June 2016

June came while we were in Yellowstone.

Then we we had to clean up the car after that trip. Our car always looks like a tornado went through it after a trip.

We watched out garden start to grow.

The kids played baseball in their pajamas.  I guess they were too excited to change their clothes.

We are trying to train the ponies. Some days there seems to be progress, others not so much, but I am having fun with it.

The kids love the sandbox mostly because it is always shady there and a cool place to play.  The hard part is keeping them from burying their shoes and hats (either on purpose or by accident.)

We rode our bikes to Wheeler Farm which is always a great time.

The boys ate lots and lots of popsicle.  Timmy still can't keep half of his from getting all over his face.

We ate dinner with Grandma Joyce and gave her a free cello concert.

Timmy lost his first tooth!  It finally came out while he brushed his teeth and it almost went down the drain with the toothpaste.

There were some beautiful skies in June.

We got to celebrate Father's Day!  One of my favorite days because we get to honor my dad, Mark's dad and Mark himself!

Jake and Vivian came by for some dinner and cousin fun!  Mark got this hammock for the boys to give him for Father's Day.  The boys love it as a swing/toy rather than a nice relaxing place to rest.

We spent a day at the ranch.  June is amazing there.

Timmy spent most of the day catching butterflies.

The boys played with water at home.

Brian started Cub Scouts.  One night they carved soap boats and Timmy joined in.

Mark and I got a babysitter in order to attend his co-worker's wedding.  

It was a nice night out and very interesting to see the dynamic these co-worker/friends have.  It was fun to get a tiny glimpse of the atmosphere Mark works in everyday.

Our friends came over for dinner.  These kids are just 5 peas in a pod.

Back in May we started losing chickens and roosters to some predator.  The last time I wrote we had 11 hens and 10 roosters left and we had not trapped the culprit.  We locked all the chickens in the coop while we went to Yellowstone and right when we got home Mark worked really hard to trap what was eating them.

We pulled out the roosters and made a home for them in the goat barn where they could come out during the day.  We kept the hens locked in the coop in order to keep them alive.  Those poor roosters were being used as the bait.  I feel a little bad for them, but we couldn't keep them anyway and we needed whatever it was that was eating them to keep coming around so we could trap it in order to make sure our hens were safe to let out.

Slowly the predator picked them off one by one every few mornings.  Mark was so frustrated we could not catch it.  We caught and dispatched 2 raccoons, but they were not what was destroying ours and our neighbor's flocks.  Finally we caught on camera a sly and cunning fox.  The same fox would come through several times each morning looking for easy poultry pickings.  Neighbors said they would see it running down the street carrying our chickens. Before we caught that fox he killed 25 chickens between us and our neighbors. He was one well fed foxy loxy. Here he is on different mornings trotting past the camera looking for chickens.

We were worrying we were going to run out of rooster bait and Mark was determined to get that fox.  We got up very early several mornings and Mark stayed up all night waiting to shoot it if he couldn't trap it.  Finally one morning we saw it jump the fences and run through both ours and our neighbors yards several times looking for chickens.  Mark could not get a good shot as that sly fox was constantly moving and very fast and our ponies happened to be in the way.  But, we did get to see where it liked to walk and go through and over fences so Mark set up a series of snares and foot traps according to the foxes routine.  We missed it the first night he put them out.  Mark then decided to make a little nest with an egg on top in the middle of the pen and set one foot trap near it.  I was sure that wasn't going to work, but was proved wrong the next morning when I woke very early to check outside.  There he was, the cause of so much chicken carnage and so much loss of sleep, with his foot in Mark's trap near the fake nest.  I couldn't believe my eyes. After so long I had given up hope of actually catching him.  I ran to wake up Mark and he took care of that fox quickly with his pellet gun.  It is sad to have to kill a beautiful creature, but it was needed.  Mark kept the skull.

After waiting to make sure that fox was the only thing eating the chickens, Mark took care of three of the four roosters left and we started letting the hens out into the fields again.  They have been safe and very happy since.

We did keep the big white rooster as he was not crowing and seemed very nice.  We keep him nice and humble by carrying him around once in a while.  I think he is actually the first chick that hatched named Spartacus.  We are keeping him for now, but if he starts waking me up before 6:00 a.m. like the other roosters did then we will be saying goodbye to him too.

During June we went swimming and the boys took swimming lessons too.

We went up to the ranch to see my sister and her kids from Houston at the end of the month and I took the most beautiful ride on Ahab.  I think this is my favorite place to be, riding around the ranch on the back of a horse.

The kids had fun too playing with their cousins.

June flew by quicker than I expected.  I love the slower pace and the time with the boys that summer brings!

Yellowstone Trip Part 2

After our part one Yellowstone adventures, we went back to camp that afternoon for Timmy and Mark to take a little nap while Brian and I went for a hike along the Solfatara Trail.  I don't know why I didn't take pictures of that.  We didn't hike too long because we both got a little nervous about bears, but that Brian can hike and hike and hike.  When we got back to camp Mark and Timmy were still asleep, so we read more of the book we were reading, Sign of The Beaver.  When the others finally awoke from their naps we hopped over to Norris Geyser Basin for an evening of geyser sightseeing.

