Yosemite - final - finally

Hello friends. I'm back to give you the final pics from my (now long ago) family trip to Yosemite. Our kitchen renovation is winding down (well, still a couple weeks to go) but I promise, the reveal post will not disappoint (so so excited).

Ok, wrapping up Yosemite....
On the next to last day, we took an (uphill) hike to Vernal Falls. Have you ever taken small children on an uphill hike? Not going to lie, there was (a lot) of complaining. They all did great and they all made it to the top in one piece. It was a great first official hike hike for the family.

(note: Hayden still hangin' loose)

These were the rapids that greeted us at the top of the hike. Yikes.

We were holding on to our kiddos super tight on this bridge.

After we got down to the bottom, it was time for a tasty treat :)

After our treat, we spent some time exploring Happy Isles. Lots of little streams and beautiful scenery all around us.

There are these gorgeous dogwood blooms all over the valley. I couldn't get enough of them.

 

 

Next up was Noah's favorite part of the trip...riding the free valley shuttle. lol.
Happy kid!

Keepin' it real. Me after 3 days without a shower. Eek!

We took the shuttle back to camp and spent the rest of the time relaxing before dinner. My sis in law even did a craft with the kids (I know, she's amazing).

Inspired by pinterest, they made these soda bottle firefly's. Once it got dark we filled them with glow sticks and the kids had fun flying them around. Hayden used hers as a night light :)

After dinner which were super yummy chili dogs, the grandparents entertained the kids while the adults relaxed by the fire.

Ultimately, Hayden made her way to my lap and crashed.

Shhhhhh.
(love her crossed hands and ankles)

The perfect end to a perfect trip!
So, there you have it. Our super fun annual Yosemite trip. I hope I didn't lose you out of boredom along the way :)
I highly recommend that you get to Yosemite some day. It really is an amazing place!!

Stay tuned. Kitchen mania is ALMOST over. YAY!!!!!

Yosemite - part 1

Hello friends! How are ya!? I know there have been crickets chirping over here but there are many future posts in the works. We are in the middle of our kitchen remodel and we just got back from a family camping trip to beautiful Yosemite. I'll break up my Yosemite posts a bit so your eyes don't cross from picture mania. If you have been there before, you know how beautiful it is. If not, you MUST put it on your bucket list.

We picked Noah up from school at lunch on Friday and got on the road. We had about a 4 hour drive ahead of us to get to our hotel. We broke up the drive so we could all stay sane (and we weren't due to check in to our Yosemite campsite until Saturday at noon).

After a fun night in the hotel (my kids love staying in hotels), we made our first stop just outside Yosemite valley at the historic Sugar Pine Railroad...

Cousins :)

after the 45 minute scenic train ride, the kids got to pan for gold. Real gold! They were so excited :)

They each got to keep a bottle of about $5 worth of gold flakes. Talk about an awesome souvenir :)

After the train/gold stop, we headed towards camp. We always stop to take in the beauty at tunnel view. This is seriously one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

The picture doesn't even do it justice. Just standing there before this great beauty is truly magical. It's hard to believe that beauty like this really exists.

After that, we headed to camp to get set up...
Umm....yeah. This is how we do it ;)

My sis in law and I got together a few days before we left and made these campsite buntings :) a must!

Our tent...

Sis-in-Law's tent...

Cute, yes? Cute!
After we got settled, we got right to it. Yummy dinner (sliders) and fun at camp :)
(day 1 and already tired of the photos - lol)

Hammock...

Fire...

and glow bubbles....

 

I will leave you here so you don't get a headache. lol. Don't worry, I'll be back :)

Snow FUN

Thanks for all of the input on my last post everyone. Definitely helped get my wheels spinning and hopefully I can come up with some minor changes to make them sell sell sell.

If you follow me on instagram (arichardson79) then you saw an abundance of happy snowy pics on there over the weekend. We had the BEST time in our local mountains and I wanted to share some more pics with you :)

We picked up Noah from school on Fri at 2pm and got right on the road. Typically, in good weather, the drive to Big Bear takes approximately 2.5 hours. It had been raining all day and the temp was low so we knew it would take a tad longer. BUT - we had no idea that it would take us close to 8 HOURS to get there. Yep. Brutal.

Before it got too snowy, this happened.....

It took a while to get them on just right, but luckily the kiddos and I were warm in the car while the hubby did all the hard work (did I mention how much I love that guy)......

(that's him in the side mirror. Brrrr.)

 

The drive basically looked like this the entire time. Brake lights. Ugh. As it got more snowy, the kids in the car ahead of us kept getting out and having snowball fights int he middle of the road. We would be stopped for 20-30 minutes at a time at some points due to cars sliding in the road, people who had their chains on wrong, collisions, etc. Noah was so restless in the car, he almost had a breakdown. lol.

All in all, we knew we would eventually get there so we just had to relax and make the best of it. Most of you saw on the news about that crazy ex-cop shooting up Big Bear. We knew of this going in to it and although it wasn't ideal, based on what we knew of the situation, we felt we would still be safe and didn't want to cancel our happy weekend.

When we woke up in the morning on Saturday, we had a fresh coat of white fluffy snow on everything. It was truly magical for this SoCal girl. So white and quiet and sparkly. Just beautiful.

 

Our first stop was "Magic Mountain" Snow play area. Time for some tubin'!

 

There was a cool "magic carpet" that would take you back up to the top. Sort of a lazy-tubers dream. Lol.

 

The kids had a blast!!

 

weeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Selfie (I am always the one behind the camera)

We had a GREAT time zooming down the hill and ended our day out with yummy pizza from a local pizza joint. YUM.
After we got back to the cabin, we found a cool sledding hill about 50 feet down the road. It was awesome!!!

Josh took some time to dig out a nice smooth path for the sleds while the kids and I hung out in the fresh powder.

There were even traces of Christmas around the forest...

Hayden was our sledding champ. She would bomb the hill with no fear and a HUGE smile on her face. SO cute to watch!

Occasionally she would end up like this.....

But she usually recovered quickly and got right back to sledding. Lol.

Papa of the year :)

My brother after a not so smooth landing. Lol.

I even bombed the hill a few times (pardon the butt shot)

After a loooong day of sledding and playing, it was time to soak in the hot tub :)

Noah and Hayden both said this was their favorite part of the trip :)
After a yummy homemade dinner, we finished up the night with some smores. Yum.

The next day, we did some more playing in the snow, sledding, and having FUN!

The crew:

siblings...

After a final soak in the hot tub, we packed our things and headed home. The ride home was a lot less eventful and we made it home in about 3 hours (including a stop for dinner and donuts). It was a truly magical weekend and we will definitely be going back next year!!!!

Happy hump day everyone :)