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Teaching Madison how to properly feed her baby.

The largest shark's jaw ever found.

Pirate ship at Treasure Island

Fountains at the Bellagio

Madison's rabbit face

There has not been much going on around here lately. Madison continues to amaze us with her ever-growing vocabulary. Her newest words include open, animal, outside and Elmo. She can point to 13 body parts. I think she might be a little dancer. She dances whenever she hears music of any kind. It is super cute!

Carson has hit the 'why' stage. We are trying so hard not to use the phrase 'Because I said so." Usually after a few rounds, he is satisfied with our answer. He has been working so hard at preschool and learning to write. It is so much fun to see his progression. He really likes dinosaurs right now. We went to the Venetian last Friday to view a dinosaur exhibit with his friend Matthew and this just amplified his fascination! There is a new show on PBS called Dinosaur Train that he just LOVES.

I think the sick bug has finally visited our house. Carson coughed most of the night and this morning is a little on the nasal side. I hope, I hope, I hope it does not get any worse!

I hope you have a great (and sick-free) day!

A year gone by

The realization hit me today that we left Arkansas a year ago today to begin our great adventure out west. It has been a very exciting year for us and yet so much has changed. Madison was just 3 months old when we left. Carson was barely 2 and had just decided to pee pee in the potty. Now Madison runs everywhere and is beginning to say words that an outsider could understand. Carson is developing his sense of humor and has learned to ride his tricycle without help (Santa will be bringing a real bike for Christmas). Carson also enjoys hiking with mom and dad these days.

Madison is turning into such a girly girl. She love dancing, feeding her babies, and must have her fingernails and toenails painted whenever she spies a bottle of polish.

Carson loves to help his daddy whenever he can and playing outside. He is such a sweet big brother!

Upper loop drive

A colorful runoff from a pool in the Norris Geyser Basin.

A buck elk at Mammoth Hot Springs with historic Fort Yellowstone in the background.

Undine Falls

Wraith Falls

I love Madison's face in this picture!

Tower Falls

We love waterfalls...in case you couldn't tell.

On this day of our trip we drove the upper loop road in Yellowstone. Our first stop was at the Norris Geyser Basin. It is an area where there are many hot springs and geysers. At this point the geysers and steam vents were losing their charm to us. Except for a select few, they are all the same. We drove up to the Mammoth Hot Springs area where we saw an elk herd in the middle of 'town'. The buck had a massive rack! He was impressive to see. This is also the area where Fort Yellowstone is.

We stopped at several waterfalls and lookouts along our drive but it got very interesting at our stop at Tower Falls. The kids and I found an open spot on a bench while we waited for John to visit the restroom. Carson sat down and immediately pointed the the larger lady sitting at the other end of the bench and very loudly stated, "Mommy, she's so big!" Thank my lucky stars this woman had her back to us! I replied with "Yes, Carson. Madison is such a big girl!"I then tried to redirect his attention but to no avail. We went through this about 3 times before John joined us!

Madison surprised us with 2 new words that day: wolf and moose. We had no idea she knew them but when we were in the gift shop she spotted the stuffed version of each and correctly identified them.

1st Day in Yellowstone

Lewis Lake Falls-29ft

Kepler Cascades

Upper Geyser Basin near Old Faithful.

We thought that the geyser in the background would be between us. There was no way of knowing since the lady taking the picture spoke very little English.

Grotto Geyser-probably the neatest geyser that we saw.

Morning Glory Pool

I think this is the Chromatic Pool.

Old Faithful

The bison in Yellowstone were much more impressive than in Grand Tetons.

This was the fifth day of our trip. We packed up camp and drove to Yellowstone. We drove up to the Old Faithful area. We arrived just as Old Faithful was going off so we barely caught the end of it. We decided to hike the area until the next eruption. We hiked up to Morning Glory Pool and we were the ONLY Americans at the observation point! It felt a little strange. We made it back to Old Faithful in time for the next eruption and we were not disappointed. Carson and Madison entertained the people around us with their antics. Both were in great moods after our ice cream treat. We then went inside the historic Old Faithful Inn. The woodwork on the inside is quite impressive.

We then made our way to Fishing Bridge where we camped. We saw bison along the way and even had to stop to let two of them cross the road. When we arrived at the RV park, the attendant informed us that there was a grizzly who frequented the camp. I think the story was fabricated by the staff just to scare the campers but who knows. With all of our driving around that day, we crossed the continental divide 6 times!

Madison's new word for the day- hike. :)

Phelps Lake

A barn on Mormon Row

View of Mt. Teewinot across the Snake River

Phelps Lake overlook.

Death Canyon

She was sooo tired!

On this day in Grand Teton NP we went on a drive in search of wildlife. We saw river otter swimming in the Snake River. Then we drove down Mormon Row. This is the area where Mormon settlers first settled. There are 3 or 4 original barns there. The picture above is an image from the internet. The sky was cloudy and the mountains were dim so we did not bother with pictures. Not far from there we found bison.

We then went to hike the Phelps Lake overlook trail and on into Death Canyon. I'm not sure how the canyon got it's name. Such a terrible name for such a beautiful place. We hiked about 2 1/2 miles into the canyon and decided to turn around. Carrying the kids can be exhausting and we had quite a hike back up. On the way back, we heard a noise about 40 feet off the trail and turned to find a moose! It was female and I can remember praying, "Please don't let there be a male nearby!" We were a little too close to the moose for comfort. Of course she never really raised her head back up so that we could get a picture before she went on her way. We enjoyed this hike tremendously mostly because there were not nearly as many people on the trail as Hidden Falls.

Hidden Falls Trail

View from the back patio at the Colter Bay Visitor's Center

On our way to the Hidden Falls trail.

Hidden Falls

Our first full day in Grand Teton NP included the Hidden Falls trail. It is the most popular trail in the park. It begins with a boat ride across Jenny Lake to the trailhead. The boat ride is not a must because there is a trail that goes around the small lake but when you are backpacking two kids it becomes a must! The boat ride was Carson's favorite part of the day!!! Carson actually hiked to Hidden Falls and then on up to Inspiration Point which is a lookout above Jenny Lake. We were so proud of him. The trail is labeled strenuous but we would call it moderate. Regardless, Carson hiked all but about a 1/2 mile of the trail! Those new hiking boots must be magic!

The other highlight (or lowlight) of the day was that Madison burned her little hand after we made it back to the camper and were working on dinner. We were cooking in the dutch oven and Madison saw the coals and thought that she would add a rock to her ever growing collection. Little ones are so fast! Thankfully, the result was not as bad as it could have been! She very lightly burned the back of her right hand. It looked like she had freckles across the back. The inside of her hand formed blisters overnight. She had with 5 very small blisters on her hand and fingertips.

Journey to Grand Teton NP

A wood carving in Idaho Falls.

Madison has a new rock fetish.

The tangles after 2 days of riding in the car.

Carson helping his daddy work on the trailer.

This was the second day of our trip. We spent the first night just north of Salt Lake City and once we arrived realized that somewhere along the way we lost the cover to the vent in the bathroom so we had to find an RV store to find a replacement. That occupied the first hour of the day. Further up the road, at a gas station, John decided to check the oil. What he found (or more accurately, what he DID NOT find) was the missing oil cap. So we luckily found this tiny little parts store in this tiny little town in Idaho.

The drive was beautiful but rather uneventful. After we entered Grand Teton National Park, we came up on a gathering of people along the road and cars EVERYWHERE. We decided to just keep driving since we were pulling the trailer and as we passed the spot, I saw a moose sitting in the grass among the trees! My first moose!