July 14, 2012

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Yesterday was my birthday.
Thirty.
I'm sure I'll have more to say on the matter specifically soon.
But yesterday we had a memorable day.

I knew he had something up his sleeve as a couple days ago Jake asked me "where do you buy gluten free granola bars for the kids"
I got inquisitive.  Why?  We have all kinds of snacks for them? what do you need them for?
I got him to tell me that we were going out for the day on my birthday with the kids and he needed to get them snacks.

When I woke up in the morning (of course I got to be the last one awake) I found a french toast breakfast and a decorated kitchen table.  The kids were thrilled.

There were presents and cake.  The children picked out chapstick and cups for me.  And there was also some GRE prep materials and most notably a new lens for my camera.   The kids told me all about their birthday preperations for me. They got to go to the store and pick out balloons and wrapping paper and their small gifts. Jake and I agree that the best part of birthdays is helping the kids get ready for it.  They are so thrilled and excited for the birthday person.

Then we packed a backpack and headed to Yosemite for the day.
It is only a few hours away and we have wanted to go.   Neither of us had been since we were kids.
The kids were terrific troopers with great attitudes.
The trip was interesting and we are glad we went, but it was not without glitches.
Mostly that every other person in the whole world wanted to go to Yosemite yesterday too and we literally couldn't find a place to park for almost an hour.
But once we did we enjoyed a short hike to one of the falls.
I don't know how true our Yosemite experience was as we went on one short hike.  Me pushing Marianne in a stroller.  Jake pushing Sam in a stroller and carrying Kate on his shoulders.
We had a picnic lunch.
Then went on a bus tour.
It really is a beautiful park.  I'm glad I don't have to travel far to see it.  It really is the most international vacation spot I've been too. I've been all over the world and never have I heard so many different languages being spoken within a few miles. Some how it is on everyone's to see list.
And it is worth seeing.
Though it is not so different from the much less crowded Utah mountains I am so familiar with.
After our bus tour we headed home and stopped at a mountain diner for dinner.
We were gone all day.  And the kids all to sleep on the drive home.  Only to wake up once home asking to watch you-tube videos about all the things they learned that day.

Highlights of the trip include.
-Kate calling Yosemite "Yo-symphany"  and not understanding what it has to do with music
-Sam navigating with his map, telling us about bridges and rivers and "two mooses".  Every tree and stump was a potential moose or bear to them.
- The way that at least 40 people in a dozen different languages told me my baby was adorable.  Turns out fat happy babies are the best way to make friends with people of any culture.  It makes a mother proud that people from all over the world found my baby delightful.
- Jake's planning and plotting to make my day special.
- That both Kate and Sam are very interested in both dinosaur extinction and bears and moose from yesterday's trip (dinosaurs because we talked to them about the glacier cutting the mountains back when the dinosaurs went extinct.)

I really am having a bit of a hard time turning 30.  Silly I know.
Being in one of the most beautiful places in the world with the four people I love most made for a good day.