Stella Bella had her 11th birthday in May! This year I've seen the most changes in her physically. Her teeth are looking fabulous and I can see her face transforming out of the round-cheeked kid phase into adolescence. She has managed to keep her sweet, thoughtful personality as she's gotten older. She is always thinking of others and is quick to share with her brother. I am so blessed to have her as my daughter and can't imagine our family without her. Her name means "shining star" and it fits her perfectly! She is a shining star in our family and a great example for her younger brother. We didn't have a big party this year. We simply celebrated with family. It was wonderful!
Schools out!!! Can I get a hallelujah? I have to say that last school year flew. We were so busy with school, homework, sports, guitar, swim, adoption classes, finishing the basement (woot!) it all went by in a flash. However, I was so ready to have things slow down for a few months and really enjoy life and everyday moments again. The kids were thrilled to be done. Although, Tristan did cry on his last day because he said he was going to miss Ms. Kirkland. Hmmm. That was a bit unexpected.
We picked the kiddos up from school and headed straight for Yellowstone! Our big summer vacation for this year. Bill and I would have rather gone somewhere different this year since we just did Yellowstone last year, but the kids won out. We took our trailer this time and stayed at the Madison Arm Resort like we had the first time. I love it there! Right off the lake. Beautiful view. Flushing toilets and showers. Need I say more? Heaven.
I didn't take a lot of pictures this time around. Oddly enough my camera card took right off from last years Yellowstone pictures! We saw Old Faithful erupt right on time. Ate lots of ice cream. Ravens ate all of our food. Did a few small hikes. Got rained on both times. Saw 12 bears - 10 black bears including babies and 2 grizzlies. We finally saw a moose! My favorite. We had lunch surrounded by elk in Mammoth. The kids hid the food for the bears at the Grizzly and Wolf Museum. They thought that was pretty cool! Bill got sick :( But he did catch the biggest brown fish of his life! Most of us had fun canoeing and paddle-boating. The sunsets were beautiful and the fog on the lake in the morning was equally beautiful. We started our summer out with a bang!
Since then Bill and I both got pneumonia. Stella and I had the flu. Who gets sick like this in the summer time! We do. Luckily Tristan hasn't been sick and now we are healing and I am looking forward to having some fun with the kids now.
Last time carpooling with all these cute kids for this school year
Last day of school. Man, how they've grown!
Can you feel the excitement?
Foggy Morning on Hebgen Lake
Old Reliable Faithful
Love these kids!
Walking around Old Faithful
A quick hike to a mosquito infested waterfall
And then the rain started...
Grizzly and Wolf Museum.
The wolves were actually up and active this time!
Hiding food for the bears
Lunch with the Elk
T and Bill fishing off shore
Like father, like son. Looking for wolves.
Tristan went to his first Scout Camp ever! He had so much fun! I was able to go with him on the first day. Next year I'd like to be able to go to both. He was happy he got to shoot a bb gun, dig for "gold", and got a wolf sling shot. Day 2 was Star Wars day which I missed. Luckily Melissa went and made sure to get some cute pictures of the boys. I spent that day going to Cinderella again with Stella. (Love that movie!) We had a fun little girls day.
1 comment:
That moody picture by the dock. delicious.
and that color in the fishing shot!!
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