Yellowstone hike

As a part of our Yellowstone hiking tradition (one Yellowstone hike with Grandma and Grandpa Scott per year after you turn 6 years old), we braved the Beaver Ponds trail on Saturday.

Our whole group at the start of the hike near the Mammoth Terraces. Aunt Jessica, Andrea, Grandpa Scott, Grandma Scott, Analee and Rebekah.

For more than half the hike, I thought the Beaver Ponds wouldn't live up to Lone Star Geyser or Fairy Falls. (And for a while we weren't sure we'd get to the Beaver Ponds, thanks to several trails that led away from the main one and confused us.) But after lunch when we finally saw the ponds and wildlife, I changed my mind.

 By the biggest pond. Two beaver dams located below created this pond.

Enjoy a comprehensive list of the animals we saw while hiking:

American dipper. We weren't sure what this bird was when we spied it, but after getting back to the car and reading through the What I Saw in Yellowstone book I had purchased before the hike, we discovered what the bobbing bird was.

Beaver. You think this would be a given on the Beaver Ponds hike, but according to what we read, it's more unusual to spot a beaver than it is to not. But we saw one swimming through the water on the biggest pond (it made a v-shaped wake in the water and swam a lot lower and faster than the ducks) before it disappeared beneath the surface to go into one of the beaver lodges.

Deer. From a distance, it was hard to see if the four-legged critter we spied on the opposite bank was a deer or an elk, but after watching it for a while, we determined it was a mule deer.

Frogs. When the girls decided to stop here for a while to check out the stream running from the biggest pond ...

... we all took the opportunity to rest. After we'd been standing there a while, I looked down and was surprised to find one of these guys hanging out in the water just feet from our feet.

Grandma Scott found a second one close by.

Mountain bluebirds. Even though we weren't in Idaho at the time, it was fun to see a couple of our state birds flitting through the air and periodically landing on sagebrush.


Elk. As we came to a flat meadow near the end of the hike, we saw a couple of people ahead of us passing close by a cow and a calf. They were staying on the trail like good hikers do; the elk were totally unconcerned as they passed by so closely. As we got closer to the elk, I was surprised to see another cow/calf couple in the sagebrush right next to where we already were.

When Rebekah called Seth to tell him how close to the elk we had been, she told him they were "one or two yards away." I told him it was probably closer to 10.

The first set of elk we initially saw headed down into Mammoth as we approached the end of the trail.

Despite it being Analee's first 5-miler, she did amazingly well and insisted on leading the group most of the time. Rebekah, being the seasoned Yellowstone hiker she is, did well too. She insisted that we keep with tradition and get ice cream afterward. (She remembers the most important parts, you know.)

To see more pictures, start here.

Fair

We knew the results of my photography entries already (my parents went before us and spilled the beans), but we decided to take the girls to the Eastern Idaho State Fair regardless. Who can pass up animals galore and delicious fair food?

 Miriam putting together an alphabet puzzle in the puzzle tent.

Seth showing me the solution to a bent nail puzzle while holding Gwendolen.

Rebekah "milking" a "cow."

After the girls took turn with the fake cow, they each got to pick out a box of flavored milk.

At the petting zoo. Miriam fell in love with every variety of goat there. She would take the goats' heads in both her hands and even kissed one.

Rebekah petting a calf.

A billy goat gruff ... or so we thought.

Every girl got to pick a treat to eat on the way out. Analee and Miriam chose cotton candy (Miriam made the biggest mess). Seth and Rebekah chose ice cream. I really wanted a Tiger Ear, but the line so long that I decided not to make everyone wait for me.

Library parties

If I haven't extolled the virtues of our public library, let me do so now. Our library is INCREDIBLE. The children's department has so many fun things for kids to do: story times, carnivals, reading programs, parties, acting for kids ... I could go on and on. And because it promotes literacy and is 100 percent free, I like to take advantage of everything we can.

Case in point: August parties. Every week in August, the library allowed children to sign up and attend a party with a different theme. We wanted to/were able to attend two: Fairy Land and Elephant and Piggie.

The fairy party had a general fairy theme. The librarian's read a couple of fairy stories. The kids got to eat pixie sticks and other treats. They played a freeze tag game involving wands. They made fairy headdresses. The posed next to the elaborate backdrop for cell phone pics.

Miriam in her fairy attire. She picked out her outfit all by herself.

As did this little fairy/babushka. 

Bekah decided to buck the trend and dress as a vampire girl. She thought that every fairy story needed a good antagonist, and a vampire was the obvious choice.

