29th May HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GARION

Happy Birthday, Garion!

(That's actually Kelsey's cake, we haven't had one yet today.  But that's our Garion!!)

we love you heaps,

Dad and Marmee,

Lachlan, Hamish, Bryce and Briony-Anne

May 21 - 22

We didn't make it to the office this week...........so we all had special one-on-one dates and some delightful family times.  We went to a marionette performance of 'Pilgrim's Progress' by Simpich's - it was wonderful!  And an excellent portrayal of the Gospel.  You'll enjoy exploring their website www.simpich.com.
We've also played a lot of tennis and enjoyed the swimming pool.  Next week - back to school books and internship!
I wrote this Saturday pm while we talked, Leong!!!! (You're Sunday afternoon......remember?)
Hi Sarah :)

May 15 - 20 Home again, home again

It's funny to be  'home' at a place we have only slept at once!  But we are very grateful for God's provision of this beautiful town home.  Our landlord is Kathy Queen, a missionary serving with Entrust Ministries - we're so glad to be supporting her in God's work among Muslims with our necessary expenses!  Only God could organise something so wonderful.
Kathy's caretaker here, Krin Valentine, has welcomed us with her delightful smile and joyful heart.  We feel very special, accepted and loved.
The facilities here include a clubhouse with a billiard table, table tennis, swimming pool and tennis courts which we have all been making good use of.
We'll be settling down now for 6 whole weeks!  Sounds nice.
Photos coming soon.....

May 14 Wyoming and 'home'

A lot of the little towns in the deserts of Nevada, Utah and Wyoming, have the initials of the town marked in white, just like this, on a nearby slope.  This is from Green River, Wyoming. 

An incredible geological formation.  The squared off rock appears to be embedded in the hill as a spade in a sand castle.
How did this form?

Or this?
We saw many, many examples of layers like this across Nevada, Utah and Wyoming - miles and miles of country.  We're looking forward to hearing some Creationist teaching about these formations.

May 13 And into Utah, Salt Lake City

The salt started way back in Nevada.  It was amazing. 

This is the great salt desert.

This is the only tree we saw all day.

And the great Salt Lake begins.

The Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City lit at dusk.  This one is for you, Mum and for Dianne.  Miss you.

May 13 Nevada and the Truckee River

We traveled on to Reno, just inside the Nevada border, and stopped for the night at a hotel - we thought it might be too cold to tent as there was snow by the roads.

On the way, we went through Donner Pass - were many pioneers had died when stuck in a snow storm at this time of year.  The hotel was a good choice, hey?

 Next morning, we were very excited to travel along by the Truckee River - ok you Marguerite Henry fans,  who loved this 'friendly little river'?

Wild Horse Annie, of course.
Mustang, wild spirit of the West.

May 12 Yosemite National Park

We camped at South Yosemite KOA.  Arriving after dark, we checked ourselves in and found a campsite - but the amenities were a little more difficult to locate!  The boys loved roaming around in the dark, but putting up the tent in the dark wasn't quite so appealing.  Next morning, a quick pack up and off to Yosemite!

We were trying to take a photo of Pearses7 by remote - and discovered we have video capability!

Briony-Anne, Hamish and Bryce picked these lovely wild flowers for me at the campground (while T and E were still sleeping).

At the entrance to Yosemite there is a pioneer village with a covered bridge!  We'd never seen one before - exciting!  Everything is exciting!

Exploring the pioneer village.

Now Grammie Joy had prepared us to be ready for the view as soon as we exited this tunnel - and we were!  Thanks, Grammie.

I think maybe this is the most beautiful place on earth.  Sorry our photos don't give you any idea of it.  We were all speechless.

Bridal Veil falls from the car park.  We were warned to take rain coats to the base of the falls.

We didn't.  And we were absolutely drenched by the spray!  Our feet were soaked through for the second day running with snow water - and we laughed and laughed.
We can't believe this is all happening to us - can you?

Our picnic lunch in paradise.

May 11 Sequoia National Park

Are you getting the idea that this trip was not planned down to the last detail?  With the encouragement of all our new friends and urging from Grammie, we added Sequoia National Park to the itinerary. SO glad we did.

This one's for you, Mama.  We thought you'd enjoy these enormous yuccas. 

The incredible and dangerous Kaweah River.
We stopped for ice-creams at Three Rivers, the junction of the 3 forks of the Kaweah, as advised by Byron and Kelly Fox.  Mmmmm delicious.  Thank you Ha's!!!

We took a short walk down to the rocky edge of the river - cautiously!!

It was wonderful to hear the rushing water, to see it playing and dancing over the rocks and to breathe the delicious air.

We found many pieces of driftwood washed perfectly smooth by the water.

The road through the park had also been hit by a landslide!  Fortunately one lane was still open and after a two hour wait, we were able to commence our drive to the Giant Forest to see the LARGEST tree in the world.

Lachlan on top of hospital rock.

A little rock climbing helps pass the time.

We snapped these shots from the car as we ascended.  You can see the scenery was awesome.

Our first sight of the giant trees.  

And we even spotted bears along the way!

We stopped to take photos - from a safe distance!

Everybody had been hoping we would see bears in the wild, and we did!
Is there any limit to God's gifts to us?

Mama bear.

Baby bear.

And at the site of the Sherman Tree - the LARGEST - we walked through this fallen redwood - in a stream of water  created by the melting snow!  We all got our feet drenched and it was so funny!  Everything is so funny these days!

The kids all loved taking photos of us at every spot.

And here it is - The LARGEST tree in the world.

We are feeling fairly insignificant and very much in awe of our creator God.