Yosemite Day 2, Sugar Pine RR and Glacier Point

We then briefly left Yosemite park to go ride the Yosemite Mountain Sugar Pine Railroad. Matt was really impressed with this place.






We missed the last steam train of the day so we got to ride the "Jenny Cars". These were fun as well, and a little bit cheaper.



After riding on the Jenny Cars, we headed back into Yosemite park and drove up to Glacier Point. The views were amazing. Unfortunately, there was a forest file burning to the West of the valley so the haze was pretty bad.

Yosemite Day 2, Wawona and Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias

Tuesday we ventured out and explored the area around Wawona. First stop was the Wawona Store to get some ice.


We then took the shuttle bus to the Mariposa Grove, home of the Giant Sequoia Trees!
















While we were at the grove, it started to rain. We had a wet walk back to the shuttle bus.






The Shuttle took us back to Wawona so we went to the Pioneer Yosemite History Center. There were a lot of old buildings and carriages to see.

Yosemite Day 1, Wawona Campground

We spent Monday through Friday of this week camping in Yosemite. This was our first adventure camping with the kids. We purchased a Sibley Bell tent called a Soul Pad. Matt liked it because it is all canvas instead of a synthetic fabric. It's also very roomy (4 M diameter) so the whole family could fit. Here we are set up at our camp site.


We used a vintage Coleman stove for cooking. All food had to be kept inside a Bear Locker.

MMMMM, breakfast!



We camped at the Wawona Campground which is along highway 41. It's not on the valley floor, but was close to the Wawona Hotel and the Giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove.

Lompoc Flower Festival

This past weekend was the Flower Festival in Lompoc. Shannon has been making re-usable snack bags and decided to try selling them at the Flower Festival Craft Faire. Here is here booth where she was selling. She also had some of her cards and ornaments.


We were at the tail end of the parade route so we got to see the floats when they stopped at Ryon Park. One float was giving way all its flowers so the kids got Gladiolas.





There was a contest to win one of these nifty pedal cars. Matt didn't enter, but he think this is the one he would have wanted to win.





Emily was complaining about not being able to breathe. Upon further inspection, we found that she had gotten a little to close to a flower while smelling it and the flower had taken residence inside her nose. Shannon helped her get it out of her nose. Matt got a picture of a similar flower and refrained from getting a photo of the actual culprit.





While Shannon was working the craft faire, Matt took the kids to visit his dad. He had the regular load of garage sale finds. This time, it included a big bag of yarn. The kids really liked it. Sarah made a bunch of bracelets and tried selling them at the craft faire.





The craft faire was two days. Rather than drive back to Castaic Saturday night we drove north to San Luis Obispo and stayed with Grammy. Shannon and Sarah went back to the craft faire Sunday morning while Matt stayed with Ben, Brandon, and Emily for a bit. They spent the morning playing in the creek.




Ben made a bow using the yarn from grandpa.




Around noon we headed back to Lompoc. Matt picked up one of the "Hitch Hauler" shelfs to put on the back of the car. Matt purchased it for our Yosemite trip but it was useful for Lompoc as well. We loaded up the rest of the garage sale goodies from grandpa. We got two birdcages, a fish tank, some Noritake China and silverware, Corelle dish ware for the kids to use, Fishing pole, tackle supplies, bicycle, and a vintage file cabinet. Ben was very excited about the bicycle.



We then headed home to pack for our Yosmeite trip. We will be in Yosemite this week camping. Hope everyone is had a great weekend and is having a great summer so far.

Father's Day Festivities

Matt spent all day Saturday building a folding table for us to use on family outings and camping trips. Here's Brandon holding the final result. It's folded up with handles on the top for carrying.




Here it is unfolded.




Sunday we went to another Civil War Re-enactment at Ft. Tejon. We brought a picnic lunch and got to try out the new table. It was a bit cold so Emily and Ben pulled the tarp up like a blanket and watched the show from underneath the table.




The park is due to be closed with the latest round of California Budget Cuts. They did a group picture to send to Sacramento. Afterwards, they let us come up and take a picture as well. Matt stitched together three photos to get the whole group. It was a pretty small group this time.




Afterwards, we toured around the fort and camps as normal. Matt got some pictures of the officers quarters. Here is the dining room.





Emily was fascinated with the trash can that looked like a rain barrel.





One of the confederate soldiers let Matt take a picture with his rifle.





Brandon liked the Kentucky rifle replica for sale at the gift shop. There was also a suttler there selling period items.





Here's a picture of the Jail and guard house. Sarah decided to take Matt captive and put him in the jail. While he was in the cell, she came in and had Brandon lock the door. This didn't seem like a good idea, and proved to be unfortunate for Brandon wasn't strong enough to unlock the door! We were stuck! We told Brandon to go get mommy. Unfortunately, Shannon had no idea what Brandon was asking for so Emily came back to check things out. Fortunately though, Emily was strong enough to unhook the latch on the door so all was well.




Hope everyone had a great weekend and Happy Fathers Day to all those dads out there!