Pason started 1st grade on Thursday. He is excited to be back in school with friends. Carter is lonely but we are doing pre-school at home and he is enjoying that. Mom can't believe how fast summer went and is looking forward to getting back into a regular routine!
We did make it camping once this summer. We drove up the road a little ways and couldn't believe what we saw. If you have never been over the Beartooth Highway, put it on your bucket list. I can't believe we've lived so close for 6 years and never took advantage of the beautiful scenery and campgrounds. I won't even post pictures of all the lakes because my pictures don't do it justice but it was awesome! It was Eli's first camping trip and we invested in an infant backpack so we could do some hiking. It was a fun weekend filled with tinfoil dinners, smores, hiking and mosquitos. Can't wait to go again next year!
Carter really wanted to learn to ride a two wheeler this summer, so earlier this month we took him to the church parking lot and off he went. He still needs a little help getting started, but once he's going...look out!
On our way home from Idaho we decided to go through Yellowstone Park and make a day of it. We told the boys no dvd's because we had to watch for animals. They weren't too happy about that at first, but we gave them a map that also had all the animals you can find in Yellowstone and the search was on! We saw elk, bison, pelican, deer, chipmunks, and yes....even a bear. It took all day and a couple near misses. We just missed seeing a grizzly wtih 3 cubs at one point, and another time there were two adult grizzlies and two cubs, but they were too hard to see without binoculars. We had pretty much given up on seeing a bear and we were headed home when we came upon traffic stopped right in the road. Jared told me to get out and see what it was. I got closer and realized there was a black bear right on the side of the road. I am not a bear fan so I hurried back to the van and Jared, Pason, and Carter got out to take pictures. Hooray, we could leave the park with no disappointment! The boys also really enjoyed seeing all the thermal features. We did Old Faithful and then walked about 3 miles around the loop to see some of the other geysers. They did pretty good, but towards the end they had to take turns getting shoulder rides from dad. Pason asked if we saw everything and when we told him there was lots more to see, he asked if we could go again. I am glad that we could tell him we would definately do that.
