Yosemite and Beyond (or rather, closer to home)

I'm a little behind. A couple weekends ago (the weekend of May 14-15), Nana, Popo, Leila and I headed up to Coarsegold to visit with my Aunt Selma ("Oma" to Leila). We had a lovely visit on Friday afternoon/evening, woke up to homemade cinnamon rolls (sooo great to have a German aunt) on Saturday, and then headed up to Yosemite.

Below, Popo captivates Leila with visions of hummingbirds darting in and out of the feeder at Oma's house in Coarsegold.
Popo further captivated Leila with a stellar rendition of "Goodnight Gorilla."
Everyone was impressed!
And then, on Saturday morning, we arrived at Yosemite!
The sights were gorgeous, the waterfalls were intense and the crowds of spectators were THICK (Popo's repeated quote of the day "It's a parking lot here!"). Was it worth it? If it hadn't been for Leila's carsickness, yes. And in retrospect, puke and all, definitely yes. But at the time, no. There were a lot of people! But Yosemite in the spring (or anytime for that matter, but particularly in the spring) is a sight to behold. It truly is magical and awe-inspiring. I won't pretend to look for the words to describe how breathtaking nature is when you enter that valley and catch your first glimpse of Half Dome, Bridal Falls, Yosemite Falls and El Capitan. That vision arrested the rest of the senses, that is, until a current of wind sent the stench of Leila's vomit wafting through the car. Alas, we joined the parking lot and got out to explore...





I look forward to taking Leila back to Yosemite, to camp beneath El Capitan, preferably mid-week, even earlier in the season to hopefully avoid some of the crowds.

In the meantime, we have GOGGLES! On a whim at CVS, I decided to buy Leila her first pair of goggles. We've only gotten to use them one time in the pool, and at that, it was brief. She was much more content to show them off while we shopped at Kohl's, proudly telling everyone we passed, "Leila pool oggles."

And we had our season's first visit to the pool. Leila had been asking about the pool for weeks, so we finally ventured over for a dip. The water was still pretty frigid, but we both fell victim to Leila's will and splashed, submerged and enjoyed the cold water. Leila was bold on the first step, but timid beyond that. Eventually, she warmed up to make a few jumps off the side and showed off some splashes and kicks. I'd say that we're starting out the season in about the same place we closed out the season last year. And then, as a random aside, I went downtown for the start of Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour. It was a pretty big deal around here. And as it turned out, it was a pretty bad day for Lance Armstrong. I'm not sure who is who below, but I took this with my iPhone as they all zoomed by making the spectators dizzy.