Yosemite—visiting the valley.

The traditional straddle-the-wall, age order (by family), picture in front of Half Dome, picture.

From right to left (because the oldest is at the right), we have my dad, my mom, Joseph and his family, Matthias and his family, me and my family, David, Samuel, and Ann and her family.

Here are a few photos (that I snapped of a photo) to show that it’s somewhat of a tradition:

And then I was looking for pictures of my mom’s family doing it when she was a kid (did you do it, Mom?), and though I didn’t find one, I did find these gems:

My mom’s family in Yosemite—back row (Grandpa Ray, Grandma Jody, Orva, Mom) middle (Ann and David) left hole (Amy and Austin) right hole (back, Ray and front, John)

Also Yosemite—my mom is at the front.

Elna with her Uncle David

After stopping at the Half Dome view point we stopped at the Merced River to picnic.

We also waded into the water and Elna swam a bit.

Love this family of mine!

Elna and Austin

Austin is making Harriet laugh!

We then headed to Happy Isles for some ice cream.  The smoke wasn’t obstructing the view of Half Dome here.

We loved the ice cream my parents got for us!  Yum!  We are so grateful to my parents who make this such a fun vacation each year!  It’s really the only time my children see their cousins, so I love that they have a chance to get to know them and the rest of my family.  My parents do so many neat things to make Yosemite really special—a great place to stay with plenty of room for us, fun gifts for kids, fun games for the adults each evening, a night of fun gifts for us too and a great game to go along with that night, delicious food, and most of all just them—I really have great parents!