The highlight of the evening was definitely Vixen Geyser.  We almost didn't see it because Timmy wanted to take the short way back as he was done with walking.  But then up ahead we saw some water shooting up and a lady sitting on the boardwalk watching it so we decided to check it out.  The lady was a ranger recording the geyser's activity.  She told us that it had just become active like this in the last few months.  It would shoot 15 or so feet in the air and then the water would flush back down the hole like a toilet.  Then a minute or two later it would do the same thing.  We watched it forever.

Finally after enjoying Vixen Geyser we headed back out of the basin past hot springs and Steamboat Geyser which is the tallest geyser in the world when it blows.  We weren't lucky enough to see that as it is usually years between eruptions.

After getting our fill of the thermal features in Norris Geyser Basin, Brian built us a fire back at camp.

And we played UNO while our pizza rolls and cinnamon apples warmed over the fire.

The next morning we drove north to Mammoth Hot Springs and along the boardwalk there Timmy spotted a huge snake just hanging out on the hillside.  We saw many people just walk right by it without seeing it.  Timmy loved looking at that snake and wanted to see it much more than the hot springs.  He takes after his grandpa Tim in his love for reptiles.

I loved looking at the formations at Mammoth Hot Springs.

We saw a lot of elk there as well.

We stopped at the visitor center and the store in the little town where Brian got a little Yellowstone pocket knife and Timmy and I ate corn nuts with the hot springs in the background.

Then we headed up to the Lamar Valley and on our way we saw a little black bear.  He was moving through the trees and I didn't get any great pictures, but it was a highlight and I am glad we saw a bear.

After the bear sighting we stopped at a picnic area for lunch and the boys enjoyed playing around before getting back into the car.

Then we took a beautiful drive through Lamar Valley.  I did not get great pictures but we saw the herds of thousands of bison and their babies.

After Lamar Valley we headed over to Tower Falls.

Brian of course wanted to keep hiking so he convinced us all to head down the trail at the viewpoint to "see where it goes." There were some nice views of the river going down.

And then we ended up at the river and there was a sign that said the trail ends but you can continue at your own risk.  It didn't look too risky so we climbed down a little further and enjoyed the river beach as a family.

After Tower Falls we drove up over the beautiful Dunraven Pass.  We loved the incredible views and all the snow!

Between Canyon and Norris we drove by Virginia Cascades.  The kids were so tired by this point they didn't want to get out to look.  I thought the falls were very cool and no one was there but us.

We arrived back at camp to be hit by a thunderstorm, so we had dinner and games in the Scamp while waiting for the rain to stop.  Mark and the boys played a card monopoly game while I got dinner ready.

The rain stopped and Timmy got our fire started for roasting marshmallows.  It was our last night so we tried to use up some firewood.

The boys got really into carving, playing with and throwing sticks.  Our campsite was on the edge of the wilderness and the boys came up with all kinds of fun games to play in the forest.  I was fine with that as long as they could see camp.  The boys played in the background while Mark and I relaxed by the fire and he toasted me many of his signature perfect marshmallows.  Delicious!

Before bed we went for a little walk where Mark and the boys could only walk on fallen logs.  They had so much fun.

Then they couldn't go to bed without a friendly competition of spear throwing.  Brian and Timmy were in awe of how far Mark could throw his.

Brian and Timmy were so into sticks that Mark made them each their own special sticks with their initials carved on the top while I was putting them to bed.  They were elated in the morning to see what Yellowstone Santa had brought.

They wanted to keep playing the next morning and didn't want to leave.  But it was time to say goodbye to Yellowstone.

We drove south out of the park to show the boys one of my favorite views in the entire world.  The Grand Tetons.

Here Mark and I are in front of those gorgeous mountains this trip 2016.  We had Brian to take our picture.

 Twelve years ago in 2004 we had no kids and had to try to capture the mountains and ourselves into a selfie.  And most of the mountains were covered with clouds.

Here are the boys in the same spot.  I am so glad we had beautiful blue skies this time!

We didn't want to head home without stopping at Jenny Lake.  Timmy was definitely all hiked out and didn't want to hike another step. There was a boat tour of the lake that was just ready to leave when we arrived so we splurged and payed for a fun and informational boat ride around the lake.  It was a bit cold but worth it for the views and the information the guide taught us!  Brian and Timmy learned the lake was not named after their mother after all, but named after Jenny Leigh, Shoshone wife of Richard "Beaver Dick" Leigh of the Hayden Expedition in 1872.  She had four children along with her on that expedition and she helped her husband build the first cabin in the Teton Basin.

And that was the end!  We headed straight home after that and were happy to see that all our animals had survived our absence and the neighbor that took care of them survived as well.  It truly was an incredible family trip and I am so glad we took the time and preparation to do it!  We will never forget Yellowstone 2016!