Yellowstone Rocks!

It's finally June, summer, time for a vacation!
Izzy wasn't so sure about having to sit on pine needles so the picnic table in camp was her second choice. (First choice is always a lap, but weighing close to 30 lbs she just isn't a comfortable lap dog)
Her tie off leash was super long but wouldn't you know it she always ended up with it tied around a few trees, canopy stake lines and a leg or 2 until she had like a 6inch leash.


First thing the kids always want when camping is MARSHMALLOWS! They don't even care if its around a fire or inside a delicious s'more. Stuff them in! Somehow mom packed enough cheese sticks to feed us and an army but left home with only one bag of mallows packed. Fortunately there are a few stores in the park that sell them, and under 5$ too.

The weather started out sunny and beautiful, we didn't even think we would need the heater in the pop up trailer the first night. Daddy worried the kids would freeze though, when it started to drizzle, so he did turn it on. Full Blast. Aimed at moms face. Melted sleeping bag, rather than frozen kiddos, that's okay.


So, the other thing, besides a lot of marshmallows, you should always remember to take camping are good camping shoes, weather proof is preferred. Leather and some other sponge like-absorbent material- flip flops , not preferred. Who can really remember to take everything camping though, its impossible.


A little drizzle here and there didn't stop any of our adventuring. Hoodies and ponchos are easy to put on and off as needed. N. was embarrassed to be in a yellow poncho until he saw a lady in a make shift black trash bag to keep dry. Pointy head, one arm. Giggle giggle.

Daddies really are great. They'll carry a sleeping kid anywhere, rain or shine, hill or valley.
This was just the first of many this trip.
I think all the hiking and rain actually gave them more energy and I'm certain they are all taller than they were before we left.
The best things about the trip were the exclamations of "Whoa" , "Cool" "Look!" and of course, the best for mom was, the absolute lack of the ugly" bored" word.
Beautiful scenery, beautiful weather(you see more steam from the fumaroles when its cooler and there isn't any heatstroke), beautiful family. Yes, it was a beautiful trip. Nothing could be better than to share Gods earth with the whole family.

When it did end up raining too hard (which miraculously only happened after the hikes) the car made a great, dry, picnic spot, not to mention the entertainment in the form of a dvd player and screens for movie watching. I promise it wasn' t often ,and the kids were much more "unplugged" than some of the teen visitors ,who even around fantastic displays, were glued to their pda's. What a world.

Although rainy, every night we did stay warm with the heater off and on and the fantastic idea of hot water in 2liter bottles in the kids sleeping bags. For now, we all still fit in the trailer but, no one better grow much or the boys(dad and N.) will end up in their own Scout tent. Somehow we all slept even with Izzy and her snoring, even slept in, most mornings.

Yellowstone is chuck full of awesome stuff to see. I think we saw everything there was to see from the car and on quick hikes. When the kids get bigger we'll do it again and do some longer hikes in the back country too.

One picnic we were overtaken by an elk momma and her young. WE were there first, but ended up running away to the car since they were just too close for comfort. Izzy was smart to hide under the table(Okay, she was looking for inevitable dropped chips ,but she seems smart) so she wouldn't be charged and killed by the momma elk, like the Ranger told us had happened earlier this year. Mommas are sure mean about protecting those babies. Thats why when we did finally see a bear and her cubs we were rushed away by more rangers. We saw every type of wildlife except for wolves. Too bad for D. That would have checked off his wildlife list completely.

The wood we bought was the opposite of flammable. Now the kids know what a cardboard fire is. One night after cutting wood with his Gerber tool until it broke D. got a fire to start for real. Took 2 hours. Then it started , without warning, to hail and we had to run for cover. Maybe we should have put up a canopy over the firepit? D.'s flip flops are by choice after discovering the only thing he forgot (besides his art history studying materials, for his big test)were his socks. 2 socks, 5 days, too gross for him!

N. and mom started renaming some of the mud pots, geysers and other cool sites. We liked our names better, they were more descriptive most of the time than the original name. How did we never get tired of walking around different colors of steaming smelly water and mud? Its an amazing place!

The little ones have the right idea, use daddy as a vehicle. They got a lot of looks! Daddy has some tough legs!

There was just enough rain to have puddles and mud and then we got beautiful blue skies and sunshine. A little bit of sunburn (tricky overcast day), a few soggy socks but generally, best trip ever!

Bears and wolves in cages closed up the adventure. It was a little confusing to understand seeing wildlife in the wild and then seeing wildlife behind fences. Some of the kids thought the park animals we saw were let out of their cages. It makes sense when caged animals are all you know.
A diet of pancakes(yeah for the park stores again, after the new mix we brought with us had weevils, both packages!) and sandwiches wasn't satisfying enough for D. and T., I guess. Fish for dinner.


D. did get to mark off wolves as "seen" but it only half counts when its outside of the park in an enclosure at the Wolf exhibit. The kids had more fun there pretending they were a family of wolves, crawling around in the dirt and gravel, in a cement den, outside the wolf fence, than they did seeing the grizzly's and wolves.


What's next? It's back to the horrible "bored" word and mac'n'cheese lunches. Yeah for memories and pictures to take us back anytime we want!