July 14 Hail & heat

So our plan to get up early & hit the road didn’t really happen. I was planning on Dalton waking up early, but he did then went back to sleep. It figures when we want him to wake up early & be our alarm clock he doesn’t wake early, but when we want him to sleep in he doesn’t. I got up to start the space heater again then went to the bathroom. Everyone was still sleeping so I went back to bed as well. It was about 6:30am(ish). Emry was still pretty warm, but she slept all night long. Annika came into our bed & snuggled then hubby finally got up & got moving. The air bed has been losing air & my butt was touching the hard bottom of the bed & the mattress was kind of curved inward towards me. Needless to say I wasn’t comfortable so I decided to get up. Hubby was on a roll which meant I had to hurry or else I’d be the rotten egg (the last one). I got the kids ready & got their breakfast then got myself ready. I fed Emry some yogurt & then hubby was ready to leave. Gotta love how he stands right there near me just waiting. Ugh….I don’t like being rushed. I inhaled some granola & yogurt fast then realized I had to pee. He was attaching the trailer to the suv so I ran to the park bathroom & made it back just in time to leave & good thing too because there were 2 other trailers coming up behind us. We were on the road at 9:06am, not too shabby.

The park seemed empty for a Sunday morning, but we figured people were just now making their way in. It took us about an hour & a half to get out of the park & we saw more buffalo & prong horn on the way out. They are amazing & beautiful creatures, but I’m kind of to the point now where “you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all”. We had our close encounter with them already & got photos so no need to stop….unless they’re blocking the road & they did that to us the day before. I got a photo of the buffalo walking down the middle of the road & his hump is in the window as hubby drove by. As we exited the park there was a huge line of people ready to get in. Yep we made it out just in time to avoid all the traffic. We crossed over into Montana for a brief time then were in Idaho. Every time I hear the word Idaho I think of Mr. Potato head from Toy Story “way to go Idaho”. The kids watch those movies way too much & I hear the dialogue so I could probably recite the movies. We were worried that the kids would be totally unbearable during this long drive, but they did amazingly well & we were so grateful. I made sure to praise them on being so well behaved. One of Dalton’s favorite movies right now is Toy Story. He calls it “Woody Buzz” movie & he’ll say it over & over & over again “woody buzz woody buzz woody buzz” until you get him his movie. It reminds me of when I was traveling in Germany with hubby & his friend & I had to pee, but his friend said we weren’t stopping. I started with “peepee peepee peepee peepee” & next thing I know he’s pulling over. Haha! Hey it worked & now it’s coming back to me with my son. Yep full circle. Today Dalton said “da skyyyyy” in reference to the part of the movie when Woody’s string gets pulled & he says “reach for the sky”. He’s so darn cute….my son that is.

Since we are out west we see LOTS of cows & horses & each time Annika says “uhhh mommy you might want to look out your window right now”. I know what she’s talking about, but I make sure to comment with an “ooohhh horses” or “wow look at all those cows” or something just to acknowledge her. Again “you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all” but she gets so much joy & excitement out of seeing them & I don’t want to make her feel like it’s not a big deal. One thing hubby & I find humorous is when Dalton sees animals on his side then says “ha ha ha ha” in that teasing kind of way like “they’re on my side not yours”. Annika always comes back with “be nice Dalton” or “how come nothing is ever on my side”. Sheesh the sibling rivalry so soon?

As we made our way into Utah we saw dark clouds & sheets of rain ahead. Maaaan this weather is drawn to us. There were huge drops of rain then the hail started & it sounded like it would shatter the windshield, but thankfully it didn’t. At one point Dalton screamed, which made us laugh, but I reassured him that it was ok & it was just big rain. When we finally got in front of the storm hubby filled up at a gas station & we checked out to see if there were any dings, but we were all good. Whew! Of course the storm was catching up to us again so we got out of there as fast as we could, but not before I had to change Emry’s diaper on the front seat & I started to get rained on.

Our destination was Ogden, UT where Hill Air Force Base is. It was so hot! It was reading 95 in our suv. We are not used to that kind of heat since we’ve been up in the mountains the last week or so & before that it hasn’t been very hot at any of the places we’ve been. I was ready to get leave before even setting up & get back up in elevation where it’s cooler temps. I scored on a “camp site”, but it was really a mobile home park for $13.50 for one night. Hey it didn’t matter to us since we were only there to rest before hitting the road again. We need to hit up more inexpensive spots like this to make up for the expensive park camping we did. I planned on taking the kids swimming, but the pool closed at 8 & by the time we set up & ate dinner it was after 7 & would take at least 15 min to get everyone ready so it wouldn’t have been worth it to go. That’s ok because it turned out nicely in the evening & I went outside for a bit with the kids to play a few games with them. We played hide n seek & freeze tag. Annika has one of those laughs when you hear it you start laughing too & you’re not sure what you’re laughing at. Oh I made one of Annika’s favorite dishes for dinner (chicken n rice) & she ate everything off her plate & said “I love this stuff, it’s my favorite & I want to eat it all the time”. Well ok then. Later that evening I was trying to explain something to her in a serious manner & when I was done she said “look mommy there’s something shiny” I couldn’t help but laugh. That girl cracks me up. Did she hear a word I said? Probably not.

