Yellowstone

Let me just say that Yellowstone is beautiful. We have seen beautiful scenery, amazing animals and interesting natural occurances and thats just in one day, in the Northern part of the park. Our day started with a bear sighting - what an awesome welcome!

As we entered the park, we were greeted by a huge stone arch - signifying the beginning of our adventure.



Our first stop was Mammoth Hot Springs - located about 5 minutes from the park enterance (and our motel).

We did a hike up to Minerva Terrances and Palette Hot Springs. We then drove up to the higher springs and viewed them looking down. It was amazing how trees would grow in the middle of the thermal area but then the water would reach them and they'd die. The colors were specatular.

We then headed south, towards Norris Geyser Basin, however we turned off before seeing the Geyser (that's for tomorrow!). However, we saw our first bison here.

We pulled off the road many times to see little sites along the way and to admire the scenery. I have stacks of photos but I wont burden you with them here :)

By mid afternoon we were at Tower Falls. Isaac, Lizzy and I hiked to the bottom of the falls. Let's just say coming up was hard work.

This is Lizzy, with the Canyon near Tower Falls behind her.

Then we headed up the Lamar Valley, where we ended up seeing hundreds of Bison.

Tomorrow we head off towards Old Faithful, where we'll spend the night.

Roadtrip - Part 2

We are now in Missoula, Montana. We spent about 4 hours on the road yesterday, including breaks and reached Missoula in the late afternoon. We ate breakfast in Washington, lunch in Idaho and dinner in Montana. It's not often you can say you ate 3 meals in one day in 3 different states.

Spokane was very pretty. Before leaving we took a walk along a river which goes through the middle of Spokane.

By lunch time, we were on the eastern side of Idaho in a little mining town called Wallace. It was a great place to stop, explore the mining exhibit and eat our lunch.



Today we drove about 30 minutes south of Missoula and visited the Lee Metcalf Wildlife Reserve. It was a peaceful, beautiful spot.

There was a visitors center where the kids enjoyed looking at the animal displays and then we went on a nature hike. I gave Isaac my little camera, and he happily took pictures of all the displays. Lizzy took charge of the camera outside and took photos of the flowers. (I haven't downloaded their photos yet though).

Tomorrow we head off to Gardiner, Montana. It is a small town right on the outskirts of Yellowstone. We'll be basing ourselves there while we explore the northern part of the park.

Roadtrip

We are on a road trip. Ben's been left behind, earning all that money so we can spend it on the road trip - thanks honey! Mum, Dad, the kids and I are heading towards Yellowstone. So far we've made it to Spokane.

For cousins interested in mapping our trip - Spokane is on the eastern side of Washington, quite close to the boarder of Idaho. For a short time tomorrow we'll cross across the narrow part of Idaho and then enter Montana.

Today we drove to Ellensburg - where we stopped for lunch. The kids played on the playground until our picnic lunch was ready. Kai found a nectarine in our bags and insisted on eating it without it being cut up. I've got some really cute photos which hopefully I share soon.

Soon afterwards, we crossed over the Columbia River and stopped at the Wild Horse Monument. It was a lookout overlooking the Columbia River on one side and on the hill behind us, there were metal horse sculptures. Once again - I'll share some photos soon.

Tomorrow we press on for Missoula, where we'll spend a couple of nights and then to Yellowstone.

Cruise Highlights

I have to wonder why we spend money going on vacations. Over the past week, various people have asked my kids what they liked best about their trip to Alaska.

Isaac has talked in raptures about the hand sanitizer machines, which automatically dispense sanitizer. Lizzy has told people that she had onion rings every night.

Hmmm. Maybe we should have bought a sanitizing machine, deep fryer, oil and onions and saved some money.

Alaska - Prince Rupert

Prince Rupert is actually in Canada but it was our fourth and final stop on our cruise. Prince Rupert is very pretty - this was our view as we approached the port...

We went on a trip called Sealife Discovery and Crab Extravanganza. The main cabin had a touch tank, where an ex-school teacher turned Marine Biologist talked to us about what could be found in the waters of Prince Rupert. It was definately a fun, hands on lesson for the kids.

