Clouds

The clouds today were absolutely gorgeous, big fluffy white clouds. . . So while we were driving home from karate I asked the kids what shapes they could see.

Jude: Dinosaur! (Obviously)
Lydia: Guitar! (She's been writing a lot of music lately)
Julia: Agreed with everyone else about what they saw :)
Talia: "A alligator and a kid" (I looked out her side of the van and immediately saw an alligator-shaped cloud and a kid-shaped cloud. Very impressive.
Kayla: Was fast asleep for her oh-so-fun 5:30 pm cat-nap that will keep her up hours past bedtime.

Kayla's Broken Arm

I can't believe this! BOTH bones :(

After it happened I could just tell it was broken, so I made her a quick appointment (cheaper than instacare, don't judge) and headed straight in. Then the whole time we were waiting I was watching her use her arm and grab stuff and try to open her baggie full of ice. . . I started thinking what an idiot I am for thinking it was broken, because clearly it hurts her a little, but no way is it broken. . .

She was a Rockstar getting her x-rays! They gave her some stickers to distract her and she named all the princesses by name and impressed everyone :) She didn't want to do what mommy said, but as soon as the tech sat next to her and helped her she calmed down and held still and I'm not joking when I say everyone was impressed. Then as we were leaving she turned and waved and yelled "Bye!" Such a sweetie. . .

Back upstairs to the doctor's office. . . again, I'm thinking no way is it broken. The doctor pulls up the images and bam- both bones, very broken. We were both shocked, cause Kayla was being so tough she had us tricked! And not only are the bones broken, they're broken so much the doctor had to refer us to an orthopedist. . . So back to the doctor again tomorrow :(

She was happy to be home, and happy to have an otter pop.

She's tough!!

Life Elevated!

These guys were pretty excited to see the Utah sign!

(They liked seeing all the signs)

Only 400 miles to go from the Idaho border to the Arizona border.

My poser :)

Old Faithful!

The quintessential Old Faithful Geyser sign picture

The kids got a big lecture on enjoying the moment, "you only get one chance to see Old Faithful for the first time," and not just worrying about capturing it on their tablets. . . We made sure we got there with plenty of time to get settled and get ready.

Jude's excitement to see this famous geyser was perfect.

His reaction to the actual geyser was PRICELESS.

(I've seen it before, so I was way more interested in their reactions)

Lydia was cold and ornery and laying under her coat before the geyser shot off. I asked her if she was going to let her bad attitude get in the way of enjoying the geyser and she still wouldn't sit up but she did tell me, "I'm watching." I was really happy that she sat up and enjoyed the moment, sort of. She was pretty unimpressed.

Julia unfortunately watched most of the event through her video of it. . . but she remembered to look up when I reminded her she could watch the video of it later!

T was cold. And tired and hungry and I loved cuddling with her as she tried to figure out just what this geyser thingy was all about.

Kayla was freezing and trying to run off so Daddy tucked her in and held her tight and she was loving it. I think he got to watch the geyser a little bit too.

Jr. Rangers!! They got a badge and a patch- very fancy.

That booklet is no joke though, we only had a few hours and I wouldn't recommend rushing through it like we did.

If you look way in the background you can see a bison crossing in front of some traffic. We drove right past it standing on the side of the road and Lydia loved it, then we stopped to watch a herd in the meadow and the bison decided to cross the road and stop traffic and Lydia was laughing, she thought it was so funny that they got stuck and we didn't.

This is the herd of bison we stopped to watch on our way out of the park through Western Yellowstone. That's the Madison River in the background and this picture is not zoomed in. They were too close for us to get out of the van, but Lydia leaned out of the window and watched them with her binoculars (Julia was terrified to have the window down) and took video and selfies and just loved it. Then a coyote came and circled the herd and we all loved that. Lydia definitely appreciated the wildlife more than the geology of Yellowstone.

