Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Yellowstone


We spent the past weekend taking a short family vacation to Yellowstone. We stayed in a hotel on the way there and back and spent 2 nights camping in the park. The boys had a great time and really loved the whole camping experience. On our way out of the park we drove through the Grand Tetons and stopped for a quick family picture in front of my favorite mountain range.

The boys asked us every few minutes the whole way from Casper to Yellowstone if we were there yet. There is a vast amount of nothingness in Wyoming until you get close to the park - they did pretty good in the car but they were so excited when I told them we made it to Yellowstone.

We got to our campsite by early evening, so we had enough time to set up our tent, cook dinner, eat smores and read a little Harry Potter before bed.

The boys love to roast marshmallows.

They did great camping for 2 nights. It got pretty cold at night (in the mid 30s) but they never complained. Yellowstone has to be one of the best places to camp. There are several full bathrooms throughout the campsite complete with a dish washing station and then hot showers at the main camping center a few minutes away.

The boys saw all sorts of neat things. We hiked to a couple of waterfalls, saw lots of geysers, several deer, elk and buffalo and we even saw a bear cross the road in front of us.

We drove to the northern part of Yellowstone, which Greg and I don't remember seeing before. It was so pretty in that area - we especially loved the fields of wildflowers in the mountain region.

Ryan was a big fan of the geysers - he was even telling Greg how they worked by the end.

Great visit to Old Faithful.

This buffalo was walking down the opposite lane of traffic as we drove right by him. He was causing a 2 mile traffic jam behind him.

All 3 boys really liked building a fire.

The boys helped us to break down the tent by jumping on it to get all of the air out so we could roll it up.

We hiked to the main waterfall - which required a trip down about 400 stairs to get close to the base - then we hiked 400 stairs back up - the boys did great.

Greg really enjoyed telling the boys all about the geologic stuff in Yellowstone - like all of the mud pits and how we were really camping on one of the largest volcanoes in the world.

Ryan really liked helping Greg fill the car up with gas whenever we had to stop.

We had a great trip but we were glad to back home and in our own beds by the end of it.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Fun and Very Busy Week with Cousins


We had a wonderful time with Jacob, Olivia, and Aunt Conny in town. We were so busy the whole time that I have too many pictures to go through. So here is a sampling of some of the many things that we did.

We went to the Children's Museum for the 4th year in a row. This year the kids got to make and launch their own rockets.




We also spent a lot of time at the pool.


We went mini golfing.

My golfing partners - Conny, Jacob and Luke.

Luke

Jacob

Ryan

Olivia

Uncle G's golfing partners - Ryan and Olivia.

We celebrated the boys' birthday with their cousins - complete with giant cupcakes. The boys got a new Harry Potter Lego set (Hogwarts castle) - and they couldn't have been more thrilled. We even finished off all of the 4th of July fireworks.




We went to Water World - twice. It rained a couple of hours after we got there on Thursday, so we had a rain check to head back on Monday.

The kids in their cabana.


Luke was totally fearless on this slide - that is him at the very top of the slide - second from the left. Ryan was even willing to try it later - it took him two times down the slide to decide that he didn't really like it.

The kids went to a Horseback Riding Day Camp - and Conny and I had 6 hours to ourselves, it was wonderful. Olivia, Luke and Jacob liked horseback riding - Ryan said he did not, because he fell off his horse.



We went to JumpStreet another day - where the kids could jump on giant trampolines.

Olivia loved it.


We even went camping.


Unfortunately there was a fire ban - so we had to make our smores over the camp stove.

The next day we went to Cripple Creek and rode the train - Luke fell asleep half way through it.


And the last day we went to Jungle Quest - where the kids got to rock climb and swing down zip lines - Ryan said this was his favorite.


Video of Luke swinging.


The 4th annual Children's Museum photo of the 4 kids at the Word Wall.

2011

2010

2009

2008


Much of our visit consisted of building Legos. We went to the new Lego store and the boys used their own money to buy 2 Harry Potter sets (the Knight Bus and Hagrid's Hut) and Jacob got the Hogwarts Express. Conny and I spent 2 full days building Legos with the kids - and super gluing the sets together (the main pieces are glued together, but they can still play with all of the people and little pieces). Below is from this morning - we put together Hagrid's Hut today in order to keep Ryan preoccupied from being so sad about Jacob and Olivia leaving.


We had a great visit and the boys have been telling me all day how much they miss their cousins and can't wait for Thanksgiving when they will be back.