Yosemite

Joe was determined to show me Yosemite as I had never seen it. So we got up early this morning to get into the car before the heat overtook us again, and we set out to see Yosemite. The road into Yosemite had been struck by a rock slide and a bridge to the other side had been built along with a one lane road. While driving I was able to take a picture of where the road used to be.
Here is the road coming out the other side. While we were waiting to go we were curious as to why we had to wait, I don't think this road is usable anymore!

Here is the beautiful river coming out of Yosemite. It took us a while to get there because there were so many spectacular views we kept stopping to take pictures.

Joe and I were the only ones in this picture as both the babies were sleeping. It felt like we were newlyweds!

This was one of the rock formations just on the other side of the Yosemite entrance. We didn't really get a chance to stop but I got a quick shot before we went in.

Here are the Falls the first time I saw them. Aren't they gorgeous!?!?!

We decided to walk from here to the base of the Falls. This meant packing up the hiking backpack and setting in for a nice walk.

We decided to go off the trail a little bit and walk along the river. Brody thought it was wonderful. Fresh mountain water tastes great!

Another nice shot on our walk along the river.

Here we are walking up the entrance to the Falls. Right before we went in we came across a family that had a view labs and one was a chocolate lab almost the same age as Brody. After a second they realized they were the same and started jumping and playing together, we pretty much had to drag Brody away, he was having such a great time!

Joli did her classic "look at me" pose. There were so many people crawling all over. I guess summer is the time to go to Yosemite.

Joe was perfectly happy hanging out with Brody while Joli and I climbed around.

I thought this rock face was so cool. The picture doesn't even do justice to the size of the rock but I thought everyone standing at the bottom could give some sort of idea.

As we were walking back there was a group of people taking pictures of something in the leaves. Once we got a little closer I realized it was a baby rattlesnake. We kept walking after that!

It was a little warm out so we decided to stop and take a swim in the river. It was pretty cold but we still got out feet in. Joli decided that letting me know she has to go to the bathroom is no longer necessary and proceeded to pee and poop in the river! It was even more hilarious as people were rafting down the river behind her!

Since we were so hot the day before, we decided to just drive through Yosemite and see if we could find a place to camp for the night. We started towards a campsite that didn't have a full sign on the entrance. It ended up being about seven miles down a particularly paved one lane road. At one point we drove by an open field were a mother bear and two cubs were walking. I was only able to catch them as they were walking out of the field but you can just see them.

Once we got to the end of the road we drove into a nice little campsite that most people don't know about and had a bunch of spots open. We picked one right next to the river. It was so exciting to find a campsite in Yosemite during the summer!

After setting up we walked down to the river that was just as cold as the one earlier, but it was warmer out so we got in a little more. Joli had a great time washing off her baby doll until she started floating downstream. There was a lot of screaming that eventually resulted in Joe jumping through the water and rolling his ankle. We went back to camp shortly after.

We were hoping that Joli might give in and take a nap. This was as close as she ever got.

Joe even tried reading her some books but she just enjoyed being with her daddy.

We usually don't have a problem with mosquitoes at our house so my craziness thought that a citronella candle would protect us. Joli and I hid in the tent for awhile.

Since it had been so hot last night we weren't able to roast marshmallows, so tonight was Joli's first time. She thought it was a great idea. She would stick her marshmallow in the fire for a second and then pull it out while it was basically still cold and shove it in her mouth.

We convinced her to make one smore which she only ate part of and then gave to us. Apparently the marshmallow is the best part.

It was a beautiful day and such a wonderful experience. We feel so lucky to have camped in such a pretty place!