Yosemite Vacation

As promised here are the rest of the Yosemite pics.  We had a great time.  I feel like we could have spent two weeks in the park and still not been able to see everything we wanted too. Yosemite is HUGE! Ben and I had an over ambitious itinerary of things we wanted to see and do. We stayed about 40 mins outside of the park in a small town Groveland, where we rented a house.  Once we got into the park it took another 30-40 mins to drive to the main hiking trails and sites we wanted to see. By the time we parked everyone had to use the bathroom again.  Then we would unload the stroller, grab all the cameras, snacks and water. So add another 10 mins to our prep time.  So you see it was turning out to be a time consuming process.   We could only fit in one good "hike" a day with all this driving and prepping and pregnancy related stops to the bathroom and to eat.  I put hike it quotation marks because hiking takes on a whole new meaning when you have a toddler. We stuck to mostly paved trails since we had the stroller.  We tried to let Ella out of the stroller as much as possible.  She had a few spills but I guess she has to start learning to watch where she walks.  Don't take this as complaining about our trip. It's not.  It just stuck me as amazing the differences between our PRE-baby vacations to state parks vs Now.   Before Ella Ben and I would get up early, eat a quick breakfast and find a trail off the beaten path. We were typically the first ones out on the trails in the morning.  Afterwards we were physically exhausted but felt great that we mastered the woods.  Now, it doesn't matter what time we get up or which trail we take we end up exhausted just from change of routine and taking care of someone elses needs.  

As much as taking a vacation with a toddler can be tiring, it's exciting to see Ella's face when she sees something for the first time.  We talked about the animals in the park.  We even saw several deer. One of which we feed from our back yard. She loved looking up at the huge waterfalls and feeling the rush of water under her feet as we stood on the bridge for a photo opportunity.  She picked up every rock, leaf and stick she could find.  She got dirty several times and even dipped her feet in a cold stream that was fed by one of the most amazing waterfalls I have ever seen.  Mommy even dipped her feet in the water too.  It felt amazing on my tired  feet.  Ella on the other hand was not thrilled.  Guess she doesn't like her feet being cold.  But she ended up finding plenty of rocks to throw into the stream which is her favorite activity.   I always joke that she might turn out to be like her Aunt Julie and become a geologist.  She can't resist picking up rocks, and digging in the dirty with her shovel.  Although, she can't stand to get dirty.  So I'm not sure how that is going to work out.

The last night there we made a quick stop at the store and grabbed some marshmallows for roasting, or in Bens case, burning.  Ella wasn't fond of toasting her marshmallow but she liked eating it off of the stick anyways.  The last morning we were in Groveland after eating breakfast out, we packed up and found some stable where we fed the horses. (Pics to come) Ella wasn't thrilled with their massive size but I think she liked seeing them up close.  She talked about the horses all the way home.   Overall it was a pretty amazing trip.  I hope to go back some day when the kids are better hikers and really get some miles under our feet.