Finally after all these years, we made it to Yosemite.  It was truly incredible to see God’s creation up close. We were all impressed and just had to sit back and take it in.  What beauty.  Of course with any family trip though, we had our ups and downs.  We only spent a few hours at Yosemite among a three day vacation.  The rest was filled with the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The trip started off pretty good and we only had a 5 hour drive ahead of us.  The drive up was mostly normal with the regular amount of complaining and fighting.  Adam and Luke were much more difficult than normal and got the wonderful surprise at Sonic Drive-In that they would be the only two not receiving a desert.  Luke didn’t seem to care, but Adam was mortified and seemed to shape up for the rest of the trip…. mostly.

When we finally arrived at the cabin (after 7 hours) we were very impressed.  The cabin was rustic for sure, but it was neat.  We found more records than I’ve ever seen in my life, there was the old piano from the 1800s, and older furniture that gave it a homey feel.  The area around the cabin was beautiful as we were surrounded by large trees everywhere.  The only downside was that we were in a cabin that had no air conditioning and the early evening temperatures were just barely dropping below 90.  Keeping the cabin cool was near impossible.  We had a much greater appreciate for our AC when we got home.

Before dinner that evening, we walked down to one of the swimming holes nearby.  That was an adventure.  We took the stroller with us (double stroller) to make it easier.  When we finally found the path, it was not possible to take the stroller all the way down with us because of the narrow passageway.  So, we abandoned the stroller about 200 feet before the swimming hole.  The area was very pretty and most of the kids had fun.  Gideon however, decided that he was ready to swim in deep water and cascade down the mild current.  We did not let him and he proceeded to have a major meltdown in front of us and everyone else who was there.  The thing about his meltdowns is that everyone can hear.  He projects his cries very well.  I tried to move him to another location away from the crowd, but he continued to cry very loud and on the way there, I slipped on a rock sloped downward and nearly broke my ankle and scraped up my hand trying to break the fall.

I decided to leave with him and take the stroller with me while leaving Spring (pregnant) and with four boys.  I found out that after I left, Luke got caught in the current and taken into slightly deeper waters (too deep for him), and that he went under for a few seconds before another woman nearby leaped in fully clothed to drag him to safety.  Before you wonder where Spring was, she was holding Titus 30 feet away trying to figure out what to do with him and make her way down the slope of the rock to reach Luke.  We of course thanked the Lord as we always ask Him for protection.  He certainly provided protection for Luke.  So Spring headed back with the four kids and no stroller and all of us were a little on edge for a bit.

Dinner was fun that evening as well.  We ate at the only place nearby and it was a little fancier than we expected.  We of course, being seven in number, are not really fancy at all and stood out especially because we had Elmo playing loud enough for a few tables to hear just to keep Gideon in check during dinner.  It did do the trick though, because he was relatively docile compared to what he is capable of in a quiet restaurant.  Thus Monday ended…..

Tuesday was our planned trip to Yosemite.  We were only on the road for about 20 minutes when we heard Titus scream from the back.  We turned around to find that Adam had accidentally poked him with his walking stick.  He repeated it was an accident, but why would he even have a walking stick anywhere near Titus’ head.  So we pulled off the road and Spring went back and grabbed the stick and chucked it into the trees and we were again… on our way.  We stopped at the view point outside Yosemite and then on into the valley.  We parked in the main lot and decided to take the shuttle that everyone recommended.  So we unloaded everyone and walked them with the stroller a few hundred feet and than sat around waiting for the shuttle.  When it finally arrived, we had to quickly fold it up and gather up the flock of kids. While I was folding the stroller, about four water bottles came flying out on the road next to the bus.  We tried to grab them quickly, but one or two went under the bus so we started out the bus ride a little short on water.

The first stop was Yosemite Falls (#6) and we hiked up to the falls.  Spring and Adam and Luke got to hike up the rocks to the falls while I stayed with Gregory and the babies.  Gideon was whining so we let him out and he hiked around where I was and eventually took off running where Gregory had to chase him down.  When Spring came back, we all hiked back down the trail to the bus stop and headed off for lunch.  We ended up at stop #8 I believe for lunch and ate at the Cafeteria.  After that we headed to stop #10 for the gift shop which is my favorite thing to do on vacation (SARCASM). After the kids picked up their stuff, we headed back to the car hot, tired, and exhausted. We drove out stopping at the Bridalveil falls where Adam and I hiked to.  It wasn’t that great because like everything else, it was very dry.  The falls were mostly just a mist coming off the top that barely made it to the ground.

The last stop was 30 minutes out of the way up to Glacier Point. We parked the car and then lugged the kids what seemed like a quarter mile up to the point.  I was the lucky one to carry Gideon all the way there and back.  The view was grand to say the least and we took a few pictures.  We even got to see Luke’s dream come true as he actually got to pet a squirrel while it was along the ledge eating food that the bystanders gave to it.  He was really excited and now says that it’s the best part of the trip.

The evening included sitting in the hot cabin, and eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner.  While we made the sandwiches, Gideon ran like a maniac through the cabin opening and closing doors and running around outside making a ton of noise. This was pretty much all he did when we were inside at the cabin. After dinner, Gregory, Adam and I played a three games of horseshoes.  That was fun especially because it was outside where it was a nice and cool 76 degrees at 7:30 in the evening.  Can you tell the heat was getting to us?  We finished the evening with just me, Spring, and Gregory watching a rather uninteresting Cary Grant movie and then off to bed.  Thus ended Tuesday….

Wednesday was the long trip home which started with orange rolls and bacon for breakfast. After that we cleaned up and then headed down to try the swimming hole again.  This time was better (mostly) except for Gideon who went in and out of hysteria from not getting to do every little thing he wanted to do.  Thankfully, we were alone at the swimming hole so his screeching went mostly unattended to.  The swimming hole was fun otherwise, and that concluded the festivities of the trip.  We left and headed to Bass Lake to visit the Stewart Family (friends of ours).  After that, we ate lunch in Oakhurst at the Pizza Factory at Spring’s request. After we ordered lunch, the kids stole our quarters to buy stickers that I’m sure are all in the trash now.  Four quarters down the drain….  Then the pizza came.  Right after that Luke spilled Adams spilled drink all over the table and we gathered forty or fifty napkins to keep it under control until help arrived.  I held Titus the whole meal so Gideon could be confined in a seat.  Even still he got mad every 3-4 minutes and would screech loudly so all in the restaurant could hear.  We were sure that we would be the talk of the town after we left since we made quite an impression in our 25 minutes in the Pizza Factory.

When we left, we realized that Gideon had pooped, but we were out of diapers so he had to sit in it… lovely!  We then raced home stopping twice for deserts and bathroom breaks.  Luke must have consumed too much water because we had to have him pee in a bottle four times on the trip home.  Since it was getting late and we were sitting in traffic, I didn’t want to stop and we had plenty of empty water bottles handy, so we improvised.  We finally arrived home around 7:00PM after leaving around 1030AM and it was home sweet home.

Daddy Kraft