Yellowstone

To celebrate several family birthdays, we decided to head up to Yellowstone.  We always say we should go there more often since we aren't that far away but for some reason it just always gets passed over. Addy turned five and this is the first time she has ever been.  We headed up on Friday and spent the night in West and had fun swimming with cousins and then headed into the park on Saturday.  To bad we chose a weekend with horribly cold and rainy weather. It was still fun to drive around looking for animals and the kids loved playing in the backseat. We just didn't get out and walk around as much as I would've liked.

Not long after we entered the park we came across a herd of elk.  I wasn't quick on getting to the camera which is a bummer because one of the bulls was huge. Oh well.

We did get out at Norris to see and smell all the hot springs.

Shortly after our stop, we drove passed this random buffalo.  We easily could've reached out the window to pet it.

see the baby eagle in the nest

I believe this was Tower Falls.  This is what happens when I get four months behind in my posting, I forget too many of the details. I do remember that this little lady was super grumpy and cold.

We finally got a smile after aunt trish bribed her with a treat.

Taking a lunch break in the rain before heading to see Old Faithful. The kids loved dragging sticks and making a path around the picnic area.  I think they were finally bored from being in the car all day so the cold and rain didn't bother them as much.

We had the best timing with Old Faithful. Seriously we walked up and within minutes it erupted.  Which was a blessing because we had some pretty cold kids who would not have enjoyed waiting much longer than that. It wasn't quite as impressive with all the cloud coverage. It sort of just blended into the background.

After a whole day of adventure these two crashed while waiting for everyone at the visitor center!

Hopefully we will make it back up next spring when it is warmer and to see all the baby animals!

West Yellowstone

(I'm sorry this is such a long post- don't feel like you have to read the whole thing- it is mostly just for me so I don't forget the things that happened!)

A couple weeks ago we went up to West Yellowstone and stayed with some friends in their condo.  It was such a fun and relaxing trip.  The town was mostly shutdown for the winter so there was hardly anyone around.  The Wolf and Grizzly Discover Center was one place that was still one so we went to check it out.  

We got there just in time to see the baby bear cubs.  They were soooo playful and cute.  Addy just thought they were fighting because they spent the whole time they were outside wrestling and biting each other. 

I love watching her face when she is just taking everything all in.

Then we went to see the wolves but they were taking a little snooze which wasn't quite as entertaining to watch.  So we went in and watched a very interesting presentation about the wolf.

We stumbled across this cute little wolf pack!

This is Sam.  He is the biggest bear I have every seen this close up.  

Addy was mesmerized by him.  I kept trying to get her to look at me for a picture but she kept telling me 'No, I'm watching Sam".

Another funny memory I have to share is when we were in the museum looking and learning about the bears.  They had a case that had bear scant in it so I showed it to Addy and asked if she knew what it was.  She told me she didn't so I told her it was bear poop.  Her head whipped around and she looked up at me and said, "YUCK!"  and then walked away.  It was the funniest thing ever.

One of the best things about this vacation was the pool!  We spent time every day here and it was the best because it wasn't too cold.  When you have a kid with no body fat, that becomes very important because she can actually stay in and swim for awhile without shivering.

 On the way down the first day, Addy told me that she was going to swim all by herself just like Gracie (her cousin).  So when we get to the pool, I put her lifejacket on and got in to help her and she pretty much pushed me away and told me she was going to do it herself.  To my surprise she totally did.  She started kicking her legs and used her arms to balance her and off she went.  It was such a fun mommy moment!  

Someone was getting a little bored while waiting for the rest of us to get ready!

For Valentine's Day, we all went out to lunch at this little diner place.  Then walked through a couple of shops that were still open.  Later that afternoon, the men folk surprised us ladies by taking us to get manicures and pedicures.  It was such a nice surprise.  

When we came back it was about dinnertime and we had the idea to feed the children first and then put a movie on for them in the bedroom so we could have a quiet and nicer dinner.

So here are the kids all ready for a movie and we surprised them with little valentine balloons filled with treats.

She was so excited to find out it was filled with candy.

Kiss, Kiss.

So after we got the kids down, we came back and finished our dinner.  We thought we would be eating at about 6:30.  The men took the chicken down to the grill at about 6:00 and came back a short time later saying it was covered with snow.  So we changed to baked chicken which took a lot longer to cook.  Then Mitch went to mash the potatoes and they turned really sticky and starchy.  It was almost like a gluey texture...not edible.  So we started boiling some more potatoes about the time the chicken came out of the oven.  

Turned out to be an absolutely delicious dinner but it took a little too long to cook!!

The next day we really wanted to go sledding since there was actually snow.  We'd been asking around to try and find a good hill and one lady told us about one that was really close to us and next to an ice skating rink.  Turns out it was the perfect size for the children. 

I love this picture of Addy trying to climb up the hill which was the size of a mountain for her!

Our sledding turned into pushing each other around on the ice. So then we decided to go rent some skates from across the street.  I was able to get two things checked off the winter list; sledding and ice skating.

Turns out I'd totally forgotten how hard ice skating is.  The people on TV always make it look so easy but it was hard.  After a little while we finally got Addy to try it on her own and she'd go a very short distance and fall down.  I was just proud that she was even trying.  Needless to say our ice skating venture didn't last too long before we all headed back for hot chocolate and marshmallows.

And that finally concludes our wonderful week of vacation (and this very long post!).  Thank you to our wonderful friends for letting us crash on your party!  We truly had a great time.