I went with 4 other people to hike Half Dome in Yosemite last week. The weather was superb (overcast with a few showers), and the hike lasted all of 12 hours round trip! It was beautiful all the way up, as you can see by the pic's. We hiked past 2 huge waterfalls along the Mist Trail ...actually we got drenched from the falls because they were so full!

Sorry...these pic's are out of order! Below is the cables at the top of Half Dome. Due to the VERY windy conditions (and having ditched my hiking boots for my hiking sandals a few miles back---BLISTERS!), I did not trek up the cables to the tip top. But we did hike Quarter Dome (see cousin Mooney in previous pic), which is greuling, and we enjoyed the view from up there!

The five of us in the hiking group:

My friend Karl by a VERY full river:

Early summer swimming

Noah has been scared to death of the pool for the past 2 years. Being as how I was pregnant and had a newborn, I didn't push the issue. But Noah has been in swimming lessons the past 2 months, and has done SOOOOOOOOOOOO well! Today, he finally got brave enough to jump off the diving board into the "deep-a-ness", as he calls it. It was also the first day he swam across the pool (up 'til now he's stayed within arms reach of the side). GO NOAH!!!

YAY! He did it!!!!!

The cheering section! :)

Lemonade stand

Granny and Grandpa gave the boys a bag of lemons from their backyard, and the boys wanted to make lemonade. Jaden had the idea of having a lemonade stand. There wasn't much traffic on our street on a Saturday afternoon, but they still made $6.00!!! Jaden wants to do this every day of spring break so he can buy a book series he likes! :)




The lady in this car asked the boys, "Is this the Starbucks drive-thru?" Jaden told Titus and Noah that if they do a good job, they might get tips. This lady gave them an extra nickel.

Aislynn's first set of singles

Mesha braided amazingly fast...25 minutes or so and she was done!

A sick day

'Tis the time of year for viruses to make their way slowly through every member of the family. Titus woke me up this morning crying and complaining of a "dry throat". He ended up having a fever, along with his cold symptoms, which meant NO SCHOOL FOR HIM!!! Every 6 hours on the dot, his fever would return and Titus would be complaining about how cold it was. At least today was a nice sunny day. Titus, Noah and I enjoyed an outdoor picnic with hot chocolate ("with straws" said Noah). Later that day, I found Titus asleep in the doorway, where the sun was warming the wood floor of my entry. Noah followed his brother's lead and made himself a "bed" on the front porch. Among other things, sick kids are cute!

A Pirate's Life for Me!

Titus's kindergarten class was in a scene of the middle school's play, "A Pirate's Life for Me". Titus thought it was very cool to be able to dress like a pirate (although he was wishing he could've carried a sword like the "big pirates"). This is a blurry pic taken from the back of the auditorium. That's Titus in the middle:



Titus (middle) with some other male pirates from his class:




A group of beautiful pirate princesses:



Aaaaaaarg!!!!!!!!

MLK Dream Run January 10, 2009

Auntie Andi and Aislynn came to cheer us on!



Jaden running his little heart out in the 1/2 mile run. Afterwards, he was crying and saying his chest hurt (it was very cold!). But he was very excited to find out later that he got 1st place for his age group!




Little Titus was so excited and proud to run in a race (see him in the brown hood?) He ran hard, but tripped close to the starting line (too many kids on a skinny path). Despite that setback, he got up, kept running and finished his 1/4 mile race ! Good job Titus!




Noah (black hood) getting ready to start his race. Notice that he's a head taller than the other kids in his age group. :) He had a lot of fun and also got a first place trophy for his age group. His good friend Natalie is in the purple next to him.



Noah and Natalie after their race. Good job pre-schoolers!

Jaden and his friend Rebecca after the races....they were both sore later...1/2 mile is a long run for them!

Jenny and me (Jenny's my running partner---go girlies!)

Titus and his friend Rachel:

Here I am at the end of my 10K (6.2 mile) race. I can see the finish line!

My friend Karl and me (he ran the 10K also):

A good race day...a good cause...scholarships for high school seniors. It was a win-win day!