Yellowstone

We took a family trip to Yellowstone on August 10-14.  We had beautiful views of the Tetons and the sun setting over Lewis Lake as we drove in.

We camped in the West Thumb at the Grant Village Campground.  We stayed at this same campground three years earlier. We love all the lodgepole pines and the free showers is just another bonus!

The girls created their own little home in the pine trees.  They even gathered sticks and made their own fireplace.

Our first day there we went see Old Faithful.  It was not erupting when we got there so we had some time to wander around and see some of the other geysers.

The colors and depths of the pools were fascinating.  I don't remember the name of this one.  But if you look closely you can see Mckenna's reflection in the upper part of the pool.

We saw Old Faithful erupt as we were out on the boardwalks. It was cool to see it from a different view.

We then drove to Black Sand Basin.  The colors of bright blue turning to orange were beautiful.

Our final stop of the day was at the West Thumb Geyser Basin of Yellowstone Lake.  You can see one of the white geysers not far from the shore.

A nice family who were speaking Italian took our picture.  Yellowstone really is a world wide tourist spot.  You come across so many people speaking different languages.  Kev always enjoys hearing some German being spoken.  He doesn't hear it very often.  This was called Black Pool.

We were excited to see this Bison right off to the side of the road.  It was the first one we had seen on the trip.

We went off the beaten path to hike up and get a better aerial view of the Grand Prismatic Spring.

This is one of my favorite spots at Yellowstone.  The colors are just so vibrant and beautiful.  I loved that you can see a reflection of the pine trees in the water.

We drove to Firehole Lake Drive and came across this small geyser as it was erupting.  It is the unpredictability of the geysers that makes it so exciting.

Our next stop was at Norris Geyser Basin.   We stopped and watched this bird in the parking lot. It was pecking a hole in this pack and pulling things out.  It gave us all a good laugh.

Kenna took a picture of us as we wandered around looking at all the geysers.  You can tell how hot they are by all the steam coming off them.

We always eat good at camp.  One night I tried out this new Pumpkin Crumble recipe.  It was so good!  It made me just that more excited that Fall is on the way.

The next morning we saw some Elk as we were driving along.

Halle at Fishing Bridge.  Surprisingly, there were not many fish in the water.  I guess it depends on what time of year.  It was a beautiful view of Yellowstone Lake.

We had to stop and get a picture of Hayden in the valley "that is named after him".  He was feeling pretty cool!  Hayden valley is where all the Bison like to hang out.  We saw a lot of calves this year which was fun.

Our next stop was to explore the Mud Volcano area.  This is one of our favorite's called Dragons Mouth.  The kids always remember this part of the park because it stinks like rotten eggs from all the sulphur.

Parker just ran up the boardwalks.  It was hard keeping up with him.

We stopped to see the Lower Yellowstone Falls.  We took the Uncle Tom's Trail.  It was 328 stairs down to get there.  

We took a family pic by the falls and cooled off in the shade.  Then it was time to hike back up the 328 stairs.  Hayden was my hiking buddy and he ran up those stairs.  He didn't even want to take a break!

We drove further up the road to another viewpoint of the falls.  You can see more of the river from there.

This is a typical sight in Yellowstone.  A traffic jam due to animals crossing the road.  We waited for an couple of mountain goats to pass.

Back at camp that night, the kids were in a performing mood.  Mckenna played songs from her Kindle while the kids cracked us up with their moves.

They performed to the Minion song, Radioactive, and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.  I love my crazy kids!  It was a memorable family trip before school started.

Seven Peaks!

We took Kev's new toy the GoPro with us to Seven Peaks.  It was great because we didn't have to worry about getting the camera wet and could take it with us on all the slides.

Parker chilling in the kiddie pool.  We jump in there to warm up.

Mckenna brought her friend Annie with her.  I love seeing the mountains in the background.

Addy does so well with her new swim float.  She also learned a lot at swim lessons this summer.

We also like spending some time in the hot showers.  

We love hanging out at Seven Peaks as a family.  It is our go to place when we have some time on a Saturday.  We made the most of our passes this summer.

Camping with Grandpa!

We went camping at Trial Lake at the end of July to the beginning of August.  The big news was that Grandpa Ken came with us!  It is the first time he has ever been camping with us.  We loved having him there.  He even brought his outdoor speaker with him so we had music the whole time.

He even enjoyed some fishing with us.  He told us that after pioneer trek this was a piece of cake.

Speaking of cake, we had a chocolate, carmel, dutch oven cake for dessert.  It turned out nice and gooey like I like it!

We went fishing after dinner.  The lake was calm and it was a great time for catching.  Dad helped Addy reel this one in on the barbie pole. Addy caught the most fish out of everyone on this trip.

Hayden with his good sized rainbow trout that he caught.

It was a beautiful sunset and the moon was reflecting on the lake.

It was actually a full moon that night. We enjoyed sitting around the campfire and telling scary stories.  Mckenna, Parker, and Halle came up with some good ones.  Parker was telling us about the latest Goosebump book he read.  Halle told a us a creepy story about a Cat.

The next morning Grandma and Kenna took Kev's raft out on the lake.

Our sweet Addy playing in the fort with Halle, and Hayden.

Kev didn't have many turns fishing because he was always helping everyone else and steering the boat.  He wasn't hesitant about holding the fish in his bare hands.

We also had fun playing card games.  We introduced Kev's Dad to the game of Skip-Bo.  You should of seen the big smile on his face when he won.

Later that day we hiked up to Wall lake.  It was a beautiful day and there were so many people at the lake. We enjoyed watching them cliff jump.  We also waded in the water to cool off.  

Hayden ended up falling in fully clothed.  So we stripped him down and put his clothes on a rock to dry.  We laughed so hard seeing him run around in his superman undies!

We did more fishing later that night and Halle caught one.

Mckenna was so happy when she caught one.  I love to see her smile.

Halle,and Addy had fun with Grandma in the raft. Grandma ended up doing most of the paddling.  We did give them a lift back to shore.

Parker boy with the fish he caught.  Mckenna kept track again and we caught 26 fish this camping trip.