Uncle Mark's Cabin & Yellowstone Park...

October 6th - 9th

We headed up to my brother's cabin in Island Park for a few days during the last week of Spud Harvest. The boys were sooo excited - Logan kept telling everyone that he saw that he was going to "Uncle Mark's cabin!" We got their late Tuesday night and the boys loved it! They had to check everything out! Of course Bryson and Dillon had to sleep upstairs in the bunk beds and there is a HUGE pillow/beanbag thing that they absolutely LOVED! We will have to get one for our basement but I don't know if we could fit it down the stairs - it was HUGE! I asked them to smile for a picture and they were too excited and wound up to stop and pose and smile, instead this is what I got...

Silly boys...

Mason did really well sleeping in a different bed and being in a different place.

We played games and watched some good ole classic movies! It was so much FUN!! Thanks Mark and Dana for letting us stay at your cabin.

Wednesday morning we headed up to Yellowstone National Park. The boys were really excited to see some animals. There was some snow up there and as we got deeper into the park there was more and more of it. This probably isn't the time of year to go to Yellowstone National Park because by this time all of the little gift shops are closed and alot of the restaraunts are closed. This wasn't too big of a problem because we had brought a picnic lunch but it was a little chilly - I think the high was 40 degrees and it fluctuated downward as we drove throughout the park. It snowed on us off and on throughout the day - sometimes sun and sometimes dark gray clouds. Even though it wasn't the best of weather conditions we still had fun and the boys had a great time seeing new things. A section of road was closed due to road construction so this limited us in where we could go. We ended up seeing the hot pots, the beautiful waterfall, Yellowstone Lake, and Old Faithful.

Some of the hot pots...

Mason did so good - whenever there was a visitor center we could go in we tried to so that he could get a chance to get out of his car seat.

It was beautiful and even more so when it would start snowing.

Somehow Logan always found his way to the snow, he would step in it, pick it up and squish it in his hands and then complain that he was soooo cold. I think its been a while since he has felt snow and forgot how cold it really was.

We saw many bison, a coyote ran out in front of us but it was too quick to get a picture and we saw some herds of elk.

What is a trip to Yellowstone without seeing Old Faithful? Bryson waiting for Old Faithful to go off. By this time it is starting to get dark.

Logan not looking too thrilled.

Ah... that's better- a little funny, but better.

Now it's all good, he's got his moose flashlight/keyring thing. Silly boy! It was about 7:15 p.m. when Old Faithful went off so it was kind of in the dark but it was still pretty neat - the boys thought it was pretty cool. As we were getting back onto the main road we hit a blizzard. It was so bad we had to go 30 mph until we reached the entrance of the park and it let up a little. It snowed all the way back to the cabin. They would only let vehicles into the park the next day that had chains on. It snowed quite a bit that night in Yellowstone.

The next day we played some games at the cabin and then went to West Yellowstone. We went to the Rustic Candy Shoppe - it's a candy shopped where they show you how they make their taffy - they have a taffy puller in the front window and the store is filled with all sorts of candy! The boys were in heaven! They each got to get a paper bag and fill it with whatever candy they would like to try. I didn't take my camera in because I was holding Mason and making sure that Logan didn't load up his bag with the whole store - I know that he sure would of liked to. We also got some Raspberry Cream fudge and Huckleberry fudge - yummy! From there we went to the Bear and Wolf Discovery Center. The boys had a blast here. We learned many interesting things about bears and wolves. We had just missed the time frame where they let kids go in and hide food for the bears and then once the kids are out they let the bears in and the kids can watch the bears find their food. But they got a pin to put on their coats anyway and they thought that was cool. We then headed back to the cabin, had dinner and watched a movie. Friday came and I wasn't ready to come home - it had been a nice break. We ended up getting home around 5 in the evening and then David spent the rest of the night getting ready to go hunting. He loves it. I always ask him if he really has to go - especially when it is raining, snowing, blowing and just plain cold outside and he says, "Yes! I have to go. I am at one with nature." Too funny. It was a fun trip and nice to get away for a bit.