Yosemite, Part 2

Here's the last installment of pictures from our camping trip.

We visited the Sugarpine Railroad and got to ride a steam engine train. The history of the old logging days was interesting and the girls got a kick out of the train. They love trains and you could hear them calling out, "all aboard", every chance they got.

Here are our little campers.

Maya actually took this picture and as you can see I am trying to to center myself in the frame by crouching down.

I'm not sure why the girls look so serious, but this is a little spot we stopped at during our train ride. Apparently we needed to stop to refill the water in the train. Those pesky steam engines...

The Sugarpine Railroad had their own little museum.

Back at base camp we took the girls into the nearby stream for a little dip. It was a great way to cool off and also wash off some of the dust that was accumulating. We went for three days without showers. Oh the joys of camping.

Here's daddy and Maya probably freezing in this picture. The sun was hot but the water was ice cold.


I'm not sure if you can see us, but Maya and I are in the right hand side of this picture waving.

Nader took this picture of himself and he was able to get Maya and I in the background. We were finding rocks and throwing them into the water. A perfect way to spend the afternoon.

As usual, Nader cooked up a storm. Here's a typical dinner which included beans ( in cup), chicken and salmon on a bed of rice. I had this meal with a glass of red wine. Can you believe we were camping ???

Nader had set up his hammock overlooking the steam. He stayed up late one night reading and started to get paranoid that he could hear bears circling him so he relocated himself near the fire thinking he would have better odds there instead of lying on a hammock.

On our last day a wild deer wandered into our camp. He must be accustomed to people because he came so close that Sahara was able to pet him.

We visited Glacier Point which gave us an amazing view of half dome and the Yosemite Valley.

Check out Sahara's expression. Oh she is loving this. By the way, don't ask me about the binky. We were able to get rid of it almost completely, but for some strange reason Sahara has been begging for it for the past two weeks.

We saw a picture from the 1700's of two women standing on this ledge. Pretty crazy. Can you see the Yosemite Valley floor below.

This structure was built over a hundred years ago for observation and research of the Yosemite Valley.

Breathtaking.

I love this shot of Sahara walking down the trail with half dome behind her and her fuzzy cat Felix in hand.

Well, this was our first real camping trip with the girls. We had a wonderful time even with the random irritants of camping with 2 year olds. Like having dirt in your tent all the time and trying to keep the girls from falling off rocks that they repeatedly climb. In the begging of our trip the girls kept asking to go home. When it was time to leave they threw a fit because they didn't want to go home. I would take that as a sign that they enjoyed themselves.

Yosemite, Part 1

This past week Nader and I took the girls to Yosemite for their first official camping trip. The drive was long, 7 hours each way, but the girls are such seasoned travelers that they handled it well. The highlights from our trip included an awesome campsite near a stream, warm sunny days, a wild deer that came so close that Sahara got to pet it and tons of natural beauty. Low points included yellow jacket bees visiting us at every dinner, the girls going poo poo every hour (at least it felt that often) and an irritating malfunction of my bike. I took a million pictures of our trip so here's the first installment of our trip.

Here's our campsite near the stream.

Here's daddy trying to set up the tent while Sahara jumps on the air mattress. The girls were so crazy excited when we got to the campsite that they ran around like wild monkeys for the first couple of hours. It made it kinda hard to set up camp while this was going on. In the end the girls were covered with dirt. Nader and I agreed at that early point that there is no way to avoid this and we assured each other that we would wash everything including the girls when we got home.

Here's our home away from home. Wawona Campsite # 46 was our new address. The smaller tent was only for the girls to play in with their toys.

After a bone chilling first night (45 degrees) we drove into Yosemite Valley in the morning. Here's our first view once we drove out of the tunnel. Beautiful !!!

We brought our bikes and rode around the entire valley with the girls in tow. They were so excited and in awe of the beauty that they fell asleep.

Beautiful ! Pictures don't do it justice.

I think the open meadows provide the best views.

Here's I am leading the pack.

We stopped by a steam and had a picnic. Afterward the girls decided to play in the stream. Here's Sahara playing with rocks.

Sahara and Maya inching their way into the freezing cold water.

It didn't take very long before they were naked and soaked to the bone. Here's Sahara bringing me a rock she found in the water.

Another beautiful picture. This is god's country.

After riding around all day we visited the Ahwahnee Hotel before were headed back to our camp site. I have been told that the Shinning was filmed here. Creepy. Here's a picture of Sahara and Maya standing in a fireplace.

The next day we visited the Pioneer History Village in Wawona. Here's a family shot in front of the covered bridge.

Sorry for the reflection of the flash. If you can read this it is pretty cool. The bride was built in 1857.

They had a horse driven stage coach there that you could ride. This gave you a taste of how things were many years ago.

Family shot on a relic.

The girls loved the horses.

We visited the Wawona Hotel. Here's Maya dazzling us with her smile.

Here's another shot of the Wawona Hotel grounds.

Stay tuned we have more picture to come....

San Diego Vacation

This past week I took the girls to San Diego for a little vacation with Tata Rose and Cousin Andre. We started our two day adventure at the San Diego Zoo. We never go in the afternoon because we need to be home in time for naps, but because we were staying at Tata Rose' house in S.D. we were able to hangout with the animals at dusk. The Zoo is now open to 9 p.m. and the have entertainment going on that you would otherwise not see. We rode the bus tour for the first time which was cool.

Here's Maya walking her lion through the zoo.

This picture of Maya smiling brings smiles to my face.

We were on the top of a double decker bus so we got a birds eye view of the animals. The girls were always able to spot the piles of poo poo and point them out to us.

The next morning we visited Birch Aquarium near La Jolla Beach. Here's a picture of Cousin Andre.

Check out this octupus.

After the girl's nap we went to Coranado Beach and wasted the afternoon away. My cousin Merna and her sons Nicolos, baby Jad joined us. Along with Merna's parents Hiam and Kamel. I don't have any pictures because my camera was not working again. Bummer.

After the beach we all went to Tata Rose' house and picked a ton of figs and headed home. We missed daddy and couldn't wait to see him again. All in all we had a ton of fun and the girls can't wait to visit Tata Rose again.

Before you go, I wanted to share this picture of Sahara dipping waffles into apple sauce. She is only wearing a pair of glasses on her head. I couldn't resist, I had to add this one.

Zoomar's Petting Zoo

Yesterday Novella and her mother Mary invited us to Zoomar's Petting Zoo in Old Town San Juan Capistrano. We have been to many petting zoo's but this place was by far the best one we have ever seen. Check it out for yourself....

What a wonderful day !!!