We're BACK!!

About 30 minutes ago, I got off the phone with Mr. Joki- the van of kids- I mean "young adults" (they'd like us to stop calling them kids, and they've earned it) had stopped at Panda Express just by Tejon Pass. Miss Henry and I munched trail mix and vitamin water on the way back and only made 2 quick pit stops, so we just plowed on home. The students are probably getting close to the school by now.

I'll be putting up some more pictures in the days to come, so you can keep checking back to see some of the fun times we had-- maybe read some memories written by the students themselves.

GCS students: bring your cameras by the computer lab next week and I'll compile all the pictures onto some disks for everyone... and make sure we get some of these amazing photos into the yearbook.

A final thought for tonight: this trip may or may not have lived up to your expectations... but no matter your thoughts on the matter, know that this trip was exactly what GOD had planned for us. The things we saw and experienced were His will for our lives. A week away from the comforts of home- of bundling up in the mornings to hike to the bathroom through mud and snow-- of eating pizza 2 nights in a row-- of hiking and biking and all the soreness that comes with it-- all these things reveal our strengths and our weaknesses.

Some of us found weak areas we need to work on.... and some of us found out that we were stronger than we realized... that we can do more than we ever dreamed we could accomplish. (Phoebe hiked and biked for the first time... just wait for some of the footage- PRICELESS!!) We learned how to better serve and love our neighbors, how to live with people who are not part of our family, and how to find things to be thankful for when not everything is going our way.

Ask your children what they learned from this week away from home- ask them how they've changed because of it. 9th graders, ask each other about it... and let's remember how good it felt to sit on the porch at Wawona together today.

:)

WE SAW 2 BEARS!!!!

While the other group went hiking, a few of us enjoyed BEARS!!!

And we saw a BEAR... if you look really closely, you can see it next to Miss Henry's finger...

Mary caught a caterpillar....

And then we went to the Indian museum...

This is the way we felt when we heard the lady narrating her story- she was monotone and depressing..... (but we really were having fun.)

Then on our walk back, we saw ANOTHER bear!!!!!

And here is the other critters from today-- deer & squirrels... .

Thursday

It's Thursday here in Yosemite Valley and we're hanging in there. We've been having breakfast at the Cafeteria and really enjoying it. It's buffet style and there's lots of good things to choose from. We're having a good time having meals together. It's such a treat for us to be together for a long time- we don't have to rush off to the next class when the bell rings!

Mr. & Mrs. Joki took most of the kids to Vernal Falls this morning while a few stayed behind to play games and visit the Museum & Ansel Adams Gallery. We're hanging out in the lounge right now- our favorite place in Yosemite. :)

When everyone gets together this afternoon, we're going to rent bikes and ride around now that the streets are dry. There's still a lot of snow everywhere, and extra waterfalls coming off the face of the rocks, but the sun is warm and it really is very nice.

Tomorrow we will visit Wawona on our way home- and we're hoping that the Mariposa Grove road might open up for us to take a peek at the big trees.

Here's some more footage from the last few days. The first video is from our snowball fight.

This next video shows off some of Mr. T's rock running skills:

The result of our Ansel Adams Instruction:
Our group on their Photograventure

The Girls:

A view of cows from the trip up here.... it was sooo pretty!
The view of Bridal Veil from the lookout point after the tunnel:

Wednesday- Midway

Whew! We are tuckered out!

(Our internet is going in and out, so we'll try to post just a few pics.)

Today we started off with a Photography Walk where we learned how to use our cameras thanks to Gabe from the Ansel Adams Gallery. Gabe was pretty cool.... he led us on our tour of classic Adams locations and taught us how to use our histograms the way Adams designed.

It turned out that Gabe was more than just a photography teacher, he also showed us how to start a fire in the snow, how to climb a tree, and then he gave us a tour of the Yosemite Chapel. We all went inside and Mr. Tsvirinko, Richard and Jenny played the piano on the stage for all of us. It was really funny that everyone forgot the ending to their songs, but everyone played really beautiful and inspiring pieces. It was like a mini concert and more than we expected!

After our Photograventure, we spent some time at the Yosemite Resource Center and watched a beautiful film about the history of the Park. Did you know that it was the first national park? Thanks to Abraham Lincoln... and John Muir...

We made sandwiches for lunch back at Curry Village and then packed up to hike to Bridal Veil Falls and Mirror Lake. It was very satisfying to get so close to the thunderous, powerful waterfall.... and the 4 mile hike/walk to Mirror Lake was soooooo enjoyable. The snow is melting and we could feel warm breezes blowing through. We got a good view of Half Dome and were close enough to take pictures of the diving board.

It seemed like everyone had a really good time. While some complained about walking so much, Jeffery Portillo ran almost the entire way- he ran up ahead and then back again and up ahead.... he looked like Rocky Balboa running all over the place.

Tonight there is a championship Monopoly game going on in one cabin. Mr. Joki is teaching them negotiation and business skills.... and they are hanging on his every move.

Some of the girls are playing "Dress Up" behind curtains strewn across the cabins, and still others are putting their artistic abilities to use by sketching nature scenes.

We're having a really good time up here- and everyone is holding up. There have been no injuries and we are SO THANKFUL!

