Annual Get Summer Getaway

After telling the kids their options for our summer camping trip, we had them do research on each of the places and then tell us where they wanted to go and why.

They all easily agreed on Glacier National Park.

So after leaving at the crack of dawn, we made it here just before dinner time and found a great camping spot.  Then we spent the rest of the evening setting up camp and exploring around it.  We even had a deer visit us.

 

I am grateful for nature.  Is is one of the most relaxing and peaceful places to be.

Good Morning!

We were awoken by a bunch of crazy's coming into our tent today. Lol!

 

Then after we managed to finally crawl out of our tent we pack up and headed back home after an amazing week at Yellowstone.

 
I am so thankful that Weston was able to take time off so we could go on a family vacation.

Making our way back home

We decided to pack up and head south and camp near the Tetons tonight.

This guy decided to bid us farewell on our way out of the park.

 

 

I am thankful that we had dry weather long enough to get our camp all set up.  Since it was too soggy out to try and get a fire going or to do much else outside, everyone piled into our tent for games, songs, drawing, glow sticks, and just horsing around before sending them to their own tent for the night.

 

Another day in Paradise

It has been raining on and off through out the day today, but we didn't let that spoil our fun.

There was still lots to see and do.

I think the animals were just loving the weather.  We saw Elk, Bear, Moose, and Bison today!  All we have left on our list of animals that we want to spot are the wolves (we have heard them howling every night) and the bighorn sheep.

 

That mama bear had 2 cubs with her, but it was hard to get a good picture of them all together.....especially since the cubs always seemed to be playing in the bushes.

The fires here are pretty much out now. It was great to have the opportunity to give my kids hands on experience with the cycle of life and the forces of nature.  Such as this area that was burned in a previous fire but now you can see evidence of new life and growth.

  

  

  

Yeah.....my kids are pretty dirty when we camp.  This little one is like a magnet to dirt and food on the face.

  

  

 I am grateful for the sounds of nature.

Moving Camp

With how big and with the few roads that do run through Yellowstone, getting from one end to the other can take forever.  So since we had seen pretty much everything that we could do with small children at the southern end of the park we decided to pack up and move camp to the northern end this morning.

 

We scouted out a few different camp grounds and picked one that we thought would do for a couple of days.

We just kinda lazed around the camp ground today...setting it up, eating lunch, and playing games.

 

Then the kids started to bug us about going to see some things at this end of the park.


So we piled in the car and went for a drive.

Spotted a Bison...

 
..... some hot pots....

  

 

 
 ....and then a storm rolled.  And with it colder weather.

So we went in search of a place that I had read about on the internet.  (I believe it is called Boiling River).  It wasn't marked on the map we had and we didn't see signs for it anywhere.  But we managed to find it...yea!  We were all cold with the the cooler temps that the storm brought with it and so it seemed like the trail to the boiling river was taking FOREVER.

  

But, alas it came into sight!


It's like a natural hot tub. Found halfway between Gardiner and Mammoth.  It is where a hot spring named the boiling river flows into the Gardiner river. And it is one of the few places in the park where you are allowed to swim.

 

There were waterfalls of hot water pouring into the cold water and rocks have been placed around it to help create this hot tub.

There were spots where the water would be cold, but you would just have to take a step to the side and it would be warm or hot or, if you got too close to a waterfall, boiling hot.

But it was SO perfect for a day like today.
(I'm kinda glad there weren't any signs for this place.....it would have been not fun to have it overcrowded)

 

When we felt like we were turning into prunes we started to head back to our camp.

It was getting late so we stopped in Mammoth on the way back to grab some dinner at one of the few restaurants in the park.  While we were eating is started pouring again. Boo!

Well we had a surprise when we got back to our camp site.  Our site had pretty much flooded while we were away.  Some nice camping neighbor came and moved the kids tent up onto higher ground and saved our canopy and camping chairs that were getting blown away.  My tent was kinda wet but not too bad, but in the dark of the night we moved it up next to the kids tent just in case.

But we were able to laugh about it once we got settled down for the night.
All part of the adventure.


I am thankful for nice warm water.

Another Day at Yellowstone

If  you have been to Yellowstone before then you will understand when I say that a lot of the things to see there are very similar....so for little kids it can get boring.

So we went and saw some more of the awesome creations from Mother Nature...

