Spring Break in Yosemite 2012

                                Dear All in Cabin 1A,

We enjoyed a wonderful Spring Break here at the Wawona Retreat. Arriving the day before Easter we were SO pleased with the upgraded kitchen. It made cooking for 10 quite a treat! Easter Sunday we had brunch at the Wawona Hotel then hunted for eggs there.

We came back and hiked to Chilnualna Falls and the Swinging Bridge (about 5 mi). We had another egg hunt in our backyard while our Easter Ham and dinner cooked, although we had to wait for the THREE DEER that were relaxing to leave

Can you spot the 3 deer. 2 there in the center and one off to the left 

Mashing Potatoes! 

washing up their dishes! 

Monday we hiked to Mirror Lake then over to Happy Isles where we took the Trail of Mist up to Vernal Falls (around 7 mi).

 Tuesday we went all over the valley. Bridal Veil Falls, Lower Yosemite falls (even took JT to climb up the rocks), The Ahwahnee Hotel, The Meadow, Le Conte Memorial, through Housekeeping camp, here, there and everywhere.

Wednesday the weather changed sharply from the warm spring days we'd enjoyed so far and we woke to rain. Deciding to brave the rain we headed to the Mariposa Grove of giant sequoias trees only to find it closed due to the abundantly falling SNOW! We parked the trucks and walked the two miles uphill, in the snow, to the grove entrance. It was another mile from there to see the Grizzly Giant, serious flurries the whole way up! 6 miles with 5 kids under 8 in 3 hours.

Our last night we had s'mores and hot chocolate after our Talent/Show and Dance Party!

We definitely feel awesome having gotten to do so many things in Yosemite and experience both the beautiful warm spring AND the lovely white falling snow! Best of Both Worlds. Thank you for having such an amazing cabin and for sharing it with our families. We couldn't have asked for a cooler spring break!

With Love the B's and the S's

To cloth? or not to cloth?

So recently (as in this last week) I've been giving more thought to cloth diapering. When Jack was first born, my mother in law Kate, got us a diaper service for 3 months. The diapers were your standard prefolds and covers, the service would come and pick the dirty ones up, launder them and drop clean ones off. Sadly, we gave up quickly (without much effort on my part even *sigh*). We were younger then and both preparing to go back to work outside the home and gave in to Pampers Swaddlers (which I LOVED with Jack)

But since then, a mere four years ago, there have been so many innovations in the world of cloth diapering that makes it easier for your average family to do it. I've decided to give it a try with our little Nohea (No-Hay-Uh). I'm fed up with blow outs (yes, I'm talking good ole breastfed baby poo) and would rather constantly throw diapers in the wash, that are supposed to be that dirty, than continue risking all her cute clothes. We've tried several society trusted brands and have still been pretty dissapointed. They say no two babies are the same and boy do "they" mean it!
So I've purchased three Bumgenius 3.0 pocket diapers...
in blossom, grasshopper and moonbeam (aren't the colors SOO cute?) to try it out and see how it goes. I'm dreaming of what to do with the money that we'll save in the long run not having to buy disposables. Please let this work, for the sake of the environment and for the sake of my pocket book ;)

Looking at our situation now, with Nohea (No-Hay-Uh [ya heard me... it's just that some don't know how it's pronounced]) we've really developed our own parenting style that works for us. We both are able to mostly work from home, we both get to spend a lot of quality time with each of our children and with eachother, we both know that many things (especially when it comes to baby) are beyond our direct control and have learned how to go with the flow, something that was really difficult when we had our first baby. My mom says I'm a lot more relaxed with her than I was with Jack even though she's more high maintenance at times, but hey what girl isn't? LOL... We're pretty attachment style if someone really needed to classify it.
We exclusively breastfeed, semi co-sleep (she's in her crib for the first 4 or 5 hours and then snuggles up next to mom where she enjoys unrestricted night time nursing... thank goodness i finally figured out how to nurse lying down, it really helps with the daytime zombie look that i was sporting before) babywear, she LOVES her sling...
especially with daddy (yes, he's my perfect man and will laugh that this pic is on the internet)

don't believe in letting little babies CIO (cry it out) and see her crying as a form of communication, not manipulation...("Mama, I am hungry!")

seems cloth diapering would naturally fit in . Who'd have thought we'd turn out so tree huggin' and crunchy? I like it. We'll see how it all works out. Here's hoping!