We're going HOME!

We are sitting in the Sacramento airport waiting to board. We originally were going to drive from Yosemite to Sacramento early this morning to catch our flight. The first night we were in Yosemite, we had some bug "issues" - major ant attack while we were on the back porch of the house eating dinner and then the girls found several large bugs in their room before they went to bed. Ab woke us up about 3:30 saying that she couldn't sleep because there were so many bugs. I got into the double bed with the two of them for a bit to help her fall asleep. The next day, I called them the Mexican Jumping Beans because they would both start to fall asleep and then would startle awake thinking that bugs were on there (or maybe they actually were). The next night we had the mouse in the house incident. In talking with the owners, they have the view that they live in the country and they don't like to kill anything - even in the house. Hmmm... It was to the point where when we left for the day for Yosemite, we came back and there were spider webs in the kitchen just from when we had left before. We figured we needed a bugless/rodentless night sleep, and so we used some of Jerry's AmEx points to get a hotel in Sacramento. Jerry said if he wanted to sleep with bugs and rodents, we would have camped...and we all know what Jerry thinks about camping. It turned out to be a great decision because Old Historic Sacramento is a fun place. We walked along the Sacramento River last night and enjoyed walking around in the historic district for awhile.

We have had a GREAT trip! It is cool to think about how initially we all had to learn to "enjoy" one another in smaller spaces and sharing a bathroom...12 days later we are really good at it, and have practiced great teamwork (think about moving to 6 different locations with all of our STUFF!), and have enjoyed wonderful fellowship with each other. What a blessing from the Lord this time together has been!

Thanks for following us...we can't wait to catch up with all of you when we get home....

We're leaving on a jet plane...(sorry, I couldn't resist the John Denver, that song always goes through my head when I'm traveling!)

mouse in the house

California is so cool! San Diego, LA, Pacific Highway, Sequoia, and Yosemite were really fun. Alex and Abigail already blogged about their favorite parts of the trip and they wrote about the same thing I would write. So Im going to write about something different because it would probably get boring reading the same thing three times. We stayed at a house outside of Yosemite and it had a river, bball court, and pool. Last night I was in bed and I heard the something like little feet running and plastic bags being moved around. I looked and next to the couch I was sleeping on was a mouse. Now Im not afraid of mice but I was like "man I wish I could catch that mouse." So me and my dad built a homemade mousetrap. We got a cooking pot and held it up with a chapstick bottle. Then we tied a shoelace to the bottle and I held the other end of the lace. Then we put some peanut butter under the pot. I held the other end of the string and waited for the mouse so that if he came I would pull my end of the string and the pot would fall over him. Now it was probably about 1:30 at night and my dad went to bed. I stayed up and waited for the mouse. 3:30 came around and the mouse still hadnt fallen for the trap.(the only way I stayed awake was by listening to some rock music) I would like to say that the mouse came I pulled the string and caught the mouse. Then I killed it or put it outside(I probably would have killed it) But that didnt happen. I finaly fell asleep and when I woke up the next morning none of the peanut butter was gone. So I wouldnt have caught him anyway. Thanks for reading!

Alex's favorite parts of the trip

Since this is our last day I thought iIwould tell you the best parts of our trip or what I thought were the best. I had a really fun time at Sea World except the beginning when i almost passed out but the rest of the day was awesome! We saw some cool shows and went on Atlantis and the rapids. That was really fun. Oh and it was really awesome when we got to kayaking in the ocean! (I do not know how to steer very good so we bumped into at least everyone twice.) The beach was fun but the ocean was REALLY REALLY cold!!!!!! So i just tanned and passed the football with Randy and this other guy who let us pass with him. (It was the other guys ball we did not bring one.) Sequoia was really cool! The trees were giganormas!!!! One day in Sequoia was not my day because I fell at least 4 times on one trail. The first time I fell on a rock on the side of the path and scraped my foot and leg up and they started bleeding and then I fell again and scraped up my other leg. Then one time I was right next to a river and I put my feet in and then I fell into the FREEZING cold water. Ya that was not my day!! Then we went to Yosemite whitch has a really cool water falls!! We went on a raft down Merced River in the Yosemite Valley. There were these girls and they had water guns and were spraying some one who I think was their family. Well after a little while they stopped and so we went to the girls and Abigail stole one of there water guns! So we had a really fun fight! Then when we tried to give them there water gun back it fell into the water and not in the boat so I jumped in to get it and my foot hit a rock which really hurt...but ya that was fun!!!! oh and we jumped of this twenty foot rock into the water it was super fun!!! The place was called Rainbow falls. Well that was it!!!! I had a really awesome time!!!! Can't wait to wake up early tomorrow and jump on a plane!! jk see ya soon