 

Had Baby Ponyo almost run/fall off this board walk a few times...

  

Saw some really colorful lake thingies

  

 

And then we went to the swimming hole.

  

It was a neat little spot... the water was a little on the cold side, and out in the middle there was a current, but all in all we had fun playing in the water.

  

  

  

....until the kids got too cold.

  

 While the wee ones were drying off and warming up, Weston and I went for dip by our selves.  Lets just say that I haven't laughed so hard and felt so dumb!  The swimming hole is kinda formed on one end by a small row of rocks which is in turn a small waterfall.  Well we swam over by the rocks and Weston was pretending to get swept down the little fall....but in the act of pretending he actually went over the fall.

And then 2 seconds later a teenager that was near us got sucked down it too!!!

At first I was freaking out a little because I thought he was going to get swept down stream.....and a little ways down that stream is a HUGE water fall.  But luckily the water was very shallow on the other side and didn't have much of a current.

Well when I see he's going to be ok we both start  laughing so hard and then next thing I know I am all of the sudden sucked down the water fall also!

We got banged up a little from landing on the rocks but it was really such a funny site!!!  I am just SO grateful that it was a tiny fall and that it was so shallow on the other side.....don't think I'll be swimming near a waterfall again

I do wish we had it on tape.....and our kids didn't even noticed what had happened. lol

Well we then head back to our camp site and after dinner the older 3 and I head down to the lake near our site.

 

 

We had fun seeing who could throw their rock the farthest, who could skip a rock, then we watched all the fish come to the surface to much on the bugs that were landing on the water.

  

And then we just watched the beautiful sunset...

 

....until it was almost too dark to find our way back.

 

 I am grateful that no one got hurt today.

I'm gonna warn you now

Those of you who know me know that I kinda like to take pictures....of everything and anything.

So, this should not be a surprise when I say "Sorry for the photo overload" of our trip to Yellowstone.

These pictures aren't in any certain order, but they are of things that we thought was neat or funny or just wanted to remember.

....like this sign about staying on the trail because of hot spots.  Haha!  Baby Root beer and i would chuckle every time we came across this.

Yellowstone is just an amazing park.  I was amazed at how every place we went seemed to have different kinds of vegetation and wildlife.

I loved how my kids were into everything too and had their cameras out to take photos of the things they loved.

**no I did not photoshop a smilie face on that mud bubble....that was naturally occurring and my kids loved spotting it.  =)  **

The mineral deposits and colors that appear in some of these hot pools is amazing.  The color of this blue one below was so inviting to me..... but no worries, I remembered that warning sign and made sure to stay out of it lol!

Oh and we have gone from leaving the fire at our house to coming to the fires here at Yellowstone.  They closed off one of the roads due to it, but we are camped pretty far away from it so I'm not to worried.

But the smoke in the air has sure led to some fiery sunsets.

It's been a long, but fun day.

The kids were such good sports, but you could tell as the day wore on that they were getting worn out and the fighting between them was almost to the point of driving me crazy.

Once we got back to our camp site and got them tucked into their beds they all fell asleep almost instantly.

I am grateful for the beauty all around us.

Our summer getaway

I must say again how thankful I am that the fire was pretty much out when we left yesterday for our summer trip.  I don't think I could have left with a fire blazing behind my house.....

Well, yesterday afternoon we started our journey towards Yellowstone National Park.

We didn't make it there in one day.....partly because of the last start we got yesterday and partly because we wanted to see other places along the way.

Well, we stayed at a nice campground, that I can't remember the name of. 

There were only 4 camp sites taken.  So it was nice and quite and it felt like we were the only ones there.

Then the next morning we awakened to a beautiful golden sunrise.

And we did a little exploring before packing up the car and continuing our journey.

So long

Time to pack up and say goodbye and sneak in a few last pictures of the beach.

We headed back to my In-laws house for the night.  We hit horrible traffic due to some Electric Daisy Carnival concert thing.  And let me just tell you that it was crazy!  Just about everyone had daisy stuff all over there cars and music blasting.  And people were yelling to each other from car to car.  Others would stand up out of there sunroofs while driving down the freeway.  One crazy guy had the drivers door open and he was hanging out the door while standing up and trying to drive down the freeway.  

Craziness.

I am grateful that we made it to my in-laws safe and sound.