Yosemite Part 3: swimming holes

We headed straight for Yosemite after lunch with the giant sequoias and stopped briefly at the Pioneer History Center. We were there just long enough for the kids and Lane to hop on a stagecoach horse ride around the historic buildings. 

This stagecoach driver has been working at Yosemite since he was 14 years old. 

We decided to find the swimming hole we had read about. After a short drive and then a half mile walk, we found ourselves in a beautiful spot, with perfect swimming and wading areas for the kids. They couldn't wait to get in the water, climb around on all the rocks, and Easton couldn't wait to throw rocks into the water. 

It turned out that it wasn't so bad leaving their "fake home" for the day. 

I love this picture of Lane and Easton. Easton needed a little help on that slippery creek floor. 

We all were amazed to be surrounded by such wonder and natural beauty, to have time together as a family in such a stunning place. 

After heading back to clean up and eat dinner in town, we took the kids out to frozen yogurt. There were no complaints. 

Yosemite Part 2: giant sequoia trees

We were a little bummed while planning our trip to find that the Mariposa Redwood Grove is currently closed for renovations (until next year!), but we knew this in advance and made plans to visit a grove of giant sequoia trees instead. This grove of trees is not quite within the borders of Yosemite, but it's on the way, and well worth the visit.  It was a one mile easy loop for this preggy mama, with lots of stops for kids to explore and climb and pretend. 

Gabriela looking out a "window" of a "house" they discovered in one of the trees. 

Even though it was a 90 degree day, we were very comfortable up in the mountains, in the shade of all these gigantic trees. 

Evidence that I was actually present for this trip. 

The kids loved discovering the fallen tree trunks, looking inside, feeling the bark and moss, and of course, climbing on them and pretending they were pirate ships. 

Then we discovered why this grove is called the Shadow of the Giants. Just look at this sequoia! One of the trees we saw was 272 feet tall and 71 feet around its base. Gabriela and Easton's cries of exclamation echoed through the forest. They couldn't believe the enormity of these trees that can live 2,000 to 3,000 years. 

And here's another one with me because I am always the one behind the camera

The trail guide said the one mile hike would take about an hour. We were there for at least two, with all the playing and exploring Gabriela and Easton did. I was happy to have little breaks to rest along the way and give the kids a chance to really take in what we were there to see. After finishing, we found a shady spot to eat our picnic lunch before heading out. 

Yosemite Part 1: our fake home

Since I am now 32 weeks pregnant, we decided that camping might be a little too  difficult. I can hardly sleep comfortably in my own bed. 

I found us a little AirBNB place in Oakhurst, about 20 miles from the southern entrance to Yosemite. It's a little room with two beds, a kitchenette and a bathroom on the property of a homeschooling family with goats, horses, ponies, and chickens, dogs and cats. Easton started calling it our "fake home". After petting the animals in the morning and running around their property, it was not easy to convince our kids to leave in order to start the adventure we drove 4 hours to make. 

They weren't happy to leave this place after visiting with all these gentle and beautiful animals. In fact, when it was time to leave Yosemite at the end of the day, we convinced our kids by telling them we were going back to our fake home. Easton exclaimed, "oh good! I LOVE our fake home!!"

Summer Fun, Week 13

The summer is finally coming to an end. I am so proud of myself for keeping this blog updated, after nearly a year of neglect. 

Uncle Matthew invited us over for lunch on Saturday. The kids got to see his new place in Oakland, and Lane was able to help Matthew out with some projects around his apartment. 

That evening, Gabriela helped Daddy make his famous homemade mac and cheese. She grated cheese, stirred, and measured, and even suggested adding in cauliflower!  

 We spent all of Sunday afternoon at the pool for an end of summer potluck pool party with our homeschool group. Everyone brought super tasty dishes to share including delectable homemade barbecue sauces, and salads of every kind. We stayed at the pool until it closed that evening. My heart was filled watching Easton have the time of his life playing with his daddy in the pool, and Gabriela splashing about, racing, holding hands and diving in the pool with her friends. All the dads came and our group seemed to be the only ones in the pool. It was the perfect summer day. 

While this is technically the last week of summer, we have started up with our homeschool again. Gabriela enjoyed searching through the house to find things that are magnetic and testing them, and making her own magnet and compass. She decided, all on her own, that she would write an "essay" about what she learned. I was really excited to see how engaged she was and eager to show what she'd learned. 

Tuesday I got a Try the World box full of items from Japan. It inspired me. I got to work making matcha shortbread cookies, a soba noodle salad, and savory  okonomiyaki pancakes, all things I'd never made before. 

We all enjoyed dinner, except Easton who announced he felt like running away instead of eating this dinner. Lane shared stories about when he visited Japan. It was teatime after dinner, and Gabriela decided to wear the kimono Elizabeth brought me from her trip to Japan. The kids colored pictures of kimonos, we looked at our beautifully illustrated map book of Japan. The kids learned about Haiku poems and we all wrote some together while enjoying our tea and Japanese treats. Some nights I don't even have energy to think about dinner, so this was an exciting night at our house. 

