I'm older now, by a day . . . but I did change a number. Woo hoo! My birthday was yesterday - exactly 6 months from Christmas. So now every day gets us one day closer to that day!! :)For my birthday, Jeremy decided we should all go to Lagoon, so he took the day off and planned the whole trip. We left Alexandra and Nathan with Jeremy's mom - she was kind enough to watch them for us all day. We left Max with Jeremy's niece - she was kind enough to watch him for us all day. Then we took Athena and Samantha and went to Lagoon. :) It was really nice, actually, having just the 2 older kids with us. Usually most of our attention is focused on the little kids and the 2 older kind of get pushed to the side, but not today! Athena and Samantha were tall enough to go on all the rides, so we were able to just go from ride to ride all day long without having to push a stroller, park a stroller, stop for a tantrum, switch off watching kids while the other adult rides a ride. It was perfect!I didn't take many pictures considering we were there ALL DAY long, but I did manage to snap a few. Jeremy took the girls on Cliffhanger. This is one I won't ride, so I was happy to sit and watch.
This is what the ride does. It just goes around and around and upside down, all the while spraying you with these fountains. No thank you. I wear makeup.
I think Samantha got the worst of it.
Really. Is this an issue?
Athena and Samantha on the sky ride. This is always a relaxing break from getting jostled on all the other rides.
Jeremy and I, also on the sky ride. It turns out this is the only real picture of me all day. This is my proof that I really did go to lagoon. I don't really have any way to prove this was taken on my birthday, though. You'll just have to take my word for it.
Athena on the bumper cars. :)
Athena and Samantha coming off the tilt-a-whirl, another ride I refuse to go on. I'd rather keep my lunch in. I'm starting to realize just how boring getting old is making me.
Skyride . . . again.
Stopped for a treat. I actually AM in this picture - I'm in the window reflection, taking this picture!
Our day at Lagoon really did turn out perfect. The weather was perfect and we just had a lot of fun. The girls LOVED the big roller coasters. Our favorite one was "Wicked". We rode on it 3 times! It wasn't the traditional birthday for me where I stay home and all my wonderful sisters call me, but it was a very fun day. :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!
On Thursday of our Yellowstone trip, we packed up all our stuff and checked out of the condo. It's always a little crazy trying to get everything gathered up while keeping the kids happy at the same time. They fell by the wayside, I suppose, and decided to fight about lots of little things. I got tired of it and finally put them all in a time out until the van was packed and ready to go.
We actually came to Yellowstone for Jeremy's family reunion this year. On Thursday is when everyone was meeting up together. After checking out, we met up with Jenny & Bryan, Katie & Nick, and Jeremy's parents. We all went back to the Wolf & Grizzly park - it being our 2nd time. This time the wolves were all just laying around enjoying the sun, but the bears were more fun to watch! This one is scratching it's back on the tree.
This one was also trying to scratch a hard-to-reach spot using a tree. 
When we were done looking at the bears, we stopped at the big teddy bear couch for some pictures. This is my little family. :)
Just Jeremy and I.
Most of the cousins! We were missing 4.
Finally it was time to head into Yellowstone park again! Jeremy had his window down and Alexandra looked like she was just flyin' in the breeze. I finally made him put it up, the poor little girl!
There is a bald eagle that lives in this nest right off the side of the road. I didn't get a picture of the bird today, but here is the nest. We actually saw quite a few of these nests all throughout the park.
We saw our 2nd coyote of the trip, but this one was close up! We watched it pounce on a mouse or something that was in all that dead grass.
Then it crossed the road right in front of us.
Thursday started out to be a decent day with nice weather, but it wasn't long before the storm clouds came rolling in and we got caught in a downpour with lots of rain, hail, and tons of thunder! That was it. Our whole caravan decided to turn around and go home to our cabin. We stopped for a potty break while the storm was right above us and Samantha and I went in to use the pit toilet. Wow! The sound of the thunder in there was awesome! If it weren't for the smell, we might have stayed a little longer. :)
Even though it was raining, we did stop to watch this group of elk on the other side of the river. The group on the shore wouldn't allow the one in the water to climb the banks. Every time it would try, they would go and back it into the water again. Poor thing! Nature is so interesting to watch.
For Jeremy's family reunion, we all pitched in and rented a cabin together in Island Park that was big enough to sleep everyone. We checked into the cabin in the afternoon. Here are just a couple of pictures. This is the fireplace in the front room.
This is from the front room looking up into the loft. The cabin was pretty big and it had enough beds for everyone - thank goodness.
