Yosemite/ Toronto

Family arrived on the 2nd June.
Our car was loaded for our little trip into Yosemite. The Odyssey really helped in this instance. The space, the travel, the comfort we rode in for 4hrs was terrific. We started out late in the morning (11am) and arrived by 3:30pm (stopping twice to feed neo+petrol break). It was a nice leisurely drive. Much better than the Seattle/Portland trip!

June 3rd: relaxing by the pool and taking in the scenery.
June 4th: We were 10min from the front entrance to the Valley (car fee of $20 for 7days). We turned left into the Yosemite Valley (1hr away). It took a bit longer as we made several of stops to take pictures of Brideveil Fall/Half Dome and ElCapitan. Got stuck in a bit of road work after the tunnel into the actual grounds, but the Brideveil fall was wonderful to see and experience. We walked right up to the foot of the fall: water sprayed/ fell down all over us like rain: it was a glorious sight to see. Cold - but magnificent!!
Of course, we were totally wet through (and didn't have a spare set of clothes/ socks etc... so we had to endure a day without socks ---> will know for next time!)
We hired 3 extra bikes for my family @$25per day. We cycled around yosemite, and even saw a BEAR!! our FIRST bear sighting!! It was in the meadows enroute to half-dome. We captured several great pictures of the Half-Dome too. The ride was easy, no need to change gears and we took it quite leisurely, stopping now and then to take pictures. Our first time in Yosemite really made us look forward to future visits here.
Dinner was in the pricey restaurant at the lodge Embers. The ambiance was lovely, but the food was not too great.
June 5th: We headed to Mariposa Grove (Turn Right@the Valley entrance): 2miles from the entrance, however, as it was veterans weekend, the entrance was free hence a lot more people travelled into the valley that weekend. We ended up having to park our car 3miles away, and then take the free shuttle bus into the Grove. The trip into the park took roughly 30mins (wait and travel time).
After arriving at the Grove we looked at the map, decided to take it easy. We just did the Grizzly tree hike (0.8miles: steep hills). Charles had Neo strapped inside his carrier and I trekked behind him at a slower pace. I had to stop several times to catch my breath (damn im unfit - sooo need to lose this baby weight!!). Mum/Dad and Y-Ai looked after Chantelle. Poor darling wanted to sit in the stroller, but after 2 mins, it was too difficult to push her up there, so the little mite trekked all 0.8miles to the Grizzly --- then 0.8miles back down. Terrific effort by everyone!! Charles and I took the 1.1miles down (took us higher into the trees: but eventually the paths joined together).
After heading back into our hotel, everyone knocked out after the walk. Charles was still full of vigor, so he headed out on the bike to view the closest waterfall near Tenaya Lodge.
Dinner was at the Sierra restuarant with the Becker clan. Great pricing and a variety of food for everyone. Recommend this for everyone.
June 6th: We had breakfast then headed straight on home ---> by 1pm (Guess there was less traffic)

After resting for a day and a half I took the van and parked at SFO. Instead of realising we were suppose to travel Domestic, i accidently parked in international parking and had to walk a long way to terminal 3: Domestic Air Canada. Good thing I had already printed our boarding pass, just had to pass security checkpoint. Easy and then we were at the boarding gate. Great seats.
The flight was 4.5hrs. We had to walk a fair distance to pick up our Hertz car rental. After waiting a while for our carseat we headed offwd on the road of Toronto.
HA!! we had NOOO idea where we were going. We had one map of Downtown Toronto and tried to use it. My T-mobile had no international roaming ^-^ but luckily, i could call Charles using the iphone to activate global roaming on the iphone and then we were connected and could use the maps direction. thank goodness i remembered to bring the iphone!!

We headed down on the QEW into Toronto towards Chinatown ----> Spadina. Asian heaven for fooood!!!
Aim in toronto:
Dad to get in contact with his cousins.
Ai to meet up with her friend Thuy who now resides in toronto, managing a place on King St.

After hanging around in Chinatown, we drove all the way to Niagara Falls. It was 1.5hrs drive and our destination was Embassy Suites. Our Suite overlooked the beautiful falls. We could see both the American AND Canadian side. The evening lighting display was gorgeous and we loved the view. Honestly, after flying and driving around all day, it was lovely to relax in the hotel and see such a magnificent sight outside our suite window. Of course, Dad woke everyone up at 6am each morning to take pics of the sigh, his little camera made little sounds as it captured the images --- annoying..... but glad he enjoyed the trip overall.

My parents are now heading to Minneapolis and Hartford (Connecticut) for 10days, visiting brothers and my cousins. Ai is busy cooking and babysitting the kids. She is a real trooper, handling the kids, cooking AND happy to exercise with Charles :)
The kids love her, and she has many great shots captured on her little camera.