It’s been a while since I have posted any updates :-\
We had a few visits to the cabin with friends and family before last summer ended.
The Thompson’s came to visit…
The Lenzen’s came up…
And we ended the cabin season with a Labor Day trip
This trip has been planned since this time last summer and the time finally came. We went there with the Lenzen family and spent time with three other families at Yellowstone. A broken foot and a ear infection were the two issues that we had. Ruby is one tough cookie and Kyle was an animal carrying her to Inspiration Point. The bottom line is that the weather was terrific and we had a great time!
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We took our time getting to Yellowstone by leaving a few days ahead of time. We stopped in Alexandria, MN then Medora, ND, and finally to Livingston, MT before entering the park. Once ‘there’ we spent four days in the Madison Campground at Yellowstone, another four days and Colter Bay in the Tetons, two days in Spearfish, SD.
Medora Campground
Livingston KOA
Time in Yellowstone
Our view from the campsite
The first day in Yellowstone we headed over to Old Faithful
There she blows!
The springs are so cool (and hot)
On day two we visited Artist’s painters pots and Uncle Tom’s trail
Bandits!
This valley was incredible!
The falls from afar
Dragon’s Mouth Spring – This thing really does roar
Bison!
Yellowstone Lake
We enjoyed plenty of time in this river
A nice warm third day
On our way to the Grand Prismatic Spring
I cannot get over how colorful this wonder is
One last night at the river
Grand Tetons
The lake just down from our campsite
View of the mountains from our campsite
Day two – Up at Jackson Hole
Going back down
Up on the chairlift
Day three – Tetons
The Lenzen crew
The girls helped us start a fire on the beach. Later that night the stars were unreal! We met a couple of college students from China and a couple from New York the Mrs shared a story of surviving the first tower falling on 9/11, incredible stories.
Jackson Lake Dam
Our journey to inspiration point – Kyle gave Ruby a piggyback ride all the way up!!
7,007 feet up
Mt. Rushmore
Spearfish, SD (Chris’ Campground)
Some geocache fun
A beautiful drive
A fun restaurant named after one of our own
One week until Sturgis
Mt. Rushmore
Minnesota is the 32nd state in the union
This was so much fun to study
Wall Drug
You have to stop right?
A relaxing week at the lake with the family. Lots of fishing, the local parade, time with friends, water sports, kayaking, and canoeing.
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The buddies
Nix and Jen
Look at the reflection!
Fishing was a blast. We caught 7 northers in one hour!
We had a beautiful weekend at the lake with the fun of a new paddle board and kayak. The kids were not deterred from the water even though it was pretty chilly! A bonus visit by Grandma and Grandpa on Saturday was a nice surprise 🙂
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Being adventurous…
Catching up with neighbors
Lovely night skies
We had a great day today surrounded by loved ones to celebrate Joey’s First Communion. Congrats Joey and thanks to all for joining us on this special day!
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The Godfather’s
I was in Orlando for a conference the week leading up to spring break and so Carolyn and the kids hopped on a plane to join me and we extended the trip into the weekend to enjoy some time at Disney World 🙂
We spent an evening at Downtown Disney, a day at Epcot, and a day at the Typhoon Lagoon water park. At Epcot, we stood in line (against my wishes) for three hours to see the princesses from Frozen, we were able to get autographs from a few more princesses into the autograph books, and the Test Track was also a good time! Joey’s face during that ride was so funny as we whipped around turns and accelerated down straightaways. At Typhoon Lagoon, we enjoyed some sun and warm water. I loved the wave pool, the kids had a great time on the water slides, and Mommy enjoyed a chair in the sun 🙂 It was nice to get away from the cold and see the kids have such big smiles on their faces.
Hanging out at Downtown Disney
A three hour wait… Elizabeth was happy though 🙂
Snow White!
The famous Epcot ‘ball’
Hulk Smash!
We love Typhoon Lagoon!
Carolyn and I had a blast with friends last night at the Radisson Blue hotel. Good food, good music, and great company 🙂
Some of the usual suspects…
There are plenty of others that I did not get on camera…
Carolyn and I were joined by Dan, LeAnn, Nix, Jenny, Stan, and Chrissy in Cozumel this past week. We faced a lot of rain and cold weather until the day that we were due to leave but still managed to have a great time! It was a bonus that ‘cold’ Cozumel weather was still upwards to 90 degrees warmer than it was at home 🙂
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View the slideshow here
It rained for four of our five days but we did not care and enjoyed ourselves
Carolyn sent a picture to Mom each day to show that her boys were still alive 🙂
A few of us went on a snorkel tour
The nearby ships were fun to watch
We saw the ship that my parents and Stan are going on in the coming months…
It was so hard to leave on our last day with our first views of the sun
I was able to take a good amount of time off this Christmas. We played games, video games, went ice skating, sledding, watched football, went to a game, shopped, spent time with family, and enjoyed a quiet new year. It was very relaxing to be home with everyone.
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Elizabeth has been begging to go ice skating 🙂
Sledding down the street
Sledding at the park with friends
A Christmas program at school
Joey earned a new belt!
Having fun on Christmas Eve
A visit from Santa
Having a hard time containing themselves as Dad wants a picture
The final Vikes game at the dome with my buddy Darin
Playing a bit of fall catch up on posting here…
Since Labor Day and the start of school, our family has been busy with sports and other activities just like many of our friends. We have enjoyed nice fall days, went to karate, karate tournaments, volleyball and dance practice, a volleyball tournament, had a visit from our niece Ruby, carved pumpkins, celebrated 14 years of marriage, and finally a birthday for a dear neighbor.
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Fun with pictures at the neighbors
Elizabeth joined volleyball
Joey earned his blue belt
And he competed in a tournament against 15 other boys
Saturday volleyball games
A visit from David and Ruby
Pumpkin carving (notice the gloves that Carolyn provided the kids – lame!!)
Date night celebrating 14 years of marriage 🙂
Volleyball tournament
Ellen’s birthday party with a Halloween costume party
