Mica's Birthday Trip!

 For Mica's birthday we asked her what she wanted to do and she said "Go to Yellowstone!!"  So the weekend before her birthday we kept them out of school on a Friday and left bright and early for Yellowstone.  Mica was soooo excited!!  She had been waiting for this a lifetime, or so she said.  She had been to Yellowstone before, but she was about 6 months old and didn't remember any of it. 

 Our first stop INSIDE the park was at this waterfall.  I should have done my homework better but I think this is called Lewis Falls...

 The Birthday girl, giving a cute pose for the camera!

 Carson had gone on a fieldtrip to Yellowstone last year in the 4th grade.  He loved it and very excited to share what he had learned with his family.  It was fun having our very own "tour guide" for the trip.

 Waiting.....

 Waiting.....

 "There she blows!!"

 The kids made sure that I took pictures of everything they wanted to see.  I ended up with hundreds of pictures of the beautiful Yellowstone landscape.  I ended up buying them their own disposable cameras so that they could take their own pictures.  If I ever get them developed I will post those too.  Though the cameras didn't last long with the kiddos behind the shot!  They were all out of pictures within a couple of hours :)

 Chrislyn LOVED it!  She was such a good traveler and was really good about all the stops.  I would say she traveled better then the rest of us on this trip. 

The Girls....

 Dad's girl

 The boys....

 A woman offered to take our family picture and true to form....Chrislyn stole Carson's glasses in the middle of the picture! 

 This picture was so funny!  Nick wanted to give the peace sign, Carson did NOT.  So Nick would put up his hand and Carson would push it down.  Finally Nick just said "Just let there be peace!  for ONE picture"  There was a carload of people that overheard and burst out laughing.  Carson let him flash the peace sign.

Not the best picture, but this elk was less then 5 feet from our vehicle.  I had a really bad migraine at this point.  So Ted was driving.  He stopped in the middle of the road, handed me the camera and said "hurry get a picture of him"  I couldn't even open my eyes so I grabbed the camera and shot!  I was lucky to get this much of him.  I wish I had it on video, because right after this, he bugled!

We ended up staying in West Yellowstone.  We got a little "cabin" just outside the park.  Ted couldn't understand why I wanted to see a bear out in the wild at Yellowstone (which didn't happen) but was VERY upset to find out that a bear was in our campgroud!!!  It was a restless night for me I was up listening for any sound.  I didn't hear anything, thankfully and the second night I was able to sleep much better!  On Sunday we went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.  It was so much fun!  I didn't mind seeing those bears and wolves at all :)

We had lots of fun, and I am enjoying the new tradition that we have started.  It began with Carson, we are now taking our kids away for a weekend near their Birthday.  Carson Chose to go to Utah, Chrislyn didn't have a choice, I chose to stay home :(, and Mica chose to go to Yellowstone.  I am loving the time with family and hope that this becomes a great memory for them as well.