Still Eating Tomatoes

Thanks for the adorable jumper, Grandma!

In an attempt to keep him from getting too filthy, we tried this wardrobe.  

 This, unfortunately, is his left hand's bad habit.  

I think he eats a tomato every day that he's in the backyard.  And then he finishes up with a nice twig.

Is that what he's saying?

Swiss Genius

We just recently spent some time with some new friends, who are from Switzerland.  At naptime, they offered their youngest son's bed (2 1/2 years old), instead of us having to lug out the pack-n-play.  I decided to be adventurous and give it a shot.  This was where Alaka'i slept.  

It's called a Zewi Decke.  He was zipped into the sheet, fully mobile, but unable to fall out of the bed.

Around the House

 This little maestro isn't content with one octave.

 

 Here is the concentration tongue.  

Almost too tired for lunch.  But not quite.  

 This is the face I get to smooch every day! 

AND he finally says "mommy"!

Grandparents

Grandma and Grandpa were here at two separate times within the last 4 weeks, and Alaka'i just loved spending time with them! 

 Grandma was a perfect companion.  Alaka'i had to slowly be weaned back to independent play after she left! 

I am pretty sure ukulele time was one of his favorite things with Grandma.  Every day now he wants me to take it down and let him play like Grandma.  

Even as her bags were packed and we were ready to go, they were still on the floor filling up every last play moment.  We miss you Grandma!  

 Grandpa and (Great) Auntie Sally were briefly in town and so we met them, of course, at Disneyland.  Alaka'i and his fingers were ready for a nap, not a twirl on teacups.  But Grandpa took such good care of of him all day.

 We managed to squeeze in Small World before Grandpa wheeled him around for his nap and Auntie Sal and I hit Star Tours and shopped. 

Seeing Pooh and Tigger in real life was definitely a highlight!

 A waterfall on Tom Sawyer's island was captivating, and easily could have entertained him for the entire day. 

 Grandpa and Auntie Sal!  We had so much fun with you guys!  Thanks for letting us play with you!

Jacob's High Route Trip

From Aug 21st to Aug 27th I went on a camping trip with two guys Rebekah and I met last year, Ed and Loy. Most of this post will be pictures so you can see most of the things we saw.

This is the view as we started up the mono pass trail above Rock Creek.

The morning of the second day, we came from Fourth Recess lake and hiked up about 1000 ft and walk through this meadow towards those mountains in the back.

This is the view from below the mountains at Laurel Lake. It is right below Ross Finch Lake on the Sierra High Route. If you look closely, you can see some trees heading up the left side of the mountain. We hiked out along those trees up to Big Horn pass which is that dip you see to the left of the peek at the center of the photo, right where the glacier is. We didn't have a trail for the next couple days. We spent the next day exploring this lake and also Grinnell Lake North East of here. It was nice to leave all the gear behind and have only a day pack.

This is Ed and Loy heading up toward Big Horn Pass. That is Laurel Lake behind them.

After hiking up the first ridge, we came to that glacier you see below. We crossed that and hiked up another ridge to get to the pass.

After Big Horn Pass, above my right shoulder, we hiked across all those rocks, called talus, for a few miles until we came to Shout of Relief Pass. That lake to my left is Big Horn Lake and behind that is Ross Finch Lake.

Looking the other way on the pass, you could see all these lakes. The one in the upper right is Tully lake, where we spent the next night.

Mariposa Lilies.

Flowers on Shout of relief pass. About 2-3 inches tall.

More flowers on the pass.

My favorite flower on the pass.

Heading down into the valley from Shout of Relief Pass. Still no trail.

Another shot heading down the glacier.

After the glacier we came across this beautiful array of purple flowers.

Tully Lake. We took our shoes off and walked in the grass. Soft and spongy, it felt wonderful.

Sunset at Tully lake. That's called Alpine glow.

Another sunset shot.

The next day we headed toward McGee pass after fording this stream. Peaceful here, but downstream, much rougher. Tully lake is behind those rocks (and some others as well).

The view behind us as we headed to McGee pass.

Another Shot.

Flowers on the way to the pass.

After McGee pass, we headed down through here. If you look you can see a trail heading down the rock, but it disappears under the snow for quite some time.

And when there's no trail, you've got to make your own. Just don't slip because it's a long way down. Also, it started to hail as we were crossing this series of glaciers.

After the pass we came across more beautiful flowers.

One last mountain in the meadow.

The last section was a bit more desert like.

This is the three of us at the end of 6 days and 30-35 miles.