Canoeing the Teton

We took the boys canoeing on the Teton River. The views were AMAZING!

(maybe life in the Arctic isn't so bad, eh??)

-Josh, Jake, Todd, Lander-

It was freezing, but the boys did venture in for a dip.

Not me! I stayed nice and dry!!

Family Time!

fun memories with Josh's parents....

Lander and Nana

Golfing with Papa at the Muni

Jakey Boy

Lander makes breakfast

Lander decided to make us all breakfast one Sunday morning.

It was YUMMY!!

Jake in a Box

We found this one night when we peeked in on the boys

who were supposed to be sleeping:

And this was what was inside:

I guess Jake decided to obey afterall!

Yellowstone

Jake asked all summer if we could go see Old Faithful and we finally made the hour and a half drive (pathetic, I know) to visit Yellowstone. It was the boys first time. (Don't ask how long we've lived in Idaho!) Jake loved it. In fact, he liked it so much that we had to watch it erupt twice. It erupts roughly every 92 minutes. Here are the excited boy-o's as they eagerly awaited the first eruption.

Old Faithful

Josh and Lander near mud pots

Dixie and little boys in front of the original Old Faithful Lodge

Cody, Wy

We stayed the night in Thermopolis, Wyoming, with plans to go to the hotsprings in the morning. A drenching rain vetoed that itinerary. We headed up to Cody instead, spending a few hours at the Buffalo Bill museum; great for adults, a little long for the kids, and met one of my college professor's brothers who owned the local Dairy Queen. Then we drove to Pahashka, on the east entrance to Yellowstone to stay the night.

Our only regret was that we didn't get a picture of the Wax Man. He was old, tall, and a cowboy, of course. Sitting perfectly still in a log cabin exhibit. He started snoring when we walked up to him. It was an awesome demo. The boys and I thought it was really cool. He looked so realistic!

And then we saw him walking around an hour later!

Dang it! Now, why didn't we snap that photo??

Lander loved this bear and its stuffed polar bear cousin standing nearby.

He said that they were Beary's (his stuffed bear for those of you who haven't "met" him) family.

This big ball was used as a sort of plug for Buffalo Bill Reseviour.

I'm not sure if you can see it very well, but sitting on the crest of the hills is

(what appears to be) a narrow sliver of lava, near Wapiti (between Cody and Yellowstone).

It was really strange looking, the picture doesn't do it justice.

Devils Tower (Wyoming)

We took a little detour to Devil's Tower on the way home. The boys loved it. Josh and I felt like slugs; too much running around and too little sleep for too long. So we just watched as the boys climbed all over.

The boulders were enormous. If you look really, really, close to the picture on the right, you can see blue and brown specks that are Jake and Lander, climbing the huge rocks up to the base.

I love my boys!

Mt Rushmore

Standing in the Promenade

Snake

View from the base

Mt Rushmore...finally!

After several days of playing in South Dakota, including a day spent driving all over kingdom come, we eagerly drove through our last tunnel. The boys were "so excited" (!!) to see Mt. Rushmore. And wha-la! This was our first view! Talk about an amazing sight!