We spent last week, just the four of us, up at Kit's families cabin in Shaver Lake. We love when we get to vacation with our family and friends, but it was a really sweet week, just being together with just our little family. Here were some of our special highlights and recap from the trip:
Our kids ROCKED the 5 hour drive. No movies or screen time, just talking and laughing and telling stories..
We listened to this and Ryder pretty much has his favorite stories memorized:
We stopped at one of our favorite road trip stops, Bravo Farms in Traver, off the 99. It is always a hit and never disappoints. We try to coordinate it so that we can stop there for lunch.
The tree house is such a favorite!
The pulled pork sandwich is so good...
Then we are ready to tackle the last leg of the journey.
Pulling up the cabin is always so fun!
Right after unloading, we heeded to the pond behind the cabin to look of frogs:
Then headed for pizza in town:
The next day we did our hike to Mystery Lake, one of the Dinkey Lakes!
The goal for the day: hike and fish together...
Ryder climbed rocks...
Eden loved looking at all the beautiful flowers:
These were our favorite:
The trail was gorgeous! it was so green and there were bright wild flowers everywhere!
The hike was two miles in and two miles out. Eden hiked 3.9 miles and her dad was happy to oblige for those tiny legs. Eden gave him a thumbs up.
We made it!
Let the fishing begin:
Kit was in heaven:
Ryder saw a baby fish swimming in the water, reached down, and picked it up!
He was elated!
We had a great day being outdoors in a beautiful place! Watching Kit teach Ryder how to fish was such treat. They were BOTH in heaven...♥
The whole way back, the two of them kept their eyes open for streams and Ryder would mark them:
We had to celebrate the day with S'mores:
The next day we headed to the Dorabella to picnic and swim and fish...
We ate and read and watched the kids play and watch Ryder practice his casting...
The next day we headed to Yosemite.
Ryder loves any chance he has to take photos, and Half Dome is no exception...
We hiked the Yosemite Lower Falls
(Where we saw two black bears and three deers, one being a 4 point buck. Ryder and Kit almost passed out in excitement...)
Then took the shuttle up to the upper falls where we saw Vernal Falls:
(Here's a little Eden quirk that was hilarious on our shuttle trip. When I have given her instructions, like "We can't eat on the bus because that sign says so", she repeats it over and over, almost to remind herself, also so that she can show me she is listening. She saw the no smoking sign and repeated for the next 20 minutes, "No eating mama, and no painting mama. No painting on the bus!"
Good grief...
As we were leaving the park, HUGE storm clouds rolled in and Yosemite got so much rain that evening.
It did make a for a beautiful sky!
We stopped in Oakhurst for dinner at Alice's Cookhouse BBQ. The last time we were there, Ryder was 6 months old. We had just hiked around Yosemite and our big eyed baby was just all smiles and sweetness. Not much has changed ...
...minus the fact that he is five, has a sister, and can eat solid food...♥
When we got back to the cabin, there was no power for about 1 1/2 hours.
We made the best of it. It added to our adventure for sure!
Our last full day, we went fishing at a spot that our cousin had told us about.
We cheered on the fisherman...
So on July 10, 2015, at Kaiser Creek in the Sierra Mountains, Ryder Rae caught his first fish.
We continued to fish and caught four fish total.
Eden gave it a try too.
Ryder was so excited to show his sister his fish!
These two were so happy!
Picnicking with my girl
Kit taught Ryder how to clean it and get ti ready to cook:
10 inches of pure excitement!
Our family tradition. You trace your fish on a piece of wood from the place you caught your fish.
W had an incredible time being together, connecting and talking and learning mrs about each other. There was only tow times that the kids had any TV time: we had two movie nights, one where we watched the Disney classic Swiss Family Robinson and another night we watched Disney's The Jungle Book. The kids explored, rode bikes, did archery, colored, played games together, we read books, went looking for deer, did some nature hikes, and just enjoyed being family. Hiking with a 3 and a 5 year old is no joke and takes planning and we spent some time in our car getting to the different hiking spots, but we wouldn't have done anything different. The trip was incredibly memorable and we are excited to make this a family tradition!
(A tee pee built by our cousins was still enjoyed many seasons later...)
This photo by Ryder Rae:
