Yellowstone

We decided to take the kids to Yellowstone.  I had been wanting to do it for a while but never found the right time.  We literally decided to do it 2 days before we left.  Thanks to Covid, hotels aren't as booked this year because there are no international travelers, and people in general aren't travelling as much.  So we booked a decent priced room and took the kids.

We spent 2 days in the park and seriously had the best time.  The kids were in heaven looking for animals.  The park wasn't crowded, although still plenty of people there but nothing like summers usually are there. 

The first day we did the northern loop.  So hit some spring and hot pots but mostly it was looking for animals and boy did we hit the jackpot.  The first bison we saw the kids had us turn around, they were amazed this huge animal was just sitting there eating grass.  We went all the way out to Lamar Valley.  We stopped and saw a moose in a spotting scope although no one could really tell what it was.  Then we saw a herd of Elk and after watching them for a minute something set them off and they went 'stampeding down the hill like in the Lion King' (the kids words)  We then saw a huge herd of Bison with their babies crossing the street and the kids were in heaven watching them walk along the road right next to us.  Then we stopped and saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree, which I thought was pretty amazing.  We saw a coyote that looked much better fed then any coyote I've ever seen and then saw a mama and baby bear from super far away (they were literally 2 dots and if someone with a spotting scope hadn't told us we would've had no idea.)

The highlight of the day though was as we drove back towards the entrance right past Mammoth Hot springs all the cars came to a stop.  I was driving so I rolled my window down and asked a guy who had parked his car and was walking up towards the way we were going and he said, there is a bear right off the side of the road.  Sure enough right off the side of the road there was this huge bear just walking around.  As we got up closer we got the best video and pictures of it right as it disappeared back into the bushes.  Seriously our timing was incredible to see a bear that close up.  The kids were in heaven.  I couldn't believe we saw a bear that close up and right by our car...and I was happy we were in the car and not walking.

The 2nd day we did the lower loop.  We stopped at lower prismatic springs and as we were walking around, I heard a girl come up to the rangers and tell them that she wanted to report a bear attack.  She was ok but kind of crazy to think about.  She had gotten attacked on the Fairy Falls trail which is the trail we went on next to get to upper pristmatic spring overlook.  Luckily there were a lot of people around so we were safe but I heard later that they closed that trail for a couple days to let the bear clear the area.  On our way down from that hike we got to the very end and there was a bridge with a bison on the other side of the bridge.  The rangers wouldn't let us cross the bridge.  We sat there for about 45 minutes waiting for that bison to move.  The kids were pretty unhappy because it was hot and it was lunch time.  So we sat watching the bison eat his lunch, drink some water from the river and then slowly meandered off and we were finally able to cross and get some lunch.

We saw Old Faithful which was fun for the kids.  We kept telling the kids that it wasn't that big and we would tease them when we saw little small water shoots saying it's just a touch bigger than that.  So when Old Faithful actually went off they were pretty amazed at how big it was and how long it went for.

We then did the drive around the rest, seeing Yellowstone lake, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and Yellowstone falls.  Another super fun day.  

We left only disappointed that we didn't see a wolf and a moose.  As we were driving home through Island Park, we were following a car and right in front of that car a mama moose and her baby ran across the highway.  It was perfect timing to see them and we felt like our trip was complete after that point.

Our kids thought Yellowstone was just about the coolest place ever and we had a blast of a trip.  Little do they know that we can never go back because there is no way another trip there will be as good as this one was.

May 2020

This is always a fun thing to do and I thought maybe the kids might be getting too old for it but we went to Highland Glen park and fed the ducks one Sunday afternoon.  It was a fun get out of the house activity.

My kids have been begging for eye masks since it is usually light out when they go to bed and when they wake up.  I just made some for them thinking they wouldn't really use them but they totally wear them every night to bed.  I think it's so cute when I go check on them and see them wearing them.

After not having any family dinners for 3 months we decided we should do a girls/sister night out at Jennifer's house.  We all got take out and sat around and talked.  Then my mom brought my dad's homemade oreo ice cream and Jennifer made a yummy bundt cake.  It was the perfect night and so so fun to catch up in person again.

My ministering sister works at Thanksgiving Point and offered us free passes to the Thanksgiving Point Farm.  We've actually never been and it ended up being a blast.  My kids could've stayed there a few more hours I think. We had a wagon ride, horse ride and just walked around seeing all the animals.  We were asked to wear masks so we did and I was surprised how well my kids wore them for the most part.