Yellowstone NP

I had hoped to take the kids to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the big waterfall there, but the road was still snowed in and we had to choose a different hike. We made a good choice though. The geysers at the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake were a lot of fun, and they didn't smell as horrible as some of the other geysers in the park ha! Not to mention the clearly defined boardwalk/trail made it easy to contain the kids. . .

So much beauty in this picture. And Kayla drinking a coke. . .

Also they were asked to "just please stand in age order for two seconds, please?!?!"

Didn't happen.

I wouldn't change one thing about this picture.

Each kid just doing their own thing in their own way and me standing back thinking "Well this is what we've got, just take the picture."

Julia. I can't believe this tiny human is already 6.

She thought the steam coming out of the geysers surrounded by ice on the lake was pretty interesting. Or I did and she just pretends the best.

Talia is always so happy to be doing whatever it is we're doing. . . I'd say she is pure joy, but you also have to watch out when she does get angry. She's as spirited as the rest of them.

We had a great visit in Yellowstone though. We saw a bighorn sheep, a bald eagle, a swan *in flight* (never seen that before), plenty of bison and female elk, and even a coyote. The kids were excited that they didn't see a bear. Especially after we heard that the trails around Old Faithful were all closed because a mama bear with two cubs had just come out of hibernation and was hanging around in the woods.

Montana

After getting everything all set up for the wedding and enjoying a yummy dinner (where Jude decided to go outside and throw snowballs into the river and ALL the other kids decided to follow him and, yep, it was my kid that started all the chaos- oops)

But after that we went back to the Lodge and started up the fire and roasted some yummy marshmallows and ate smore's (my kids did NOT care for the cheesecake they got with their dinner- not one of them liked it- just like their mama)

While we got the fire started this bird of prey came and sat in the tree above us. It stayed for a long time and Jude loved it. He's the first one that noticed it too. I wish I had a better picture to help me identify it, but I think it's either a white-tailed kite or an osprey. The osprey seems more likely, but it's head and belly and tail are so white that it has me questioning.

My idea of perfection right here.

Kayla was sort-of responsible around the fire. . . she didn't set anything on fire so I call that a win.

John helped Lenyn roast some marshmallows and she did NOT like having help. But she wasn't nearly as well-behaved around the fire as she thought she was. . . And Kayla did NOT like daddy paying attention to another kid ha!

We celebrated Julia's birthday too (SIX!!) and she loved all the surprise attention and the birthday cake with a singing candle. When I asked if she was surprised she said, "No." Then she added that she was, "more than surprised!" I'm glad she didn't mind celebrating her birthday so far from home!

Grand Teton NP

More driving on snowy roads brought us to Grand Teton NP- my very favorite place! (Maybe I like Zion more. . . it's a tie.)

Unfortunately this was the only moose we saw on this trip :(

I've seen a mama and a baby moose (and slowly backed away) in the past, but never a big male moose. Someday.

Also we got a comment about all the pink and looking back on this picture this wasn't even an especially pink day! My girls do love their pink though.

The visitor center here was amazing. They had samples of fur/hides and footprints. They had Native American art and clothing and history. They had interactive displays and a play area for kids and I was very impressed. Plus it was so cold outside we didn't get to spend much time hiking so the visitors center was kinda all we got :) Jude learned in the movie we watched that John D Rockefeller Jr was a big benefactor and supporter of getting Grand Teton and the surrounding valley protected. He and I both loved Rockefeller Center in New York so as soon as we heard his name in the movie we looked at each other, it was awesome.

We did make sure to visit Jenny Lake.

So beautiful, in any season.

Lydia refusing to pose for me. . . turd.

This was right before we decided to scramble down a semi-trail to stand on the banks of the lake. Lydia ended up "tumbling" (as she described it) towards the end and then I was worried that rocks that were getting dislodged were going to hit her. It was a bit scary. Then we jumped out onto some rocks and logs and of course Julia got scared and caused a back-up and Lydia wasn't watching and ran right into her and next thing you know Lydia was standing in the freezing cold water. . . such a fun adventure.