Yellowstone Part 2

Did I mention that it was cold.  Poor Megan was freezing.

Old Faithful from the boardwalk.  Once nice thing about seeing old faithful early on a cold morning is no one else is around. I love how you can't really see the water just the steam that it made.

Jesse carrying Kade.  At least they were warm.

When we got to this geyser it had no water and then as we walked by it started to sputter and bubble and then water came out.  It was like someone turned on the on switch just for us.

I find these pools so amazing

Some of them are so clear and blue which means they are super hot. I wish we could have seen all the geysers around old faithful but it was just too cold and windy and Kade was not happy about it.  Well lets be honest none of us really wanted to go walk around outside when it was so cold.  Next trip will be when its a lot warmer.

This happened a lot while we drove through the park.  They didn't seem to care they just took their time.

We tried to go tot he Norris Geyser basin twice.  Once Megan and Jesse ran down for a little ways while I stayed in the car with Kade. It was snowing pretty good and too cold for us.  Plus we didn't want to be wet the rest of the day.  The second time we pulled into the parking lot and it was snowing again so we turned around without ever getting out and headed to the little grand canyon of Yellowstone.  Next time we will pack our snow clothes towards the back of the moving van not the front. I guess it was kind of hard to imagine it would be snowing when we left Fayetteville it was 80 degrees. Above is a picture of the lower falls ( i think, kind of bad I can't remember)

Someone was a little tired as we drove back to the hotel

We were so close!  So this lady was eating along side the road so I made Jesse stop so I could take a picture.  She looked up right at me. I think i might hang this picture up in Kade's room or something because I love it. Well that was our quick trip to Yellowstone.

 

 

 

Yellowstone Part 1

Since its 6:30 in the morning and I can't sleep I figured I would continue to update my blog about our trip.  I took so many pictures its ridiculous but hey thats part of the fun.  We made it to Yellowstone and it was cold.  We stayed right outside the North gate which was nice.  Oh and even better we were at Yellowstone during National Parks week so we got in free!!  There were a ton of bison and elk around so hopefully you don't get bored with the pictrues

We got out to walk around Mammoth Terraces to see some geysers and springs. Kade does not look super happy but it was cold.

Shhh don't tell but Megan was feeling the water to see how hot it really was...wasn't hot at all at least not right here.

I loved how things look after they have fallen into the water.  We are guessing this used to be a tree branch.

Some spots along the boardwalk were nice and warm and there was an insane amount of steam too

Oh how I love Yellowstone it is so pretty.

This may just be one of my favorite pictures from the day.  Love all their faces.

A kiss from dad

Trying to play around with the macro settings on my lens.  I can't wait to play with this picture in photo shop a little.  For now all the pictures are straight out of the camera.

The bison were everywhere and just walking along side the road.  We were good and didn't touch them even though it was tempting

One of the Elders that served in the singles branch in Fayetteville told us that we needed to go find the Mammoth hot spring.  Well this is it (the name may not be right) Its a spring that comes up right next to the river and empties into it.  The park allows you to go sit in the river as long as it is not directly in the spring.  We took a walk down to check it out and it was beautiful.  Then the next day Megan stayed back at the hotel with Kade (she didn't want to get cold) and Jesse and I went down to the river. The spring water was so hot and the river water so cold. It was so fun to sit in the water and watch the elk and bison around us.

Look at how close that elk was, they could care less about us.

There was just a little too much snow still!  I did however think the buffalo were pretty with all the steam from the geysers coming up.

back to our trip: Mount Rushmore

We stayed the night in Rapid City which was a lot of fun.  The hotel had South Dakota's largest indoor water park. Honestly it wasn't very big but it was fun.  They had 2 big slides and then they had a funnel slide.  One of the lifeguards was super lazy which was great on our part because he didn't care if you went down the slides backwards.  Then the guards switched and the other guard wouldn't let you go down backwards. Anways the hotel was lots of fun and then the next morning we headed to Mt Rushmore.  It is so cool and really interesting to see how they built it.

Kade feeling the snow.  You can tell he is so interested in it.

Wow Megan you look so small in this picture

I am so glad we stopped to see it because I don't know when I will be back in South Dakota.

We bought a house!!

So here is a quick update for those wanting to know.  The bank has accepted our offer on a house!!!  We have house hunted a lot the last few months on line and we were pretty sure on what we wanted.  When we met with our Realtor last Friday we found one that fits almost all our needs.  Its over 2,000 sq ft.  has 2.5 bathrooms, 3 bedrooms plus an office.  The kitchen is huge and open and opens up into a big family room.  It has a 2 car garage not a 3 but that will have to come at another time and the yard isn't huge but with so much to do around here we figured that it would be okay.  From the looks of it now we wont have to do much work to it and can move right it.  It even has a fresh coat of paint and carpet. 

We signed papers today and will hopefully have an inspection done Friday and then our Realtor thinks that we can close by the 3rd week of May!!  We are so excited and our Realtor really is awesome.  She has made buying a house a great experience.  When we go to the inspection I will take lots of pictures so hopefully those will be up soon.

Now that we are here!!

d

We can now hang out with the Johnsons!!!!!!!  It is wonderful.  They are seriously the best of friends and we are so excited to live near them again.  We all went up to Seattle to see some of the sights.  We headed to Pike Place which was a lot of fun

Jill, Rex, and Chloe

Megan even got to sit on the piggy bank

They had so many beautiful bouquets. 

So many tulips I wish i could have some in my house...oh wait i need one first.

mmmmm sea food.

So many good looking fruits and vegetables

More sea food

It was a little windy and chilly

We bought really yummy doughnuts.  Mom and Grandma you better be ready to get some because they are sooo good.

Someone wants my camera

Yesterday the weather was so nice so we headed out to Kopachuck Island over in Gig Harbor.  It was beautiful we just sat on the beach  and let the kids play.  The weather was perfect the sun was out and we just laid out in the sun.  Chloe and Kade checking out the water

Can you believe he is going to be 1 in 2 weeks because I can't believe it.  He had 2 teeth come in this week so now we are up to 4 on top and 4 on bottom.

Oh how we love hanging out with the Johnson's again

Jesse rescuing Kade because he made it into the water.

Chloe playing in the water

We played a little Frisbee

Rex wanted to get in the water as well.

My boys

Our little family

Look at how skinny this kid is.  You can see his ribs

Tonight the Johnson's came over for dinner in our hotel room.  And we made spaghetti so the boys got to eat their dinner in the bath tub.  They loved it and it was a lot easier to clean up.  Life is great here we are loving it here.  We can't wait for more adventures to come.

More trip pictures to come later