Moving on to the Next Big Adventure

We knew that we were going to have to get up pretty early this morning, so we packed up and showered last night.  These kids are getting pretty good at navigating the public showers.

We turned in early and made plans to get up at 5:45 am.  About 9:30 pm, someone pulled into the campsite next to us and started setting up camp.  At 10 pm, he started chopping wood.  Justin was sound asleep, but when he heard the chopping noise, he thought a bear was tearing into his plywood trailer.  He bolted out of bed and jumped out of the tent to find the neighbor chopping wood. After settling back down, we had a fitful night's sleep.

Morning came early, and Justin had to deflate the air mattresses to get the kids to get up.

We took down the tent and loaded up the car a little louder than normal, especially for our new neighbor.  Then we jumped in the car and headed out.  The road was pretty narrow and curving. Within 15 minutes, we had to pull over because both girls were sick and puking.

It took us 2 1/2 hours to make it to our final destination, Kings River Expeditions. By the time we arrived, we were all feeling a little spent.  Thankfully, they had drinks, chips, and salsa waiting for us.

Then we were served an amazing lunch of chicken fajitas.  We got the safety talk, and we were on our way.  I don't have any pictures of the trip, but it was AMAZING!  Our guide, Stacey, was absolutely wonderful.  I had visions of my children falling off the raft and drowning, but Stacey was a pro.  No one fell off, but the kids all jumped off to swim about halfway through.

And after rafting, we got back and had an ice cold Coke while waiting for dinner. The kids all unanimously agreed that this rafting trip was the best part of our trip so far.  Dinner was chicken, tri-tip steak, rice, salad, and ice cream sundaes--and then the kids played ping pong.

We'll do a big post once we get to a place with WIFI because we have a whole CD of professional photos of the rafting trip, and there are some good ones.

We set up out tent at the Kings River camp, and as we were setting up, Connor wanders over to a tree next to the tent.  Within minutes, he has found a baby rattlesnake.  That was a little unnerving, but the staff at KRE removed it for us.  We were all a little more careful where we stepped from then on.

So we're off to bed, ready to start out for Yosemite tomorrow.  See you then!