Vacation!

I don't know if it's a problem with my blog or a problem with my knowledge of how to use my blog, but I can't ever seem to get these in order anymore.  So, sorry, this is majorly scattered.

This is also the trip where our camera decided to die...before it took one picture.  (It worked when I packed it.  It didn't work when I pulled it out for the first picture.  So thankfully, Brandon's phone takes pictures.  These are all from his phone.)

Brandon was working the night shift and he called me from work at about 9pm and said, "Hey, pack everything. We're going to Yellowstone tomorrow on vacation."
So, I packed everything and we took a vacation!  :)  It's hard for us to plan things out very far because his work and pay day and Air Force stuff and weather, and whatever else all have to line up at the same time.  This just happened to line up perfectly for us.

Hiking.  We hiked all over the place.  Brandon planned out our trip and marked out the trails and sites we'd see.  He did a great job.  :)  

She drank lots of apple juice on the trip.  She also sat here and stared at whoever was sitting in the passenger seat.  (Which was mostly me.)  But in this picture it's Brandon.  

There were two things we saw EVERYWHERE we went.  One was this sign.  It made a HUGE impression on the girls.  They just knew that boy melted instantly in a horrible death.  The image of this sign was burned in their mind and they kept tight hold of their brothers.  Abby kept saying, "That daddy is going to spank that girl because she let her brother get killed!"  I was glad that they took the danger seriously, but I wish the sign had been a little less frequently posted.  We were very, very, very stressed by this image as you'll see later.

*The other thing we saw everywhere but didn't get a picture of was signs for bears.  Bears, bears, bears, bears, bears...  "Keep a minimum of 100 yards away from bears at all times, keep minimum of 25 yards away from all other animals at all times.  If you see a bear make noise, back away slowly, don't run.  If it charges you, hold your ground.  If it attacks you, play dead."  Thankfully, they did not have pictures of a bear eating someone or else the kids never would have left the car.*


Our cabin's front porch.  

Bison.  Everywhere.  Enough said.

The most exciting state ever for road trips.  :P  Can you hear my sarcasm?

Our cabins had this shared community bathroom on the edge of camp.  I went to the bathroom early one morning.  It was chilly and I had not brought a jacket or anything so as I was leaving the bathroom, I was moving briskly and popped around the corner of the building coming upon something big in the brush and weeds about 12 feet away.  It was this blonde-brown color and covered in fur.  It was also ENORMOUS!  For a part of a second, I thought I'd surprised a bear and my mind was racing with the thought that to get back in the relative safety of the bathroom would require several sharp turns and tight quarters with another cabin.   Then it lifted it's head and looked at me and I realized it was a bison.  An ENORMOUS bison.

Remember I said, it said stay 25 yards away from Bison? 

I believe it.  They are not big cows.  I've seen this video I can't find right now where a Bison is crossing by a stopped car and suddenly for no reason just butts the car.  It was totally unprovoked.  So yeah, I take that seriously.    I backed away slowly while he kept chewing whatever he was eating.  He didn't care that I'd come out of nowhere and surprised him.  Everything was good.  You can be sure I checked to see that he wasn't there before I brought the kids to the bathroom a short time later.

Waiting for Old Faithful.   

*On our last day in Yellowstone, we accidentally shadowed a tour bus full of Chinese people around the park. (Or they accidentally shadowed us.)
They were ooohing and aaaahing over the children and taking pictures of us wherever we went. (We were apparently more interesting than the park.  I think it's probably because having more than one or *maybe* two children in China is a novelty.

 At one point a huge group of them surrounded us on the sidewalks as we were all walking to Old Faithful.  They were taking tons of pictures of us. One man reached down and held Noah's hand. (Noah was holding Emma's hand and Emma was holding Brandon's hand so it wasn't like they were going to take him anywhere.  My kids meet no strangers so he just grinned and held "that boy's" hand.)

The group was touching their hair (because blonde is also probably kind of rare in China?)  and talking rapidly in Chinese and snapping pictures like crazy. They were trying to get our kids to say China but the kids, I don't think, could understand them. It was strange and funny at the same time. For just a moment, I understood how famous people must feel with the paparazzi all the time. I bet we had at least 400 pictures taken of us on their cameras that day. I'm not kidding. Every stop we made on that day we were met with tons and tons of Chinese tourist and their cameras and their friendly chatter we could almost not understand.  Even when we were sitting several rows away at Old Faithful, their cameras were more often pointed at us than at the geyser.*




Looking at Wraith Falls.
(It's not as steep a drop on the other side of that fence as the picture makes it appear.  Don't worry. They were not in danger of falling.)

Waiting for Old Faithful.  It was 25 minutes past the predicted eruption time so we waited a bit more than we expected when we could have been walking the trails or something.  It was cold in the wind and being still so the kids were all borrowing Jubilee's cover blanket.

This picture doesn't do it justice but there wasn't a better pull off for us to capture this sight.  The valley was just peppered with hot springs!  :)  It was soooo neat! 

Gibbons Falls?   

