Yellowstone Memorial Day Drive

Yesterday we took a day long drive to Yellowstone. We left the house a little after 6 in the morning, and didn't get home until almost 9:00 - but we had so much fun! We actually made the loop around the entire park - and saw bears two different times! Stopped and enjoyed a few of the little board walks, and even pulled into Old Faithful within minutes of the geyser erupting! What amazing timing! That is always the highlight for the girls - as well as the ice cream cones we usually purchase there! 

Anyway - here are some photos of our day - first up, on our way to Yellowstone, the Tetons behind Jackson Lake...absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

Not far into the park we stopped to stretch our legs at one of the boardwalk trails. There were several buffalo grazing near the boardwalk and the steaming thermal pools. You don't really realize how big they are until they are that close...and you sure don't want to get their attention or make them angry!

The girls wanted to get a picture of us as well...

Here is the first bear sighting! The place was full of frantic people trying to get a look - and the bears were pretty far away, so we just snapped a picture on our way by. Wasn't worth becoming part of the crazy crowd!

Then...a little ways down the road we had the fun of seeing this guy up close!!!

First we saw him where another crazy crowd of people were, watching him from a distance. There was a large herd of elk and a buffalo that were running to get out of his way. We drove on, and just around the corner, he popped out of the bushes and we got to see him up close!

Here is how close he was to the girls side of the car - they were SOOOO excited!!! Then when it got a ways away we rolled the window down to see, and the girls, noticing a guy that had been out taking pictures the whole time, said in their loud voices: "What is he doing outside? Doesn't he know that it isn't safe? That's not very smart!"

One of the beautiful thermal pools - LOVE the gorgeous blue!

Amy was FAR less than impressed with the smell! She almost constantly had an icky wrinkled up nose!

Katie skipping along the boardwalk...

...and Amy running to catch up!

Checking out the bubbling paint pots:

Running through the sulphury steam:

Walking with Daddy:

In front of one of the littler and lesser known geysers...the sun was pretty bright! Sorry Amy!

Geyser:

Me with my girls:

Driving next to the Teton Mountains on our way home...

Fun day! Looking forward to staying home and out of the car today though I must admit!

A little Wyoming humor...

Hey there! The weather seems to be changing a little, and while I am pretty sure we skipped right past "spring" - I am beginning to feel like summer is here (although I have been warned to not be surprised by some "summer" snow storms...)! This morning we were up to a toasty 60 degrees by 7:30 in the morning - and we have gotten all the way up to 75 today. LOVE it! 

So...here are some random pics that I have recently found that made me laugh. I don't know where they all come from, so sorry I can't link them to their proper source! Hope they  make you laugh too...

And LOVE this one:

This was about right several months ago: 

And I have to admit to feeling this way a bit in the past couple of months...

Um...I hope this isn't true!

Yep - that is about right!

Haha! 

Yep, it snowed on the first day of spring...

Or even a couple of hours:

I just HAD to throw this in for my hubby! Although, I truly LOVE our Ford!

Pretty much true:

And after our long road trip last week, I know that this is most DEFINITELY true!!!

Well...off for a busy afternoon! Homeschool stuff at the Mountain Man Museum that is now open for the year, then a homeschool program on bees at the library, Fishermen's Club at church, and gymnastics! Busy busy!

Kansas Trip

Oh how I have neglected this blog lately! So...since we got home late last night, and Michael had to leave early for work this morning, I thought I would take a little time and edit some photos from our trip - then post them here to share! I will work on catching up some more in the coming weeks, but for now, here are some photos from our trip to Kansas.

We went to go visit our dear friend (who we call Auntie Amy, since that is the name our kids adopted for her!) and her husband (who we met when we traveled there for her wedding). We had not seen either of them since - about a 1 1/2's time had passed! Was SOOO fun to see them both, and spend time with her family. We spent quite a bit of time out at her parents house in the country - here is the view from their back yard:

The girls favorite part was the big trampoline! They had so much fun on it!

Since I had taken any pictures of them lately, I tortured them by making them allow me to do that. LOVED all the pretty green and the warm temps! We loved laying in the sun and just soaking it up...well, the girls preferred to jump on the trampoline, not lay on it! But we were able to convince them to give us a little time without getting seasick...

And the dandelions were so fun to blow!

Lovin' the time with Auntie Amy!

Their dog...he was just so cute (and fat and slow!) 

Here they both are! Amy and her husband Gabe with the girls! Gabe is a pilot, so one of the highlights was going to the local airport. My husband who always wanted to be a fighter pilot when he was a boy, but had bad eyes - got to sit in an amazing simulator and have Gabe take him through a take-off and landing. My husband was on seventh heaven! And the girls got to sit in the pilot seat of a real plane - they kind of loved that too!

Here they are in the cockpit:

And in front of the plane they got to sit in:

More pics...I kind of love my camera!

And here is the family all together - I am so completely blessed!!!

Then one of the gorgeous sunsets that I love in Kansas - this was when we were on our way home Sunday evening. Stopped by the side of the road to take a few pictures.

Well - the girls are awake now - so I'm off to make breakfast and finish unpacking and putting the house back together - always a big job after a trip like that!