Back to School

Our girls started school on a Wednesday this year, so we were able to go out for a "back to school" breakfast on Tuesday morning. The idea was to wake them up as early as they would need to get up for school to make the transition a little easier. We were up plenty early, but breakfast at Kneaders didn't go as smoothly as we would have hoped. Would you believe they didn't have powdered sugar for Alyssa's french toast?!? They also forgot the boys oatmeal and failed to inform me about my second order of pancakes. The food was good and it was close to home so we still had fun. The girls were up without difficulty the next morning and so excited to go back to school.

The boys miss having them around during the day, as does their mommy, but it is also nice to have routines again.

Alyssa loves her teacher this year. Sadly, their are twice as many boys in her class as girls this year, but she hasn't complained about it yet so it must not be bothering her all that much.

Ashley is happy with her teacher, as well, just sad that her best school friend isn't in her class this year. We keep hoping that she will make a friend in her class and bond more with her teacher. She still loves school and is happy to be back.

We are looking forward to another great school year. Tyler also started preschool this year. It's just a preschool co-op with a few other families in our neighborhood. He seems to be enjoying it so far and I feel like he is already learning from it.

More Catch Up - Utah County Fair

We decided to make an appearance at the Utah County Fair this year and then ended up going on two different nights. Originally we had planned to go to the demolition derby. Unfortunately, it sold out within 2 days of opening ticket sales. So we decided to go to the Monster Truck show instead.

Tyler loved the monster truck show and has been calling all of his cars with bigger wheels "monster trucks" ever since. He also likes to play "monster truck," where he lines all the little cars up and runs over them with a big-wheel car. He has asked a few different times if we can go and see the monster trucks again. Ashley, on the other hand, did not like the Monster Truck show because the trucks smashed the cars. We will not be taking her again. The rest of us had fun, but wished we had some ear plugs for the show. They were super loud.

The reason we ended up going two different nights was so that we could go see the Lonestar concert. Danny and his company were the ones that helped to negotiate with Lonestar to perform at the fair. As a result, we not only got to go for free, but we had backstage passes and amazing seats.

Tyler fell asleep about halfway through the concert, but Camden had the tired wiggles towards the end. Alyssa wanted to stick around for the BBQ that we got invited to, but we decided that after 10 was late enough. It was a good show and we were glad that we were able to go.

KOA and Other Random Pictures from our Trip

 Day 10 was a travel day back home. We always stayed in KOA Campgrounds and discovered that some were nicer than others. They all seemed to have activities and food. Our kids especially loved the pools. They had to try them all. Danny and I learned that "heated pool" didn't necessarily mean warm. The water in the pool in this picture was probably 65 degrees.

We loved that each of our campsites had a fire pit in it. We lit a campfire 2 or 3 times during the trip.

The kids also loved the playgrounds. Each campground had one and the boys, especially, were constantly asking to play on them.

Down time allowed for movie time. These 3 were actually getting along, for once, so I needed to get a picture of it. It was also nice to sit and watch a movie when the rain kept us inside.

The kids actually did amazingly well on the long car rides. That was probably mostly because of electronics, headphones, and having Alyssa in the front with us. It made it a little more cramped than usually for Danny and I, but was probably well worth it to not have the girls fighting constantly. Some friends of ours, let us borrow a device that allowed for movie watching in the car. Alyssa was the only one that really used it, but she made it through 5 1/2 Harry Potter movies. Ashley and Tyler played a lot of games on the I Pad. And Camden watched Baby Einsteins over and over and over.

We had a lot of fun on the trip, but it sure was nice to get home and have a little more living space again(and to sleep in our own beds and have a dishwasher).

Day 8&9- Travel day and Yellowstone

Our finally destination, and kind of a halfway point in between Glacier and home, was Yellowstone. This it the third time we have been to Yellowstone in the last 2 years, but it was fun to see a part of the Park that we haven't seen before. Our first stop in the park was Boiling River. It is the only place in the park where you can swim. One of the geysers runs off into a river, so the really hot water mixes with the cold river water to make the water temperature quite pleasant. We weren't sure of how deep it would be and how much swimming it actually required, so Danny and I didn't bother changing into swimsuits. The kids did, and they had fun.

We got to see a little bit of wildlife here, as well.

 I love how blue the water looks in these pictures. It matches Ashley's shirt perfectly.

It was really crowded in the park this day, so we did more driving and less stopping then we would have normally done. I would have liked to see the Canyon area again, but we didn't want to fight the crowds. We opted instead to head back to the KOA earlier for a campfire, smores, and playtime at the park.

