9th anniversary

 For our ninth anniversary I got Brad this map with pictures of us in all the places we've traveled...I forgot Yellowstone in Wyoming, oops. And Brad took me out to sushi and bought me a treadmill!

 This weekend was the kinetic race. The shark and blue whale skeleton were by far the coolest sculpture/machines.

Here's the DisGoat Inferno

The Miners

And the race begins! They circled the plaza two or three times and then headed out to Samoa to cross the bridge by our house. About 5 hours later we started hearing the cheering of teams crossing the bridge and we got to see them pedal right down our street!

We spent some time at Moonstone Beach

Sunday they had to get into the bay! It was amazing to see the adaptations they made to make their machines float. This is definitely one of the coolest community events we have ever been to in our 9 years of marriage.

Will Turns 5!

 We celebrated Will's birthday at Lego Land, but he was still very excited for the official day he turned 5. Some of the ways we celebrated include a Death Star birthday cake, glow-stick dance party, getting his own account to play prodigymathgame, and making ninja masks from T-shirts. He also lost 2 teeth just before he turned 5. 

 

Yosemite and Legoland!

Setting up camp Saturday night.

The first morning we woke up early and were the only people at Bridal Veil Falls! We had our family prayers there, it was really special.

Making oatmeal, it was such a cold morning that our bland oatmeal was amazing just because it was something warm!

Vernal Falls Hike

Beautiful pit stop

Yosemite Falls

Back at camp!

Tunnel View on the morning of day 2

The next day we got up pretty early again so we could get to Sentinel Dome. We were once again, nearly alone as we hiked up there. Ruth had hurt her foot the day before by repeatedly twisting her ankle as we hiked around. Brad bandaged up her ankle and then gave her a piggy back ride nearly the entire way up and down, over 2 miles. Because Brad was carrying Ruth, I had to carry Claire. I was very sore from the previous day so I was moving really slowly. By the time we had made it a mile and reaching the really steep part of the climb I was frustrated, exhausted and ready to turn around. Brad was waiting for me in the shade and asked if I could make it the rest of the way if I didn't have to carry Claire. Grumpily, I told him "Maybe." So with Claire off my back we all picked our way along the granite dome. I was so glad Brad encouraged me to keep going, even though I really didn't want to. When we got to the top it was glorious. We could see the entire face of El Capitan, all of Yosemite Falls as well as the iconic Half Dome. It was amazing. After some water, pictures and a re-wrapping of Ruth's foot we climbed back down. I was even able to carry Claire most of the way after our rest at the top.

After our hike we went up to Glacier point to get another view

We traveled on to Wawona to set up camp. It was really hot, but luckily we were right next to this awesome river. We dubbed this area "Granite Island."

The 3rd day we packed up and left Yosemite. We went to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks.

Right before our stop at Buckeye Flat, Ruth and Brad climbed up 350 stairs to this viewpoint.

The next morning we woke up and told the kids we were headed home. But we actually surprised them by taking them to Legoland. I think the hotel was the best part of the entire experience, but of course the kids loved the rides and water parks.

These guys were there to greet us in the lobby

Lego pit in the lobby

rides

Both are totally made from legos...and glue

Legoland Aquarium: they had a really cool scavenger hunt to participate in and learn about sea life. We also got to watch a diver hand feed clams to the rays!

After 3 days at Legoland we were really going home. We took the scenic route along highways 1 and 101. We went through the Big Sur again, saw some elephant seals and stopped in Santa Cruz.

This was the view from our room:

Yosemite/Legoland April  2015 | My new trip on Roadtrippers.com!