Bed time came & I blew up the air mattress. I noticed it was leaking faster than it usually did. I was bummed out since under the air mattress is just a piece of hard wood. My back & neck are already jacked up from sleeping around the kids all the time. I didn’t want to feel even worse sleeping on plywood. I blew up the mattress again to see if I could find the leak. I could hear it & when I lifted the sheets I saw a tear/hole big enough to fit my pinkie finger in. Bummer. Annika came over to inspect & stuck her little finger in the hole before I could tell her not to & the whole grew. Gah! Hubby took a look & said “yep it’s done, there’s no fixing that”. Not what I wanted to hear so late at night. Thankfully we have a king & twin size air mattress with us. The king was way too big so it had to be the twin size. Well wouldn’t you know that when he took the seat cushions off the bench seats (kitchen table) they fit perfectly next to that twin mattress so neither one of us would have to sleep on that hard wood. Sweet! He’s so handy to have around. The kids were watching Cars while all this was taking place. Once everything was good to go, I got Emry to sleep & hubby showered & laid next to Dalton. He was snoring in no time (hubby not Dalton). Two more down, but now for the night owl. Annika was playing a horse game & said she wasn’t tired. Riiiight. She fell asleep rather quickly & I was going to move everyone around, but decided it was all good. Tomorrow we’re stopping by the Mormon church to take a photo then it’s off to Capitol Reef National Park & Bryce Canyon.

July 13 Hubba hubba hubby

I woke to the sounds of knocking on our door. It was one of the park workers asking if we were leaving today. Uhh no. I told him we were here until tomorrow. He said “ok I was told to come over here & ask, sorry for waking you”. Gee thanks, but I managed to go back to sleep for a little while. Emry woke up with a smile & seemed fine, but she was still feverish throughout the day. She was playful & had an appetite. I’m thinking she’s just teething because she had some nasty poops today. I remember Dalton having nasty poop after poop when he was teething. I pray this is just it & nothing more.  

Since we were done seeing everything we wanted to see at Yellowstone, we decided today would be a lazy day with some cleaning up & reorganizing.  After breakfast hubby got into nesting mode or something so I took Annika & Dalton out for some play time. Annika wanted to finish the ranch we started yesterday. We collected some sticks to make a corral, training circle, and a cabin shelter for the people. Dalton was trying to help, but kept knocking stuff down, which irritated Annika & caused her to talk mean to him. Ah the vicious circle. Once the cabin shelter was done we needed pine needles to cover the roof to protect from rain. Annika was so into doing this. She’s very creative, which I love. After a while I could hear Emry crying so I had to tend to her. Hubby had vacuumed inside & pulled the stuff out from under the couch to vacuum under there & rearrange. He even remade the kid’s bed. What? I was loving this. I don’t know about most women, but my idea of an attractive man has changed from my young years. In high school & my very early 20s it was all about the most attractive guy. Of course those attractive guys from high school are now not so attractive. I see lots of beer bellies & lack of motivation on their part. Now, although looks are nice it’s not only about that. It’s about how good a husband & father he is. Seeing my hubby fix things around the house, clean up & rock our babies makes me want to jump his bones even more…hehe…and his looks are still there. I can stare at him just as long now as I did back then. Ok I got side tracked. Where was I? Oh yeah, by now it was lunch time so we ate & got ready to head out. We wanted to see the Fishing Bridge & Yellowstone River up close. We also wanted to find a wifi window so he could check his email to see if any job stuff has popped up.

We found a nice picnic area near the water & hubby put his feet in & said it was freezing. Water was crystal clear. We saw a pelican & buffalo tracks. Dalton kept squatting next to the river (too close for my comfort) & was looking thru his binoculars. He was checking out the tall grass & flowers too. He cracks me up.

Went to the famous fishing bridge (you can’t fish on it anymore) & I walked down with Annika while hubby walked on the bridge with sleeping Dalton. It was windy & a little chilly out so I was doing my best to keep Emry’s ears covered as well as her body. She loves to put her arm up & out of the Ergo carrier, but I prefer her to be all tucked inside. Annika & I walked up to the bridge & I got a photo of them with the river in the background then it was back to camp for us. On the walk back to the suv, Dalton literally stopped to smell all the flowers. He would stick his nose down, take a whiff, then say “umm good” or “aaahhh” or “yummy”. It was cute, then I started to get annoyed because I wanted to hurry & get Emry out of the wind, but watching him reminded me how we should all stop to smell the flowers. Life happens too fast & we should take a break & look at the beauty around us. Funny how a 2 year old can teach you things or just remind you of what you should be doing.

I actually sat outside & relaxed for a while with hubby & the kids while they played. I think this was only the 2^nd time on our trip that I’ve done this. I need to do it more often. After a while Emry was rubbing her eyes & being fussy so I took her in to feed her & put her to sleep. She zonked fast so I decided to nap as well. It was a perfect opportunity so I wasn’t passing it up. I slept for 13 minutes then hubby came in with an angry Dalton who needed his diaper changed. He woke up Emry, but I managed to get her back to sleep fast. They went back outside & we went back to dream land. Ahhhh loved it! I slept for about an hour, but it felt like 5 minutes. I will take what I can get.