The Elephant and Piggie party was based on a hilarious series of books by Mo Willems. (If you have young children and you haven't read any of these books, I command you to drop everything, go to your public library and check out AS MANY AS YOU CAN!) The girls love these books and couldn't wait for this party.

The librarians acted out two of the books, the kids ate a picnic on the floor (one of the books includes a picnic in the storyline), they made sack puppets of Pig and Elephant, they colored pages and they posed with props and by their favorite characters.

One of the titles in the series is We Are in a Book! So it's a joke. Ha!

Analee in her pig attire with Piggie. (Check out her tail.)

Gwendolen had to check out the backdrop.

Rebekah as Elephant and her stuffed seal Orangey as Piggie.

A word about Rebekah's costume. In I Am Invited to a Party!, Piggie receives an invitation. Elephant decides to help Piggie get ready for the party. He wants them to be prepared, so first they dress up in fancy clothes, then in pool attire, then in costumes because he's not sure what kind of a party it is. Hence Rebekah's dress, witch's hat and pool ring. One of the librarians immediately understood her costume and unofficially voted it as the best.

First day of school

Rebekah was oh-so-excited to start third grade yesterday.

As was Analee (in the first grade sense).

We've been looking forward to this day for a LOOOOONG time. You know those paper chain Christmas count-downs? My girls each had their one counting down to the first day of school.

And now poor Miri doesn't know what to do with herself during these long days. I thought she had somehow gotten past the "Mommy play ponies/Barbies/Polly Pockets with me for a couple of hours" stage, but it turns out that it's a seasonal thing.

Labor Day weekend

We go to to hunting camp ... a lot. It's kind of a Grover thing. So you faithful blog readers shouldn't be surprised to hear that this Labor Day weekend was spent in the great outdoors.

 Sometimes we eat a barrel of cheese balls at camp.

 And get really messy.

 And see how many we can stuff in our mouths at one time.

 And take pictures of all of it.

 Miriam "driving" the "motorcycle."

Andrea wearing Gwendolen and going for a walk to the quarry.

 Miriam "taking pictures" of me. She holds her hand over her eye and says, "Kuh-KUH!"

 Rebekah, Mack, Analee and Tav on our walk to the quarry. See those BB guns? When we get to our list of injuries, those will come into play.

Rebekah running through the quarry.

Shadow picture of Winnie strapped to my front.

 Watching for chipmunks so they can shoot them with the BB guns.

 Miriam on a ledge at the quarry. She was a little worried about the drop, as you can see from her face. She was never in danger of falling, though.

Ana "practicing for our hike" by climbing higher in the quarry.

 Bekah thought the way Winnie fell asleep in the Pack 'n Play in our tent was funny.

 Seth holding the squirrel pelt he harvested with his trusty bow.

Unfortunately, our holiday weekend included a list of mishaps and inconveniences. 

• On the walk back from the quarry, I got zinged across the back of both legs by an errant BB. One of the boys had reportedly shot straight at a rock, so it ricocheted and hit me. I don't have a picture of it because (1) no one wants to see the back of my pasty thighs and (2) I don't think it left a mark, although it stung like crazy for a little while.
• Also not pictured is the random nosebleed Analee had. That poor girl bore the brunt of the camp injuries, as you'll see below.
• Ana got burned on her neck by one of the boys who liked poking sticks in the fire and then waving them around to see the smoke rise off them. 

The burn on Ana's neck.

• A whole nest of hornets made daily visits to our campsite. They were buzzing around the food, around the water barrel and around us. By the time we left, the sting count was up to four: Grandpa Dennis, Uncle Jim, Miriam and Grandma Susan. After I went home with the girls, Seth got stung three times, as did Uncle Doug's dog Roscoe.

Miriam's hornet sting.

• I didn't see any of them buzzing around, but Analee's poor neck testified that some of those pesky gnats that bite around the nape of the neck were also visiting camp. Interestingly, Ana was the only one who got bit. 

Ana's neck. Although she was the sole gnat victim, she had at least five bites. 

And that concludes our injury list. On to happier times!

Miriam borrowed the Papworth's bow (or "bowanehwo," in Miri's words) and was practicing shooting it backwards. 

Seth pushing Winnie and Miriam in the stroller and Ana hunting for wildflowers while on a walk.

 First roasted marshmallow for this kid.

 Winnie getting the most of her 'mallow.

 Grandma Susan reading library books to Miriam and Analee next to the fire.

 Old Grandma brought her Nandy bird to camp with her. It often sits on her head like that. It's the cutest thing.