We made plans on Wednesday to meet Auntie Cynthia for an evening tarantula hike. It's mating season for them, so they are out and about way more than any other time of year. I foolishly tried to join them. But at 31weeks pregnant, those steep hilly trails were very difficult to climb. I mostly took breaks and had some quiet mama nature time. 

Last year we spotted four tarantulas. But this year, they saw eleven!

Time to get out the flashlights! Gabriela was responsible for tracking how many tarantulas they spotted. 

Thank goodness Lane was able to join us. I even got to see one tarantula on our way back. 

The kids were sound asleep before we got home. Easton says he loved being outside in the dark. 

Thursday brought us sewing circle with Ahnie Liss. Gabriela started a pin cushion (that I finished for her) and a quilt block. Hopefully she will finish the quilt block soon. 

We spent all day Friday packing for our big Yosemite trip this weekend. We just decided to go for it, even though it's just the weekend. I'm so glad we did. 

Baby Grover 4.0, week 31

I have been plugging along this entire pregnancy, going through the motions but feeling completely unable to focus on this baby's birth or anything that will happen afterwards. My brain and my heart don't even let me imagine these things. 

But here I am, two months from delivery, and I can't push it away any further. There is a real live, moving baby inside of me that will need to come before I know it. And I need to get ready. 

We need to prepare her space, think about what to name this little girl, pack our bags for the hospital, consider how to prepare ourselves for this birth, which will be a very emotionally exhausting and terrifying experience for Lane and me both. 

It's just so hard because we did all these things so recently, so joyously, and starting again means getting closer to reliving the moments leading up to and during Simone's birth. It means inviting all those emotions back, at a time when I desperately need some separation. But how is that even possible? Last time we had the cosleeper set up, the car seat installed, a whole wardrobe of darling baby girl clothes ready, a complete stash of cloth diapers, slings and carriers ready, a name, no anxiety about birthing, just pure excitement. It's difficult to look back at that time and realize we had no idea what was about to hit us. That our whole world would come crashing down around us. How could we not have seen this coming?

I want to be prepared to birth this baby, to give her (and us) a positive birthing experience, to be ready to care for her after she's born, to care for myself before and after, while at the same time continuing to give my attention to my other living children and Lane. I don't want to feel like I am casting aside, trying to forget, or moving away from my experience with birthing Simone. But in order to survive this, I need to compartmentalize somehow. To make room for the new stuff, to give this baby her own story. 

So, scary as it is, I'm starting to decide what to include in my hospital bag. I'm going to schedule a private walk through of the delivery floor so I can react however I need to when I'm not trying to birth a baby. I found a pregnancy after loss support group that I'm going to join soon. I need to decide how to make our hospital birthing experience nurturing and full of good energy.  We need to get out our cosleeper, organize all those wonderful cloth diapering supplies again, pull out all those same goodies and just hope it will go the way it's supposed to this time. 

Alcatraz

My lovely cousin and her beautiful family were in San Francisco for one day, and one day only on a long layover and invited us to join them on their tour of Alcatraz in the city. 

Jen and Chris lived in Virginia when we moved to the east coast and graciously let us stay with them, their two boys and three month old baby girl, until we found our apartment. We spent many weekends together after that. Lane and Chris really bonded and I befriended my cousin, who I had never really known well until we moved. It was just like old times being back together. Except that their three month old is now ten years old. Has it really been that long?!

These girls immediately hit it off, becoming inseparable for the entire day. 

Here's our crew on the ferry to Alcatraz. Now we can check "take the ferry" off our summer fun list. 

 Chance and Jackson. I went to Jackson's kindergarten graduation and now he's in high school. What?!?   

http://laneandelena.blogspot.com/2007/06/all-done-with-kindergarten.html?m=0

We were so glad that Lane was able to take a day off from work to join us. Easton enjoyed being goofy for daddy. 

Here are the big kids

The kids found the audio tour fascinating, especially Easton who felt pretty important with his own headset. 

We read from a couple Alcatraz books ahead of time and Gabriela taught us about one of the 14 escape attempts. Easton later told Uncle Matthew that he escaped from Alcatraz that day. 

 Easton and I took a shuttle ride up to the top of the prison so I wouldn't have a steep uphill walk, being gigantically pregnant. We kept ourselves busy on the way with a few pics

A former Alcatraz prisoner was signing copies of a book he'd written in the gift shop that day. Gabriela got to ask him some questions about what he remembered most and was thrilled to meet a real published author. She has been very clear with us lately that she is determined to become a published author herself. Now we'll just wait five years or so to read the actual book. 

Gabriela was crushed when it was time to say goodbye. She wanted to spend the next week with Michele. We had a little picnic, the kids ran and climbed trees before we headed home in awful friday commute traffic. But it was totally worth it for fun family adventures!

We ended the day with a viewing of March of the Penguins, feeling lucky that we had an entire extra day home with Lane.