Geyers, mudpots, and fumaroles. Oh My!

On our last full day in Yellowstone, we went geyser hopping. And saw boiling mudpots, hot springs, and steaming fumaroles. What interesting natural phenomena!

 

Old Faithful

We were so amazed that you could be driving through one type of landscape, take a turn and find yourself in an entirely different one. Found this rocky area and the boys wanted to rock climb.

Benji the dare devil

We decided to venture a short way out of the park to Gardiner, Montana for dinner. What a cute, strange little town. Population 750, and most of it there for visitors to the park. But some seriously good pizza and views. On the way back into the park, we stopped to take a swim in the Gardiner river. Elk meandered around us, unconcerned with human presence.

Keepin on through Yellowstone

Jack was so excited to get ice cream after this hike, that he took off down the mountain alone

We found elk in a lot of random spots

Yellowstone, Day 1

Woke up, opened the door, and.... ELK!

I ended up taking nearly 200 photos on this trip, so obviously won't be including all of them on this blog. So I'll hit some of the highlights of our first big family vacation out West.

Jack and Benji decided to dive into the Jr. Ranger program. One of their assignments was to attend a ranger-led program. Gavin did parts of his Jr. Ranger booklet, but never completed it. Jack and Benji were super eager to get those *real* badges, so they worked diligently throughout the park. 

Signs like this did not worry me too much

Signs like this kept me up at night. Really. I think almost every night I fell asleep to nightmares of one child or another falling off a cliff or into a canyon.

We took Uncle Tom's Trail, consisting of 328 metal stairs, to the bottom of this waterfall, and I think the expression on my face shows how comfortable I was with my children so near a railing overlooking possible sudden death.

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Lower Falls

We have arrived! Now into Yellowstone...

After an early morning and several hours of air travel, we picked up our rental car and went straight to the Snake River Brewery for lunch and some great beer!

After lunch, we stopped at a local grocery store and bought a small cooler and some groceries for our upcoming three days in Yellowstone. Then we began what turned out to be a 5 hour drive from Jackson Hole up to the northern most part of Yellowstone where we had a cabin reserved; Mammoth Hot Springs. We made sure to make a few stops along the way, since the entire drive went through both the Grand Tetons National Park, and the entire western central side of Yellowstone.

Having a good time celebrating his 9th birthday in Yellowstone

Why, yes, that *is* a giant bullsnake greeting us outside our cabin

Our Mammoth Hot Springs cabin has a nice view of the travertine terraces

3:42am wakey wakey

And these kids are WIDE awake for their first flight! I had visions of carrying them, half asleep, to the car. No way! They are as lively as ever. 

Ready for our first flight!

Jack is finding this to be an exciting 9th birthday so far!

Intuitive calendar

I continue to be brightened by the intuition of the calendar my dear friend Sara gave to me for this year. Each month declares a motivational message, and they always seem to be spot on for what's happening in our household.  I keep it in our bathroom, so it's the first thing I see in the morning.

Here was July's message:

On July 1st, Mike learned that he did not receive the contract he was hoping for. The company he submitted the RFP to sold their whole company instead. So Mike spent all of July on the phone with potential clients, doing his best to keep his business going.  He has a lot on the horizon now, and is feeling cautiously optimistic as we move into the next couple months. For my part, I started applying to jobs in July. Change!!

And now, August:

What a great image and message. I did my first phone interview. We are preparing to take the kids on their first plane ride, and big vacation tothe  mountains. Gavin feels ready for kindergarten. School starts in 20 days!

I know a pre-kindergartener who is excited about his first plane ride...

Shoe shopping has its rewards

Cox visit

Had a lovely day with Ernie, Sofia and Aster at the zoo. For whatever reason, the only photos I took were of Benji and Aster on the swing at the park by our house after our zoo outing. It was a great day with great friends.

School!

Every day for the past couple days, the boys have played "school". This is great practice for Gavin who will be going to kindergarten! I guess this means they're ready for school.

Benji is always the teacher.