4th

Big Trees, Part II: More road adventures

My husband and I took turns driving. So the non-driving parent is the designated toddler entertainer. Two different styles:

With mom: Rotated playing with educational toys and looking through picture books, sang songs with Elmo, and the "buddies" performed a couple of dance numbers.

With dad: Threw blankets around, blew spit bubbles, played with food, and pretended they're Wolverine...then the toddler Wolverine and daddy Wolverine ate the "foot claws" afterwards. GIggles all around. Sounds more fun, doesn't it?
Inside a sequoia tree.

Uh-oh, sand in the toesies.

Toesies drying in the sun.

She's going though a "Linus" stage right now...

Hmmm, are we on top of Moro Rock yet?

She also likes steering wheels at the moment.
And tries to climb over to the front of the car when parked. Vrooooom, beep-beep!

Big Trees

The three of us headed up to the Sequoia National Park this weekend. Oh what fun!

Here's the little one hanging out on top of luggage while dad filled up the tank.

Big Trees this way, please...

Here's a couple of big trees.

And a bigger one.

We also saw a deer.

And not one...

but two bears!

And we saw a tree resembling blowing a bubble gum-rock. Strange.

Maya enjoyed the long trek through Crescent Meadow. Bug repellent, a must!

We ate lunch in a picnic area and hiked down the slope to check out the creek. Dad decided to take Maya on a log overlooking the rushing waters. Mom's silently freaking out from a distance.

We climbed Moro Rock.

And made it to the top.

We also explored Crystal Cave. It's damp, really dark, and about 50 degrees inside. Maya kept saying "wow" and "cool". The pic above is one of the tightest spaces that you have to go through. No strollers or baby backpacks allowed so we had Maya in our arms the whole time. Ow!

Waterfall by the cave. Maya's finger became self conscious so it slowly made it up to a nostril before the kind stranger hit the click button.

Mom and Maya resting before making the strenuous hike back up from the cave.

We've been here many times, but our first with our daughter. The lansdscape never fails to amaze us each time.

It was nice to get away where cellphones don't work and just focus on family and the majestic landscape.

Camp Maya

What do you do when it's 110 degrees outside? Set up camp inside, of course.

Pad thai

Father and daughter sharing pad thai.
It's that good.