Yosemite, Day 2

 View from the shuttle stop by our hotel

 Upper Yosemite Falls 

 Where’s Waldo the deer?

 Flood height from 1997 is impressive 

 Bird photobomb 



 Meadow trail leading to Swinging Bridge

 Swinging Bridge doesn’t swing

 View from non-Swinging Bridge

 Love the color and texture of the river water

 River view of Yosemite Falls 

 Trail to Lower Yosemite Falls 

 Bridge at Lower Yosemite Falls 

 River side of the bridge

 A nice French lady took our picture

 Half Dome and the approaching rain

 Timing is everything. We had blue skies and thunder during our afternoon wander. Five minutes after we got back to our room, the skies opened up. Happy to be indoors.

 Taking flower pics while we wait for our dinner reservation 

 Floating lights á la Hogwarts (Majestic Yosemite dining room)

Yosemite, Day 1

We made it to our hotel in Yosemite Valley Sunday about 3:30 - not bad after a 9 am start time.

 El Capitan through the windshield.

 We lucked out and got an oversized corner room.

 Our view

 The Ahwahnee Majestic Yosemite Hotel

 Evening walk-about 

 Yosemite Falls

  View from a bus stop

 These bloomin’ trees were everywhere.

 Dogwoods??

 Half Dome at dusk

 The refurbished and renamed Majestic Yosemite Hotel. It will probably always be the Ahwahnee to me.

Early Mother’s Day

We celebrated Mother’s Day a little early with my California chicks.

Loved having them all together for a couple of hours. 

Stuff I Need To Finish

Rainbow for Jen (done!)

Leanne’s Rope Bowl (she lost interest. Tossed)

Trailer wallhanging and Row-by-Row quilt for Rachel (wallhanging done)

1797 Revisited EPP (semi-permanent hold)

Helping

Lily decided to “help” me tonight. I’d remove her from the cutting table and she’d jump back up at the far end, slowly working her way back to her favorite spot. 

She did stop swishing her tail after I accidentally trimmed a few hairs during one poorly timed swipe. And I’m sure she didn’t mean to in revenge start knocking stacks of cut squares to the floor.  Yeah, right. Good thing she’s cute.

Oops

What’s wrong with this picture?

 Mistake Contrary Wife quilt block

I carefully finished this block, proudly showed it to hubby and sent a picture to my quilting buddy. It’s finished a week before deadline . . .and it’s exactly the right size . . . and the seams are all straight and even ‘cause I measured them obsessively*. 

Yeah. Took another look at the picture 30 minutes later and couldn’t decide whether to laugh or swear.

Practice makes perfect, right??

* This is my first entry in the quilt guild’s block-a-month challenge and I wanted it to be perfect - or at least something that wouldn’t embarrass me. It took an extra seam, but I think it’s pretty nice.

Not A Fan Of Change

Jac, who turns 2 in late June, has outgrown her infant car seat and Mom recently moved her to a “big girl” seat.

Jac did NOT handle it well. 

There may have been screaming. And tears. 

Hoping to avoid a repeat, we let Jac play with our new seat tonight,

moving from buckling up her favorite baby,

to laughing at big sister sitting in the seat (she fits!),

to - finally! - Jac getting in the car seat and making herself comfortable playing with all the buckles and straps.

If this works: I am a genius! And if it doesn’t? “What was Pop thinking with this silly idea?!?”

More Baking

Leia thought she wanted to bake more cupcakes, right up until I pulled out a bundt cake pan and asked if she’d ever seen one before.

So now Leia has baked her first bundt cake - “it’s sooooooo pretty!” -

and iced her first cake. 

We’re still experimenting with icing colors. “Mint Green” is a winner. “Pretty Purple” is definitely not.

Next up? Leia wants lava cake (Pop and Naia second this request) while I’m thinking we should do a rainbow cake. . . . Or a dirt cake!! Leia would love that. 

Paper Planes

Naia came by to pick up Leia and ended up staying to chat. 

She also taught Leia how to make paper airplanes . . . 

which Leia insisted she already knew how to fly.

I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. 

The Weekend

Sleepy boy is getting bigger. . .

Leia went all out for her school’s Gold Rush Day - and had to call us for a change of clothes when another girl accidentally dumped gold panning water all over her . . . 

Pick your own strawberries was a hit despite the mud pits in every row . . . 

Addy is officially taller than Aunt Marie (Addy’s 11 and 5’2”. Yay!!)

Leanne is my crafty helper and wields a mean pair of scissors . . .

Jaclyn prefers drawing (on anything everything) and music  . . .

Leia’s first ‘publicity still’ (for her school talent show. She was awesome.)

My fabulous stool from the Great Junk Hunt gets lots of use. The girls love it as much as I do.