What goes up, must come down!: Horse Tail, Pony Tail and hiking boots

The past couple of weeks have been a little too full for me. I have been going nonstop, even in the tireless rain. Just picture this, and you will get a feeling for how these last two weeks went: Going to Costco with four little boys in tow. It has been raining on and off the whole day. We spend an hour and a half buying groceries, which include two 50 lb bags of rice, 4 gallons of milk, giant sized laundry detergent, double bleach box, and a case of water (those were the heavy weight items) not to mention a couple dozen other items in their relative "Costco" size. The boys love Costco and love helping me try to figure out how to fit it all in one cart. Then of course we go up to the checkout, and take it all out again. They ask if we want any in boxes, and I say (with all the wisdom of experience) "yes, but ONLY the light stuff" (I am sure many of you have experienced the box that can't be taken out of the cart because it weighs 200 lbs. So you spend15 minutes unloading that box and stuffing all the small items around your car where they'll fit). Out of Costco we go, the kids fighting over who gets to hand the receipt to the door guard, who of course, draws a smiley face on the receipt for their efforts.

We get to the car and I notice that the clouds are threatening rain any minute. Unfortunately for me, loading groceries into my old lady of a minivan is no easy task. First, the hydraulic lifts are busted on the back door so I have to have Levi and Calder stand on the bumper, on either side, holding up the door for me. Second there is really no space back there ( 12 inches deep at the bottom and it gets smaller as you go up) so I have to be really good at tangrams.

So it goes like this: I hurry and get in a couple of the heavy items while Levi and Calder shout "Hurry MOM, HURRY, its too heavy, I can't hold it up anymore!" We take a break and I hold the door for a minute. Then we repeat the move, until they are exhausted (about 3 minutes). Next I prop the door on the cart handle and do the limbo under the door and out again. This step was reached must faster than usual, this time, because just as Levi and Calder got up into position it started to POUR and blow hard. I had them get inside where it was warm, and I did the limbo, by myself, for 15 minutes in the pouring rain. SO fun. By the time I got into the car I was drenched head to toe. Levi laughs and says "You look like you just got out of the shower mom!!" haha. very funny. But really, that was nothing compared to watching Levi's game in the freezing rain this week, but that story has to wait for a bit.

First I want to show you some pretty pictures of our hike to Ponytail falls (and a few other falls) that we did a week ago Saturday. It was a bright sunny Saturday (for a wonder) so we took advantage of it and went hiking with the boys. This trail was amazing. It starts out at Horsetail Falls and winds up the Gorge, under Ponytail falls and past another one that cut a deep Gorge in sheer cliffs. These cliffs were covered in moss and ferns, so beautiful. Joe and I wore our new hiking boots, still trying to break them in for the big backpacking trip this summer through Yosemite Wilderness.

Horsetail Falls (the beginning of the hike)

Ponytail Falls

Underneath Ponytail falls

The Weeping wall (there were 2 professional photographers taking photos of this)

I am standing on a bridge here. This photo is one side of the bridge. Fantastic "mini" gorge carved by the stream. In the summer time they say the best way to see these falls is by hiking/wading up through the gorge stream. Joe and I can't wait to try.

This photo is the other side of the bridge. Beautiful falls.

Joe looking down the steep cliff face. It is hard to tell how high we are from the picture, but we are probably at least 700 ft. straight up the cliff face.