Yosemite

This past week we spent our family vacation tent camping in Yosemite. It was the first real vacation we've had in three years! It was so wonderful to get out there and everything was beautiful. Hot, but still beautiful. Thankfully, in Yosemite you can't go too far without some trees, so we had constant shade and we cooled off each afternoon in the ice-cold Merced river.

Undoubtedly, though, the best part of our vacation was a real bear encounter! The first day we arrived, we headed over towards Yosemite Falls. As soon as we started heading toward the falls, another couple were walking the other direction and told us they spotted a bear. We couldn't pass that opportunity, so we grabbed Sarah out of the stroller so we could walk quietly and headed the direction of the bear. We saw it! A smaller bear that was brown with tufts of blond sticking out of it. He turned around and started walking back the other direction, and he spotted our stroller. He was sniffing around it and smelled the wipes in the little basket in back of it. We saw him pawing at them, and after a minute or so, Chase started clapping loudly to scare it off (it was only our first day, we needed the stroller!)

Later that day, as I was changing Sarah, I grabbed the wipes case and noticed two little puncture marks on it! The bear had bit through the wipes case! What an exciting first day of vacation!

From the mouths of babes...

Today was Sarah's second time in "Miss Heidi's class," a parent & me pre-school type class that both Caleb and Emma were a part of a couple years back. The summer's theme is farms, and today the children were learning about cows. Miss Heidi brought in a large plywood cut out of a cow with a glove filled with water attached to it (the udder). She talked with the kids about the parts of a cow (ears, eyes, tail, udder) and told them they could "milk" it later, but to try to get it in the bucket.

Sarah had fun squeezing the fingers of the glove and laughing when the water squirt out of the little pin holes in the fingers, and a little made it to the bucket.

Later, Emma asked Sarah if she had a fun time today. Sarah's answer, through giggles, "Cow peed in bucket!"

Showing off her cow stamps.

Sarah and Emma hiding under the parachute.

letting go...

I'm sitting here in the dark, late at night, fighting off a fit of coughing, and thinking about my old couch. We've had it since Chase and I got married, actually a few months before we married, which makes it over eleven years old. I think that's pretty old for a couch, at least from what you hear about "quality not being what it used to be." It's withstood a lot. I've spent a lot of time on it, two pregnancies (got through the third with a new recliner...my back was just so achy!), three babies, two rounds of potty training (working on round three!) and plenty of movie nights.

One side of it is so smushed down (Chase's spot) that the kids and I would sink in if we sat there. The back cushions are held together with fishing line and safety pins (my attempts at repair work). The white stuffing is leaking out of the back. It's a bit small for a family of five, always someone complaining of being squished. And there are so many crumbs deep down there that I imagine a flock of birds could feast for a month!

And yet I was sad as the delivery men yanked our our old couch and left it in front of the garage, then graciously unloaded the huge new sterile sectional that will take over the role as family gathering place.

I can remember like yesterday one quiet evening just before Christmas, Caleb was about six weeks old, laying on that couch in the light of the Christmas tree with this sleeping newborn, and treasuring the moment. I can remember a late night when Emma, about 8 months old, wouldn't go to sleep and she climbed all over Chase. who was laying on the couch. And most recently, though already two years ago, I can still see Caleb and Emma squished together on the middle cushion as they shared the boppy which contained their new baby sister.

As I saw my old couch being replaced, I was almost ready to tell the delivery men to take the new one back and put everything back the way it was. But I didn't.

This new couch is quite big. It takes up most the front room. Much of our playing space on the floor is gone. BUT, all five of us can comfortably sit on it, which is very important on Survivor night. Sarah is not so content to be on someone's lap anymore, so we really did need a place we'd all fit on. And today, while Sarah slept, Caleb, Emma and I sat on the new couch and I taught them how to play rummy. The kids love the new couch, with plenty of room to sprawl out; no sentimentality wasted on them. And I know there will be new memories.

But I think I'll sneak out to the garage and save a bit of that stuffing that's poking out of the hole in the back of the cushion!

Dancing Queen....

Emma had her first dance recital last weekend! She was so excited to get all dolled up and ready to go out into the spotlight. Her number was a Western Medley to the tune of Yellow Rose of Texas. She did a great job, always keeping her smile on and even remembering all the steps!

She had been talking of quitting dance for quite some time, complaining that her ballet shoes hurt her feet (no cushion!). I was a little sad to hear that, but as long as she's trying something, it's really up to her.

Then she had decided that she would do dance a little longer, just in the fall, so that she didn't have to do the recital next year.

Of course after the recital, all had changed. She told me "I think I'm going to do the recital again next year, too." Guess the glitz and glam of the big stage can reel you back in!

Odds and Ends

So I've nearly finished my first two weeks of summer vacation. Last week was great, the kids did a VBS, we went to the park, saw the Electrical Parade at California Adventure, and bought a waterslide that has been great fun. My modem went out and I was webless for a full week. You don't realize how much you use the net everyday until it's down! But, thankfully, AT&T provided us a new modem for free, so I guess that made the wait worthwhile.

Saturday Emma had her first dance recital, in which she was awesome!! But then that night Caleb got sick. And it has only gotten worse since then. I'll spare the details, but let me say that I currently have two that are coughing nearly all the time, and all three have pink eye! I'd post a picture, but really, who wants to see sick kids? It's disheartening! Sadly, we were unable to go to Sarah's first mommy & me class today, and Emma had to miss her art class =(. We're hoping (really bad!) that everyone is better by tomorrow so we can all enjoy a happy 4th of July.

In the meantime, here's some fun from last week!