We did not think we were going to make it to Montana this year . . . a lot of things fell through and then, it just worked out that we could, AND we got to take Jason, which made the trip so much better! We left in the early afternoon and drove to Reno for dinner and games at Circus Circus, then we changed into PJs and headed off into the night. The kids, miraculously, slept all night while Jason drove (thanks to 5-hour energy). I, being five months pregnant did not get to enjoy the effects of the energy drink, nor did I have the pleasure of being able to sleep. I WAS TIRED . . . but after arriving, almost 24 hours later, on the wrong side of the mountian and driving to the right side, we were there!
sleeping children - so precious.
We took a few days to lay low and then went into "town" to see the BIG parade - free stuff was bring handed out like crazy. It was a sunny day with a little wind. We had good seats!
Grandpa Scott time.
Kisses from Daddy.
Poster Boy. . .
The next day, the kids, Jason and I headed to the caverns to walk into the dark dirty earth and see the amazing things there. It was very wet and slippery down there, but some of the rooms were SO huge - they were truly awesome.
Thumbs up for caves!
Long dark tunnels don't scare us!
Even Oli enjoyed himself!
After the long walk UP to the caves, the long walk down was a relief.
And we stopped (so mommy could rest) at most of the benches along the way.
I love pictures of these two together. . . .
The Fourth of July! Mima and Grandpa Scott had already stocked up on fireworks (not illegal in this part of Montana) and now it was time to prepare for the rest of the day! First the firewood had to be moved to the fire pit down by the creek. Everyone helped.
Then the fishing gear had to be prepared (and snacks had to be eaten).
The obligatory group photo (minus me, as usual). Nice looking group, huh?
Fish had to be caught, and laughed at - check!
Siblings had to get along, and sit there, waiting for more fish.
Daddy had to help Oli catch his first fish . . .
What a good job they did! Nice BIG fish (the biggest of the day, in fact).
Mima had to instruct - she loves eating fish from this stream.
Oli had to try a worm - hey, the fish like them . . . don't they? (hoo! He dropped that thing SO FAST when it wiggled in his mouth - YUCK!)
Fish had to be cleaned. Ezra really liked this part . . .ha!
Aurelia actually did enjoy this, she just tried to make it look like she didn't.
Oli helped kiss those fish heads goodbye. (so did Grandpa Scott and Ezra, but I'm trying to post different pictures than those I've already posted else-wheres). The total number of fish caught on this day was five - two for Aurelia, two for Ezra and one for Oli. yum.
Finally it's getting dark-ish. Grandpa becomes the tree lead monster . . . so did Oli and Mima.
Then we work on roasting marshmallows, but it was too hard for the kids, so they ended up eating theirs raw . . .
We had to use really long sticks because mommy and Mima were a little paranoid that someone would fall into the fire (or the stream) . . .it was a rough night for us ;) But we made it through and then when it was really good and dark at around 10PM, Mima and Grandpa let those fireworks off! We had rockets and whizzers and sizzlers and all sorts of good stuff. The kids loved it and then we packed them off to bed!
The next day we headed into Bozeman for the DINOSAUR museum.
There were lots of other neat things to see too! Here's an old fire engine!
Here's two side of a triceratops (or it's relation)'s head.
Here's a real live dino-Ezra.
At the back of the museum there is an old house with lots of neat old things - I don't know what era it's supposed to represent, but it's an old farm house with a huge garden around it. Aurelia learned to weave on a simple loom.
Ezra got to try too!
Aurelia fell in love with this rag doll in the "kids" room.
Oli really wanted to get out of Jason's back pack, so we didn't stay too long. He doesn't look too miserable in this photo, though.
Ezra wanted to stay and play with the toy trains. They could even have dressed up in country clothes if we had the time, or they had the inclination (they didn't).
Outside they worked on filling the watering cans at the pump.
Just around the house were so many different vintage flowers and some vegetables. They all needed water. Aurelia worked hard.
Oli tried hard.
Ezra did a good job too! Outside the fence were far more vegetables, but we didn't work on watering those.
It's been a long visit in the sun. I think Ezra was actually upset that we were leaving - we went out to get some lunch - then we came back to visit more things inside the museum.
When we came back we went to a room upstairs where they had a kid-sized "replica" of Yellowstone to explore. An artist had made lots of different animals out of found objects. I've posted all of them because they are truly amazing. When we came into the room the kids were supposed to pick up a backpack, a pair of binoculars and a checklist of things to look for. Here's a bear.
Ezra found a swan.
Aurelia found an otter.
All three kids spent time doing some (more) fishing.
I found a fox.
Oli found a lynx.
Not hard to miss were a buffalo and it's calf.
Momma had musical instruments on her butt that you could really play. There was also a play kitchen (in the station) with food and dishes and a stove, etc. . . there was a look out tower, a geyser (that the kids helped to make explode). There was a baby soft play area and a post card area to make cards for friends or for the museum.
Same day, later, the kids were pretty wiped out so we put on a movie and Mima snuggled with her babies.
The whole arch, and nothing but the arch . . . with us teeny tiny people on the left. Here we are entering the park.
It was pretty amazing to see the barren fields of sulfurous land. It was stinky, but amazing.
On the way down through the park we saw an amazing field filled with probably over a thousand bison. I picked this photo to post because there was one bison on the road really close to our car. He was stopping traffic going the other way. It was amazing, frightening and exhilarating to be this close to the gigantic creature. He was seriously taller than our van!
Here's another close encounter with a bison. He was wallowing while we walked by. We kept a safe distance.
Jason and Oli are posing near the dragon's lair . . .
And here, they are just looking cute.
This was colorful, stinky water. No wonder the trees died.
Another beautiful bison. I hope you don't mind.
Whenever a wild animal was spotted, people parked their cars (in the middle of the road even) so everyone else just had to stop too. It wouldn't be until a park ranger came out to monitor the situation that people would come to their senses. People really got crazy when they thought they were going to get a close up shot of some wildlife. We stopped a few times too. This was as close as we got. We also saw some bear and some other deer, but no moose.
Finally, after a few more days in Billings, we had to head home. We went back into the park to drive out through the Tetons. On the way we stopped to see Old Faithful.
The Teton Mountains were so beautiful, especially with the clouds moving constantly over them.
Our last photo of the trip was in Jackson Hole, WY. My camera was almost all out of juice, but had just enough to capture one of these crazy antler arches. We had a great time in Montana, and we were happy to go home again too.
There they are!
Here's J and T passing the football with Oli in Daddy's shade.
The big kids playing the surf. After Oliver had been almost "eaten" by the ocean, he opted out of the water play. We've got Aurelia, Adrienne, Ezra and Eli from left to right.
Ezra and Oli jumped on the whales after it got too cold to be in the ocean.
Jason and Aurelia also rode the Ferris Wheel.
All the kids rode the Sea Dragons, here's Aurelia and Oliver together.
Aurelia and Adrienne rode the roller coaster together. It was so cute waiting in line with those two giggly girls! Then we all rode the caveman express train ride thing as families, twice and then it was dark and late and time to head home. I'm so glad we made these memories.
