Yellowstone- The Wildlife

We had a great time watching all the wildlife in Yellowstone this year. Every time we go to Yellowstone we assign a certain number of points for each animal. Then we see who gets the most points at the end of the trip. Somehow dad always wins...

 

This year my girls made score sheets and point reference sheets for each car, and at the end of the day whoever got the most points won a prize. It was a fun way for the kids to stay entertained in the car.

 

We saw a ton of Bison. We watched this one cross the river.

Here is the first coyote we saw.

The bears! We saw some black bears and a grizzly or two. 

Coyote number 2.

And the coolest thing we saw...for me at least...the wolf. Right on the road. So super cool! He looked right at me!

We saw some elk, but no antlers to speak of. Too early in the year.

These big horned sheep came in a close second for coolest thing we saw. We decided to drive out to Lamar Valley one evening and came across a huge herd of them. Jacob kept inching closer with his binoculars. He really wanted to pet one. The guy next to us was getting pretty agitated about it. Not sure if he was worried Jacob was going to get charged, or that he was going to scare off the sheep. Ha! Probably the later. Anyway, if I turned away from Jacob he would try to sneak closer. Boys.

They started out a little ways away, but then walked right up to where we were all standing.

Just as we were leaving the sheep we came across a mother fox and her two babies playing. They were super playful and fun to watch.

 

 Here are a few grizzly pictures I stole from Matt and Joe.

 

We saw some wolves that night also, but they were super far away, so you had to use the spotting scope. On our way back to camp we took some pictures of the baby bison. Very cute.

We also saw deer, antelope, some cool birds, and plenty of squirrels. I would say it was a successful trip animal wise.

Yellowstone-Camp

We pulled into the campground just a little while after Matt, Jenna, Taylor and Samson got there. And boy were we excited to see them! My kids have a hard time deciding whether to attack Taylor or Samson first. Usually it's divide and conquer. Girls to Taylor, boys to Samson. We had reservations at the Fishing Bridge campground. We hadn't ever stayed there before, and we were very pleased. I don't have very many pictures of camp, but here are a few. We didn't spend much time there, we were always out hiking and searching for wildlife.

 

Here are the boys checking out the new firearms.

 

Brooke...ready for the day.

 

My kids are super into "carving" right now. They spent every spare minute at camp carving sticks with their pocket knives.

I was in grandma's trailer one afternoon visiting and Caleb came in holding his thumb. I asked him what happened, and with a dead serious look on his face, and a pocket knife in his hand,  " I don't know! There's just blood! I don't know what happened! It's just there!" I asked him if he cut himself. No way! He didn't! All of a sudden there was just a cut on his thumb, and it was bleeding! So weird! He didn't want me to take away his knife. It was kind of hilarious.

Yellowstone: The Ride Up and the Tetons

We planned a trip with the Balch family to Yellowstone over Memorial Day weekend. We did not get off to a very good start. Charles parents got to our house on Wednesday night, May 22nd. When they got here their slide-out wasn't working so we spent the evening working on that. Then when they went to bed they realized their vent over their bed was gone. Fine for camping in Heber City, but a little cold in Yellowstone. That same evening at about 10:00 Brielle started puking. And I mean steady, constant puking for 4 and a half hours straight. I can honestly say, none of my kids have ever had the pukes that bad. Finally at 2:30 she fell asleep. We were up a few short hours later and on the road.

 

Brielle was miserable. Completely miserable.

 

Finally, after a couple of stops along the way, she stopped puking and fell asleep.

 

Luckily, that was the end of it. By the time we got to the Tetons, she was a totally new person. And no one else got it...whatever it was. Thank goodness!

 

Caleb had a little nap along the way too. Brooke and Jacob got to take turns riding with Grandpa and Grandpa, and Joe and Jordi. Poor Brielle had to stay with mom and dad.

Caleb got a new snake and was so excited to scare Uncle Matt with it. Gross.

 

We stopped in Evanston for some supplies to fix the trailer vent.

Joe fixed it up and we were back on the road.

At the next pit stop Joe sent Jacob up to make sure it was holding.

You can see his little feet hanging over the edge.

Heaven.

Here we are pulling into the Tetons.

We stopped at the lodge and saw a moose! The kids were so excited, we always have a hard time finding moose.

 

We love the Grand Tetons. So gorgeous. The perfect start to a great vacation!