There were lots of eagles to be seen, however mosts of my photos were blurry or looked like this... (yes, there had been an eagle there a fraction of a second previously.)

However, I did manage to get one half decent shot.

Dad helped clean the crabs up the back of the boat. The two Gordon's had a race to see who could clean a crab the fastest.

We all got a feed of crab - although Ben & Dad were given the challenge of eating most of the crab considering that I don't really like crab and the kids only at about 1 or 2 legs. It worked out to be 2 1/2 crabs each - although I don't think Dad managed to eat his quota.

And we were all given a chance to hold our own crabs - although Lizzy passed up the opportunity.

Alaska - Skagway

Our third stop was in Skagway. We had a wonderful time in Skagway, going to a Musher's camp, and being pulled in a wagon by a team of Alaskan Huskies. (As it's summer, there is no snow so the dogs keep in condition by training on dry land). Lizzy squealed in laughter the whole time and Kai was in raptures. Isaac loved it too, but was less vocal about it during the ride. However, afterwards he said it was the best!

After the ride, we listed to a talk about dog training and then the kids were allowed to hold the puppies.

Alaska - Juneau

Our second port of call was Juneau - the capital of Alaska. We visited Mendenhall Glacier while here and also went up the Mt Roberts Tramway (although I didn't take any photos up there!)

This first photo is of Ben and the kids, with the Glacier behind them.



We took a walk towards a waterfall, but got distracted by the rocks on the side of the lake. As you can see the glacial temperature water did not faze my children. Notice how everyone else just walked past - there was a reason for that!

You can just see the glacier behind Lizzy and I.

I love this photo of Kai, as it captures how he was always on the go. Unless he was in the backpack, he was in constant motion.


After we left Juneau, we sailed up the Endicott Arm and saw the Dawes Glaicer.

Along the way there were bits of ice, which were just floating in the water. When were were lucky we'd see seals on the ice.

Alaska - Ketchikan

We've just come home from our cruise to Alaska with Mum & Dad. We had a wonderful time and I thought I'd share a few photos. These first few are from Ketchikan, where we saw our only sunlight.

Kai has joined the club

The tea drinking club, that is.

Yes. He's done his grandma's proud and likes the taste of tea. My friend and I go to a tea house every few weeks for lunch and yesterday Kai kept on insisting on having tea. Kristina would put some on a spoon and he'd drink it. When she stopped he'd grunt and point at the teapot. Food was thrown on the floor and tea was demanded.

On my behalf - I'm starting to tolerate tea. Maybe I'll join the elusive tea drinkers club one day.

Is Archie Coming?

Our kids are very excited about the fact that Grandma & Grandad are coming to visit soon. However, today Lizzy wanted to know if Archie was coming too. She was quite disappointed when we told her that Archie was staying at home with his parents. This was quickly followed with the statement: "Well I hope they come and visit one day too".

I just smiled and said "Me too".

Maths Challenge

Each afternoon I look through the kids folders. Often there are bits of art or worksheets. Today I pulled out a piece of paper from Lizzy's bag. "Lizzy? Did you do this?" "Yes - Ms Beaver gave me a math challenge."

On a sheet of paper were the following...

37 + 4 + _ = 43
25 + _ = 45
100 + _ = 326
79 + 4 + _ = 88
473 - _ = 421
888 - _ = 726

Lizzy had gone through and filled in all the blanks. She got them all right, except the last where she was wrong by 10. "I like math Mum".

I suggested that perhaps she might grow up to be an accountant like her Aunty because they deal with math. She liked the sound of that.

It appears she's got her math skills from her Daddy - because they certainly haven't come from me.

One Year

Who can believe it, but a year has passed since Kai joined our family! What a joy he is. He's an easy going boy, with a ready smile. Most will tell you he's a flirt - and I have to agree.

Here are some pictures of the birthday boy...

Kai about to get his first taste of cake:

Kai having to be convinced to eat the cake..

