Yellowstone
WARNING: LONG post with TONS of pictures.
We decided to kick off the summer with a road trip. At first we had planned to head south to Four Corners. Then, four days before we were supposed to leave, we changed our minds and decided to head north to Yellowstone. We loaded up the car last Friday morning, June 5 and began the four-hour drive.
Our kids travel remarkably well. I made the executive decision that for this trip there would be no DVDs or video games; we were going to travel the old-fashioned way with paper and pencils and books for entertainment. Overall, I think there was less quarreling. I have noticed over time that my kids tend to pick fights more easily when they've spent hours staring at screens. Thats why I eliminated the techno gadgets, except for MP3 players and headphones.
When we arrived in West Yellowstone, Montana, we checked into our hotel and headed to the Museum and Visitor's Center.
Brent decided to have a little fun with the buffalo.
Old Snaggletooth, the grizzly bear.
After dinner Brent showed the kids how to skip rocks. I think this "pond" was actually a giant puddle leftover from earlier rainstorms. (Okay, there is supposed to be video here, but it must be too big for blogger because it won't upload.)
The next morning we loaded everthing back into and on top of the car...
...and headed for the park. We drove about half of the Lower Loop.
Family picture at Midway Geyser Basin
The weather was not the best, it was pretty cold which caused a lot of steam at the geysers. As we drove toward Old Faithful, we could see the steam coming from it.
It was hard to tell what's water and what's steam when the geyser erupted.
Damon forgot his camera so Brent let him take some pictures with his camera. While at Old Faithful Brent and I asked Damon to take a picture of us together. After he snapped the picture we asked if he got it. He answered, "Yeah. Well, I got Mommy."
This elk was right on the side of the road eating. 
This crow was just standing on the roof of this car. We were parked right next to and the bird didn't seem to mind at all. 
We saw lots of buffalo on this trip. As we headed out of the park, there was a single buffalo walking straight down the middle of the road. It took a few minutes to get past him because each time a car would try to go around him, he would venture toward that side of the road.
Our original plan for this trip was to stay in a hotel Friday night, which we did, and then on Saturday if things were going well and we wanted to stay another day, we would camp. We packed a tent and sleeping bags but with the rain and colder temperatures we decided to head for home. (I don't do well with cold.) It poured on us almost the entire trip home. Every time we'd get ahead of the clouds, they'd catch up again.
We really had a good time. It was great to be out with nature and admire and even stand in awe of God's creations. Kind of makes me realize how insignificant we are.
We decided to kick off the summer with a road trip. At first we had planned to head south to Four Corners. Then, four days before we were supposed to leave, we changed our minds and decided to head north to Yellowstone. We loaded up the car last Friday morning, June 5 and began the four-hour drive.
Our kids travel remarkably well. I made the executive decision that for this trip there would be no DVDs or video games; we were going to travel the old-fashioned way with paper and pencils and books for entertainment. Overall, I think there was less quarreling. I have noticed over time that my kids tend to pick fights more easily when they've spent hours staring at screens. Thats why I eliminated the techno gadgets, except for MP3 players and headphones.
When we arrived in West Yellowstone, Montana, we checked into our hotel and headed to the Museum and Visitor's Center.
Brent decided to have a little fun with the buffalo.
Old Snaggletooth, the grizzly bear.
After dinner Brent showed the kids how to skip rocks. I think this "pond" was actually a giant puddle leftover from earlier rainstorms. (Okay, there is supposed to be video here, but it must be too big for blogger because it won't upload.)
The next morning we loaded everthing back into and on top of the car...
...and headed for the park. We drove about half of the Lower Loop.
Family picture at Midway Geyser Basin
The weather was not the best, it was pretty cold which caused a lot of steam at the geysers. As we drove toward Old Faithful, we could see the steam coming from it.
It was hard to tell what's water and what's steam when the geyser erupted. 
Damon forgot his camera so Brent let him take some pictures with his camera. While at Old Faithful Brent and I asked Damon to take a picture of us together. After he snapped the picture we asked if he got it. He answered, "Yeah. Well, I got Mommy."
This elk was right on the side of the road eating. 
This crow was just standing on the roof of this car. We were parked right next to and the bird didn't seem to mind at all. 
We saw lots of buffalo on this trip. As we headed out of the park, there was a single buffalo walking straight down the middle of the road. It took a few minutes to get past him because each time a car would try to go around him, he would venture toward that side of the road.
Our original plan for this trip was to stay in a hotel Friday night, which we did, and then on Saturday if things were going well and we wanted to stay another day, we would camp. We packed a tent and sleeping bags but with the rain and colder temperatures we decided to head for home. (I don't do well with cold.) It poured on us almost the entire trip home. Every time we'd get ahead of the clouds, they'd catch up again.
We really had a good time. It was great to be out with nature and admire and even stand in awe of God's creations. Kind of makes me realize how insignificant we are.
Comments
I so miss yellowstone. That is where most of our family vacations were at! Sucks that it poured and was cold the whole time. But It sounds like you guys had a good time. Loved the pictures! Laughed hysterically at brent's head up the Bull's.. well you know.. SHowed Paul and said we so need to get to know him!
Your kids are getting so big! They are beautiful! I wouldn't even recognize your little boy. Last I saw him he was doing that silly bum scooch crawl! Have you guys been out for four years now? Wow! You and Brent look great too!