Yellowstone

July 23-24, 2013

As we headed to Yellowstone we drove through West Yellowstone and saw all the fun things you could do there. We didn't plan anytime to spend there, but want to in the future. As we drove along the road suddenly Dave said, "oh no, look a fire." To which I replied, "no Dave thats a geyser." We got a little closer and saw we could pull in and park so we did. Dave suddenly got really excited and this made me really happy because Dave had not been all that thrilled with going to Yellowstone in the first place. Here is what we saw....

Clepsydra Geyser

 Morning Geyser

 Fountain Paint Pot

 Silex Spring

This is how Oakley spent the time on the trails. It was much easier then the stroller and she spent a lot out time asleep since we were on the go and didn't have time to stop for real naps in the pack and play. 

Next we headed up the road to the Grand Prismatic Spring

This was a bridge we had to pass along the way to the Grand Prismatic Spring. The reason I took a picture was because on the way up and the way back down Paisley had to cross by putting on foot at a time on each board. She was nervous about the water below and I guess about her short legs. Took us a good ten minutes to cross, but it was really funny to watch her go! 

The kids wanted to touch the water, they loved that it was warm from the Grand Prismatic Spring rushing into it.

We then headed down the road until we reached Old Faithful which goes off about every 90 minutes. We found a shade spot under some trees and had some lunch will we waited for it to irrupt again. The kids loved playing on the big trees that had fallen near by and basically just running around. Old Faithful was a little disappointing truthfully. Even the kids were not all that impressed. As a kid it seemed a lot cooler. This in the only picture we got and you got a love the photo bomb in the picture.

 We walked over to the Old Faithful Inn, Dave and I would both loved to stay there someday! 

At about that point our kids were done walking around and getting tired and cranky so we headed back to the camp site for some swimming, food and smores. Along the way, though, we saw this and had to stop to take a peek. 

This was the girls first time doing smores by themselves 

Kylie

 Lily

 And Paisley 

First day was great, but the night was a little worse. Oakley woke and we ended up in the car together because I didn't want to wake others. Eventually I went back to the tent and let her cry a little bit and she went back to sleep. All in all it was great! 

Next day we drove to Mammoth Hot Springs and saw the highlights along the way.....

 Gibbon Falls

 First time we finally saw some animals! We were so excited to see some Elk! 

 Palate Springs....constantly changing and even five years ago didn't look like this! 

We ate lunch on the lawn and enjoyed the great weather. Then we helped the kids finish there Junior Ranger Program stuff and got there badges. This was a great program that I found online for the kids todo. They had to do a few activities in a book that taught them about the wonders of Yellowstone. Once finished they got badges and were made Junior Rangers. You can do these at a bunch of parks all over the country and the kids loved it and couldn't wait to do more! 

 Artist Paint Pots Hike 

 Great hike, started raining while on it, and at the top Paisley peed her pants....good memories :) 

Again by the end the girls were super tired and so we headed back to have dinner and swim a little. We also let the kids play at the park and took showers before heading to our next location. We were really sad about not getting to see any more animals besides the elk, but were hoping for more as we drove through Yellowstone the next day. On to the next adventure!