WARNING :: Long post! I had to pack a lot of wonderful pictures from our vacation for this one!
We just got back from our adventures in Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park. We had a fantastic time with great friends. My best friend from grade school/high school and her family, and then her sister (who is like one of my sister's) and her family met us in Yellowstone for a 6 night stay. We traveled throughout the park, hiking some little hikes that the kids could make (there were 3 two year olds, one 4 year old, one 6 year old, and Kellen the baby!) Thankfully I had thought ahead and gotten some info books from the library, and had Tyler read them so that we had a little bit of an idea on what to spend our days doing!
We spent one of the first days in Grand Teton National Park. We went on a little hike and the kids had a good time (although by the end of the hike, Tyler was carrying 2 of our kids!)
Ayla is actually asleep in that pouch! Tyler is such a good daddy!
The next day we just kind of drove around and spotted animals and were in awe of the beauty of the park. We stopped at one bike ride :: The Natural Bridge. So neat and just unlike a lot of other places! Unfortunately, I had a bad mommy moment and I was holding onto Ayla's hand while carrying Kellen in his carrier; I slipped on some loose dirt and instead of letting go of Ayla's hand, I kind of pushed her into the ground! She ended up with a rock or two embedded above her eye... easily brushed out, but still bled a little. I felt so bad! A second stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone; which is awesome. (disclaimer:: Tyler and I have not actually been to the real Grand Canyon, so maybe we will be knocked off our butts for that sight!) The colors were just amazing, and the waterfall actually looks fake! The park truly is a treasured piece of our landscape, and I am so thankful I got to share this with some great people.
I think the river and falls above looks like it was made on a small scale with foil or something!
Next day, we made it to the Artist Paintpots (where Ayla had a minor melt down and exasperated us!). Luckily Ayla fell asleep as we left this place and headed to the Norris Geyser Basin, and Colton and Tyler left us behind for a little nap while they explored a bit. After the nap refresher, we decided to head up to Mammoth Hot Springs area, and we visited the Boiling River (which was super cool! Imagine a really hot river dumping into a cold river. You sit in the shallow rapids and experience hot and cold flashes of water.) As we walked back to the car, we headed through a herd of elk. Luckily they were cows and seemed to be very familiar with humans. But still I was a little scared!
The boiling river and the elk
Ayla is actually asleep in that pouch! Tyler is such a good daddy!The next day we just kind of drove around and spotted animals and were in awe of the beauty of the park. We stopped at one bike ride :: The Natural Bridge. So neat and just unlike a lot of other places! Unfortunately, I had a bad mommy moment and I was holding onto Ayla's hand while carrying Kellen in his carrier; I slipped on some loose dirt and instead of letting go of Ayla's hand, I kind of pushed her into the ground! She ended up with a rock or two embedded above her eye... easily brushed out, but still bled a little. I felt so bad! A second stop was the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone; which is awesome. (disclaimer:: Tyler and I have not actually been to the real Grand Canyon, so maybe we will be knocked off our butts for that sight!) The colors were just amazing, and the waterfall actually looks fake! The park truly is a treasured piece of our landscape, and I am so thankful I got to share this with some great people.
I think the river and falls above looks like it was made on a small scale with foil or something!Next day, we made it to the Artist Paintpots (where Ayla had a minor melt down and exasperated us!). Luckily Ayla fell asleep as we left this place and headed to the Norris Geyser Basin, and Colton and Tyler left us behind for a little nap while they explored a bit. After the nap refresher, we decided to head up to Mammoth Hot Springs area, and we visited the Boiling River (which was super cool! Imagine a really hot river dumping into a cold river. You sit in the shallow rapids and experience hot and cold flashes of water.) As we walked back to the car, we headed through a herd of elk. Luckily they were cows and seemed to be very familiar with humans. But still I was a little scared!
The boiling river and the elk
The storm headed our wayDay after that, we had a little rain storm! Good thing for us is that our tent was on a cement pad! But we headed out late, went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center and then stopped by Tower Falls for a quick picture or two, and then had dinner in the Lamar Valley. Unfortunately, we didn't see much of the Lamar Valley (where supposedly a lot of wolves live) because we started out so late due to the rain :( Maybe next trip.
At the Grizzly Wolf Discovery Center... don't they look real?
Tower Falls
Monday, we headed to Old Faithful. Amazingly, we all thought that Old Faithful was actually way over rated. Good thing we all got to see 4 other geysers go off! We all took our bikes and the kids really liked that... we didn't have too whiny of kids by the end of the couple hours and they weren't worn out from walking, and we didn't have to carry them for the most part! On the way home we saw a coyote running by the road.
Old Faithful... too many people!
Hot tub time machine
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