The Most Beautiful Place On Earth

Last week, we had the opportunity to join a group of friends on a 4 day trip to Yosemite. Our friend, Ella, had found a great deal on Living Social where we got a great deal to rent a couple of cabins. We were 10 adults, 2 kids, and 3 babies.

We set off on Wednesday night in the Tundra and drove with the Andersons to Visalia where we would stay the night at my parents' house. The last leg of the drive caught us in a storm of torrential rain where we could barely see. Luckily, Doug was driving with Johan as copilot while Jessica, Axel, and I were sleeping in the back, so we hadn't a care in the world. Natalie and Olivia arrived late late that night and had a slumber party on Mom and Dad's living room floor.

On Thursday, we woke up, had breakfast, went grocery shopping, and were off! We arrived in Yosemite at around noon but checkin wasn't until 2:00 so we decided to drive up to Glacier Point where there was supposed to be an amazing view of the Yosemite Valley. However, as we started driving higher and higher toward the point, the weather got worse and worse. We got to the top and got a really great view of some spectacular cloud coverage.









We drove back down the hill and checked into our cabins. I think every one of us feels like we scored. We had three cabins total, and every cabin was really nice. Ours was the smallest, but I loved that it looked and felt like a real wood log cabin. It was also really close to the river so you could hear the rushing water when you stepped outside. A family of deer greeted were also waiting to greet us as we pulled in to the driveway.

The next day, we all met up as a group in Yosemite Valley to do some hiking together. If you've never been to Yosemite, you have to drive through a tunnel in the mountain. The tunnel was strategically placed so that as you exit it, you have this (Angels singing) feeling of complete and utter amazement that anything so incredibly beautiful could have ever been created.

You see Half dome, waterfalls in every direction, and mountains that are shear magnitudes larger than anything you could ever imagine. It almost feels like a Lord of the Rings movie shot, but without the Hobbits and hot elves.

"I see you oh sandwich of mine"

We made our way to Curry Village and found some picnic tables to have lunch, Axel ate his lunch. But soonafter, followed the trail of sandwich scent wafting through the air and made his way over to Asa and Sami Baron's side. He has been doing this a lot lately, he is like a hungry dog in that he'll crawl over to you and beg and grab at your food. Asa was completely unaware of Axel's lack of manners in this department, and soon lost a piece of his sandwich.

"Ha, sucker!"

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

The Guys....Uh, Where's Bear?

After lunch, we were off! We took the tram to walk the trail to take a look at Lower Yosemite Falls. It was spectacular. There is an upper and a lower Yosemite Falls, which total approximately 2,600 feet in height. The top of Yosemite Falls is the tallest waterfall in California, and one of the top 6 tallest in the world.

All the girls

We then made our way to Miror Lake, which was also incredibly beautiful, but, is it really a lake? Not sure about that.

It was around 5:30, so Johan and I headed home with Axel, who had had a really long day with no p.m. nap, while everyone else stayed and had pizza in the village. Axel was snoring in the car within 5 minutes and slept really well in his travel tent. We ended up giving him his own room while we slept in front of the fire in the living room, it was actually really nice!

Johan and Tom

Johan and I and Olivia were talking about wanting to do a more strenuous hike the next day. And who better to ask than Tom Major, mountain man extraordinaire? Tom and Jacque Major were staying in a cabin with the Andersons. They had a sweet little 2 month old baby boy named Joshua. So Johan called Tom up and made the mistake of saying we wanted to do an "Epic" hike. Johan got off the phone and said that Tom suggested we do a 4 hour hike to Yosemite Falls. "Wait", I said. "Does he mean 'Upper Yosemite Falls?'" I then re-told them the story that Jacque had told me earlier, about her natural birth plan. She and Tom had agreed that if she couldn't make it a second longer and wanted an epidural, that he should in no circumstance agree if she asked him to. However, if she shoulted out "Upper/Lower Yosemite Falls!" Then that meant that it was too hard, she'd had enough, she was done, give her the drugs. "Is this the same hike he's talking about, because it's worth re-considering if his wife made it her emergency stop code word because it was too hard and painful". Johan called Tom back up and, yes, it was indeed the same hike. But Tom reassured us that it wasn't that bad, and that it wouldn't take the 7 to 8 hours that the Yosemite Hiking pamphlet said it would. We all ended up trusting in mountain man Tom.