On the top of the Mammoth Hot Springs Terrace.  (The boys and Jubilee fell asleep in the car so we just left them with me and Brandon and the girls all took the very short walk to see the top of this.  Abby really wanted to see it.)  The sun was in the wrong place for a good picture up here. 

Joyful Jubilee

We drug them all over the mountain.
We tried to pick easy trails.  This one said "moderately strenuous."  (Which is a step above easy.)  Turns out Moderately Strenuous is a tad hard for tiny legs.  You can't tell from the picture but it had a lot of up and down on a narrow, sometimes steep sided path.  Noah and Isaiah were really not excited about this hike and at times would stop and cry.
Noah:  Mom, how do you do it?
Me:  I just keep walking.
Noah:  I do it like this.  (shuffling jog that is his current version of running then exhausted stopping)  I can't do it!  It's too hard.

I made them little ziploc bags of blank paper to put stickers on, lollipops  and a pencil and a few small toys for the car trip.  Isaiah was also on Jubi duty.  He did pretty well most of the time but she can get pretty demanding when she gets bored and hungry and tired of sitting.

We had both sides of this cabin.

Cold kids at Old Faithful.  Jubilee just wanted down to roll around on the ground.  She did not get her fill of self-moving during this trip.

Somewhere around Old Faithful.
Take notice of Emma.  She was usually Noah's buddy and that sign made such a lasting impression on her that she was stressed out nearly the whole time we were anywhere near a hot spring.  She would cry, "Mom!  He's getting near the edge" (when he was far, far, far from it.)  She would walk really slow and grab his shoulders if he was not in the middle of the sidewalk and pull him back.  She was also protective of Abby and Isaiah in this manner and I think it was really stressing her out that she couldn't keep everyone away from the edge at the same time.  She would cry, "I need to be back in the car.  I need to get back in the car.  I'll sit with Noah in the car.  Please let me back in the car."
Poor thing.

Cool feature right near our cabin.  

The "town?" of Mammoth where our cabin was inside of Yellowstone.

Applejuice!  Yummy!  :)  This was the magic formula most of the time to soothe a crying baby in the car on the 9-10 hour drive to or from the park.

Emma just really didn't enjoy being out in the nature where the hot springs were underfoot.  

On this trip, Jubilee started saying, "Have that."  (or something very, very, very close.)  I think it's because I always say, "You cannot have that," when she reaches for my coffee while sitting on my lap or for my sunglasses or something.  So she started saying, "have that" while reaching for stuff.  Here, she talked Brandon out of his sunglasses.   

Casper WY.  Bustling...  hahaha 

One of Abby's favorite features in the park.  Mud Volcano.  "It looks like a dragon is stirring it with his tail."

I can't remember if I have a better pic of these bushes or not, but they were beautiful!  If Brandon was going to name them, he'd call them burning bushes.  They looked like they were on fire.  Bright orangey browny yellow against the normal landscape.  :)

Joey Jubilee.  We didn't know we were going to take a hike around Old Faithful, so we left the backpack carrier in the car.  She didn't seem to mind being carried anyway you sliced it but I think she LOVED this...all balled up in there. 

Dragon Mouth cave...This was cool!  (It might be my favorite part!)  It was also Isaiah's favorite part.
It looks like a dragon is hiding down in that cave and blowing smoke out of the entrance.  As you approach it, you hear this rumbling and roaring sound of gasses escaping.  It really enhances the idea that it's got a dragon in there.  :)  Very, very neat.  (click here for a pretty decent video of the sound it makes.  Our video isn't working right, so that one is someone else's video.  It's MUCH louder roaring in person, but this is an okay idea of what it sounds like.)

This was one of Noah's favorite parts.  It's blue.

We're so in love!  <3 

We left Yellowstone through Grand Teton.  

Along that "moderately strenuous" hike I mentioned above.  The trail went pretty steeply downhill and the dirt was not very packed and it was loose and slippery and we were in the sun the whole way down and at one point, everyone started having a melt down and wondering how this trail grew to twice as long as the map said and if we'd taken a wrong turn and if we'd ever, ever, ever get back to our cabin.  So we all sat down in the only available shade and drank some water for a bit before we went on.  The water and shade put us back in better spirits and allowed us to end the hike with far less tears.

After our LONG "moderately strenuous" hike.  This tree is infront of our cabin.  We were eating our picnic lunch back on the porch after everyone got somewhat cleaned up again.

We saw a bear on 3 different occasions.  Really.  That's a bear.  You can't tell though because this is not a great picture.  He looked much better in person from the safety of our car windows.  :)  We only saw them while driving at dusk.  

This is the "moderately strenuous  trail.  It doesn't look so bad right here but it got much worse once you committed to it.  It really just probably wasn't quite easy enough for the 4 and under crowd and maybe for the 6 and under crowd too.  

"Is there really a dragon in there?"

Isaiah is telling some of the Chinese people how old he is.  They really did love us.

Upon arrival on the first day.  :)  Looking like we've been in the car for HOURS!

