California Bound

Half Dome View House, our rental home in Foresta at
Yosemite National Park for the third year

Inside the living room where Nick and Tommy have set
up a battle site on a tropical island

As usual we flew out to California to visit our daughter Zoe, husband George and grandsons Nick and Tommy for a week. They live in a beautiful new home they built in Palo Alto, finished just a year ago. We rent a house up in the mountains for a long weekend and have some fun in the snow. Last year Nick learned to ski, so we were all really disappointed that there was no snow this year at Badger Pass. Next year we've promised to come later in the month!
We still had fun hiking and exploring in Yosemite. For the third year we've rented Half Dome View House in Foresta, right inside the park. It's a great house and lovely location. (http://lodging4vacations.com/yosemite-rentals/halfdome.html)

We hiked up to Yosemite Falls and saw a number of
deer foraging in the woods

Tommy enjoyed being a deer for awhile too.

Zoe winds up with a snowball

Unfortunately there was no snow in the valley and Badger
Pass had not opened for the season but we found some
great snow higher up in Tuolumne Meadows

Nick makes a perfect snow angel.

We walked further along the road beyond Foresta and
found a great stream with sections of ice.

And Tommy found some gigantic pine cones

The beautiful and elegant dining room at the Ahwahnee
Hotel where we had a terrific brunch.

Nick and Tommy pose before the Christmas Tree at the
Ahwahnee Hotel

Piling cushions from the couches was a fun pastime.

Tommy reads to George at bed time now!

But Zoe and George still read lots to both of them too.