Hubby came back in with the kiddos & started dinner & did all the dishes & cleaned up. What? I had to make the comment that “daddy is awesome” to which Annika replied “daddy’s our hero”. Our plan was to get the kids in bed early so we can get out of here early in the morning. We’re heading out the western entrance to the park into Idaho then down to Utah. We are planning to do it all in one day which should be about 6 hours. That’ll be the longest trip so far. We’ll see how it goes. I did get the kids bathed & lying in bed watching a movie by 8pm, but it was almost 11 before Annika finally went to sleep. Dalton on the other hand was happy to fall asleep. I’ve caught up with my blogging & heading to bed “early”. It’s 11:16pm.

July 12 Baby fever & no not that kind

Last night Emry had a fever. I couldn’t find the thermometer, but I didn’t need it to know that she was feverish. After searching everywhere for medicine I remembered it was under the bench seat. I gave her a dose of motrin then got her to sleep. I gave her doses again at 2:35am & 8:30am(ish). Her poor little cheeks were so red due to her fever & of course I started to worry. I always feel helpless when my kiddos are sick. I let her sleep just in her diaper so she wouldn’t get too hot. I used a baby wipe to wipe all over her face, head & body to help cool her off. She didn’t like it, but she fell back asleep. I told hubby we should take her to the clinic here at the park to make sure she didn’t have an ear infection or worse. He felt differently, but hey don’t argue with a worried mama.

I figured the morning would be a good time to do laundry, but I was wrong. It was packed full of people.  It took longer than it normally would because I had only 1 washer then waited for others to open up. I managed to get 2 more beside the one I already had. I put one load in the dryer then had about 18 minutes before the others were ready. I drove back to camp to feed Emry & check on her. I took both Emry & Annika with me to relieve hubby. Annika played outside with a friend while I finished up. Poor Emry was not feeling well at all. I don’t know if she’s teething or just sick. It took forever to finish up, but we got back to camp & had lunch then headed out.

We first took Emry to the clinic which thankfully was only about 4-5 miles away. She had 103 fever! My level of worry went up about 10 notches. They did all her vitals & was grateful to hear her lungs were clear & oxygen level was good. Her ears were clear as well. She’s almost 18 pounds, but thought she’d be bigger than that. So the p.a. said she’s sick, but not sick sick. He said it could be a bladder infection, but he didn’t want to put a catheter in her. He said even if she did have an ear infection (she didn’t) they don’t prescribe antibiotics anymore since usually after 3 days the infection is gone anyway. I guess I worry about long term results from ear infections. She didn’t need any prescriptions, but they said if she wasn’t better or if she got worse to bring her back tomorrow. I prayed I didn’t have to bring her back. My poor baby girl. They told me to alternate the Tylenol & motrin, but the Tylenol dosage doesn’t seem right to me & we have no freggin wifi for me to research it. The last thing I want to do is overdose my baby. So I will do motrin until I get it figured out or until she gets better.

By the time we got ready to head out to do the other loop it was almost 3pm. Annika mentioned to us that she had no shoes. What? I always say “socks & shoes on”. So after hubby got the propane tank filled & our gas tank filled, we headed back to the trailer to get shoes & the binoculars that we always forget. We figured we’d all might as well get out & I fed Emry while we got a few bites to eat. We finally hit the road & saw more buffalo & elk & dumb people holding up traffic to take pictures. Why do they feel the need to get as close to the WILD life as possible? I couldn’t believe they let their children out of their vehicles to get near these WILD animals. Where is their common sense? Please if any of you are reading this, don’t be foolish & let your kids out of your vehicle while you take photos of wild animals. If you want to put your life in danger that’s your choice, but don’t make that choice for your young children. The animals are unpredictable & faster than you or I or your children can run. Is it worth putting your children in harms way so you can get a freggin photo? It makes me mad & I get irritated when I see them do that. I’d hate for those buffalo to freak out & charge at the crowd. The kids naturally are the slowest so they would be the ones in serious danger. Then who would the parents blame? Surely not themselves. Ok done with my rant.

Towards the end of the loop we saw some new animals finally. A bear crossed the road & went up to the side of the mountain. I managed to get a photo from inside our vehicle. I’m not going to get out & slow traffic since I don’t like it when other people do that. I stood up & propped myself out of the sunroof. Tada picture taken & we could check that animal off our list. We also saw a ratty ‘ol fox trotting down the side of the road. A couple of times hubby said “there’s a bald eagle” but nope it was either a raven or hawk. I spotted a bald eagle perched on a tree near a river. Check! But still no moose.

We saw some awesome waterfalls that you could hear before even seeing them. They were pretty awesome & the raging river made me want to go white water rafting. I’ll add that to my bucket list. About half way around this other loop there was road work & we had to wait about 10 minutes for the “follow me” car. That gave me enough time to change the baby’s diaper. I wanted to feed her, but traffic started moving & hubby was anxious to go. