and all her friends that have gone back to school. Her best friends Carter will go back to school with Molly but he is not home today (sad for Molls).

By the way, Jack is holding up two fingers in every picture because he wanted to be sure everyone knew he is going into second grade. We had to talk him out of holding up a paper with a giant two on it (he was so afraid you people would not get it). Funny kid

Movie on the Meadow

This past Friday night we had our first movie on the meadow. We all brought lawn chairs and blankets and a friend set up a screen and we all watched a movie. We decided to watch Enchanted for our first movie night...it was a big hit! Next week we are going to watch Star Wars (gee, I wonder who picked that). We have all decided that this was one of the coolest things we have come up with. As we watched the movie we also got to watch the full moon rise and then fall behind the mountains. It was magnificent!!!

Horseback riding

A friend of ours, Sydney, has a horse that she keeps here in the park and she came by the house the other day to let the kids have a ride. Then she took Molly back to the stables on the horse. Molly was thrilled. Jack is all ready to take lessons! He is quite excited!

Jack and Molly go Rock Climbing

Yipppeee!!! Jack and Molly got to go rock climbing about two weeks ago (you like how I am catching up to the present). They had such a good time! They both loved it and want to go again very very soon! We have a good friend who is a really good climber and he took all the kids out one Sunday afternoon. Down at the end of our meadow is a great place to give it a go and they did a great job.

Jack, of course, narrated the entire way up and the entire way back down. We think he would make a great TV climber's guide. He talked about where he was goin got put his hands and feet. He talked about what he could see once he got about the tree line. He talked about having a snack when he got back down and he was very excited to be able to see our house through the trees!


Molly at the opposite end of the spectrum, said not a single word the entire way up and down. What a pair the two of them make. Though once she got back to the bottom she talked all about wanting to do it again!

So the kids love it and as soon as everyone is back in school, Brian and I are goning to go have a day of climbing! So much fun!!

Brian's Half Dome hike

A few weeks ago Brian and some friends hiked to the top of Half Dome. (I was wisely on the the Valley floor). He had a great time. It is a 17 mile round trip hike and actually Mary and I did the first part of the Half Dome hike when we hiked to the top of Nevada. That was plenty for me. Here are some pictures of Brian's day!

So when you get almost to the top there are these cables that you have to climb up in order to get to the top (this is where they would have lost me). There is usually a long line you have to wait in to even get to the cables as you can see in the picture.

The picture of Brian sitting is at the top and that little patch of green just next to his shoulder is the meadow we live on...pretty cool!

The picture with no people is of our little valley. That is it, small and wonderful!

Mary comes to visit

My dear sweet cousin came to visit us next and we had a ball! She was so very organized and knew exactly what she wanted to do! It was great! I learned of so many things there is to do in the park that I had never heard of while Mary was here. She did so much stuff! We even had the meadow Luau the first day she was here! We had fun.

One day we took the kids up to the high country and went for a little hike up there - so beautiful (my favorite place in the park).

And we left the kids with a friend of mine another day and did a big hike up to the top of Nevada Fall. It was an awesome hike and we were quite tired that night!

The day I took Mary back to the airport (sad) we stopped to see an old friend from camp days that lives near the San Fran airport! (Thanks for everything Emily). We all can't wait to have Mary come back again very very soon!!!!

The Reagans visit

So our friends came to visit over 4th of July ( I am aware that I am very very behind - sorry). We had such a good time. During fourth of July weekend we have an annual small car race called the Nob Hill 500. It was one of the most hysterical things I have ever seen! First there was a race for all the little car's the kids decorated and then the adults had a go. All the cars had names and Brian was the announcer which he really got in to. There were prizes and even trophies for different categories of decorations. Molly won for most enchanted car (hers was draped over the whole thing by a bright pink feather boa). She was very happy to have a trophy.

The rest of the week we did all sorts of fun stuff. Lots of hikes and a day rafting down the Merced. We also enjoyed some of the most delicious food ever cooked by Suzanne!!! (Thanks Suzanne, you rock!!)

We were very sad to see them go and so was everyone else. The Reagans were a hit in Yosemite! Miss you guys! Come back soon!

Fire and Power update

Hello all, Just thought I would give you all an update as to how we are doing out here with the big fire. We have had no power since Sat and today is Friday. We got some yesterday due to a generator installed on our street but they now need it to power guest hotel rooms...so we are out of luck again. The kids and I had the wonderful experience of heading to a friends cabin about two hours from here where we spent the the last two days fishing and hiking and doing all the gazillion loads of laundry that had piled up not having power. We also got to take lovely hot showers which I will never take for granted again :-) Most of our food is alright so that is good, we have been doing lots of big grill outs and fire pit nights with the whole meadow - that has been a hoot!!! The other day Brian made yummy scrambled eggs and sausage and bagels on the grill and this weekend we are having a fondue party, so things are fun! I will update the blog again when we are back with power. Until then I hope you are all well and please keep the valley and all the dear people who lost their homes in your prayers! Love to you all!!!