Life as a Yowler

Yesterday, we made it to Sequoia National Park. We weren’t even in the park for 5 minutes, when we stopped for our first photo opportunity.

Evan had the brilliant idea to do a little off trail hiking. Joah ran after him. I decided to tag along with Brielle and Caed. Brandon stayed back with Isla, who was napping. We went down a mountain, to some rocks and a rapid river.

Things got crazy way too quickly. Caed was the golden child. He listened to every word I said. He is a cautious little angel. Joah was trying to keep up with Evan. Brielle was half way between groups, not listening to a word. She soon got so far ahead of me and I just assumed Evan had her. Mistake number one. Mistake number two was not having clear communication. We should have decided beforehand which adult would take which child, instead of just all trying to chase each other.

I snapped this cute picture of Joah.

I snapped this one of Evan. Next thing I knew Evan fell in the water. He was neck deep in 40-50 degree water. Luckily, he was able to get himself out of the rapid water.

Luckily, my other kids were able to make it back to me, before one of them fell in. Brandon was watching from up top of the mountain. He said at one point he saw Joah jump 3.5 feet between rocks. Brandon thought he was a goner.

I realize how dangerous this could have been. It could have been much worse. No more off trail hiking for us, unless we have better communication. We made it clear to Brielle she is DONE for the day, because of her disobedience. That girl is so determined and also in her own world. She just did what she wanted to do.

The worst part of the whole thing was Evan had his phone in his pocket. It’s currently still in a bag of rice, so we don’t know yet if it’s ok. Evan was completely soaked. We didn’t want to go back to the campground, because we wanted to see the General Sherman tree before the park closed. Brandon happened to have his bag of hunting clothes In the trunk, back from when he went hunting in Texas. So Evan and Joah(who also got his legs wet) got to sport full camo for the rest of the day. Let me remind you that we were in a California.  We got a few looks.

Now that it’s all over, and no one died, it’s pretty hilarious. We didn’t let it ruin our fun. These trees are incredible. Each time I’ve seen them, I’m blown away.

We passed the Halos headquarters on our drive in yesterday.

We also passed a boat load of wind turbines.

We are thankful Evan’s fall wasn’t any worse, and that the kids didn’t fall in after them. They were so far away from me, I never would have gotten to them in time. Speaking of falls, my mom and her sister had a real classic fall on an escalator yesterday I hear. I am SO bummed I missed all the fun. My cousins got the entertainment of the year. I heard it ended with a couple people peeing their pants, they were laughing so hard. I have to remind myself, during moments like that, that traveling is lots of fun too. I feel like I miss out on lots back home, but I know those back home feel like they are missing out on traveling. So I just need to be thankful and enjoy all these memories.