The View (by Jerry)

As Jen mentioned I have been the one taking most of the pics this trip. I've been trying to capture some of the beautiful creation that we have seen while we have been out here. While my favorite pics are the ones with my darling family in them, I thought I would post some of my favorite scenery pics for you. The flowers were taken on the top of a mountain while driving along the Pacific Coast Highway. The drive was simply beautiful. The picture with the emerald water was taken at China Beach at Point Lobos and what I think is my favorite picture, the one with the golden rock was also taken at Point Lobos at Bird Island Trail. The two mountainous pics were taken at Yosemite. The one with the full mountain range is a picutre of Yosemite valley. You'll see El Capitain on the left.

I know pictures can't capture all the buauty, but I hope you enjoy the pics.

Rafting (written by Abigail!)

On Friday we went on a beatiful raft ride in Yosemite. It was REALLY fun!! I swam a few times when we were out on the raft and it was extremely cold! After a little while we saw three girls on another raft. They were splashing their friends and the girls had two water guns that they were shooting too. When we caught up to the three girls they were were having trouble steering. I was the closest to them and the water gun was on one of the girl's laps. I reached over and grabbed the water gun out of the girl's lap! They still one gun, so we started a water gun fight! Unfortunetly we had the gun that was a little broken but it was still REALLY fun!! We gave their water gun back and they had to go ashore for a while because they thought their raft had a leak in it. We had a GREAT time rafting and if any of you guys are going to go to California, I recommend going to Yosemite!

Day 10 - The Beautiful Yosemite

Well, we did it! We were up and out the door by 7:45 this morning, and, boy, did we have a FULL day. We easily found a parking spot and then were able to successfully take the free shuttle to our first hike...and it was a doozy! We went on a trail called Mist Trail because at several points you are walking so close to the falls that you are getting wet from the mist. It was 1.7 miles - UP! Lots of steps and a really steep grade. The girls and I love our flip-flops and didn't know that this hike was going to so steep, so we wore the dumbest shoes you can on such a hike! The scenery was GORGEOUS, though. Totally worth all of the effort. Mom Schroeder the saying that you remind me of, "He never said it would be easy; He said it would be worth it!" came to my mind several times as we were pushing our way up to the top (and coming down, too - my thighs were shaking by the time we made it down.) I LOVE the spiritual lessons that the Lord shows me during these times of appreciating the beauty of His creation.

Then we rented a raft and rafted 3 miles down the Merced River. This river cuts right through the center of Yosemite Valley. So, you raft down (going with the flow of the current) and look around you to the most amazing of sites. They then have a shuttle pick you up and bring you back to the start.

At this point, we are just plain 'ol tired...but we literally have miles to go until we sleep. We've hiked and spent a couple hours in the sun. We decided to jump on the air conditioned shuttle to the Visitor Center and the famous Ahwanne Lodge which has been around since the early 1900s. They have a wedding garden and there was a beautiful wedding going on just as we got there. We enjoyed watching (from a good distance) the bridal party and bride walk down the isle. There were other spectators like us, too, even though it sounds strange. One lady was standing there in her bathing suit - strange.

We then headed to the Lower Yosemite Falls hike and then the Mirror Lake hike. We figured out that we hiked about 7 miles today. All very beautiful! One the way out we stopped and looked at the HUGE El Capitan and Bridal Falls. A really wonderful day!

Jerry has been the photographer this week and has thoroughly enjoyed getting some great pictures of the scenery. He took over 200 pictures, but I will just put 5 up because the computer is uploading them slowly.

We are TIRED and are planning a quiet day hanging out here on the property (maybe heading over and letting the kids jump off some more rocks) and getting ready to head to Sacramento on Sunday morning for our flight out.

I am going to teach the children how to post to the blog tomorrow and let them tell you their favorite parts of the trip.

Sorry for the long post...

Love you all!