Busy Summer

Our summer has been pretty busy.  We have travelled all over for work and vacation.  It has made raising our little one a bit interesting, but I guess the good things in life don't come easy.  We have attended 3 reunions so far this summer and are currently gearing up for a 5 day backpack trip.  And yes, we are taking Kylan with us.  This photo was taken at the King reunion.  We have got a lot of photos and stories to share.  Now if only I could get Jentri to post instead of me....

Baby Wearing Dad

Ever since Kylan was born, 4 moths ago, I have had a difficult time.  I have found that my temper with him would flair easily.  I discovered that I couldn’t handle it when he was screaming for no apparent reason.  I would have to put him down, screaming, turn and leave the room.  It tore me apart even worse to turn my back on my child and that I would get so upset with him.  Jentri caught wind of this babywearing thing, went to a group meeting, and brought a Silly Goose Baby mai tai home for me to try thinking that it would help Kylan and I bond.  We tried, tried, and tried.  Each time resulting a mad, screaming baby and an extremely frustrated father.  I came to this conference hopeless for this child.  I figured I would have to start over with our next, which again tore at my heartstrings.  After day one I went home jazzed about wearing Kylan and tried and tried and tried.  Again resulting in an extremely mad baby with a broke down father.  Day two I came to the conference determined to get help and not stopping until my desires were satisfied.  I sat up a lot of the previous night reflecting upon my relationship with Kylan, how I hold him versus Jentri, and how he is the happiest.  On day two in our soft structure carriers’ class Kelley Mason (Kozy) was instructing, apparently she is a celebrity in the babycarrying world.  I can sure say she became a godsend to me.  We discovered not that Kylan doesn't like the carrier but rather the position in which I was putting him.  He liked to be on my hip where he can see out and interact with the world and me, yet pull away if he wants.  We put him in a Scootababy, at first he did not like it then I took a stroll down the hall.  He immediately calmed down and started to look around.  I was amazed!  He then snuggled into me and I wanted to cry right in the hallway, but I’m a guy and that is not cool.  Then I swapped out for a ring sling, he still loved it!  I wanted to kiss Kelley, I could not be more grateful for one person than her at that given point in time.  I walked out of that room completely satisfied.  To top it all off as we were leaving for lunch we noticed that Hotslings were giving away pouches.  I had seen these used but hadn’t had the chance to try one out.  I called a lady over to help me pick out my size and we put Kylan into it.  He loved it and off to lunch we went.  I only took him out so mom could feed him and then back in he went.  In an hour or so he fell asleep in the pouch and my heart has never been so full.  I am on day 3 of carrying Kylan and our relationship has changed dramatically!  I now have more patience for and am more willing to work with him.  I am completely sold on babywearing and am ready to spread this joy to everyone and anyone.  My heart is so full of love and gratitude toward those ladies who were willing to spend time with me and help me gain a better relationship with my son.  I have a feeling that this is only a start of a long and beautiful life filled with carrying my children.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Day 4

Today was a relaxed day with only one objective in the park.  Due to not all of the roads being open, the only thing left to be seen was the Grand Canyon.  Growing up near a canyon, our hearts are drawn toward deep gashes in the earth's crust.  This is quite the canyon to behold.  It is so beautiful with all of it's many colors.  On our way in, however, we finally caught the eagles on their nest.

This nest can be found before you even get to Madison Junction.  All week I have been watching the nest as we drove in and out hoping to capture them on it.  This day I scored!  One of them were on the nest and the other was across the river in an old, toothpick, of a tree.  Once I had my fill of observation and photos we picked up and jetted on into the canyon.  One snag along the way is the new road construction I spoke of earlier.

This time we had to wait in line for what seemed to be an hour or so.  It felt like a long time!  It will be nice once they are all done with it.  Glad they are doing it early in the year and I hope that they get it done before the rush.  We arrived at the canyon and I took tons of photos.  It is so beautiful with all of it's colors!

We looked at the upper and lower falls.  Taking our time and having fun while out there.  The kids had fun playing in the snow, though they were advised not to play to long in it.  The one child that is allergic, yes allergic, to the cold was the one playing in it the most.  Her pants got so wet that we had to replace them with a sweater.  To priceless not to photograph.

This trip was a very healing trip for my family I feel.  It was a no stress trip that allowed us all to bond and get to know one another better.  It was well needed.  I hope that we can do it again in the future.

Hot Springs, Geysers, and Bears Day 3 in Yellowstone

Day 3 was probably my favorite of all days, we took off toward Mammoth Terraces.  The park is doing a major road overhaul just after Madison Junction along side the river, and well, we had to sit in line for quite a while.  While we were waiting though "Afro-man" decide to make an appearance.

Jentri only wishes that I could grow a goatee as good lookin as this guy had!  Talk about some major bed-head!  This buffalo gave us a good laugh and still is.  Well, once through the traffic jam at the road construction we were freewheeling on up to Mammoth Terraces.  If you have been to Yellowstone, but have never seen Mammoth, you are missing out.  They are just as much a "corner stone" to the park as Old Faithful and Morning Glory Pool are.  They are quite the sight to behold.  Your first time there you may think, "everything is so dead!"  Step back, look at the active area, and imagine the dead area just as active.  Mammoth Terraces change every time I go!  They are always transforming and moving around.  Such a beautiful place.

The whole gang..... minus me.

