New Years 2011

After a long debate, watching the weather for a week, and a little coaxing on my part, we were headed up to the cabin in Yosemite to celebrate New Years weekend. We left on Thursday around noon and planned on taking HWY 140 in hopes that we wouldn't have to put on chains. We got a call from my mom and dad (who were almost in the park) and said that 140 just closed due to a rock slide. So we made a b-line to Oakdale and headed up HWY 120.

Ironically, my mom and dad (with Alyssa) pulled into the gates of the park just as PO was putting chains on the truck. It took them almost 5 hours that day to get to the cabin due to the rock slide!

Talk about a winter wonderland!! 

Here's the view of the Foresta meadow as seen from HWY 120

We FINALLY made it up there around 4:00. The temperature was in the low 30's and dropping fast!

Who needs an ice chest when you have snow?!

Jake invented a new sport. . . Snate Boarding!

The sun was starting to set so PO and I grabbed the camera, the kiddo's, and Roxy and went for a walk.

This had to be one of the most amazing sunsets I have seen in a longgggg time!

Here's PO, Alyssa and Jake posing in from of the entrance to the driveway

PO really did capture some amazing pictures while we were there, this being just one of them;

Man, I love this guy!!!

As you can see, EVERYTHING is covered in snow! Roxy seemed to love playing in it!

Thursday night we had to try and stay warm in the cabin by standing by the fire. The temperature inside was REALLY cold the first day or two.

The kiddo's in the 'Kidz Kubbie'. (This definitely brings back childhood memories for me!)

Friday morning it was gorgeous out! PO, Alyssa and I went for a hike in the snow.

If you look really close, you can see the buck that jumped right in front of us!

Friday late afternoon PO took off on a walk with Roxy and took some pretty awesome pictures.

Friday night we celebrated New Years Eve! Eric and Lisa ended up showing up around 9:00.

That's me, trying to stay up till midnight. . .

Alyssa and I decorated the cabin with New Years posters, balloons and streamers!

We woke up New Years day to a snow storm, as expected!

We spent ALLLLL day inside the cabin, lounging around, relaxing, reading and napping.

Sunday we all woke up early and decided to pack everything up as quickly as possible. The snow was starting to dump on us and we were affraid if we didn't leave soon we would get stuck. Well. . . needless to say, Paul's truck got stuck. And by stuck I mean it took TWO days to get out! Luckily my dad volunteered to stay up at the cabin so that he could get a tow truck up there once the storm cleared and the roads opened. Too bad the tow truck couldn't make it up the driveway. Backup plan - Jim Shasky came up and helped get the truck out on Tuesday, thank goodness!

So it was a long, cold, wet drive home on Sunday in my parent's truck with my mom in the backseat sucking her teeth the whole ride home!! We did get to see some pretty cool wild life as we were leaving the park!