Yosemite to Santa Cruz

One last look at Yosemite valley.

Kieran summited Half Dome during a quick stop on the way out of the park, with some assistance from his climbing partner.

Back at the Sequoia grove...where's Kieran?

Beautiful

After a long drive through golden hills and agricultural land we made it to Santa Cruz. Kieran was ready for the long-promised beach.

We spent a morning at a gorgeous spot north of town, apparently also popular with the nude bathing/nude jogging scene. Maybe they all are down here. Kieran didn't seem to notice but be had to be careful where we pointed the camera.

Great climbing!

We finally made it to the house where the big reunion was being held. A reunion bike ride ended up in more than a couple of bruises and scrapes and limping ex-Frisbee players the next day.

It was definitely a boy's weekend. Kieran had a blast!

Gotta love it.

The weekend ended with a day at the Banana Slug ultimate Frisbee home field. I'm going to throw these pics up and hope that Max will fill in some text. The team obviously hasn't lost the bond that they had back in college.

Santa Cruz to Fairbanks

Kieran made a friend of his own during the 20 year memorial game. Future Banana Slugs?

Did somebody say banana?

The love circle. This lasted awhile.

Kieran's new hero...at least for the rest of the afternoon.

Round and round...Kieran was working the brakes. OMG...THE BEST!

"That was the most fun I've ever had on a bike...EVER"

It was a great reunion but it was time to go.

Back home and back to his own bike. Harvesting the horsetails in the yard. The work is never done.

Hanging out with reindeer

Max went to an end of season ski club fundraiser and won an invitation for an up close visit with reindeer at a small reindeer ranch across the valley from us. They had several adult reindeer and two brand new babies just a week or so old.

When they say up close, they mean it. No fences between you and the animals here! The babies were still learning to eat lichen and the kids were delighted to offer them fistfuls of it, most of which fell to the ground for the bigger animals to clean up.

The adults were bigger than we expected, especially next to the little kids. We had to be a little careful with the moms - particularly the one with the antler - who would do their best to stay between us and the babies, but this nice girl named Olive didn't have a baby and was gentle as could be.

Lola and Charlie came too.

The tiniest baby named Rufus was definitely Kieran's favorite.

Jasper was the most subordinate member of the group and the only adult male. Max gave him a good scratch during a rare moment when he wasn't being chased away by the ladies.

Kieran even took Jasper for a walk before we said goodbye and drove home to warm up with some hot chocolate. Thanks to Running Reindeer Farm for offering such an intimate and relaxed visit with their reindeer.

Gandma's big project

Kieran is a project guy so it was with great anticipation that he waited for Grandma's holiday visit and the start of his carpentry apprenticeship. It was a long wait but he was patient and filled his time with small projects of his own.

Grandma's tools began arriving before she did. Kieran explored each one and incorporated many of them into his project play. He adopted them wholeheartedly and kept them safe in his room behind the door.

Then Daddy started bringing home tools for Grandm's impending visit. This was getting exciting!

Finally, Grandma arrived and she and Kieran were ready to tackle project window seat!

They did a great job and with Kieran's help (or in spite of it) Grandma built and installed our long awaited, beautiful and cozy window seat.

A job well done! Thank you Mom, we love it! NOW it's time to relax!

It's a perfect little reading nook or a quiet place to sip tea and watch for wildlife in the yard.

Lower Angel Creek Cabin trip

Window seat finished, we turned our attention to some actual vacationing on our holiday vacation. We got lucky with a warm break in the weather on the day of our scheduled overnight trip to lower angel creek cabin. We packed up packs and sleds and hit the trail to try and catch the four hours of daylight. We almost made it there before dark.

The cabin reservation was a Christmas gift from Rachel to all of us so of course she had to join us!

Kieran was happy to work on the wood pile with his new chainsaw.

He slept great between his uncomfortable, mostly awake parents. I insisted on 3 sleeping pads on the next camping trip.

I guess nobody else was taking pictures so Kieran snapped a few. Pretty good ones too!

Another from Kieran.

It was a fun, quick trip and a good way to get out and stretch our legs after some big holiday meals. The cabin was accidentally burned down a month or so after our visit (by recreating firefighters, no less) so it was nice to see the cabin one more time while it was standing. Luckily, it wasn't a favorite among cabin goers (including us) and a bigger & nicer replacement cabin is already in the works.

Time to hit the trail again.

It was 20 degrees colder the morning we walked out. Rachel came prepared with handwarmers to keep everyone comfortable and happy.

Kieran stayed nice and warm in his chariot. It will be sad when he doesn't fit in it anymore.

Our first sunlight over the hills, just before we arrived back at the cars. It was still nice.

Back at the trailhead. And off to the hot springs...