Monday, August 29, 2011

A FEW Yellowstone Pictures


We started our vacation in St. Louis, Missouri and visited the Gateway Arch. It was miserably hot and we were very tired when all was said and done. Our Wyndham hotel was VERY nice and we welcomed it after a long hot day!



Here we are up at the top of the Arch. It stands 635 feet tall.



The very next day we landed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was so beautiful and the weather was MUCH MUCH nicer. Check the snow on the mountain tops in the middle of July!




Anthony decided he needed to paraglide off the top of a 10,000 foot cliff while we were in Jackson Hole. This is Lincoln enjoying the ride up the mountain in the tram.



Anthony was tandem with a very experienced guide named Rolf. We watched them float down while Erin, Lincoln, and I took the tram back down the mountain. Anthony landed before we made it to the bottom!



The town square in Jackson Hole is flanked on all 4 corners by these enormous elk antler arches.



This is by far my favorite photo of the trip. It's a picture from Grand Tetons National Park. The colors were gorgeous and we just stood in awe of the beauty. The lake was like glass and reflected the mountains perfectly.




Our first entrance to Yellowstone, Wyoming!



Just one picture of the many, many hot springs. The bacteria causes the water to make such beautiful colors. Every color in the spectrum is there...from blue, to red, to orange and brown.



Our first buffalo sighting! How did I know that we'd see HUNDREDS more?!?! And of course, they rule the road! A very large traffic jam ensued while half of the herd crossed the road to join the other half at the realllly stinky sulfur springs! The ranger said they stay near the hot sulfur springs because it keeps the biting insects away.




Old Faithful! We spent one night here at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. The Lodge was beautiful and Old Faithful was pretty faithful. I think the estimated time of eruption was 8:16 and she actually erupted at 8:25 or so.




It was so cold we all had to wear jackets! And the mosquitos were terrible!



One of several grizzlies we saw. He was jumping up and down on the logs looking for food.




Grand Prismatic Spring
This was one of my favorite places. The spring was absolutely beautiful and even the steam rolling off the hot spring was blue. We hiked up this mountain behind it so we could see it from above. It was much more impressive from up here! It just happened that we had to hike up a trail that required both hands and feet!






This is Lower Falls. Part of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone...they call in Little Niagara because of the sheer amount of water that falls every second.



Tons of snow around! This was piled up almost taller than us! Lincoln played in it and tossed it around.



Craters of the Moon, Idaho.
It's a giant lava field from about 2,000 years ago. It's one of the newest lava flows in North America. There were trails to walk and caves to explore. We even walked through Lava Tubes.





Lincoln wasn't entirely sure about the cave thing...so he and I stayed outside while Anthony and Erin explored the cave with a flashlight.




Salt Lake City, Utah
This is the beautiful Mormon Temple that's in the middle of Temple Square downtown. We had been here before, I think in 2007 when we went to Utah to snowboard. 

We have this EXACT picture taken in 2007...except without Lincoln of course! I'll have to find it and post it, too!
These are just a FEW of the 1,300 pictures I took, plus the over 600 that Erin took. It's a very abbrevited version of our very wonderful vacation!

Friday, August 12, 2011

I know...I know...

It's been forever!!! 

I am very sorry, but we've been quite busy. We've spent 2 weeks out west visiting Yellowstone National Park and Grand Tetons National Park. Once we got home we settled for a week or so and then left again for Virginia Beach. 

I promise I am working diligently to cull out my favorite pictures to share. I only took over 1,300!!! It's really hard to decide what to share, or what I want you to see. 

But for tonight I'll leave you with the sweetest thing my baby boy did for me today:

This morning as I'm checking my email Lincoln was playing outside on the deck. He pushes around his scooter, rides it around, throws his balls...he loves it out there. Anyway, he suddenly shows up in front of me holding my potted begonia! He looked at me all sweet and said "fowah," handed it to me and walked away!!! He had climbed up on one of the chairs beside the table, pulled the tray the flower sits on towards him, pulled the flower off the tray, hopped down off the chair and brought it inside to me! I just couldn't be mad! It was such a precious moment. My heart just melted a little bit! I don't know if he really knew that he was giving me a flower and that it was sweet, but it was soooo precious. 

Here are a few cute pics of the boys at Ian's birthday party in June.



Me and Lincoln at a water park in Pocatello, Idaho. The day before we came home from vacation.