The next morning, we let Axel take his morning nap, packed our backpacks full of baby food and snacks, and were off. We parked in the Yosemite Village Parking lot and had to crane our necks back 90 degrees in order to see the top where we were supposed to arrive in 4 hours, according to Tom. We started on the trailhead at 12:50, with Johan toting Axel in the new Kelty baby backpack. After about 45 minutes we (Johan, Tina, Olivia) were all sweating and had drank about 1/2 of our water. Tom somehow was chipper as ever, saying that we were making such great time, and had a continual smile on his face. I learned that one of his favorite phrases includes anyone having a "can-do attitude". Johan seemed to be getting tired, so I took Axel and the backpack from him to give him a break. After about 5 minutes, I was about to pass out and turn back, so I suggested we stop for lunch. We stopped and had our sandwiches, and let Axel out to crawl and explore. He was pretty happy. He loves being in the backpack and having such a great view, and he loves taking the breaks to crawl and dig his hands in the dirt, and occasionally steal food from someone.

We really just went to Kmart photo studio and stood in front
of this background

As we were finishing our lunch, Tom suggested that he carry Axel in the backpack. He had mentioned earlier that he trained with 40-pound weights strapped to him. Johan and I didn't even hesitate in answering yes. So off we went. I all of a sudden could walk again, and somehow, Tom still kept talking at a normal rate and still had a smile on his face. People passing by kept commenting on how great it was that Tom (obviously the Dad) was taking his son up on such a tough hike. One guy even said "I don't love my kids that much". Another guy stopped us to ask if the goliath waterfalls in front of us were Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls. When we said "Yes" he said "really? I thought they'd be more impressive". Uh, but....you mean....huh? We couldn't get over that the rest of the hike.

It was amazing to see who was taking the hike. There were little kids who looked to be around 3-4 years old, there were old people, there was a pregnant lady, and teenagers in Vans shoes, I think there was even someone in flip flops. So when we were ready to give up and turn around, the sight of those people and the confusion in our brains of how in the world could they make it and not us, kept us going. All the while, Tom didn't break a sweat and kept leading the way.

It took us 2 1/2 hours to get to the top. At the top, we had the exhilaration of the most incredible view in the world, the satisfaction that lactic acid was no longer building up in our legs, and the pride that we didn't give up and turn around. WE DID IT!!!

The view was amazing. It felt like we were eye level with the top of the whole valley, and could see snow covered mountains far off in the distance that aren't possible to see down from the valley. It was also amazing to me to see that there is a whole other world at the top of these mountains. There are valleys with grass and trees and rivers that you can't see from down below.

We climbed down a granite staircase with a flimsy steel pipe railing to get to the overlook of the falls. The staircase was so narrow you just had to keep looking down and hold on to the railing for dear life. Axel stayed up on top with Tom for this one. But once at the overlook, you could basically stand on the edge of the cliff and look down as the waterfall cascaded 2,600 feet to the ground.

We took about an hour break to eat and rest, then headed back down. Axel hadn't been able to nap in the backpack with all the excitement with the incredible views and all, so I put him in the Ergo as a backpack, and covered his head with the attached baby hood. He was out in minutes. I have to say, Johan and Olivia thought going up was hard, but I thought going down was harder. With each step, you had to flex your quadricep muscle and it felt like it was flexed for the entire 2 hour decent. By the end, my legs were shaking permanently. We walked by a lady who had fallen and hit her head. We made sure she had help, then kept going. After about 20 minutes, we saw two members of the Yosemite Rescue Team hiking up practically at a jog. They must run up and down this mountain every day, I can't imagine being in that good of shape.

7.6 miles, 5.5 hours, and three slips by Olivia onto her butt later, we made it back to the trailhead. From the car back and forth, it took 6 hours, a little more than the 4 hours that Tom the Optimist had approximated, but who cares,  we had accomplished something we were proud of, we made it to the top and back from Upper Yosemite Falls! The bad part is, that Olivia and I will probably not walk again for a couple of months. Somehow, Johan wasn't sore, and you can all imagine Tom was ready for another hike and had a smile on his face the next day.

Before the hike....we still had smiles
on our faces and positive attitudes.

Lately: 11-1/2 Months

This entry is really for me to remember this stage, it probably is not very entertaining for anyone else.

Some new things that are happening this week: Axel learned to clap his hands, what a genius! He is also starting to crawl on his knees at an incredible pace, but for some reason, continues to flop down and army crawl. He is also completely infatuated with the bathtub. He will crawl over to it, stand up, and peer in any time during the day, wondering if anyone will start the water. Or when one of us showers, he will hear the water and dash into the bathroom to take a look. Bathtime, obviously, is his favorite time of the day. He also loves climbing stairs and playing in the sand or the dirt in the garden.