The girls for home school had a rock unit and learned about different types of rocks.  We had to go on a scavenger hunt for rocks, they got to find a rock, give it a name and even interview it.  haha.  The best part was on Friday they were supposed to make a Rock dessert.  There were 3 different recipes they could do and of course my girls decided they should do all 3.  It was actually a really fun unit for them that they enjoyed a lot.

A picture from our family soccer game.  We had to switch teams every few minutes so everyone got a turn with mom and dad.

Mother's Day was a bit different this year not having dinner at my parents and not going to church.  But we had a great day at home and drove over to my parents to say hi and give my mom her Happiness book.  I changed it up this year and did the Happiness Book digitally and then had it printed and mailed to me. It turned out really cute and it was so much easier then doing it by hand.  I don't think I'll ever go back. I got a new crimper for Mother's day so I crimped my hair and the girls, I think it turned out cute.

Towards the middle of May we started letting the kids play with friends again.  The rule was they had to stay outside and play.  Friends weren't allowed in our house and they weren't allowed in there's.  Which was so nice because they were so excited to have friends again that they didn't care if it was hot or cold (which we had both) they would just stay outside all day.  That rule only lasted a few weeks but it sure was nice.  And it was nice to have friends again.

Jaron's friend Graham's dad started taking Graham and a few friends mountain biking.  Jaron has been hooked ever since and is in love with mountain biking.  Shane has now started taking him on some trails as well and he's begging for a bike with gears.  Only problem is we can't find a gear bike his size.  He just needs to grow a bit!

May 13 was our last day of home school instruction.  Woot woot, we did it!  We survived, got through it all and even learned a lot I would say.  It wasn't easy and there were many hard days but we all felt happy on this last day.  There were still some other activities, zoom meetings, speech for Jaron, etc. but the daily list of things to do was mostly over and we officially declared it summer.

During the last week of May we stopped by the school to pick up our final things that were never sent home since school stopped so abruptly.  It was fun for them to see their teachers one last time and have a little closure to the school year.  Jaron wrote the cutest note to Mrs. Correa and made her read it right in front of her.

The school did a video Dance Festival this year and asked all the students to record 30 seconds of the video and then they put it all together.  I was proud of the kids that they participated in this and let me film them doing the dance and it turned out so cute when they put it all together.

Here's some Last Day of school pictures I took of each of the kids.

Maybe the biggest things to happen this month is we got 2 new guinea pigs.  The kids during quarantine kept trying to open an animal shelter complete with slides to show us how the basement was going to be set up for each different type of animal.  When they realized that wasn't going to work they put flyers up for a dog sitting/walking business and were very disappointed when no one called.  So then every morning they would report to me on what new guinea pigs we could buy.  So I finally gave in and we got 2 this time so they could have a friend.  So introducing Chip and Ozzie.  The kids love them and play with them a lot, at least once every single day, so they are very loved.

And here is Aria playing violin for the guinea pigs.  That was her one request when she was asking for new guinea pigs, is that could she please practice the violin with them listening...why yes you can!

The biggest bummer of the month was literally within seconds of walking in the house from picking up school belongings, Jaron got his pinky toe stuck on his jumpy tube/ball and broke his toe.  He was in a lot of pain so we quickly took him to instacare and yep it was broken.  When we saw the podiatrist the next week he said he also tore a ligament.  We thought he might have to get a pin put in it but the dr. said since it's just a pinky toe lets just leave it, it will heal.  There is a chance he'll get a hammer toe when he's about 30 but that it can be fixed then if he gets one.  So he had to be in a boot for about 3 1/2 weeks.  No running, no jumping on tramps or anywhere but they did tell him he could ride a bike and swim so he was going to be ok after all.  

The afternoon that Jaron broke his toe his good friend Graham came over and brought Jaron a little get better treat...only to find out that later that same day Graham would fall off his bike and break his arm.  These 2 do everything together...they've been in the same class for both Kindergarten and 1st grade, gotten strep through twice just days apart and now broken bones on the same day.

And the best news of the month...our pool opened up!! We weren't sure with lock down if we would open up but it did and we are thrilled to have it open!  This day I only took the girls because Jaron had just broken his toe and he wasn't able to swim yet.  Jaron got a bike ride in our trailer from Shane to go get some ice cream though!