M.I.A.

I've gone missing, and a lot has happened. The biggest news is that I am starting a new job tomorrow. After 6 years of throwing my heart into the same job, a perfect storm occured and I was offered an opportunity I couldn't pass up, so I jumped.

It was both exhilerating and terrifying. I stood in my boss's office just over 3 weeks ago and bawled telling her I'd been offered a new job, and here I sit one day before starting that job both thrilled and scared like crazy.

But before starting this new phase in my life I took all my PTO pay-out money and snuck my family away for 2 days at Disneyland and California Adventure. It was so worth it.

(Yes, my 5 and 3 yaer olds went on the Tower of Terror...and were champs. This was our second time. That's me on the far left in the middle row in green and black. Luca is next to me, burying her face in my arm, and Mo is next to her staring at her as she buries her face in my arm. Darrick is in the 4th seat over.)

Yellowstone (continued)

All in all, we spent 4 days in Yellowstone and the surrounding area of West Yellowstone. We visited the park each day and got out of the car at every stop off, look off, and easy hike.

Yeah, no. I have no idea what the hell that face (---^) is about.

So, Yellowstone = Old Faithful, right? At least, to most people it does. Well, my Yellowstone spoiler includes this tip: Old faithful is pretty damn far down the list of awesome things to witness in Yellowstone. As evidence, we went and sat in the seats surrounding Old Faithful just in time for her to spout. And when she did spout? The kids could not be torn away from picking up tiny black stones in order to look at Old Faithful, no matter how many times their Grandma tried to convince them to look at it.

I did convince Mo to smile for me in front of Old Faithful, only you would never know it since his big ol' thunder dome of a head is covering what's left of the spout.

And then, there were more hot water pools and sulphur smells and big trees and wild animals. One of my favorite moments was Friday evening, when we were leaving the park close to sunset and had to pull over on the side of the road to let some bossy bison pass. We pulled to the right and put on our hazard lights along with 2 or 3 other cards, and I got out of the car (I was on the far side with a van between the animals and me) to take some pictures. Just as they were about to pass the van, the veered very slowly and  - we can only assume - very deliberately toward the van and walked about 8-10 feet from the driver's side. By this time I was back in the car with everyone else (I had gone back in the car when the bison got about 10 yards away because I'm no fool) so we all had a good laugh at the bison getting feisty and showing us who owned the road.

Now, if you go to Yellowstone for Old Faithful and also find it fair to middlin', take yourself on the trail behind O.F. that leads you to Grand Geyser and Riverside. We never got to Riverside (it was a little too much sun and the kids were getting tired) but we did hit Grand Geyser. We weren't sure what it was or whether it was worth a wait, but coincidentally Rohan was feeling a little blah right about the time we got there, so we decided to give Grand a chance and let him rest. We happened to sit next to an older couple from Idaho who told us they are in Yellowstone sometimes every week in the early and late summer and Grand is one of their favorite spots. While we sat there, they told us all the ways to tell when Grand is ready to blow, including the easiest tip of all: wait for Geyser Watchers. I'm not even kidding....there are volunteers and park enthusiasts who pass time by staking out around the geysers and documenting their every move and change. The couple from Idaho told us, "See that old man in the red jacket? When he stands up and picks up that walkie talkie (used by the Geyser Watchers to contact each other and the park) you know the geyser is ready to blow. And they were right. And Grand was totally worth the wait to see 3 vents going at once for almost 10 straight minutes. That's not even mentioning the raven we witnessed killing a squirrel as we waited. Holy nature.

(Yep, there's still more....to be continued again...)

Yellowstone.

After a 5-ish hour drive through northern Utah and eastern Idaho, we found ourselves in West Yellowstone, Montana without even realizing it had happened. Our KOA appeared almost out of nowhere by the side of the road, patches of snow still covering the ground in the shadows. We checked in, went to our kabin (the KOA version of a cabin, of course), went back to the office to switch to a kabin closer to the bathrooms and with a little more grass outside, and settled in. The kids were as excited as I'd ever seen them, running in and out of the kabin's door, climbing the bunk bed and 'helping' us unpack. We decided as soon as we got there that we would skip the park that afternoon and just settle in, eat dinner, and roast some marshmallows.

My in-laws had also made the trek, leaving a few days before us and taking a slower pace getting there. They were staying in a hotel up the road a few miles, so they came over to join us. The kids were so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa in a whole new state! They could not get over the fact that we'd traveled so far and still got to spend time with family.

Luca made her own marshmallows with just a little help. Oh, and if you're a novice camper please take note of our 'chocolate warming' technique seen in this picture. You have not had s'mores until you've had them with the graham cracker slightly toasted and the chocolate melty and warm like this. In a traditional campfire, you just set them on the rocks near a flame (but not too near, unless you want chocolate syrup).

But while I may be an expert in s'mores, I am less of one in beers. We'd stopped for groceries south of Salt Lake City and I thought I was a totally awesome wife for buying a 12 pack of local brewery beers for my husband. And he was happy. He was. Except for the fact that those bottles of beer were 3.5-4% alcohol each. What can I say - - - Darrick likes a good, strong beer and Utah didn't deliver. (He did say, however, the the funny names like Polygamy Porter and the good flavor almost made up for it.)

Sadface beer.

The kids were beyond adorable in their bedtime excitement. They could not wait to put on footie jammies and climb up in the top bunk together to go to bed. Not to SLEEP, mind you, because sleep would be boring and kabin adventures are not boring. It took these two beasts over and hour to settle down and sleep, but the payoff of sitting outside in the cold night area drinking hot chocolate with Kahlua and listening to their giddy laughter was more than enough compensation for kids up hours past bedtime.

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The drive into the park the next morning was breathtaking. Darrick and I were in Yellowstone 8 years ago at the end of summer, but early summer Yellowstone did not disappoint. Getting in for 5 days only cost $25 and we felt a little bit like we were ripping off Mother Nature.

We were in the Park about 5 minutes before seeing our first field full of bison. Mamas and babies and males skirting the edges of the herd, all eating grass and laying in the sun. They took your breath away.

That first day was a tour of hot pools and sulphuric smelling water and beautiful rock walls and more wild animals than you could count.

There were hikes and silly faces in pictures and this new diva girl pose Luca randomly decided to adopt for pictures:

Swear she's trying to give her dad high blood pressure already.

My favorite things the first day in Yellowstone, in no particular order:

- blue, blue pools of steaming hot water

- bison

- elk

- kids eating up their Grandparent time

- Luca's fashion sense

- cold weather

- my kids, just being best buddies and loving being outdoors

^--This is what happens when you marry a science nerd.



(to be continued...)