Johan finally bought a tap for his beer keg in the garage refrigerator! He had some problems with the carbon dioxide, but went last weekend and added more to the keg. Now, the beer tastes fabulous, and is available 24-7. What a luxury. And I was wrong about it being an Ale, it's actually a stout. Yesterday afternoon, after I got home from work, the three of us sat outside in our side yard. I got to have a beer while Axel played with a broom and got into the dirt. It was a beautiful 1/2 hour.

For some reason, our method of going down for naps have been changing lately. For the past several months, it's been pretty easy. When the 2 to 2 1/2 hour mark comes along, we'd just darken the room, hold Axel and he'd plot his head against us, exhausted. Then we'd lay him down in his crib without protest. Lately, he's been crying and standing up, throwing his pacifier on the ground, refusing to sleep. My sleep book says this is normal, that they'll protest naps because they would much rather stay awake and play with Mom and Dad. The book recommended simply letting them cry it out and they'd eventually understand that nap time has no exceptions, and they'd give up and fall asleep. I tried this several times, but Axel would get so worked up, it wasn't his normal cry, and he just wouldn't sleep. So I gave in and went in to him, held him, and rocked him to sleep in the glider. He's been going to sleep like this now for several days. I really love it. It reminds me of the days when he was just months old and would always fall asleep in my arms. But it seems that he's only having this issue with me. Johan can put him in the crib and so can Lupe, without a problem.

Axel still goes to bed between 6 and 6:30 pm.Night sleeping has been great lately too. A couple of weeks ago, he went through a spell of night wakings where he'd lose his pacifier, and also was waking up at 5:30 a.m. We had to stick to our rule and not get him until at least 6:00 to not encourage the 5:30 wakeup, and it eventually went away. Now he might wake up at 5:30, but he'll go back to sleep until around 6:30.

One thing that has been a total blessing is that he sleeps really well in places other than his crib. We still go to home group every Thursday night. We just put him to bed in his carseat and he'll fall asleep in the car on the drive over. Natalie lives on a quiet col de sac and we park the truck right next to her dining room window, cover him in a blanket, and keep checking on him. He never wakes up! We always make sure it's not too hot or cold in the car, but the San Diego weather is pretty accommodating.

I recently started a Meetup for moms in North Park and South Park. It has been really great. There are some really wonderful moms in our area. We keep everything pretty simple, we just meet up at a park that is close by. Axel and I were getting a little lonely, so this has been really fun.

Mealtimes have also gotten to be challenging. Some times he just refuses to eat, other days he eats his entire bowl of food. I have been reading that this is normal, that babies' appetites come and go certain days, and not to worry about it. I have noticed that it's hard for Johan or I to eat anything that isn't exactly what he is eating, otherwise, he wants it. So we eat our toast with egg and avocado breakfast before or after he sits down, otherwise, we have to share! I also noticed that sometimes he'll eat if I give him a toy. But if he doesn't want to eat, we usually don't give him any alternatives other than something equally healthy. We have had to save food like crackers for after his meal, almost as a dessert, because he could eat those all day. It seems that his favorite food that he almost always will accept is the mix we make of cottage cheese, yogurt, ground flax and ground almond. Sometimes we'll throw in a pureed green or orange vegetable so that it's a complete meal with protein, dairy, and vegetable. He also still eats his crazy super porridge every morning. It's a mix of brown rice or oatmeal, any ground up bean, a green vegetable, an orange vegetable, powdered kelp, dessicated liver, brewer's yeast, and either an egg yellow or citrus to absorb the iron. I know, it's a ridiculous concoction, but he loves it and it's so good for him. I also created a really easy and good family/baby recipe. It's homemade macaroni and cheese but I added a healthy sausage and vegetables. Johan and Axel both loved it. Here's the recipe:

1/2 pound whole wheat elbow macaroni

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

3 cups milk

1/2 cup yellow onion, finely diced

1 bay leaf

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 large egg

8 ounces cheddar, shredded

Fresh black pepper

 A protein, like apple chicken sausage or turkey sausage

 Any vegetables, like carrots, peas, cauliflower

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a separate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-quart casserole dish. You can eat it right away, or sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Lately, I've been reading an incredible book on raising children written by a Christian author. It's called Shepherding a Child's Heart. It has completely changed everything I thought was important about raising children. I highly recommend it!

A Camping We Will Go

I take back everything I said about Axel being difficult. You'll understand after you finish reading this entry.

Back in February, we decided with our friends the Kellers that we would repeat our yearly tradition of camping at Shaver Lake this 4th of July....and bring the babies, of course. Yikes. So Johan and I got a little terrified at the memories of many of our friends who brought their babies in past years and were up all night, or walking baby in the stroller at 11:00 pm, or were getting yelled at by neighboring campers to throw their baby in the car (by the way, that neighboring camper was actually part of our group). Anyways, we thought we would try and train for Shaver by camping once per month with the hope of avoiding being another statistic in the camping-with-baby failures.

