A City Life For Me

Is he really 11 months?  I am not ready to celebrate a first birthday next month!  It’s been a busy, whirlwind month.  Henry is enjoying taking steps on his own, depending on the flooring.  He is enjoying being at Grandma’s house, playing with Sadie, and exploring the outdoors.  We added three new states – Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.  We have taken several trail hikes, including the Delicate Arch in Moab, Utah, and Bunsen Peak in Yellowstone National Park.  Henry had his first dip in the swimming pool, and an experience at the splash pad.  (He wasn’t too fond of either one). Henry is finally eating regular food, and he quite enjoys feeding himself.  Watermelon, banana, mango, Oreos, and waffles are all new favorites. Favorites right now include raiding the remote basket (to Grandpa’s dismay), playing with Sadie, climbing in the bathroom cabinet, opening the drawers in the kitchen, eating rocks & gravel, and getting up quite early! ...

Our fourth day at Yellowstone was a take-it-easy day.  We had seen everything on our list, enjoyed some hiking (thanks to the RV rental we were able to spend more time in the park and less time commuting to a hotel.  We asked the kids what they wanted to do, and we just had a leisurely day! Elaine wanted to see some of the geysers which we had passed on previous days.  While on our way to one of the geyser areas, we got stuck in a line of traffic.  Someone coming from the other direction said it was shut down up ahead and a 2 hour delay.  Later we found out that a car tried to pass and hit an RV or motor home head on.  The two people in the car were “messed up” and had to be transported elsewhere for medical care. We turned around and went to a different geyser basin, and had a picnic next to the Firehole River! I think the geysers are mostly a little boring, and have a very bad odor.  But I was pleasantly surprised with this section.  The color...

Our big feat for day 3 was hiking Bunsen Peak.  It’s 4.2 miles round trip, our longest hike yet!  The trail seemed to go on forever, just when I thought we were almost to the top.  But the view was worth it!  There was a hikers log at the top, and the kids enjoyed signing their own names and ages to say that they hiked Bunsen Peak.  Liberty’s turn to wear the Camelbak!  (This arrangement didn’t last very long!) I loved this tree! There were a bunch of wildflowers, but not in the picture I guess! View from midway up.  That is Swan Lake in the center. Beautiful vistas.  I couldn’t get enough of them! Hiking the trail was often slick and covered with lava rocks. Ben & Henry Me! The kids enjoyed sitting and using the binoculars.  Nehemiah couldn’t wait for his turn to use the “goggles.” We made it!  Bunsen Peak, Elevation 8564.  Oh yeah, I made it too!  Panoramic of the view and beginning of sunset. Swan Lake Hiki...

Since we were out late at the rodeo last night, we slept in and had lunch over the fire pit at our campsite.  Then we drove into Yellowstone for some hiking and hoping to see a beautiful sunset.  We also stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs, which was a huge disappointment in my opinion! We turned off at Sheepeater Cliff mostly to use the facilities.  But the rock climbing attracted the kids, and they wanted to climb to the top of the cliff like everyone else.  The twins got scared and stayed in this place, Elaine gave up, but… …Nolan made it to the top!  So proud of him!  (It was the new “hiking boots” that helped him along!) Swan Lake was just south of Mammoth Hot Springs.  It was absolutely beautiful!  Just up the road is Bunsen Peak, our hiking objective for the day.  Swan Lake Flats Nolan, Elaine, and I did Mammoth Hot Springs while the three littles were napping in the van with Ben.  We were pretty disappointed in it, but Nolan enj...

After dinner in our cozy RV, we headed into West Yellowstone, MT to attend the local rodeo.  Our kids have never seen a rodeo before, but they are enamored with cowboys and life “out west.”  We introduced them to bronc busting, calf roping, and bull riding!  The kids even got to participate in a calf scramble. Instructions for the calf scramble… …the clown said they had to put out their arms… …lay down in the dirt (only two of mine got in the dirt at first), roll over (“Don’t worry, we wash this dirt every day!”), and while they were distracted, the calf came running out! We watched the sunset grow more beautiful, Until it seemed that the sky was on fire! Elaine got to meet a REAL cowgirl!  This was the first lady I had ever seen participate in bull riding!  The kids loved the rodeo!

We let the kids take a snooze in the car as we drove to and through the Lamar Valley.  Ben and I enjoyed the beautiful mountain vistas, hillsides covered in wildflowers, and then we found the huge buffalo herd.  The herd was positioned across the river, so we left the parking area and hiked down to the river’s edge.  We enjoyed seeing the buffalo closer up, and the kids loved skipping stones! Burn out trees, and wildflowers Henry enjoyed the rocks.  I pulled several out of his mouth! Nursing calf The kids had just watched the buffalo episode on Wild Kratts and they were excited to see a real buffalo taking a dust bath, just like in the show! After leaving the buffalo herd we encountered a lot of cars pulled off the edge of the road…where there wasn’t really a pull-off location.  We couldn’t see anything so we asked another person what everyone was looking at.  “A grizzly cub.”  We were so excited because the kids had been wanting to see ...