Sequoia Adventure

We planned a trip to Sequoia National Park for Spring Break.  It was definitely an adventure!  We had plans of visiting the General Sherman tree (the largest tree alive), going on a few easy hikes, and staying in the Montecito Sequoia Lodge.  I had been checking the weather about a week before we left and noticed it would be cooler than where we live but not bad, highs in the 60s.  The night before we left I checked the weather again as I was packing.  Now it said that it would be high of 40s, chance of rain both days we were in the park, and possible snow at night.  I packed the kids warmer clothes and hoped for the best.  The first night we stayed in Visalia, a town just outside the park.  We went swimming and had a great time relaxing.

 Brian checked the weather again that night and it said a 90% chance of snow for the next day.  The park required we carry chains for our car just to get in!  We bought some chains, a few ponchos, and headed into the park the next day.  

It rained for the first part of the drive up the mountain.  By the time we got to the General Sherman hike, it was slushy snow.  It was 1/2 mile to the tree, so we bundled up and donned our ponchos.  The sequoia trees are absolutely amazing to see.  You just can't picture how huge they are until you see them in person.

 

All of us at the base of General Sherman.  Brian ended up carrying Lydi for the 1/2 mile back to the car.  The trail was paved the whole way, but it was slippery with the slush.  Robbie was such a protector of me.  He held my hand the whole way and wanted to make sure I didn't slip and fall. "You don't want to hurt yourself or baby Thomas," he would say.

 After the hike we headed toward our lodge.  We made it to another lodge called Wuksachi Lodge.  The concierge helped us put the chains on our car and the lodge informed us that the road leading to our lodge was closed for the night.  Brian called and was able to cancel our reservations.  Luckily the Wuksachi Lodge had an available room and a peanut-safe restaurant for us to dine in that evening.

We decided to stay there.  The kids loved seeing the snow and it was a nice to relax for the evening.

 

The next morning, we woke up to about a foot of snow on the ground!  We bundled up and let the kids play for a long time.  Brian was able to dig our car out of the snow cave that had built up around it that night.  The snow on these tall trees really was gorgeous to see.  It was such a beautiful setting.

The kids made a snowman- it was hard since the snow was all powder, but they were happy with it!

 

We had some snow fights...

 

and slid down some small hills.

 

 That afternoon we traveled back down to Visalia for another night and more swimming.  We had a great time with our unexpected adventure.  We are grateful for all the help we had from Heavenly Father in keeping safe and finding the right place for us to be. The park was so beautiful.  We will have to come back in the summer time so we can fit in a few more hikes.

Heritage Park

This week Robbie was on Spring Break.  We discovered a new park not far from our house called Heritage Park.  It's inspired by Paul Revere and his famous ride.

 

They built it on a man-made island.  The "moat" is full of ducks and turtles.

They have small replica buildings with play equipment inside.  This is the Old North Church where the lanterns were hung to warn the neighboring town about the red coats coming.

There was so much to do here that the kids could have played for hours.  We will definitely be going back!

Easter

We had a great Easter!  We woke up to our full baskets and an Easter egg hunt that the Easter bunny left for us.

We had a great service at church.  Robbie got to sing I Stand All Amazed with the other Primary kids in Sacrament Meeting.

 After we got home we made pork ribs, cheesy potatoes, rolls, and broccoli for linner.  We had a great FHE with a lesson by Brian called The Case of the Empty Tomb. Witnesses and exhibits were presented from the scriptures that helped us figure out that Christ really has been resurrected.  Then we watched The Testaments.  We are grateful for our Savior and the power of the Atonement and Resurrection.

Open House & Science Fair

Robbie had his school Open House this week.  I love going around the room and seeing all the projects he's been working on and talking about.  

 The continents- He was in the Antarctica expert group and did a class presentation on what he learned about it.

He selected an animal to research too.  He picked a snake, and did a great research report!

On the stars, they wrote a sentence about what they know now that they didn't at the beginning of first grade.  Robbie now knows how to play handball.

Robbie with his teacher, Mrs. Mendez.  

They also displayed Robbie's science fair project in his classroom for Open House.  He was the only student in his class to participate.  I underestimated the amount of time it would take to put it together:)  Robbie loved almost every minute of it though, and it was fun for us to work together.  

 

He gave an oral presentation to his class the morning of Open House.  

His teacher said he was so cute, asking questions of the other students and presenting the data.  His experiment was to see what a gummy worm would do after soaking 12 hours in tap water, soda water, salt water, and boiling water. 

FUNNY STORY: He had asked the class what their hypothesis was.  Mrs. Mendez said that one girl guessed that the gummy worms would have a baby gummy worms in the water!  She said Robbie just stood there in amazement then looked at her like, "Mrs. Mendez, I think she's serious.  Can she be serious?"  She said it was a great unspoken moment between the two of them.  Now he knows what it's like to teach first graders!

Hummingbird

We have the cutest hummingbird that visits us throughout the day. I've thought in the past that it would be fun to have a hummingbird feeder in our yard, but I guess we don't need one when things are in bloom! I see him visiting all of our flowers and love to just watch him.  I should probably name him...

Track Meet

Robbie participated in the Buena Park track meet on Friday, when Gawbie and Grandpa were here.  We are glad they got to see it with us!  Robbie entered 3 events: 100 m, 200 m, and the softball throw.  He was really nervous when we first got there since he didn't know what to expect, but soon he got excited and did great in all 3 events!

First, he competed in the softball throw.

He got 3rd place for boys in his age group!

 

Next, he competed in the 100 m.

 

 First place for his age group! He ran it in 19.07 seconds.

Waiting for the 200 m race.

At the start- Robbie is the first boy on the curve.

 

 He won first place again for his age group!  He ran the 200 m in 43.72 seconds.

The top 4 in each event are invited to participate in the Orange County Track Meet.  Robbie qualified for each of his events.  However, we were sad to learn that the meet would be on a Sunday, so we've chosen not to compete in it.