The only prayer request for good health is for Caroline who has a bit of a cough... but we are showering her with cough drops and Emergen-C and orange juice. Please pray that she feels 100% for tomorrow- we are going to hike Vernal Falls with an option to continue to Nevada Falls. This is a more rigorous hike and so far all the guys seem really committed to going the whole way.

CRITTER UPDATE:

Today we saw 2 types of birds that were really breathtaking: a woodpecker with an orange spot on its head, and a little black and white bird with a red neck.

Some of our students (names shall not be mentioned to protect the insane) woke up at 5:30 this morning in order to get a good, long shower before the day started. Since we were up at 'em so early, we had the "pleasure" of hearing an EXTREMELY LOUD bird shrieking as if was dying. It shrieked and shrieked- it really sounded like a pterodactyl swooping down to gobble up little campers...

What could the shrieking bird have been? What could possibly be up earlier than a rooster- its cries echoing through the Valley to terrify us in our toasty sleeping bags?

If you know, please comment! We are dying of curiosity!

the view from Mirror Lake:
Bridal Veil Falls
Friends! Yay! Awwwww....Inside the Chapel for our private concert:
Our Ansel Adams Expert: Gabe & students learning to take better pictures:

Bear Grylls in the Making

Connor has been recording our trip. We think he needs to put his episodes on a disc and send them to National Geographic.

Watch out, you might get a postcard in the next couple days....

Tuesday!

Wonderful things happened today!

We experienced the Curry Village Breakfast Buffet. The boys had a delightful time mixing their chocolate milk with Sierra Mist (YUCK!)

Then we did a little walk to Lower Yosemite Falls and watched the slushy river flow. l

The boys got into a snowball wrestling match with Mr. Joki & Mr. Tsvirinko. The girls had a "fight" but it was more like a snowball "toss."

James & Jeffrey are the kings of snowballs....

Phoebe & Naomi & Rebecca & Jenny are the princesses of snow sculpture....

Ricardo took a small spill and hurt his arm--- then proceeded to write 3 postcards home about it. Literally. Wait till you get the postcards! We discovered that most kids don't know how to write postcards. Haha.

And Mrs. Joki tried really hard to build a snowman despite several failures due to Mr. Joki landing in her snowman after being tackled by boys.

Good times!!

We headed back to Curry Village lounge for sandwiches and snacks and found that we were all really exhausted.

Connor got a Monopoly game started and everyone played for a long time.

Mr. Tsvirinko is still sleeping....

This evenings events are to be determined.... a movie about bears? A hike to mirror lake? A museum gander?

Thankfully it is a LOT warmer today and the snow is melting off the roofs like crazy. The ground is now full of puddles and slush.

We're all having good discussions about icycles falling off the roof and killing someone (no worries- the icycles are only 2 inche long) and we want donuts.

:)

A very serious game of Monopoly

Mary at Lower Yosemite Falls

Group Pic

Richard has freezing cold hands from our snowball fight

Connor got ice in his ear-- it was hard to get out.

Rebecca, Caroline, Mary & Alana at Breakfast

The yummiest pizza dinner ever last night. Tastes so good when you're hungry!

Snowball/Wrestling Attack

Mini snowman competition

Mrs. Joki made the first one. :)

Group Picture at Lower Yosemite Fall View

Miss Briganti and Mrs. Joki (eating cereal!)

Mr. T. is "still" sleeping

CRITTER UPDATE:

We saw a LOT of deer today- they came right up to us- a whole posse of 'em. There were 3 bluejays laughing at us when we threw snowballs around their home, and we saw the gray American Squirrel... and a poodle in a sweater.

There are actually a LOT of doggies dressed in fleece up here.

The weird beast from last night turned out to be a ring tailed cat. Enjoy the footage.

Bluejay

friendly deer

Yesterday's mysterious "beast"

Travel Day... And We Made It... And It's SNOWING!!!

Dear Parents, Teachers, Friends, etc...

We made it! All is well. We had a really good trip up and we are thankful and praising the Lord for protecting us. Thanks for your prayers on our behalf! Right now, Miss Henry and I (Miss Briganti) are sitting in the Curry Village lounge updating the blog by the fire and watching a weird little striped-tail critter scurry across the ceiling. This is our 4th wildlife for the day. We saw deer, coyote, a raccoon under our tent, and this furry little beast so far. He looks like a lemur.

We stopped at In'N'Out for sustenance... our drive took us from 9:30-6:00 with only a couple pit stops.

Getting ready to leave/ packing the van... anticipation is eating us ALIVE.... RAWR...

After alllll the candy was consumed, we had some fun with a photo shoot.

It was a LOT snowier than we anticipated and we had to buy chains on the way up-- although we didn't actually end up using them. The above pictures are some of the sights from the road- cars buried in snow, a snowplow making us laugh as it blasted snow off the road, the view from the tunnel and the magnificent Bridal Veil Falls.

We'll post some more pictures tomorrow. Connor took a bunch of hilarious "Man Vs. Wild" style videos of his experience so far...

We're off to go find the bathrooms, hope the raccoon didn't find a way to sneak into our tent, and SLEEP.

Our tents are heated--- and they are SO NICE!!!

Good night.