Day 7- Boating on Lake MacDonald

On our last day at Glacier National Park, we decided to see nature from a different perspective. We were going to go on a scenic boat tour, but discovered it would be cheaper to just rent a little motorized fishing boat. So we spent about an hour and a half out on the lake giving ourselves a tour. Camden wasn't a fan of the life jacket.

The girls look happy here, but they were a little bit worried, at first, that the boat was going to tip over.

 And then they got more comfortable.

 The view out on the lake was amazing.

I don't have a picture of it, but Ashley and Alyssa each had a turn driving the boat. Alyssa didn't like it very much, but Ashley kept on asking to do it again.

Towards the end, I had to keep a tight grip on the boys as they both were trying to lean over the edge and touch the water.

 Back on land again. The boys sure loved throwing rocks into every body of water that we found.

These tour buses were spotted all over the park. We never took the tour in one, but I finally got close enough to an empty one to get a picture on the last day.

We absolutely loved our time at Glacier National Park. It was beautiful there and the wildlife didn't disappoint. I didn't get any pictures of it, but up at Logan Pass, while we were waiting for Danny to find a parking space, the kids had fun with the squirrels/chipmunks. They were not scared of humans, at all, and the kids could get close enough to pet them. We will sure miss having our National Park pass this next year because they are great vacation spots and each one is so unique and beautiful.

Day 6- Canada and Waterton

 On day 6 of our trip, we went into Canada to visit the Canada side of Glacier National Park, AKA Waterton. We woke up bright and early that day to the sound of rain on our trailer rooftop. We had high hopes that it would go away before we actually had to get out of the car 3 hours later. No such luck, but we made the most of our cold and wet Canada day. This first picture was taken on the Going to the Sun road (we decided to drive it again rather than driving all the way around Glacier. This waterfall was not visible the first time we drove this way, but because of the rain it was quite prominent on this morning.

We didn't stop for a picture in front of this sign, just a quick snapshot as we drove past.

We did stop here, though. After all, this was the first time any of us had been to Canada.

Don't remember the name of this waterfall, but apparently it is a popular photo spot, so we went ahead and got our photo.

We met up with one of Danny's mission companions(and his family) for the day. They live in Alberta and we probably hadn't seen them for 9 years. It was so fun to catch up with them and have our own personal Waterton tour guides. Here are Danny and Ryan.

After the waterfall, we decided to brave the rain and do a hike up to Bertha Falls. We sported these lovely ponchos which kept us dry while it was raining. However, once we got a ways into the hike, the rain stopped and we were all sweating. Plus, Camden started to doze and his head was dropping right into the plastic. So we took them off and stuffed them in our pockets.

 The scenery up to the waterfall was beautiful, as was the waterfall itself.

 We let the kids take off their shoes at the bottom of the falls and dip their feet into the cold water.

Then we hiked back down the mountain. The boys both fell asleep on the hike down and then the rain started up again. With our hands full of sleeping boys, it wasn't really convenient to put the ponchos back on. As a result, we were all soaked, and cold, by the time we got back to the car. We found an indoor pizza place for lunch in order to warm up and dry off a little. After lunch, we drove out to red rock canyon. We had been told that this drive was a popular place to see bears. It didn't disappoint. We weren't even 5 minutes into the drive before we spotted a bunch of people looking off into the distance. We pulled off the road, grabbed our binoculars and joined the crowds. Maybe 400 yards away, there was a mama grizzly with her baby wrestling on the golf green. It was so cute. We all took a turn with the binoculars, but didn't stay long because it was windy and cold. Red rock canyon was really cool. I'm glad we took the time to drive out there.

Our Canadian tour guides told us that normally the water is full of people wading and sliding down the mini waterfalls. Not a single person in the water while we were there.

Our next stop was the famous hotel. We went inside to warm up and looked around a bit. Then we went outside to take some pictures. The view from the hill was amazing.

After the hotel stop, we found a cafe and ordered hot chocolate for everyone and then let the kids play at the park for awhile. We decided to take a detour on the way home so we could see the Cardston, Alberta, Temple. Camden fell asleep on the way there, so we let him sleep in the car while we took a few pictures.

They have this fun "I Love to See the Temple" bench which makes for a great picture spot.

After the temple, we grabbed dinner, said goodbye to the Peterson's, and then headed home. I couldn't get enough of Chief Mountain. It was so unique. I wish the clouds weren't covering it in my pictures because it looked so cool.

Our drive back on the Going to the Sun road got a little scary at the top when the fog was so thick we couldn't even see a full car length in front of us. We took it slowed and prayed that it would clear up quickly. It did and we were so thankful to make it home safely. We pulled up to our trailer and we all went straight to bed. I think we saw most of what Waterton had to offer. We made the most of the foul weather and enjoyed spending the day with friends.