After eating lunch at the cabin, we all left to visit Johnny Sack's Cabin. Unfortunately we couldn't go inside because it was closed, but the springs there are amazing! It is a natural spring that starts the whole river. You can go to the top of it and see the water just bubbling out of the ground. In the river and right under the bridge are tons of really big fish. We brought bread to feed the fish and the kids had a ball watching the fish swarm to get the bread. The water is so clear you can see everything.
Athena, Nathan, and I are still watching the fish after everyone else went away.
While we were there, Connor - Katie's little boy who is 2 - refused to keep his shoes on. He kept taking them off and trying to walk without them. It was really starting to annoy Katie. Finally, Connor decided he had had enough of those darn shoes. He went and threw them over the bridge. We all watched as the shoes floated under the bridge, out the other side, and down the river. Nick went running down the bank of the river to see if they would come close enough to pull out. Then before we knew it, there went Nick! He was running right out into the middle of the river to retrieve those shoes! Good job Nick!
Later he told us that he ran out there because he just decided to, and that he didn't really think the water looked that deep until he got out there. LOL!
We stayed awhile longer and let the kids enjoy looking into the water. They were watching fish and snails from this dock.
Here we are with the Johnny Sack cabin in the background. It was windy, hence the really stupid hairdo I'm sporting. Ha ha, notice no one else's hair is "blowing in the wind"? Whatever!
This is a better view of the cabin. I wish we could have gone inside.
The springs start here, right behind where I'm standing.
Ditto, but where Jeremy is standing.
You can see a few ripples on the water where it's coming up from the ground.
Ew. I had a dream this morning that there was a little sore spot on my finger that looked like it was filled with pus. I squeezed my finger and a little ball of pus came out, but then when I took the pressure off, it went back into my finger. I squeezed it again and it came out, but it looked like the pus had little lines on it, and again, when I took the pressure off it retreated back into my finger. I started thinking it looked like a worm, so this time I squeezed really hard and sure enough, it popped out longer this time! I hurried and grabbed it and pulled a little. Before I knew it, I was pulling a 5-inch, FAT earthworm right out of my finger! I could feel the friction as it moved under my skin and the pressure release as it came out!!! GROSS! What a relief that was to have it out. I felt much better - in my dream.
My title gave it away! We spent the 3rd day of our trip in West Yellowstone, where we were staying. We got up and headed across the street to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. We got to see, uh, grizzlies and wolves. :)We got there at a time when all the wolves were quite active and running around in their pack. This one kept on coming and looking right at us from the other side of the window. It was very interesting to see them right up close.
Here it is again. It just watched our every move from the top of this rock.
We also saw the grizzlies. WOW! What amazing animals! All the grizzlies in the discovery center are rescued animals. They got used to people food, were being a nuisance, and were going to be put to sleep. Instead of being killed, they were relocated here.
Athena and Samantha were old enough, so they got to participate in the "Keeper Kids" program. They went with one of the workers and learned about bears. Then they got to go into the bear habitat and hide food for the bears. Don't worry, the bears weren't out there the same time as the kids! Here are all the keeper kids walking through the habitat.
Athena and Samantha did their best to hide the food so the bears would have to dig to find it.
Here is Samantha burying the rest of her food under the rocks.
Once all the kids were safely back with their parents, we got to watch as the bears were let out and went to work finding the food. Wow those things are big and strong!
They went digging in the wood, flipping rocks over with their big claws, and sniffing everywhere to find the food the kids hid.
Looks like this one was successful!
Nathan didn't get to feed the bears, so he found this little wolves den to hide out in.
After watching the bears and the wolves, we went inside and watched a movie about bears. The kids loved it! It was nice for me to have them all fully entertained and learning for an hour. Then we stayed in the theater for bird presentation. Gotta see that! Nathan and Alexandra really enjoyed seeing the live birds. This one is an owl.
We also learned about this hawk. Sorry, can't remember what kind it is or any of that.
There it goes! Or at least it tried.
We finished up with the Discovery Center, ate lunch at the condo, then went out on the town! Our afternoon was spent going through the shops in West Yellowstone, getting our picture taken, and buying fudge. MMMM
OK, so we didn't just walk through town and people were taking our picture. We weren't very well known there. We did, however, go to the old time photo shop and get our picture taken. We decided to dress up "saloon style". You can click on the picture for a bigger view. Athena and Samantha LOVED this activity. They were wondering how much he sells the dresses for, and if they could have the fans, and if they could find these dresses anywhere in any of the shops to buy.
I think this day was a really nice break from riding in the car all day. We got to spend most of the day walking because we went from store to store to store to store to store. We didn't end up actually buying anything (except the picture and some fudge). We just window-shopped to get an idea of what souvenirs the kids would like to take home. When we were done, we went home and had dinner. I love vacations!
