Weavers

After a week of recovery from our trip, we were super excited to have the Weaver's visit. Jami drove out with the boys (Scott couldn't get time off). They arrived during one of Emmrey's veggie sale runs and were eager to help her out.

There is so much to do around northern Colorado. However, it seems like when they visit we have just as much fun doing very little and just being together. We went to Windsor Lake one afternoon. 

Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the dark sky set in and the wind picked up. 

We sat it out a while hoping it would pass. It didn't. We did get to witness a giant canopy shelter blow across the beach headed right toward us... so that was exciting. Luckily it go hung up on something before reaching us, but not so lucky for the little guy who was in it's path.

It was all good. These guys were just there for the snacks anyway 

{actually Emmrey was begging to get back in the water}

We came home and had a BBQ for dinner

We only had two full days with them, so Saturday we spent some time in the pool before deciding what we wanted to do for the day. 

I took Jami over to our Farmer's Market at the park. As small towns go... sometimes it's a hit .. sometimes it's a miss. Sadly this time was a miss. But we had a good laugh about it!

We went in to FoCo for lunch at the melt. We like this place. The food is good but a little overpriced. Plus they have their own soda line so no diet Pepsi for us:(

The kids liked playing around the fountain that was just outside the restaurant. They may have tried to get coins out rather than throw them in. If they did, we put a stop to that right away!

Mark, Jami and I took the three little ones to the Farm at Lee Martinez park. We thought the older three would enjoy doing something else on their own.  Emmrey, Kole and Hazen had fun feeding the animals (getting their hands nipped at)

I think they liked it, but it might have been a little small even for them. They were hot and ready to go pretty quickly.

Until they came across the little stream. Then they wanted to play in that for a while.

I enjoyed some time with my sis

While we were at the farm. Bailee, Karsyn and Bode decided to go bowling and get ice cream. I asked them for pics... this is what I got.

Kars was obviously the picture taker:)

When we all got home they were "so hot"! Mark set up this home style slip-n-slide in the backyard.

Kole said the only thing he really wanted to do when they came was go fishing. He and Emmrey had been talking about it for some time and had made Mark promise to take them. We spent one evening at the ponds near our house.  The kids all caught some Blue-gill. Kars also tried for some Bass with no luck.

Hazen really wanted to hold Stewy while he was here so Emmrey made that happen.

One last group shot before they had to leave. 

It's always so fun when company comes and feels so empty when they leave. So glad they got to spend a few days with us!

Yellowstone Sunlight Pilgrimage

The first week of July we packed up and headed north for our annual Yellowstone trip. We were fairly sure this would be our last big Road Trip with our old girl and as we were loading her up, I couldn't help but get a little sentimental.

We were pretty excited to hit the road

We made a stop for lunch in Thermopolis at the State Park.

We took our time in Yellowstone and made a stop at Old Faithful for dinner at the Geyser Grill before making it to West Yellowstone for the night. We got up early the following morning for a hike to Lone Star Geyser. Mark and Bay did an overnight trip here a couple of years ago. The geyser goes off pretty consistently every 3 hours.

However, because it isn't a widely visited site, it is difficult to know the last time it went off. We figured we would go early and if we had just missed it, we all had a book to help pass the time. The hike was about 6 miles of rugged wilderness, although very tame.

There was a bit of waiting involved. Based on the log book, it had erupted about and hour prior to our arrival so our wait time came in around 2 hours.

he's the sweetest

There were a couple of groups already there and a few more that came after us. It was pretty awesome witnessing this natural sight with just a small gathering. Definitely different than the roadside attractions in the park.

It is for sure worth the wait! Once it goes off it reaches heights of 40 feet and lasts for nearly 30 minutes. 

After our hike we made our way to Nez Perce Creek for a picnic and a little soaking in the water

This guy held us up a bit on our way

We got back in time to get cleaned up and ready for the 4th of July festivities in West Yellowstone. Something didn't seem quite right out on the streets. With a parade soon to be starting, we were surprised that traffic hadn't been blocked and the streets seemed oddly empty of spectators. 

A little research informed me I had gotten the wrong time on the parade so we decided to grab dinner at Pete's

We had it made in the shade with our table out front with a view of the parade. We thought we would enjoy our pizza while watching the show go by. As it got closer to starting time, Emm wanted a seat better suited for candy acquisition, so she took her pizza to the curb.

