We went to visit some of Eli's family in Montana a couple of weekends ago and decided to take a "long" cut through the park. I always love it when we go up there. It was a lot of fun this time because the kids loved it...they were so excited about everything. They had their papers out marking off what animals they'd seen and would race to see the wildlife first. It was awesome. We didn't see any bears this time but we did get to see baby buffalo for the first time....so cute! All other cool wildlife we actually saw before we got to Yellowstone and after we left...a moose in Island Park and some Big Horn sheep past the north entrance.
See him right there on the left??? Isn't he cute? Even cuter when he runs.
Little Gracie was a trooper. She didn't make a sound the whole time. She just hung out in her seat and slept while we drove and loved the stroller when we got out. I still just can't get enough of her.
My three little clowns. They had such a good time, and couldn't resist climbing ALL OVER these rocks.
Fun times....I didn't even get my weirdness anxiety with the kids hanging over the rocks to look at the water fall this time. Seriously...this spot has been in too many of my nightmares, this coming from the mom that let her 8 and 6 year old set off firecracker granades by themselves the other day. Maybe I'm finally mellowing out a little. (or maybe it just isn't so scary to me because they redid the overhang...soooo much nicer).
For a few weeks Tyler had been bugging me about letting him do the youth triathlon here in town. He kept seeing the flyers at the gym. I haven't ever put my kids in swimming lessons yet, so I kept putting him off. It has always bothered me a little bit that my parents never pushed us to try a little harder at the things we were doing, or encourage us to try things that might be hard for us. I think I suffer a lot from it now because I just recently have started pushing myself physically. I realized that I was doing something far worse by discouraging him completely. So I talked to Eli and we decided, why not. So this Saturday we suited him up and away he went. I was so nervous about the swim. It was 75 yards across a pond, and since we are in Idaho the water is never warm. The most he has swam is the length of a pool. He has never had to swim with a life jacket on, and he has never swam in the cold. Well, he did all three and he ROCKED. He did so awesome. As soon as he was out of the water he ran to his bike, threw on his shirt and tore off down the road. It was awesome to watch. He started off the run on a dead sprint but we could tell he was getting pretty tired. He would sprint and then walk until someone started coming up behind him, then he would sprint again. He doesn't believe in jogging, he thinks it slows him down. I think he might change his mind next time we run. He was a trooper though and finished running with a big smile on his face. I got choked up...I was so proud of him. He did something so hard and challenging and never thought twice about it. He hardly broke a sweat! It was such a great day and he became such an example to me. If he can do hard things...so can I. He really is amazing to me, and Saturday he became so much more.
He's off! (second from the left)
He smiled the whole time, and kept looking to see if we were watching. He even stopped to wave during the run :)
Still going strong (but starting to feel it)
The last few yards.....and still smiling. I love this little man so much!
He even got a medal!
Eli's cousin Zalie....the happy graduate!
Aunt Sandy, Zalie, Ronnie and Uncle Paul...bunch of clowns.
Tyler playing horseshoes....he is getting too grown up. No clowning around on this trip. He wanted to hang with his uncles and grandpa playing with the big boys. He loves horseshoes and is pretty stinking good at it too.
This is all Zach did the whole time we were there. He kept trying to land a backflip. I took about a dozen pictures of him and they are all so silly like this. He actually landed on his feet this time, believe it or not.
