Our Green Family: Summer '11

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Zoorasic Park

Our last Summer hurrah! before school started was Hogle Zoo. The dinosaurs were the hit of the day!

Some spit water at you. The kids enjoyed getting cooled off with Dino spit.

Monkeying around with the monkeys!

The Dinos were so life like.

A group shot... as good as you can with an 8, 6, 5 and three 2 year olds.

So excited to finally find T-Rex!

Karston, Stock, Ethan, Peyton, Jada Kesley.

Watching the Giraffe

Playing follow the leader with Ethan because he is "so cool"

The girls had to copy the boys.

It was a fun day to spend together with friends. Thanks to the Buttars for joining us!

seeing your name in print

You can see the pure joy on his face.

We drove to Oxford, ID for a family reunion and on the way, near Swan Flat, we spotted this road sign. It was a must to get a pic on our way home.

While traveling in Yellowstone, we also spoted a yellow caution sign that said

WATCH OUT

FOR

STOCK

We showed it to Stockton and his reply was so cute. "There must be another Stockton here, they aren't talking about me." Stockton is my little sweetheart so I tend to agree with him. If it would have said Watch out for ETHAN I would have believed it! Ryan explained to the kids that STOCK was short for LIVESTOCK - meaning watch out for animals.

Whatever the sign means, Ethan is still miffed that we have seen 2 signs with Stockton's name and none with his! He even remembers seeing a picture of Uncle Jordan on his mission with a Jordan street sign.

Keep your eyes out for an Ethan sign!

Fair Loot

Our neighbor invited Ethan and Stockton to be part of her 4-H group this summer. They learned about airplanes: getting to tour Hill Aerospace Museam; participating in flying airplane competitions AND entering model airplanes into the fair.

Grandpa Bartholomew helped them with their models while I was at girls camp and then we kept them safe until their leader submitted them into the fair.

We were out of town to pick up their winnings, so their leader had them at her house for them. They were SO excited to each earn a $2 bill, a 50 cent coin and each of them got awared participation ribbons since they were too young to place.

The World of Yellowstone

We got the chance to take the family to Island Park and Yellowstone in August. It was well worth the long drive. My MIL traded her rental property for one in Island Park so we stayed in a fun cabin. We had so much fun we want to go again. There is so much to see and do in the area. Here are a few of our highlights.

Big Springs - a fresh water spring in Island Park. This water was crystal clear - so beautiful. There was a cabin on the spring that was built in the 1930's by a 4'11" German man. The home was powered using a waterwheel and generator. The constuction of the home was amazing. He handcrafted all of the furniture too. Check out more on the cabin and area HERE.

We headed back west to see the Upper and Lower Mesa Falls.

Jada and Peyton at the Lower Falls.

Our family at the Upper Falls. I loved the walkways allowing us to be so close to them.

We could have spent a lot more time at the visitor's center there at the falls. They had a large display of locals collections - insects, animal furs, skulls, animal hooves, tracks, etc. The boys loved checking everything out.

The whole gang, after Travis and Karen left for home, at the cabin. There was a fire pit, swings and lots of areas to explore. We were thoroughly entertained.

We headed into West Yellowstone with the intent to spend the WHOLE DAY in the park. And that we did! There was so much exploring and sites to see.

Elk...

Paint Pots...

Geysers...

Hot Springs...

Waiting for Old Faithful...

Peyton found a friendly caterpillar. A lady next to us was bothered by Peyton playing with her new friend that the lady took it away from Pey and went to find a safe place for the caterpillar. The lady kept telling Peyton, "If you leave it alone it will grow into a beautiful butterfly."