She wasn't screaming or drinking apple juice the whole time.  She did sleep a lot too.  Most of the time, she wanted a little drink and then cover her face and let her sleep.  (She's like a hawk...put a hood on it and it calms down...put a blanket or something on her face for a bit and she can relax enough to sleep.)

It was really dusty on that trail.  Their tears show up in the dust on their faces.  Hahaha!  Isaiah looks the worst, I think.   

Moderately Strenuous.

Before we walked up the moderately strenuous trail.  The beginning of the hike when everyone was still happy.  (See Abby protecting her brother?)

See Emma looking stressed?

 Our "bathroom" in our cabin.  (i.e.  our sink without a toilet or tub.)

Brandon was impressed with the world's cleanest toilet ever somewhere along the way to Yellowstone.

Wraith Falls 

The last few yards of our Moderately Strenuous trail.  (It's REALLY hard to see your feet when you have a baby on your tummy.  I slipped and fell 3 times on this trai!) 

We've been at the park and out of the car about 10 minutes total in this picture.  We have yet to see the stressful signs or anything.   

At one point, Brandon was Noah's buddy because Emma was just having a hard time watching him walk down the MIDDLE of the sidewalk holding her hand.  So she's with me and Noah is on this bridge over the river while Brandon snaps a picture.  Isaiah is with Abby, but you can't see him.

Poor Emma. 

I drove most of the way to the park since Brandon just came off of a night shift.  He tried to nap most of the way there.  

Jubilee is after my glasses here.
"Have that!  Have that!  Have that!"

Buddy system hard at work.  

This was something really noisy.  Look at Jubilee looking intently at it.

In the shade.  Recuperating.   

Just me and him.  This was a pullout.  The kids are all strapped in the car about 2 feet to the side.  

Jubilee duty

Pushing Jubilee around the kitchen.  I don't know how this one got in here.  It's from a while back.   

At the "peak" of the moderately strenuous trail.  We were just about to get to the real meltdowns.  At this point, the boys were fussing and whining here and there, but it was about to get a lot worse. 

Mammoth

Abby didn't make it awake the whole way either.  I thought of all the kids, she might be the only one who would.

E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E. 

Emma taking good care of her brother. 

Some pretty stretch of the road we passed every time we went to our cabin.

A dusky grouse.  We thought it was a guinea fowl.  It's a dusky grouse.  He was not afraid of us noisy people at all.  He was making this sound at us but he didn't seem too stressed or anything.  (Really, go check it out.  It's so unique!  It might make him my favorite animal we saw.)  

Driving.  Brandon's trying to nap.

Eating Brandon's sunglasses while we wait for Old Faithful.

I just love these kids!  

She's happy here.  

Peekaboo Jubilee.  (She actually fell asleep somewhere on this hike.)

Our cabin in the daylight.

Jubilee fell asleep so we just carried her carseat on this short walk.  (This is the day where a million Chinese people took pictures of us.  It started at about this point.) 

Cute bear soap in our room! 

"Dada!"

Old Faithful! 

Kinda neat how blue and deep it is.
Also these cute yellow flowers at the edge are neat.

I have a tail. 

Bored.  She's the only kid awake.  Hiking wore them out. 

A tunnel somewhere in WY.   

Brandon made me a crab/shrimp boil for Mother's Day week.
He also made me grilled steak.
He also brought me breakfast in bed.
He also bought me flowers.
He also grilled me some brauts and hotdogs.
(I just love this guy!  He sure surprises me sometimes.)
This is an old one that got in the mix somehow, but here the kids are about to enjoy the crab/shrimp boil.  Noah LOVES shrimp.  Emma loves crab!) 

Hole in the boardwalk.
This did not bode well with Emma who was not enjoying the walks around the hot springs. 

First stop in the park.  Bathrooms.  Then we'll walk around the trail and see the sign that tells us we are inches from an acidic, scalding death that will haunt Emma for the rest of the stay.  See?  In this picture she hasn't seen the sign yet.  (Seriously, we didn't have to read it to them.  The picture was bad enough.) 

Mine and Brandon's room 

What she did a lot of the time. 

We even did Homeschool...imagine that.

We saw a moose 

Conked out. 

I promise she wasn't like this the whole time.

It IS a bear.  You just can't tell from the camera phone picture. 

I made a bear out of a peanut butter trail bar. 

At one point, Noah was really sad because he was awake and his playmate was not.

She's sooo happy to be out of the car on the day we got to the park.  She's rolling all over making a nest for herself. 

I love her smiley face.

  

The kids' room.

Want to go for a swim?  If it wasn't scalding and acidic, it would be kind of fun.  It's pretty and it has a small cave down at the bottom L of the picture.

Proof that I CAN drive.
I look really crazy with my sunglasses over my driving glasses.  LOL I need to get some better sunglasses for driving.

He's sad that Isaiah is asleep and not playing with him.

Mischievous.

It was way too bright for this kind of picture.

Jubilee the baby Kangaroo.

Noah kept saying, "All that poop out there.  All that Bison poop everywhere."
If you say, "Here's Noah's favorite part..."
He says, "I don't like the poop!"

It may have doubled a lot of those.  Sorry about that.  It was giving me fits.