Our vacation with the Wessel Clan was a blast! The last week of June we all packed up and traveled 8 hours up to Yosemite National Park for a week of camping in the great outdoors. We had 12 people including 5 kiddos camping in the Yosemite Valley right next to the river with Half Dome and El Capitan Mountain looming over our heads.
Yosemite Falls were gorgeous and we hiked right up to the base of the falls. David got pretty soaked as he climbed over rocks for a closer look. Sadly I don't have any pictures, but David had all the kids trying to follow him as he broke free of the trail to get up higher.

The view here is from Olmsted Point looking over the backside of Half Dome. It took us about 1-1/2 hours to drive up here, but the view was gorgeous.We loved climbing over the rocks to see the beautiful Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Tenaya Lake is where we stopped one day for a picnic lunch. There wasn't much of the lake to see since the snow pack around it was pretty thick. But that didn't stop the kids from jumping up and throwing a few snowballs.Tuolumne Meadows was a pretty site and we saw a number of deer walking through the huge meadow. Although we were able to get a lot closer to a few deer walking through the middle of the valley. They didn't seem to mind humans a bit as people got within 10 feet of the deer. The girls enjoyed pointing them out as we explored the Yosemite valley.
It did rain on us one night (flooded Christy's tent and half of Sarah's tent) and so some plans got cancelled and the temperature was a bit cooler than I planned, but it was wonderful anyway. Overall it was a wonderful vacation!

Family Pictures 2010

In December we enlisted Christy's help to take some family pictures. We headed over to the Mission Trails area and found a perfect spot. Emily loved climbing over rocks to reach each new location and loved being in the spotlight. Whereas Megan had to be bribed for every photo with chocolate. The kiddo wouldn't smile. Luckily we got a few great shots!

Backyard Playground

We finally got our backyard playground built! Grandpa and Christy came over to help us finish it today. As we were nearly done we got some visitors - Kendel and Evan loved playing with the girls. We'll be having lots of play days at our house in the near future!Megan can climb onto the swing herself and has already learned to call her sister to come over and swing them high.This is one of the fastest slides I've seen in quite a long time. Each kid slid straight to their butt the first time down. Megan has gotten some air off the end of it, landing over a foot away!
Emily has said this is the best backyard ever!

Best Friends

Emily and Megan love to play together. All you hear are giggles and squeals at our house. (ok they also drive each other crazy and scream and fight over toys, but we don't photograph that)

Silly Emmy

Emily is always a nut. You ask her to pose for a picture and you never know what you'll get. From silly faces to model poses.

Nothing like dressing up on a Saturday morning to play.

Cutie Meg

Such a cutie pie! She loves the camera and begs her sister to take her picture. My camera is full of close-ups of Meg's face.

Going to the park is our favorite activity. These little girls are obsessed with the swings and could play for hours.

HIGHER DADDY!Ready, Set, GO!Watch me climb!

Making New Friends

Megan was excited to meet our favorite friends from Sesame Street. She loves watching Elmo on tv and loved pointing them out to me while at Sea World.

Funny Bunny

Little Megan is obsessed with her bunny ears from Easter. Months after the egg hunt where she refused to where them, she now grabs them at all moments of the day. It doesn't matter if it is early in the morning or right before we leave for church or if we say dinner time, Megan will grab her ears and run over to us. She makes the cutest bunny!

Emily has been keeping busy

I made a "spring hat" for Kindergarten covered in butterflies

I love running in the backyard

Mommy is teaching me to ride without training wheels

I don't like it very much

I can make cool things with my Magnetix

Fun Times With Megan

Toys don't go in here, heads do

I found Daddy's Shoes

Hey, I've got a belly button

Book Time

My big sister is teaching me how to growl

Innocent till proven guilty

Mothers Day

Just us girls in our spring dresses on Mothers Day.

Lost Lost Lost

On Thursday I pulled Emily's tooth out. It has been loose for months (since around Christmas time) and it was starting to point straight out of her mouth with just a push of her tongue. When I picked her up from School last week I noticed it was even hanging lower in her mouth and she looked like some crazy kid with a snaggletooth. And yet she still begged me to wait on pulling it out. She screamed bloody murder the entire time and was a complete drama queen. Of course now she is so happy to have it out and is proud to show EVERYONE her missing tooth (including every person at every store we've been to in the last 4 days).

Play Time

Megan is growing up so fast and loving every minute of it. This is another trip to Sea World where she got to play in the toddler area after we watched Shamu. She was stealing blocks from all the other kids. When she stacked them by daddy she decided it was time to escape and ran as fast as she could straight for the exit. She is one fast kiddo.

Superheroes

My girls were having fun on a lazy Saturday morning. Emily gave Megan a towel to run around with and then found her own cape. They chased each other like this for about 15 minutes without stopping. Megan will do anything to be like big sister.

Emily's Award

Recently Emily earned an award at school for being Responsible. Her teachers say that she is a delight to have in class and loves to help them out. Whenever her classmates ignore the directions Emily is there to say "Teacher said to do this now". Sounds a little bossy, but her teachers say it is a big help to them. She is doing great in school and her report card shows her progress. David and I were able to attend the assembly for her award and cheer her on. We are so proud of our little girl!

Megan's babies

Megan got a baby for her birthday and loves carrying her around the house. She also drags Emily's bigger dolly along. She feeds the babies, pushes them in the stroller, and gives them kisses. It is so sweet.

Sushi

David has been loving making sushi lately. He had tried it before but got frustrated by its difficulty until he talked to a couple professional sushi chefs at a Japanese Restaurant. Now his rolls actually come together and taste great (according to David & Emily....I'm not crazy enough to try them yet).