Yellowstone 6/2012

It is a heavenly day when you get to spend it with family!  We are fortunate that my dad lives, as he would say, a hop, skip, and a jump away from Yellowstone.  He also has an awesome RV!  He was kind enough to take our family and my sister Heather's family up for the day.  There are a lot of photos, it is so picturesque!

On arrival, the kids had to explore a little.  

 
 

Isn't my sister beautiful?

Soda pop candy!

We were welcomed into the park by buffalo, or as Asher says, "Fuffalo".  I have been to Yellowstone many times, but never in the spring.  It was neat to see all the babies.  I was humored to find buffalo babies aren't that cute. They have mangy looking parents, so it shouldn't have been a surprise.  :)

 

Old Faithful, faithfully erupted, but due to the wind was a bit disappointing. 

 

All the kids wanted to ride up front to take in the sights, which resulted in us being pulled over.  Luckily we avoided a ticket.  Who know that everyone had to have a seat belt in an RV?  I thought the whole point of the RV was not having to make the kids buckle up!  

Lovely Lissy.

 
 
 
 

My favorite thing to see is the Celestine Pool.  Gorgeous!

When I was a kid, these were my favorite, but I called them the mud pots.  

 
 

Leather Pool

Alexis was bird watching (took this picture too!)

My cousin Megan (right of Jesse) works summers at the Old Faithful Inn.  It was great to see her there!

Stunning architecture!

John and Grandpa. 

Annie-ever prepared.  binoculars and all. 

Jessica got in trouble from a park ranger for pulling a flower up by it's roots, but then the ranger helped her re-plant it and all was well again.  It's hard to tell a four year old not to pick flowers.  :)

So beautiful!

If I didn't have kids to chase after I would have stood and looked at this view for a good while.  I love the sound of rushing water.  

We were driving along and we spotted a huge elk, just lying in the sun.  We  stopped and I got a closer shot.  

You can't really tell, but this was a massive creature.  I felt a little scared getting so close.  It acted so serene.  

In the RV.  

The ride home took a long time because this mom and baby were taking the highway too...and  were in no rush.  It's against park rules to scare them off the road.  You can't rush things in Yellowstone!

Thanks for the fun day Dad!