Yellowstone

July 5th around 6:30am we set off for Yellowstone.  It was our family and my dad.  We drove to Drew and Emily's house getting in around 10pm.  The kids enjoyed playing with each other until about midnight and then we pulled out our sleeping bags and had a sleepover on their family room floor.  Abby-3 and Colby-5 joined us in their sleeping bags too.

July 6th, Monday morning we visit a little bit and then set off for Yellowstone around 10am.  We arrived in the evening, set up our tent, built a campfire and had dinner, some dessert and then went to bed.  That night there was a huge lightening and thunder rain storm.  The kids slept right through it, though it was bright and very loud.

July 7th, Tuesday morning we got up, showered (Oh yes, the campsites had the most wonderful showers ever!)  Then we took down our tent and supplies to head to the next campsite.  On our way we stopped and looked at bison

 They were a little too close for comfort for me.  But Peter insisted on a picture.

 We looked at this waterfall from a couple different angles on different days.

 It was beautiful

 Then we saw a mother bear and a cub playing in the grass.

 Whenever bears were spotted the traffic would back up and there would be several rangers nearby either directing traffic or people.
July 7-9 we stayed at one campsite and went and saw a lot of animals, geysers, mudpots, etcs.  We paid to stay through the 10th, but it was cold and rainy and I was done with camping, so we left a day early to head back to Utah.

A bunch of female elk snoozed on this big grassy area.

 You can add snake to list of animals we saw...he's well camouflaged in the middle of the picture below.

 Bison walking down the middle of the road...actually leading traffic.  This was an interesting sight to see.  My picture of it passing us was super blurry.

 More elk- this one was nursing a baby at one point.

 Old Faithful erupts

 After watching Old Faithful we walked along a trail to see more geysers.   This one was bubbling.

 This was called the Grand Geyser (I think). It was awesome.  We walked along a path and saw a bunch of people sitting around this one.  We asked what they were all there for and they said it was supposed to erupt at between 10:30 and 11:30 and it hadn't gone off yet.  We were told it was way more impressive than Old Faithful.  We sat down, enjoyed a little snack and waited too.  Then Connor announced he had to go Potty.  Peter took him further along the trail, while Chloe, Grandpa and I waited for the Grand.  At around 1:20ish it erupted and it definitely was Grand!  Water and steam went 150-200 feet in the air consistently for about 10 minutes. 

 Then we continued on the path to see the Morning Glory Pool.

 Grotto Geyser-Above, Midway Geyser-Below

 Grand Prismatic Spring

 Fishing Cone Geyser

Abyss Pool

 Paint Pots

 Herds of Bison everywhere....and crossing the road

 The Dragon's Mouth

 Mud Volcano

 Bison were everywhere!

 A mother bear and her two cubs devour a carcass.

 Male elk

 A pretty waterfall

 Mommy and kiddos

 Connor

We had a great time.  All in all we saw 5 black bears, 2 grizzly bears, a snake, a lot of elk and bison.  We also saw an osprey nest.  We went back to Utah on Friday night.  Saturday morning Peter, Grandpa, the kids, Drew and his kids and Peter's Grandpa went to the Air Force Base and looked at airplanes.  Janet, Emily and I went to Connie's house and made cards, then we went shopping at Gymboree and got some cute clothes for kids.  The kids played on a slip and slide and a pool until they were sufficiently cold.  Then Emily and the kids had a birthday party to go to.  We went out to dinner at Toucanos, then explored the mall.  We went to Build A Bear-Connor built a Minion and Chloe built a monkey.

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and headed home.  We arrived home Monday morning at 12:30am.

We had a great trip, but we're glad to be back at home where it's nice and warm.