Yellowstone 2013

Last year we went to Yellowstone with my family.  This year we went with the Flakes.  These ^ are the Flakes.  Brooke's family owns a cabin in Island Park, which just happens to be the cabin my family stayed at last year.  So this year we went with them for a little weekend trip. It was a great weekend.  Mostly because Brooke has become like another sister for me....so the whole weekend was relaxing and laid back. 

I posted a ton of pictures...but John took 388.  388 pictures!!!  That's a lot of pictures to sort through.  so here is a nice little photo montage of our weekend, with a little commentary from me :)

Craters of the moon (on the way there):

Our first day in Yellowstone, with the first buffalo we saw.

I love how in Yellowstone when you first see buffalo it's exciting and you pull over and look.  And then by the 50th buffalo you drive by and say, eh...probably not worth stopping. 

Stinky geysers.  This particular geyser is Spasm Geyser.  Weird name I think.

Snuggling at Old Faithful.  It was chilly and windy!

Hence the hot chocolate.

And the picnic in the cars instead of at the picnic ground 30 feet away!

Not sure what Brooke is scared of in this picture :)

The views from our cabin...I wanted to get a family picture in this meadow.  But we didn't.  We totally missed that photo opp.

We left Yellowstone early the first day because we were sick of being cold.  So on our second day there (after a morning of swimming and being lazy) we headed back and enjoyed gorgeous weather that day!

 

I think Owen climbed a rock every where we went.  Maybe we should consider getting him into rock climbing.  Or maybe he's just a normal boy?! 

Emmie was insistent of getting her picture on this rock.  Like brother like sister I guess?

The whole group....except for "photographer John".

Contemplating the geysers and hot pots...

The most enthusiastic park ranger I have ever encountered.  John's parents were there the weekend before we were there and I couldn't help but think that John's dad would have fully appreciated her stories about the geology of Yellowstone.  Her stories were wasted on the ears of our children.

Ainsley took this great shot of the grand canyon of Yellowstone.  She even got the rainbow!  Beautiful.

Proof that John was there!!!

Cute girl!

John always takes random pictures of me (usually of my back side...the kids think it's hilarious. I'm probably the only one in the family that doesn't).  Anyways, here are 2 random shots of NOT my rear end.   The first displaying the lovely zit on my lower lip that somehow morphed into a massive cold sore and is now a nasty scab the size of Kansas on my lip.  It's gross and it hurts.  Feel sorry for me please.

And here is another beauty....That Ains thinks is hilarious.  So, in an attempt to humor her and keep this picture alive and well documented on our blog, here is a picture of me doing....actually I have no idea what I was doing.

And we ended the weekend with s'mores.  And we all stayed up way too late and came home waaay too tired. 

Oh, and we celebrated (I use that term very loosely) father's day while we were there too.  We had a nice breakfast and gifts and then a long drive.  Good times.  Nothing reminds me of fatherhood more than putting up with kids in the car for a long drive.  Am I right?!