Wyoming

After our wonderful day in Yellowstone we stayed at a mountain cabin lodge near the park. We didn't know quite what to expect and it was an adventure. The cabin was pretty small (Brian had to watch his head in all doorways) and it was definitely rustic, but it worked. Ours was called the "Bear's Lair" and everything inside was black bear themed. It was in a beautiful spot in the mountains near a river and they had a ranch with horses.
Day 3 we made it to our final destination of Casper. We got to spend the next 2 days with all of the family and the kids met a ton of relatives and even I met some people from Brian's family I've never met. The ceremony for his grandpa was very nice and everyone did such a nice job contributing to the music, the stories and the videos. He was a great man who left a wonderful legacy with his family. I was again reminded that everyone on that side of the family is SO TALL!
We really enjoyed our time with the family and before we knew it we were back on the road again. We condensed the trip home to just 2 days and they were LONG days, but we survived. I am so proud of the kids for how patient they were and for spending so much time in the car and especially to Brian who did 95% of all of the driving! We survived our first big roadtrip in the man van.

Yellowstone!

We didn't get up as early on Day 2, but everyone was still pretty excited because this was the day we were going to see as much of Yellowstone as we could in one day. It was still a couple hours drive to the entrance but I think we got there just after 10 am. While I certainly wish we could have spent more time at the park, we made the most of it and saw some of the major highlights. We skipped Old Faithful in favor of the Grand Pristmatic Spring and I'm so glad we did. I've never seen anything like that, it was so beautiful. Other highlights were Mammoth Springs, a short hike to views of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and we saw the massive and beautiful Yellowstone Lake. We saw some antelope and bison, but didn't see as many animals as expected. I guess we'll just have to drive back again...

Mammoth Hot Spings

 Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

 Grand Prismatic Spring

Lake Yellowstone

We Made It!

I am happy to report that we survived 6 days in the wild west covering more than 2500 miles! It was an adventure and we had some amazing moments. We were headed to Casper, Wyoming for a memorial for Brian's grandfather and we thought driving might make for a fun roadtrip. We drove and drove and drove, and overall it was very successful and the kids got to see a lot of Washington, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
Brian and I started it by waking up at 4:30 on the first day. We thought getting out before rush hour would mean the kids would sleep for a few hours while we covered the first hundred miles or so. In theory this was a a solid plan, but the kids didn't nap at all on the first day! We covered 618 miles that day, which was 9.5 hours of just driving, plus all of the stops. Luckily with the early start it was manageable but it was still a long day! We stopped for lunch and a monkey bar break in Coeur de A'lene and stopped by the lake which was beautiful. After dinner in Missoula, we made it to Butte, Montana to spend the night and the kids were rewarded with a swim in the pool. It was a long day but totally worth it because the 2nd day was spent in Yellowstone!

Go Mariners!

I scored some free Mariners tickets so we surprised the kids and took them to another game. Unfortunately they didn't win, but the seats were great and you can't beat the price. The kids had a great time and I love how much they love the game.

One of my favorite things about this season is that we've been watching "condensed" versions of the Mariners games on mlb.tv which just shows the highlights of the games. You can watch an entire game in 10 minutes and not miss any of the action. It's the best and we've really enjoyed the baseball season so far. 

Little Red Canoe

The day has come, we are now the proud owners of a boat. It may not quite be the boat the kids had hoped, but it is still a boat and we are excited. For Father's Day we took the inaguaral ride on our brand-new-used canoe! Brian has a friend who is storing his canoe in our crawl space and he found a canoe for a great deal at a garage sale. Since he knew we had space to store it, we had no excuse so he bought it. I was skeptical at first but it's been great! Here are pics from 3 of our canoe adventures.

4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th and did all of the 4th traditions that we love. Hanging out with friends, BBQ'ing and going to the parade. It felt like a very long celebration since we started on the 3rd and the kids got to have a sleepover with some friends. It was really special because Addy and her friends were featured on the news! Look for the girl with the red heart glasses (10 seconds in).

First camping of the season

Last weekend we took our first family camping trip of the season. We went with another family to one of our favorite campsites and had a great time. It was the earliest camping trip we've taken and now I know why we usually avoid camping in June. It rained for most of Saturday and I think at one point I was wearing every shirt I brought I was so cold, but we still made the most of it and had a great time. We did some awesome hikes, took in the views from the beach, flew the kites, walked down to the lake and as always enjoyed watching the kids and their "bike gang" cover every square inch of the campground. We got to see a beautiful sunset after the rain cleared. It was also our first trip with the new minivan which worked great. So great I even slept in it!
On the first night during dinner Cameron mentioned that there was a white thing in his beans. None of us took time to check it out so we just told him to toss it on the ground. A few minutes later I noticed that Cameron had finally lost his wiggly front tooth. Turns out that's what was on his plate! What was even more amazing is that Addy found it later in the ground amongst all of the flower blossoms that looked just like little teeth!
Probably the most impressive part was that Brian basically did all of the prep, packing and planning for the trip and did an awesome job. He's really getting good at this and I love that we are building these memories for the kids. Can't wait for the next one.