Way Back When ...

it was Memorial Day weekend (yes, I am just a bit behind), we decided to enjoy a day at Yellowstone National Park. We live so close and the kids didn't really remember our last trip there, so we decided to have a fun day with Daddy. We packed our picnic lunch and headed out. The kids had high hopes for seeing a bear, but they eluded us this time. We didn't quite make the whole loop we thought we would make, so we didn't make it to the Lamar Valley which is a great place to see bears. We did see deer, a coyote, Bighorn sheep (not in Yellowstone), tons of buffalo (of course), elk, and hmmm... I need my list I made. Maybe that was all. The kids had fun trying to be the first one to spot the animals.


We stopped at Yellowstone Lake to let the kids throw and skip rocks. There was still a lot of ice on it, which they thought was very neat. They could have stayed here forever. It was fun to watch them get better at skipping rocks. Daddy is such a good teacher!


Ashlee and I hung out watching everyone. She was not so sure about the wind, but she is tolerating it a lot better. We also made a stop at fishing bridge. We didn't think we would see any fish since it was early in the year, but we got lucky enough to see some huge fish. It was too hard to take pictures though and I was worried about keeping track of five little munchkins that close to the road.

We stopped at Bridge Bay to enjoy our picnic lunch. The boats weren't out yet on the bay, but it was still a gorgeous place to sit and enjoy lunch. Some of the boats were parked by the hut, so the kids got to see them and talk about all the fun things they would do if they were "rich" enough to have one of those "big" boats.

When we stopped at one of the geysers, their were a few elk just roaming very close. We could have reached out and touched them if we had decided to act like some of the tourists we saw. The kids loved seeing a "live" elk this close. They have seen dead ones hanging in our garage, but they decided after being this close to them that maybe they didn't want Daddy to hunt any more. Sorry, kids!! No such luck!

One of the views of Yellowstone Lake by the geysers. It was so beautiful! The water looked just like glass. We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the country. Heavenly Father truly loves us!! He has blessed us with beautiful country to enjoy!

We had to make a stop at Old Faithful. It had been a long time since Andy and I had been, and the kids had never been before. We timed it just right. We only had to wait about 20 minutes before it went off. Just enough time for a bathroom break and then speculating if it would be early or late (it was early the time before people said). The kids would get excited each time it would tease us. When it went off for "real," they sat their in amazement!! The wind was blowing, so they even got hit with some of the spray.

We had planned to make the whole loop and go out the northeast entrance by Cooke City, but we just ran out of time. It was so much fun to just have a relaxing day with no real plans. We stopped when we saw something we wanted to see and we played as long as we wanted at each place. It is so much fun to see the world through the eyes of my children! It reminds me of all the many things I am blessed with and makes me slow down and enjoy the little things in life!