And so began our first camping trip on Saturday! Johan booked a campsite at Aguas Calientes out in Borrego Desert east of San Diego. I had never been there, and we were both so excited at the thought of a new adventure. We let Axel take his first morning nap, then packed the car while he slept. After he woke up we took off. It took about 2 hours to get there, and by the time we arrived, he was ready for his second nap. He fell asleep in the car about 20 minutes before we arrived, then the second we parked at our camp site, he was awake. We set up our tent and I tried to put him down for a nap in his baby tent, but this new place was just way too exciting, so we let him stay awake.

I grew up by the mountains and Johan grew up near forest, so we never understood how people could love anything else. I never understood the love of the beach, and especially not the desert. But as we viewed our campgrounds, we just thought that this place was so incredibly beautiful. Yes, it was dry as the desert usually is, but it was so huge and vast, and the sand was beautiful and almost white. One thing we also realized about the desert is that it is hard to see the beauty unless you look closely. You have to get out of your car and take a walk to see the beautiful flowers that bloom on the cactus, and the wildflowers that sprout on the ground, and the crazy shapes the cactus take on, and the warm breeze is so, so nice.

Writing in the sand "Just like Jesus!" says Daddy.

Another reason we loved this desert campground was that although Axel is STILL army crawling, here he was crawling in sand, so there was no dirty mess, it was wonderful. A funny thing was that Axel seemed so much happier here than at home. At home, he's usually bored and whining to go outside and do something fun. But here, he could crawl around and explore to his heart's content. It was paradise for all of us.

The campsite also had hot spring pools. So we got in our swim suits and headed to one of them. We splished and splashed for a while, then decided Axel was in such a good mood that we should go for a walk. He got to wear his brand new robe that Tia Monica got him, and he seemed to be happy to be allowed to go diaper-free. We dragged the umbrella stroller to the top of a small hill, and again were amazed by the enormity and beauty of this place. It was so peaceful, and everyone was walking around happy, drinking a beer.

So at this point, (6:00 pm) Axel was getting really tired. He had skipped his afternoon nap and was starting to yawn. We gave him some dinner, then took a shower, put him in his pj's, then decided to go for a short hike until he really looked tired. When he started nodding off in the backpack, we walked back and I took him into the tent. He was really scared of being left alone in the tent, so I sat there with him and rocked him in my arms and sang the songs I usually sing before bedtime (Cielito Lindo and De Colores). After about 5-10 minutes he was fast asleep in my arms. This, by the way, has not happened since he was maybe 4 months old, so he was super exhausted. I put him in his baby tent and he woke up and cried, so I laid there with half my body in the tent with him, arms around him, singing, until he fell asleep. After a minute or so, I zipped up the tent and left. SUCCESS!!!

We had some pretty loud neighbors. In fact, there were noises everywhere. Not only people, but some enormous bullfrogs whose ribbits echoed against the mountains. People were playing guitar and singing, kids were yelling and playing. So I prayed to God that Axel would sleep soundly.

As the darkness settled in, it got colder, and we started to feel guilty that he was only in his flannel pajamas. My friend, Libby, had given me a handmade triple layered fleece sleep sack. So I went into the tent and put it on him. He didn't even wake up!

The rest of that night, Johan and I were talking about what a perfect camping trip this had been. It wasn't much, we didn't do anything too exciting, but we did it, and we were proud of ourselves for conquering the fear of baby camping. But we also realized that having Axel with us was so much more fun than camping by ourselves. Probably because Axel seemed so happy to be camping, hence, mom and dad were also happy.



After a couple of beers, some campfire, an amazing dinner of barbequed rack of lamb, and some chocolate pudding, we talked a little, read a little, then headed off to bed. Another fear I had was sleeping in the same tent as Axel. I never sleep well next to him because he usually makes noises. We didn't sleep that great, but it wasn't because of Axel, it was just because we never sleep well the first night of camping. But Axel slept the entire night. He woke up once when he lost his pacifier, but I gave it to him and he fell right back asleep. He slept without a sound until 6:30 the next morning. When we woke up, we couldn't believe what had just happened. Our baby had camped successfully!


On our drive home, we made notes of everything we did to make sure that we tried to repeat it for next month when we go on our second camping trip. But part of me just wonders if every baby is just different, and it isn't necessarily all the things we did? Or maybe it's his baby tent, since he's been sleeping in that since he was 4 months old? In any case, this trip allowed us to do something we love to do (camp), and get over our fear of camping with a baby.

It was indeed an incredibly wonderful Easter.