And finally he decides it really does taste great!

He loved the balloons. This did not surprise me, as every time we go shopping he points at the balloons and says "Dis, dis".

And finally - he got a sandbox for his birthday. It was definately a hit.

Milestones

Some milestones are more exciting than others. Ben & I have been thrilled this week that Kai has started taking his first steps. They are very wobbly steps as he bravely lets go, taking one or two steps, enabling him to get from one spot to the next.

However, if you judge things by the expression on Kai's face - it's being able to flush the toilet which is the most exciting milestone reached this week. The laughter pours out as he pushes that handle down over and over again.

Who cares about walking when there are toilets to conquer.

Getting the message through

When someone is not quite one, they don't have many words - at least not the kids in our family.

Despite the fact that Kai doesn't say much, he knows how to get a message through. Today's message was "I don't want to eat that". For lunch, he had egg, pear and cheese. He quite deliberately threw the pear over the edge of his high chair, and then signed "more". I gave him some more pear. Silly mummy. He looked at it with disgust and threw it over the edge again and signed "more" again. Right. You're still hungry but you don't want pear. I've got it.

Impromptu Vacation

We went on an impromptu vacation on the weekend. Our reason was probably one of the worst you could ever think of - Church was doing a Seder service and our food allergy family can't think of anything worse than a food related church service. Our desire to miss church made us think about what else we could do. The result was a trip to Canada - Harrison Hot Springs, to be precise.

As you can probably guess from the name, there are hot springs at Harrison. We visited one, and as you can tell from the picture it was a smelly one. It was a sulphur hot spring, which gave it it's foul smell. Lizzy refused to come near until we suggested that she hold her nose while looking at it.



All in all, it was a lovely little vacation spot and we had a fun weekend away.

Rough and Tumble

If you asked me to describe Isaac, I would tell you he was a quiet cautious boy, with a wicked sense of humor, an observer of the world. I would tell you that he prefers quiet play over active play. I would tell you that he adores his little brother.

It never ceases to amaze me how my two boys get along.

I loved watching my boys play today. We were in the waiting room at Speech Therapy, and Kai & Isaac were wrestling. There really was no other word for it. Isaac would lay down on the ground and Kai would climb on him. Isaac would flip him over causing Kai to giggle and climb on him again. I was stuck with how boyish this play was - and amused at how fun they found it.

I wouldn't trade my boys for anything :)

Daddy to the Rescue

Yesterday evening I was talking to Ben on the phone as he was driving home. We hung up just as he was coming down our street. When I hung up, I heard sobbing. It was Lizzy. I had sent her for a bath about 20 minutes beforehand. I ran to the bathroom - it was the heart-wrenching kind of sob. I turned the handle, and I tried again. It was locked. "Mummy - I can't open the door". I look, and it's not the butter knife kind of lock breaking. I had no idea but luckily Daddy was home. I was so thankful I was able to reassure her that Daddy was home and he was going to get her out. He bought up his handy little screw driver and opened the door in a jiffy. There's nothing like a naked 6 year old who jumps on her daddy, thanking him for being her rescuer.

Baby Monitor

We have a video monitor for Kai. Such things were not around (or maybe we just didn't know about them) when the other two were babies. I have to admit that I love our monitor. I love being able to see our baby sleeping peacefully - or not sleeping in some cases. There is nothing as sweet as a baby asleep.

Standing

Kai stood today. It was for about 2 seconds but he stood without holding onto anything, and then gracefully lowered himself to the ground. Tiny milestones like this remind me how quickly time passes.

Swimming

Isaac & Elizabeth went back to swimming lessons today. We haven't had swimming lessons for about two years now. Elizabeth threw herself into the lesson with great abandon - it was though she'd not really taken a break at all. Isaac was alot more cautious. He did not want to get his head wet - although I did see him go under once or twice.

At the end, I noted how well they did being able to get the ring from the bottom of the pool. Lizzy beamed. Isaac admitted "I actually got it with my foot". Oops. I missed that fact.