Yosemite here we come

Brian and I went to Yosemite and climbed Half Dome last month for our 5th year wedding anniversary and my 43rd birthday!

And we are off to Yosemite again with the kids this time for a few days!

Sorry for the long blog silence, just really busy and tired. Have too much on my to do list.

Kids are doing great, Quinn has officially outgrown his reflux and is finally a MUCH happier baby (but he still has his moments). He's crawling all over the place and is really close to walking.

Kaitlyn is almost finished with Special Education, as she'll likely graduate on her 4th birthday which is only a few short weeks away!

I DO promise to blog more soon, Just too tired and too many things on my to do list!

Liz and Brian celebrating their 2nd ever "summit" to the Top of Half Dome. This time it was a LOT harder, in that I'm now in my 40's have had 3 children and am very out of shape as compared to the last time (BUT I still kicked Brian's butt on the climb!) Pictures a bit out of order..
Tired and very happy to be nearing the bottom of the hike. My legs were like RUBBER coming down the steps at Vernal Falls. We had hiked about 15 miles at this point. It was 4pm. We started our hike at 4:30 in the morning. We did get to spend 2 hours on the top of Half Dome though.
Pictures a bit out of order here, but this is from the morning after. I'm a "bit" tired after hiking 18 miles and climbing 5,000 feet UP and 5,000 feet DOWN in elevation in one day. But there was a deer near our tent, so Brian got me up to take a picture.
In the morning (probably just at sun-rise, as we are no longer using flashlights). We've already been hiking for about 3 miles (Brian's already got a sweat going from going UP UP UP the stairs). For a lot of people, hiking to Vernal Falls is a BIG deal. This was just the start of our hike. We left camp at 5:20. Vernal Falls are right behind us, but it's too dark to see.
Coming DOWN the cables. We were soooo happy to be on the cables by ourselves in the morning, as it's a nightmare (and dangerous) to have to deal with all the yahoos on the cables. That's me on the left passing someone as they are just going up.
Me again.
Liz on top of the world! 8,000 feet up! (we climbed 5,000 feet in elevation from the valley floor)


A view of the top portion of Half-Dome before we head up it. It's very imposing. And this is after you've just hiked about 7 miles.
Liz going down, passing people
This is why we left so early in the morning. All of these people were going up and we had to pass them on our way down. Not fun
Brian on top
Brian heading down. We don't have any pictures of us going up, because Brian wasn't doing well and he had the camera (yes, really the truth, something had to do with the amount of tequila he consumed the night before our hike). He was so slow, and I hated looking down waiting for him, that I just scrambled up as fast as I could and waited at the top for him. He's looking much better now on the way down.
A picture of the valley floor, hard to tell how far down it really is, but I couldn't stand at the edge, made me very queasy to my stomach.

Brian and Liz on top of Half Dome, one of the most famous places in the world. We felt very proud of ourselves. It was nice to have a small break from our kids for only the 2nd time since the twins were born. When we first got to the top it was very clear, but the smoke from the fire blew in while Brian was recovering. He really wasn't doing very well.
The view of the cables before we headed up
Right before our trip up the cables
The very large pile of gloves at the bottom of the cables that are necessary for the climb.
Trying to show how steep the cables really are.
another view of the cables in the morning with no one on them.

Bad fire that started in Yosemite just as we arrived in the park


Cool shot of the helicopter sucking up water to work on the fire (as we headed out of the park)