Hiking in Yosemite....

Yesterday we started the day early and took off with three other families, the Orcutts, the Souza's and the Johnsons, for a hike in Yosemite. We haven't been to Yosemite all summer (how wrong is that!!), so we were thrilled to find an opportunity to go. It was a beautiful day and no matter how many times we have been there, we always find it to be such a peaceful place. Nacoya put it perfectly....it's amazing to think that God created all of this, but still sees and knows us.

Beginning the hikeThe men...The ladies... If I have my pictures right, this is the view from Sentinel Dome. We had not done this hike before. Bob and Ann were our fearless leaders and showed the way. We are so glad they did! We could see so much of the valley (Yosemite valley) from here.
The boys: Jonathan, Trent and ScottThe girls: Jenna, Emily, Jenna and Nacoya
What a view!!
Taking in the scene.... this was Nacoya's first visit to Yosemite.
All the kids hanging out together...a great group of teenagers!
Chow Time!!!We potlucked it, yummy. Unfortunately, the meat bees thought so too, but we swatted them away and made the best of it. Any suggestions on getting rid of those things? It's like they come out of nowhere when the food arrives!

Marcia's yummy salad...now we all want the recipe. Pie and cookies for dessert
It was actually Bob's birthday. Happy Birthday, Bob and thanks for spending it with us.
Jen and NacoyaOK, this was pretty amazing. This was at Taft Point. These are called the Fissures, which by definition is a break in a rock. You really don't get a good view of it here, but these are huge granite rocks with breaks in them that you can very carefully look through and see below. Since I'm not good with heights, Bob took this picture for me. We are on top of all this granite rock and looking down 3500 feet! Amazing...
No trip would be complete without Jenna taking a picture of herselfI thought this was sweet, Emily and Steve catching a moment together at Washburn Lookout The view from Washburn. More of the view. If you look closely you can see Vernal Falls at the lower left and Nevada Falls above it and just to the right. (Detour: Cousins, this is the hike we took that one summer that the truck broke down Yosemite) You have to hike by each of those falls on the way to Half Dome, which is just to the left of the falls, from where we were standing.Half DomeCouples/Parents...it was a great day and hopefully we will be back up there before too long again.