My beautiful wife and me...... dont look to close but I think I am carrying a spare tire.

So, as we were walking along we came across an area within the terraces that had just sprung up.  We found this very ironic sign posted just off the boardwalk.

If you dont get it, it reads "Danger, hot water will scald".  Yes that is snow in the background.  Yet another thing to laugh at and will probably carry on as an inside joke for quite some time.  I took this photo with the intentions of sending it to Jay Leno for his "Headlines" routine.  So, watch and tell me if it shows up, because we dont have TV.  Anyway, once we were all pooped out at Mammoth we made our way back to Norris Geyser Basin.  This is where my sister Jen made her swift exit and headed home.  We walked around Norris for a couple hours.  This is another place that keeps on changing each visit.

This was quite the sight to behold and it had us baffled when we first saw it.  There was this HUGE snow drift without any other snow around to be seen.  Then we walked by it and felt it.  The steam is coming from a couple large fumerols and freezing into snow.  Hence the fumerols were producing their own snow drift right around them and only them.  It was pretty unique!  In the same photo you can see Porcelain Basin, we proceeded to walk around there for a while and then called it a day.  By this time we were all so exhausted with all of the walking we had done.  On our drive back to the "hotel" we came across a couple cars pulled off of the road.  In Yellowstone this means there are animals to look at.  Well, as we crept up behind the car in front of us I could not believe my eyes!

It was a grizzly bear!!!!!  All of my childhood I have been told stories as to how the bears use to hang out next to the road begging for food from tourists.  Well, we feeding them ruined their natural instincts to forage on their own so rangers had to take measures to keep bears away for humans in the park.  So, I have always wanted to see a bear in Yellowstone and never had until this moment!  I was so excited, I jumped out of the car, ran to the back, got out my camera, and started to shoot away!  Now, this bear was only 20 or so feet away from me and I was very nervous.  Therefore, I was not able to get a very good angle and the one time I did........ it was out of focus.  Animals are hard to shoot, especially ones that might eat you for dinner.  This is why day 3 was my favorite!  Just a silly little grizzly bear.

Finally into Yellowstone Day 2

So, day 2 we are able to get into the park for FREE!  We get up, get breakfast, play some games, and leave the "hotel" by around noonish.  We were in a hurry, can't you tell?  Today's objective was to go into Old Faithful and back.  The entire east side of the park was still closed off due to snow because we were there so early in the season.  The only thing on the east side that we could get to is the Grand Canyon which is part of day 4.  As we drive along we kept encountering herds of bison meandering down the road.  Growing up in Idaho this was just like driving through a cattle or sheep drive that was being pushed down the highway.  Except there wasn't as much bison as there usually is in a cattle or sheep drive.

Bison along the Firehole River just off the road.

It was kind of a rainy day.  As you can see in the photo above in the river.  Our first stop of the day was at Fountain Paint Pot.  Just off the the parking lot is a really cool tree root base and we did some family photos.

My sister Missi and her family.

My mom and dad.

Yellowstone is full of fun thermal features such as geysers, hot pools, fumerols, boiling mud pits, and so much more.  The kids always have so much fun, and the adults are always left in wonder as to the amazing creation that we are given.  Yellowstone park service has done very well with board walks everywhere to preserve the natural feel and look of the terrain.  They as well have done a great deal of research into what it is the makes Yellowstone so special and the inner workings of each unique feature. The next stop of the day was Midway Geyser Basin with Grand Prismatic Spring.  I believe it is the largest spring in the park.  It always has beautiful bacterial matts.

A couple years ago when Jentri and I visited the park people had written in the beautiful bacterial mats, totally destroying the natural beauty the once existed.  It was amazing to come back to that devastated area to see that nature had gone through and repaired itself.  They were all grown over!  My other "soap box" is about litter.  People leave their trash out and it looks horrible mixed in with nature.  It is out of place and destroys the experience for the next person.  There are quite a few features in the park that were once more than what they are now, but due to past vandalism they are either no more or are a lot less.  We had 2 more stops until we finally made it to Old Faithful.  Once we arrived there it was time for a late lunch and my other sister, Jen, met up with us.  We watched Old Faithful errupt and proceeded to walk around the village.  Hoping to get into the Old Faithful Inn, THE COOLEST building in the west, we were bummed to find it closed.  Again, we were there too early in the season!  So we decide to head off toward Morning Glory Pool, a sight I have never seen!

This is a photo of our cool Phil&Teds Sport buggy with the double kit hauling all of the camera equipment.  We put this thing through the paces on this trip.  We ran it through one foot deep snow, mud, board walk with stairs, and gravel.  Through it all it performed better than my sister's nice Mac Laren stroller.  We are grateful for the purchase we made and think that it was very worth our money.  On our way to Morning Glory Pool we got side tracked by Castle Geyser.  

This was a definite hit!  Most everyone says that Castle Geyser was the hit of the trip.  This geyser erupted for over an hour straight, 20-30 minutes of water rocketing a near 200 feet then a steam cycle of 30-40 minutes!  This is definitely THE geyser to witness when in Yellowstone.  A lot better show than Old Faithful ever could be.  After sitting through Castle Geyser we all decided to head back to the cars and go back to the "hotel".  Morning Glory Pool will have to wait for another trip yet again.  On our way out of the park I ended my day by shooting the sunset we were driving into.