Random summer things

Trampoline sleepover, Wednesday, July 7

Seth reads a book to Miriam and Winnie on the trampoline at the start of their sleepover.  

Tautphaus Park Zoo and Funland, Saturday, July 14

Seth, Miriam, Analee and Winnie watch the otters play. 

Winnie hugs a goat at the petting zoo.

Four cute girls on a tiger statue.

Winnie rides the planes.

Rebekah and Analee on the Ferris Wheel.

Winnie gets sick, Sunday, July 22  

The kid had to take a day off of church and ended up napping on the living room sofa.

Picnic at the park, Tuesday, July 24 

Miriam, Winnie and Analee on the tractor at the park by the library.

Company picnic, Saturday, July 28

Winnie (with her ladybug) and Miriam (the wolf) at Seth's company picnic. Seth waited in line for more than an hour for these girls to get their faces painted. 

Seth learning in the slip simulator trying to keep his balance while getting plastic balls thrown at him.

Walking home from church, Sunday, July 29

Winnie picked currants at Grandma Susan's house on the way home.

Roaring Youth Jam, Saturday, August 11

Winnie with her pig puppet. Rebekah worked as a volunteer at the Youth Jam this year, and Analee opted not to go. Turns out to be quite the bust if you show up in the last couple of hours of the three-day event. A lot of the tents were in the process of being taken down while we were there.

Miriam drawing a deer.

Family home evening, Monday, August 27

Analee, Miriam, Rebekah and Winnie shoot marshmallows at the paper Goliath taped to the side of the shop. My ministering sister brought over the FHE lesson for our family to enjoy, including the rubber bands and marshmallows.

Summer hike #4: Tablerock

This is what we were working up to all summer: Tablerock (Table Mountain, if you're not a local) on Friday, August 17. It was Rebekah and Analee's first time. We went up The Face and down Huckleberry, about 11ish miles. Grandma Scott got a nasty case of altitude sickness, so we took it slow and easy. The weather was perfect. I vowed to myself not to wait another 9 years before hiking it again.

 Analee and Seth heading to the top.

 Rebekah and Analee taking a break on the trail.

 Seth (taking selfies) and the girls on the top. We waited for Grandma and Grandpa to make it the rest of the way.

Seth with the Tetons in the background. 

We made Analee take a bajillion pictures of us as we attempted to recreate this moment from 1999. It was Seth's first time hiking Tablerock. We didn't have the picture with us (nor did we think to look at it closely before hiking), so we did the best we could. 

Seth, Rebekah, Analee, Andrea, Grandma Scott and Grandpa Scott on top. 

Rebekah and Seth filling up water bottles with our purifier below the switchbacks. 

Rebekah and Analee preparing to pose for a photo by the major wreckage from an avalanche. We couldn't believe the amount of downed trees.

Summer hike #3: Darby Wind Cave

Seth had work this day, so I extended an invitation to my parents to join the girls and I in hiking to one of my favorite (and most hiked-to) locations. Hike #3: the Darby Wind Cave in Darby Canyon, Wyoming, on Friday, July 27. We went in the Wind Cave as far as we usually do (until you get to the point where you'd have to army crawl for 20-ish feet to continue on), so we probably went about 7 miles.

 Analee, Miriam, Rebekah and Winnie next to the creek near the beginning of the trail.

 Winnie running down the trail.

 Snack and water break.

 Miriam, Grandma Scott, Grandpa Scott, Rebekah, Winnie and Analee with the Wind Cave in the background.

Miriam (and her headlamp) by the monument, getting ready to go to the cave.

Grandma Scott, Analee, Rebekah, Miriam, Andrea and Winnie at the monument. We ate lunch there, and I shared the story of the lightning strike.

Four girls headed across the creek to the mouth of the cave.

 Grandma and Grandpa Scott coming through the mouth of the cave.

Crawling back out of the cave. Winnie came through too quickly to get a picture of her.

Miriam and Analee under the waterfall that comes from the mouth of the cave.

Rebekah and Winnie taking a moment.

Analee, Rebekah, Miriam, Andrea and Winnie under the rock ledge that--earlier in the season--supports a waterfall.

Summer hike #2: Lake Marie

Our second hike of the summer was minus two kids and plus one dog. Hike #2: Lake Marie in Island Park on Friday, July 20. (We LOVE that Seth gets every other Friday off with his new job.) We arranged for Miriam and Winnie to play with cousins at Aunt Rachel's house in Island Park while the rest of us took Peach on her first real hike.

Seth's GPS clocked us as hiking nearly 9 miles, with a lot more elevation gain/loss than our first hike (which is why we let the younger ones sit this one out). We ate lunch, bathed our feet and had a contest to see who could keep their feet in the runoff longest. (Seth won.) We had the trail almost to ourselves on the way in, and Peach readily introduced herself to the group of Scouts we saw as we left the lake.

Bekah, Peach and Seth looking over a ridge. 

 Peach and Analee frolicking among the wildflowers.

Some of the beautiful Western Blue Flax we saw along the way. 

 Rebekah and Peach wading in the lake. Later in the summer, the lake completely dries up since it's only fed with runoff.

 Lake Marie and the surrounding bowl.

Analee, Peach, Seth, Rebekah and Andrea at the lake. 

Taking a break on the way out. Peach didn't know to pace herself (she was prancing all over the place on the way in), so by the end of the hike, she was sticking to the trail and flopping down in the shade every chance she got.

Summer hike #1: Fairy Falls and Imperial Geyser

With softball season completed, our family took to the trails this summer. First, Fairy Falls and Imperial Geyser in Yellowstone National Park on Saturday, July 7. The trail was congested until we got to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook, then it thinned down. There were several other small groups at the falls when we were there eating our lunch and wading, but hardly anyone continued the extra half a mile past the falls to the geyser.

A few of us hiked past the geyser to the top of the ridge so we could see the falls and the geyser from above. Seth's GPS reported a total of 8.5 miles of hiking by the time we got back to the car. The girls were troopers (especially Winnie since her legs are shorter than anybody else's), so we stopped for some ice cream at Old Faithful before driving home.

The older two girls and I tried to hike this trail last summer, but the trail head was closed. We had more success this year. 

Hiking (more like walking ... this trail is very tame) down the path. 

Miriam and Winnie at the falls. 

A chipmunk eating the Sour Patch Kid it took from Seth's hand. 

Bekah, Winnie, Seth, Miriam and Analee at the falls. 

Miriam and Andrea wading in the water. 

Winnie climbing over a blackened tree to get to the to the base of the falls. She was worried about the ashes in her hair. 

The girls petting the frog Seth caught along the way to Imperial Geyser. 

Hiking next to Imperial Geyser's runoff. 

 At the geyser.

Miriam and Rebekah opted to stay down by the geyser with our bags while Seth, Andrea, Analee and Winnie hiked up to the ridge above the geyser. We walked farther along to the trail and found two lily pad-covered lakes, too.