....The Rest of the Story

OK, so, one of the bonuses of big J being in school--SUMMER is as we knew it as children--lots of play time. Man, we're going to be so spoiled though that his leaving is going to be truly rotten. That's the downside. B and I were talking about how long the chain we'll be making, as we've always done, will be and that it may need to span more than one room. In the words of little A, BLEH! So, back to happier thoughts--the rest of our summer vacation.........

Our first time on top of the Conference Center!! We got to show the kiddos where the apostles and prophets and other leaders of the church speak during conference and walk around Temple Square and visit the Church History Museum. Big J even got to practice a little Russian as a couple from Russia were there and knew little to no English. So, that was good he could help them find out a little about the church in their own language. Where else, other than NY perhaps can you find someone within minutes who can speak any number of languages??!

Bowling in Bountiful. Little A really wanted a piece of the bowling balls.

I let her end my round and she was estatic

The cats were out early in the morning at Hogle Zoo

This Amur Leopard wanted to eat us for breakfast and the kids got a huge kick out of it looking for a way out. Of course they're tough with glass between them

We even saw some monkeys at the zoo ;)

This is B riding a horse at Gardner Village where we met up with a college friend and her cute kids. Little J opted out

We stopped in Teton National Park on the way to Yellowstone and took a ferry across Jenny Lake before doing this short hike to Hidden Falls. The kids did another fantastic job hiking

Castle Geyser on the Old Faithful path. We saw 3 big geysers and several smaller ones.

Little A enjoyed this little photo op with Dad. What a doll!!

The bison were in rare form while we were there. Apparently hot and bothered they rolled in the dirt quite a bit and refused to get off the road for anyone. Although Big J did rough up several when we were in a hurry to get back to camp before the little ones fell asleep. Ahh, the things we do for sanity sake :)

After Yellowstone we hooked up with my grandparents in small town Montana where we also met up with my parents for a night before we took off for Glacier. Here we are stopped at Flathead Lake and Little J is suprising us yet again by being a dare devil

Glacier National Park proved herself beautiful. Here we are hiking up to a lake above Logan Pass on the famous Going to the Sun Highway

The kids really enjoyed this well-named "Weeping Wall"

Glacier's popular Avalanche Lake hike. This 5-mile round-trip hike took you up into this basin with mountains on just about every side, this lake and beautiful, long waterfalls. B hiked the entire way and Little J did all but about a mile or so of it--what amazing hikers they are!! (We did run on the downhills, which made it go quicker and kept up the excitement!)

Grandpa and Grandma took Little A on a boat ride around McDonald Lake while we did the hike. She LOVED it!!

After the hike/boat ride we took the kids in this river going into the Lake. The water was absolutely freezing but it was 100 degrees outside so wasn't so bad. Big J, my dad and B were the only ones to brave a complete submersion--I only got shoulder high and don't regret it

Little J was in heaven with the rock island we waded to

Rocks + water + Little J = one giddy boy

Even Big J had a hay day in this river with a bit of cliff jumping. He went several times and discovered he could ride the canal leading into this deep pool. I just love him!!

The condo that we stayed at during our time in Glacier was pish-posh and this was our jacuzzi tub. The kids had a blast in it! (btw, check out little A's tan line--what an outside baby!!)