We would have had a great view, but the parade started late and we had dragged out our dinning as long as possible. When we no longer felt okay about occupying a table with no food left and others waiting to eat ... we made our way out to find a spot on the street.

We ended up with across from where we were ... a prime location for candy tossing. It was a bit absurd the handfuls of treats that were thrown at us, but we do love this small town parade.

 The rest of the evening was spent walking around town and enjoying SLAMABAMA at the concert in the park and throwing the Frisbee until it was time for fireworks. They put on a good show, but I was seriously annoyed that the entire time we had two other competing shows going on in the area (locals I suppose). At any rate it was a Happy 4th in one of the best places!

The following morning we were headed to the cabin at Sunlight. We stopped to take in Yellowstone Falls. This view never gets old.

Again, we shared the road with some of our friends

Our destination was a hike that was inspired by a photo I had seen on a FB hiking page. I told Mark we had to do it!

hanging bridge over Yellowstone river

The wildflowers were pretty magnificent all over the hillside.

And we reached the hanging bridge with a rush of excitement at the raging river below

The bridge is only a mile from the trail head so we decided to extend another mile to Hellroaring Creek. By the time we started out it was later in the day than we would normally go and it was a hot one! With the temperature climbing and very little coverage once out of the firs, it became uncomfortable.  We were happy to see the creek in sight and anxious to cool off although it was icy cold!

If the trip down was uncomfortable, the trip up was excruciating! A combination of heat, exposure and dehydration resulted in a bout of  heat stroke for me. It was a miserable and scary climb out. A stop for ice cream is always in order after these hikes:)

Tower General Store

Then it was on to the cabin where we would relax for the next three days. We had some rainy afternoons/evenings. Games at the table are a good alternative when you want/have to be indoors. The craziest thing happened that first night! Mark and I both awoke around 1 a.m. to this kind of wave like movement in the cabin. Mark immediately said he thought it was an earthquake although it didn't feel like the shaking you associate with that. After a few minutes we felt it again, but less significant. He was madly trying to find out what he could on his phone with the little service we can get there. Sure enough a 5.8 magnitude earthquake had hit western Montana and we were feeling it hundreds of miles away. Apparently, it was the biggest one recorded in that area for 20 years.... it was wild!

We brought our tubes to float the little creek. It was freezing and these two were a little scared to go in.

They were good sports and did several floats. Emmrey is our energizer ... going again and again. The water was also high and fast so Mark insisted that he hold on to the tubes with a rope for some of the runs.

When these two had their fill, they relaxed with books on the shore. It was great seeing Kars reading almost as much as Bay this trip. Typically she gets bored with that after too long.

While they read, Emm became a Bone Collector ... literally! She was finding all sorts of {elk?} bones along the rocky shore and trying to reconstruct it. 

We were entertained by these cute little babies by the front porch. There were actually four of them, although I couldn't get close enough to capture that very well. I didn't want to make Momma any more anxious than she was.

Did a little rock crafting ....

I had this grand idea to make campfire eclairs (Pinterest of course). The rain rolled in making it impossible to do a fire so we made do with the gas stove. Not sure if they would have turned out any better over the fire, but they were not Pinterest worthy in looks. However, taste .... delicious!!

It cleared up later in the evening for a fire

We spent a day fishing at Little Bear Creek. We love this spot! The girls always have a lot of luck and enjoy the competition of keeping track of how many little brookies they catch. The only thing bad about this outing was the bugs ... they were awful!

Gorden and Bode came along on this trip and they are always treated well at the cabin.

We tried another first for meals ... Campfire Pizzas. This was a hit! Yummy and easy clean up ... can't beat it.

Things got interesting at the campfire when Mark fell through one of our chairs that was barely holding on. He was kinda stuck for a bit so we all just watched and laughed. Eventually the girls tried to help him out;)

Emmrey is always up for S'mores ... as many as we will let her have

One last relaxing night in this beautiful spot before heading home.

Emmrey decided to donate her prize find to the cabin in hopes that the guys who work there will put it to good use and she can see it next year. 

Our traditional parting shot in front of the cabin

And a brief stroll down memory lane at the G&F office in Cody before hitting the road. It's a mix of making my heart happy and making it ache:)