Mountain Fun!

We really wanted to go camping, but almost everything was closed. Instead, we took a trip to Mountain Home Grove, a grove of sequoias in the national forest not too far from us that has some of the biggest sequoias in the world. None of us had ever been there before and we didn't know what to expect. It did not disappoint! It was nice and cool up there and we saw so many awesome giant trees! There were some we could walk through, and a bunch you could only see if you took bumpy dirt roads (luckily Dada has AWD). We took some short hikes and enjoyed the beauty! Clara even put on a violin concert for us!

Every year we say we are going to take the kids to Yosemite, but something always happens (usually fires and terrible smoke) and we never do. This year we figured it was the perfect time since you had to get a permit to enter and they were not letting a ton of people in. We met Tíos there and had a great time! It wasn't that crowded and the weather was perfect. The kids were very impressed and Clara kept exclaiming that it was so beautiful. I think it almost took her breath away! The kids had a blast at Glacier Point Lookout and thought the little lookout was a castle! For the first time ever, the lookout over the valley after the tunnel was pretty much empty and we didn't have to fight to get a spot! We walked the paved trail to Yosemite Falls and even saw some deer! We brought our scooters and scooted through the valley and had a picnic. The kids and dads went swimming in the freezing river and we all had a blast! Tíos headed home, but we scooted through Curry Village and left after dinner. It was the perfect first trip to Yosemite for the kids!

June Fun 2020

June started with the official end of school. It was very anticlimactic with a drive through pick up of awards and everything from Clara's desk. We ended up going back a couple days later to pick up some stuff from her teacher for her memory book and they got to take a picture together and say a proper goodbye. It was weird for her not to get to say goodbye to friends and other staff, especially since the school is only first grade and she will never be back. I was happy not to have to try to teach the kids anymore and content to let them do whatever they wanted while I worked.

Things started calming down with COVID and we played with Bailey and Elise, and even had some playdates with the Kauk girls (one involved Clara slicing her face open on their chicken coop)! We celebrated Cam's birthday and the kids were so excited to be around other kids again!

Who doesn't get their hair done in 
the backyard during a playdate?

Bailey and Elise took their kittens, and one of my coworkers took, one, but the homes for the other two kept falling through so there was lots of kitten fun while we continued to look for homes. The kids had lots of picnics and playtime with Olive and Winnie. Having them as neighbors and taking turns letting the kids play at one house while the other mom was able to get in some work was so nice! The kids even made a movie and had a showing, it was hilarious! I'm so glad we have such awesome neighbors!

The zoo opened up and the kids and I went for the first time since February. It wasn't very crowded and they were very good about wearing their masks the entire time. It was the first time the giraffe feeding had been open since March and we were some of the first (if not the first) people to get to feed them! They weren't quite sure what to do after not having been fed by guests for so long.

Both kids got to do their music recitals. Emmett's consisted of each family coming to the church alone and the performance was recorded. The plan is to Facebook live the entire recital at a later date. Clara's took place outside where each family was spaced out. It was really nice until it started getting hot! We were excited to watch them both play and they both did great!

The Toms' invited us to Shaver for an afternoon of boating and we had a blast! Emmett was in heaven playing with Jack and Jace since he's usually surrounded by girls. Clara wants a boat now, and the adults enjoyed a nice relaxing afternoon with great company we hadn't seen in a long time.

We actually got to celebrate Father's Day with our annual hike to Weaver Lake with los Abuelos! Both kids did a great job, even though we ended well after Emmett's nap time. We had a nice picnic lunch at the lake and Emmett pooped in the woods for the first time (he wasn't impressed). We had a delicious dinner at the cabin and then went home where Dada opened his awesome gifts the kids made at Sonshine (they never disappoint)!

Emmet's a great sport and let Clara dress him up in princess costumes all month. There was kite flying, Clara took a stab at painting her own nails (and did a lot better than I imagined she would), lots of walks with babies, and playing at the dirt pile. We had socially distanced visits with the grandparents and a few violin concerts for them. It still wasn't a "normal" month, but we at least started to feel like we had a life again!