Daddy letting E try his hand at driving… on our way home 🙁

Our view for miles and miles and miles and miles…

We had a few pit stops

And E kept us entertained… Yes, he wanted to clip his own toenails 🙂

All in all our first family vacation was perfect. It wasn’t Hawaii but it was such a fun time. We got to bond and play for 5 full days. With Daddy working E only sees him at night and on the weekends so being with him for this long was really a joy.

I was so nervous about the driving and during parts of our trip being in the car really sucked but all in all E was a trooper and did great. I can’t wait to see where we’re going next year!

Eating Cheerios before we headed out to feed the fish

Feeding the fish and ducks

He dropped some bread

Getting ready to throw

Playing outside while waiting to be seated for breakfast at The Stove

Joseph drinking his iced tea out of a mason jar

E polished off a whole piece of cinnamon roll french toast

My breakfast skillet. Sooo good!! And I got a side of biscuits and gravy instead of home fries. I ate all the biscuits and gravy and 1/2 of the skillet… definitely a hearty breakfast!

Joseph’s waffle. So fluffy and good!

The faultline… multiple earthquakes caused this fault and it was pretty cool to explore. There was even snow on the ground still in some shaded areas.

E and Daddy crossing the bridge

One of the many lakes of Mammoth Lakes… this was the dog beach and we actually went back so E could play in the water and admire all the local doggies.

Another view of some lakes

I loved that there was a tunnel for cars AND bikes 🙂

We ended the day with a bit of window shopping at the Village

And no shopping trip is complete without some Ben & Jerry’s. He was kind enough to share with us when we asked…

Mommy and Daddy got a treat too. Daddy shared with E but Mommy didn’t 🙂

Being silly on the drive to Yosemite

The view as we drove into the valley

Tunnels! One thing I remember from my trip as a kid to Yosemite

A waterfall on the side of the road

So happy to be out of the car!

Bridal Veil Falls

The view from the bottom of the falls

Yes, I know my shirt isn’t the most flattering but at 90+ degrees I wasn’t going for cute, I was going for comfort.

So silly!

Rainbow Falls

Half Dome

Our visitor at lunch

Dada! Dada! Squirrel!

Close up

Our lunch… YUMMY cheeses & meats with fresh homemade bread & lots of marinated mushrooms, peppers & artichokes

Dessert!

Half Dome

A surprise sighting as we were leaving the valley

In the mountains right past the entrance/exit of Yosemite on the South side

Cheese!

He was having a conversation with me as I was taking his picture

For our second day in Mammoth we planned on checking out some local sights and taking a hike or two. So after feeding the fish (again) we headed out to the bus station where they take you to Devil’s Postpile & Rainbow falls.

The view we woke up to

Fishies first thing in the morning

Feeding the fishies gold fish

Yes, my son tried to eat the flowers

And than picked one and kept stuffing it up his nose 🙂

Looking at the Mammoth

We got an 11:30 bus and they drove us through the area. It was beautiful and the wind felt great. E fell asleep on the bus but luckily I had him in the Ergo so it wasn’t too hard getting up and off. We started hiking to Devil’s Postpile and just as we got there E woke up! Perfect timing!

We took a few pictures and looked around the area. We let E eat some snacks and drink some water as he explored. He loved watching the birds, squirrels and other wildlife. And he especially loved the water.

Devil’s Postpile

Another shot

Daddy & E… Sadly all of the pictures of Mommy & E were blurry 🙁

Squirrel!

I love my apple carrot crushers!

Enjoying the raging water below them

Testing out the calm stream… man was it cold!! But it felt good after our hike.

E wanted in on the action…

And loved it so much he wanted to get in

He would squat to play with the water and than kept grabbing his behind wondering why it was wet too 😉

So much fun!!! BTW… the ladies in the background were super nice and friendly with us. They had E laughing so much. They were in the middle of getting pictures taken out there and were “icing” their knees and ankles. They played sports and had all sorts of injuries (I’m definitely familiar with that!).

The snow made an M on the mountain!! Maybe it was on purpose?

Family picture in front of the Mammoth

A small hike in our backyard meadow (not even a quarter mile from the door of the condo) was a fabulous way to end our afternoon. We saw more wildlife and enjoyed the sound of the creek that ran through the meadow.

E LOVED hiking and looked so proud every time I looked back to snap a picture. He really is a little man now!

The view

He was so proud of himself on the walk… he did it all by himself! (and isn’t my husband handsome??)

Water!!!

Hanging out with Daddy watching the water

Why all the pictures, Mom??

Ducks! (as he’s signing duck)

Baby ducklings and their mom

Watching the ducklings

Bunnies!!

Come here, bunny, come here…

After our meadow walk we decided to go out and grab a bite to eat. MMMMM!

YUMMY buffalo burger from Burgers in Mammoth… if you go up you have to try this place 🙂 I fell in love with their bbq sauce (homemade… yes, I asked) and almost asked to buy some to take home but they didn’t have it jarred.

E sharing our milkshakes. They were kind enough to split one big milkshake into two manageable ones so Joseph and I could both partake (and switch off sharing with E).

After his busy day he was exhausted! Isn’t this bed cute??? It was built into a little nook in the wall and they even had a side protector so E wouldn’t fall out. Too bad I left my pillow (the one E’s sleeping with) at the condo 🙁

We began our journey a bit off schedule. I had asked Joseph if we could leave super early so E would sleep most of the way and we wouldn’t throw him off his schedule too much. But my loving husband chose sleep over leaving early…

We rushed to get everything into the car and than went to change E’s diaper and clothes for the ride. We realized we didn’t have the snappi for E’s prefolds. And I needed that snappi… Prefolds were what I was counting on as my main diaper source while on vacation since we have more of these than any other type of diaper.

With a phone call to Grandma Ann we found the snappi and made a detour before hitting the road. Once we had our snappi in hand it was off to the 15 north!

About three hours into our drive I was starving and E needed a break so we stopped by a Denny’s even though Joseph doesn’t quite care for it 😉

I didn’t realize how much this magna doodle would save us on this trip… it kept E entertained for each meal at a restaurant. We now plan on bringing it to every restaurant no matter what looks we receive from other restaurant goers. Much better than a screaming child and a cold meal!

E kept us entertained on the whole way up… he made funny faces and learned lots of new words (see the left hand side of the blog to see all his new words!)

This is the road we saw for quite some time…

And finally a glimmer of light in our long journey! Food! We stopped at Schat’s Bakery for a sandwich, some cookies (ok… for those who know Joseph… lots of cookies) and a few other pastries.

E even got a pony ride!

When we started to see snow on the mountains we knew we were close!

We finally arrived at the condo that Joseph’s Aunt Louise graciously let us stay in and E was ready to explore! Luckily there was a pond filled with fish right outside the screen door ready for him to play with. And, as we found out later in our trip, there was even a bigger pond just beyond this one with DUCKS!

A view from the back of the condo

And a shot of Joseph trying to wrap up a few things for work before storing the laptop away for the weekend and enjoying himself…

We were so exhausted after the drive that we may have passed out at around 8:30…