Yellowstone in June: The Family

In June we went to Yellowstone.  My dad, Shin and Heather were all originally supposed to come with us, and we booked a two room hotel (camping with a five month old was not my idea of fun).  Unfortunately, circumstances had it that none of them were able to make it, so J's brother, Cory, came with us instead.


We had lots of fun--spotted a couple bears, got snowed on, went to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center, saw lots of Bison, and enjoyed the beauty of Yellowstone.

I have separated the trip into different parts: The Family, where I include pictures of us, The Animals, and The Scenery.

When we arrived in Yellowstone, we found a picnic area to eat lunch, and right off the road was a bison grazing, so we took the opportunity to get some pictures.  It's definitely not the closest bison we saw (right alongside our car on the road), but it was fun to get a picture with the bison hanging out in the background.

 A group shot of all of us

 

Zuri loved looking at all the signs.  When we went again in August, she remembered some of the pictures and was eager to tell Emily about them.  Her favorite were the paint pots because of the "blup-blup" sounds they make.  She loved the geysers when they got high, but she didn't love the sulfur smell.   

 We were able to get some really cute pictures of Zuri.  She was pretty funny throughout the trip.  Sometimes she would want her picture taken and then other times she wouldn't want anything to do with the camera.  Whenever we pulled the stroller out instead of the snugli, she would want to ride in the stroller instead of walk, so it became a big struggle to get her to stop whining about suddenly tired legs.

When we didn't have the stroller, Zuri would run up and down the trails, having a grand old time.  Go figure.

 She was very excited about the chipmunk.  When we returned in August, she remembered the exact spot the chipmunk had been and was disappointed that she couldn't find him again.

 

 When she didn't whine about wanting to ride the stroller, she wanted to help push River, and she was always trying to get smiles out of her sister.  It was really fun to watch.  She even got to the point where she would get mad when I would try to help her push the stroller.  It reminded me of our shopping trips.

 River did about as well as you would would expect a five-month old to do--especially a five-month old who doesn't like the car.  There was lots of crying and fussing mixed in with extreme cuteness, and all too brief periods of sleep.  On the plus side, she was so worn out from the day, that she slept pretty well at night--only waking up once or twice.

Zuri had a harder time at night.  The first night we put her on the queen-sized Murphy bed in the living room.  We left the light on over the stove for a night light, but we forgot to turn off the ice-maker in the freezer, so when the ice cubes dropped, she got really scared.  Luckily, we had a king-sized bed, so there was more than enough room for her to snuggle in with us.  We didn't even attempt to have her sleep in the living room the next night.

Zuri's favorite part of the trip was when she and I went swimming the first night.  J and Cory crashed so I took the girls to the pool.  River had her first experience in a swimming pool.  She seemed to like it.

 

 On some of the longer hikes, Zuri would skip ahead with Cory.  She loved some of the open trails, and that is where she seemed to have the most fun.  Especially when there were mud puddles to jump over. 

 At Norris Basin it was still pretty nice out when we arrived, but as we hiked around the trail toward Steamboat Geyser, the clouds thickened up quickly.  It started to rain, and then snow.  We didn't have our umbrellas with us at that time, and we didn't want the girls to get too cold or wet, so J bundled both of them together in the small umbrella stroller and ran from Steamboat Geyser back to the car.  Cory and I took our time getting back, taking pictures in the snow.  Luckily, the storm was brief, and the snow didn't stick. 

On our way out of Yellowstone, we stopped by Lewis falls, where there was still quite a bit of snow still on the ground.  Zuri had more fun playing in the snow than seeing the waterfall.