Carlie usually has a hard time waking up in a good mood but Daddy knows how to find a smile.
Trying to take a picture was not easy.
Donny was wondering what kind of animal was attacking his head.
The parking lot near the campground where we stayed.
I don't really know what this picture is for but the mountain view there was far more obvious than this picture shows.
Bear hugs
I loved this swing. It was hung perfectly and swung so easily.
There was a rocking chair that matched it but it didn't rock very easily.
A buffalo hide.
The first day we just took it easy and got some rest after all the traveling. By early afternoon John and Donny and Carlie were ready for some rest. I got a little nap in too but got up to relax and enjoy some quiet time.
In the tent.
Our tent has a little "front porch" where you can keep your shoes and things without them getting wet with dew.
Our campsite had this bear box where we had to keep our food stored to keep the Grizzly bears from getting it, or more importantly to keep the bears from getting us!!! One night I went to a ranger talk in the camp ground and the lecture was on bears. The ranger said when the bears get too tame they have to take them and give them to zoos or something and some grizzlies from Yellowstone who have been put in captivity are used to test newly invented "bear Proof equipment" to see if the bear can get into it. They said most of the equipment that is brought in fails the bear test. But apparently this metal box made it, in fact it was just about people proof it was so hard to open.
Donny loved camping.
Nothing made him happier than just playing in our campsite.
Can you tell what Donny wants?
Donny has said a few words before but never anything consistently other than Mama and Dada.
But while playing around the campfire he learned the word "hot". His first word.
John split a lot of wood for the fire. It was a lot of work but the fire sure felt wonderful on the chilly mornings and evening.
I don't really like heights but with two little toddlers,
I REALLY don't like heights. I enjoyed watching the falls from the far side of the lookout holding the babies very tightly on my lap. Much to the babies delight, John wasn't worried about it and took them over to the brink to show them the waterfall.
Carlie hates having her hair blow in her eyes!
I think John enjoyed showing everything to Carlie even more than he enjoyed seeing them himself.
She learned new words too and can now say, " Buffalo, Geyser, Hot spring, waterfall..." and many more.
Observing the falls from a safe distance.
In the evenings it would get very chilly and during the night it always was below freezing. We bundled up and kept under the blankets and kept nice and warm. During the day it would warm up quickly and reach into the sixties and even seventies on several days.
John and I would get a cup of coffee in the morning and evening and often John would let Carlie go into the store with him. She would take along her tin cup and he would let her have the tiniest taste in her cup. She would savor it and drink it slowly.
John is mesmerized by waterfalls and loved this magnificent falls especially.
He even went back in the middle of the night by himself and hiked down the mountainside just to see the falls in the moonlight.
