Yellowstone

Sunday we decided to take a trip to Yellowstone. It was the first time Hannah has been there, so it has been a while since I have been there last. We decided to make a huge day out of it. We started at the West entrance and headed south to Old Faithful. From there we curved around the lake, eventually stopping at Upper and Lower Falls, and finally Tower Falls. Did you know you can no longer sit at the base of the waterfall at Tower Falls! After 15 years, we get my mom to hike to the bottom with us to only find that the trail is closed 50 yds from the base of the waterfall. Apparently the trail was washed away (so they say). So...we got some nice river pictures!!! It's just not the same! We then made our way up to Mammoth. It is sad to look at Mammoth the way it is now. It used to be so colorful, but it seems to be drying up. It was all grey and white crust rather than the oranges and yellows that it used to be. Lastly, we rushed to the car to avoid being carried away by mosquitos! VISCIOUS! All-in-all we had a great day. We saw a bald eagle, many buffalo, lots of elk, a deer, geysers, beautiful waterfalls, oh and the always interesting chipmunks. I am still waiting to see my Yellowstone bear. I still haven't seen one and I have been going there almost yearly for 15 years. I guess we need to go at a different time of year.

For you Joy...Elayna pics.

Yeah, I know I don't post many pictures of Elayna, but how interesting are sleeping baby pictures! Here are a couple of good pictures we got while visiting one of the many parks at Tautphaus. Hannah was too busy running around like a monkey for me to get any good pictures of her, so I took a bunch of Elayna stretching and enjoying the fresh air.

My beautiful girls!!! Hannah is slimming down like crazy. She gained ONE pound in the last year, while Elayna has doubled her birth weight in two months! Can you count the rolls?

Hair Time

Hannah has recently become intrigued with doing her hair, and ultimately my hair. Being the nice mom that I am, I let her do what she wants with it while I attempt to pretend everything is ok. She only occasionally yanked on my hair to the extreme point of pain. I didn't tell her she was doing it though. She was far too happy for me to interrupt that.

When she finally finished, I think I had more tangles in my hair than before she started, but her smile made it worth it. She is growing up way too fast!!!!

Fourth of July...Finally!

Well, as promised, here are some Fourth of July pictures. We were lucky enough to have my relatives down from Butte, MT. It was all-in-all a rather relaxing day. We had plenty of food and drinks, and lots of games. I didn't think smoke balls were as fascinating as they apparently were. By the end of the long day, Hannah was ready to crash. She fell asleep on the long walk home (one block). My dad (Grr) always buys a monster fire work for Hannah to light. This year it was almost bigger than she was. It lasted quite a long time.

Ross Park

Ross Park is a great place to take the kids to. After four weeks of swimming lessons, the girls were anxious to test out their new swimming skills. Although Hannah and Adrea were content to stay in the kid's pool, Abby wanted to venture to bigger things. She is becoming quite the swimmer. I enjoyed racing her in the deep end several times. She also enjoyed going down the BIG water slide with Aunt Amy and David W. In the meantime Hannah and Adrea went down the small slide, ran through waterfalls, and played on the tire swing. This was also Elayna's first day in the pool. She did quite well. She hardly fussed eventhough we kept her in the pool for nearly three hours. Towards the end, I wrapped her in her towel and put that in the pool. It helped to keep the sun off her. All-in-all it was a great day.

Jolly Visit

Here are a couple of photos to highlight the Jolly visit. I will post more photos separately for the Fourth of July and a Ross park excursion. These pictures are just everyday play and fun. Starting in the upper right moving around clockwise. Abby proved to be big help throughout her time here by taking care of the little ones as well as helping me feed Elayna.

After only being here for a couple of hours, Uncle Ed was practicing putting Abby into his many submission attempts. This would be a common theme throughout the visit.

As is a Jolly tradition (that is...before they got married) the boys would go lay down under a blanket while the women cleaned up dinner. They don't seem to do this much when they are at their own houses.

Elayna is taking a comfortable little nap on Uncle David. Of course, she is a small furnace and quickly made uncle david sweat.

Hannah and Adrea are attempting to blow bubbles at Reinhart park.

In one of the last days here, Hannah FINALLY got Aunt Melissa on the trampoline. As you can see, she truly enjoyed it.

While at Grandma and Papa Jolly's Hannah and Adrea rode around on their little cars like they were a train.

After only being here a couple of hours, Adrea and Hannah sat together on a little bench and started chatting. Who knows what a 3 and 4 year old were talking about!!!

Lastly, the three girls would wake up every morning and go exercise on the trampoline. They spent hours making up cheers and skits.