Day 17 pics and day 18 update...

 Happy Saturday! No blog last night just didn't have it in me to go to the wireless hotspot at camp. So here is the update...yesterday we hung by this lake for a while, Ollie went for a swim.  Then Matt decided it wasn't that great for fly fishing so we headed to a stream nearby and were visited by a few Bison, that was fun! 

 Matt took this picture of the kids doing whatever in the world they are doing on me.  He calls me the "mommy bean bag." It doesn't really matter where I am sitting or laying, they always stick to me like magnets!  We've had a lot of snuggling time the past 17 days!

 We all headed back to the camper for nap time and had dinner and played at the playground then finished the evening by watching, Yellowstone Cubs...a movie my mom got us...thanks mom! I've been wanting us to watch it all week, and last night we finally did, it was fun b/c a lot of the stuff we have seen this week.  BTW this movie takes place in the 50's I think.

 This girl loves to swing, like a big girl I might add and high!  We've enjoyed all the KOA playgrounds.  By the way most of the rest areas in the West have playgrounds as well, too, very nice!

 And this is what we're (me and the kids) up to today...hanging out.  Matt went on a day hike so we are filling our day with time on the game room, the pool, although indoor and heated still feels very cool, home made fudge from the gift shop and some creative time in the camper.  I turned the kids bed into a "playroom" for the day, took out our car books and toys and are letting them "be creative!" So far so good!

Tomorrow we'll head on to Jackson Hole, WY through the 4th of July.  It sounds like a really fun place and we're excited to see the Grand Tetons! 

Day 16...

Today was a super fun day, the pace of today was relaxing and enjoyable for everyone.  We started out heading north in the park today.  We saw a couple of Elk on the side of the road as we were driving.  We still have not however had a bear sighting.  We then went to a mile long trail called the Artist Pot's trail.  See the second picture that was from up above on the trail.  It looks like different paint colors in a palette of sorts.  We managed...finally...to get a family photo, hoping to snag a few more of these!  Then we headed around the upper loop of Yellowstone, there were many beautiful sights to see and much less people than where we are camping.  The last picture is a petrified tree that was off the main road a bit.  We did stop at the Roosevelt Lodge which was made in 1906, one of the oldest National Park Lodges.  Sarah Claire picked up the pony pocket book as soon as we headed into the gift shop and she carried it around the whole time.  So we just had to get it...she was so proud of her new horse pocket book, which she named "Pony" of course.  She is sleeping with it right now! 

Tonight we headed into the little town nearby and saw the movie Brave.  It was SC's first movie ever...and we had to take her out a few times with a few scary bear scenes.  But Ollie loved it.  It's the first movie the 4 of us have ever seen together...very cute movie by the way!  Tomorrow more stream side fishing and hanging out are on the plans. We have really enjoyed being in one place for so long and what a beautiful place it is!

The Junior Ranger!

Day 15...2 weeks on the road!!

 We made it 2 weeks on the road...whew! Here's how some of our mornings turn out around here, me and the girl snuggle while Daddy who's an early bird goes to take a shower.  Love this little bear!

 Once we all got up, we headed into the park to hear a junior ranger program talk about forest fires.  I thought I had put a picture of our new junior ranger on here, but I'll have to do it in a minute. It was pretty cool!

 We played by this creek for a while.

 Then headed to this one while daddy fly fished...look at our first yellowstone trout!

 SC played in the river...I figured out today why she keep taking the hair bows out...she can't twirl with them in.

 We saw a real wolf right across the river from us...pretty cool! Also saw a couple of bald eagles today!

 More upside down glasses.

And Matt took his turn with the "finder's keepers" hat...howdy partner!  

and the rest of yesterday's pics!!

yesterday's pics take 2

More to come later, internet slow as molasses!

Day 14...lots of pics!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today was a fun day filled with waterfall and geyser viewing. Ollie even found a cowboy hat on the trail, finder's keepers.  We made new friends (see pic of all the people at the park) j/k but there are lots of people here.  So we went off the beaten path a bit for 2 mile hike, it was pretty fun but the people under 30 in our family were a bit worn out by the end.  I got to run into town this afternoon during nap time for a little me time, it was nice! It is supposed to get down to 34 degrees tonight, so we are sure thankful that we have a heater in our camper. Not sure what's on the agenda for tomorrow, but sure it will involve being outside and having fun!

Day 13...Yellowstone!

 We made it...it's beautiful...and I unfortunately have a spotty internet connection!

 SC by the lake, crazy hair day!

 Crazy hair day runs in the family...Ollie took this picture...pretty cool!

 These two wrestle each other a tons these days...they also have really been loving and caring for each other well too!

 Another day, another s'more by the KOA campground! Yum!

 Random pic...we've seen several of these thus far.  Its a tent that pops up out of a pull behind motorcycle contraption.  So cool! Just wanted to document it.

The big girl decided she wasn't so big after all and daddy had to go rescue her from the slide at the playground after dinner tonight.

Today was fun day of driving, we went through Yellowstone to make it to our hang out spot until Saturday in West Yellowstone...we are actually in the great state of Montana...Matt and I honeymooned in Montana almost 11 years ago!!  We saw a ton more bison, a huge elk and a few geysers as we drove through.  Our trip mileage is now over 3,000 miles! Ollie met a friend and had a very short lego playdate tonight and set up about 5 more for tomorrow...mr. extrovert!  We'll head into the park tomorrow, possibly see Old Faithful and hopefully lots of other fun and amazing things!

Day 12...

 First and foremost, I had to look back at the blog that I did earlier this morning to figure out what day number we were in our trip.  Day 12th turned out to be a good day.  We had free pancakes courtesy of  the campground.  Then we headed to the Buffalo Bill museum in town.  Bill Cody (whom Cody is named after) was a really cool guy, he helped bring this part of the country to life.  This museum was amazing, 5 stars!!!

 It had several exhibit rooms, I had to snap a picture of this one in the American plains...it is an early baby bjorn!!

 Our littlest explorer using a magnifying glass! So cute!

 Here is Ollie trying a saddle, Sarah Claire making sure it was tight enough! One cool thing about this museum was that you could touch and try a lot of things, the kids really loved it.

 We did some time at the pool, it was HOT here today, we saw a sign that said 101 degrees tonight around 5 pm.  Ollie got a little sunburned, oops.  Matt enjoyed a nice afternoon hike while I chilled with the kids while they had their naps...yes our 5 yr old still naps...yes we'll have to say goodbye to that ritual before the summer ends with Kindergarten coming!  We enjoyed having a pizza dinner at a local pizza place and then ended the night with a "cookie party."

And here is a picture of the amazing sunset that happened right outside our camper window just a short while ago.  So beautiful! Tomorrow we'll hit the road again to West Yellowstone and hang out until Friday, will be nice to have a home base for a longer period of time.  We'll continue our KOA tour as we stay at this cool place.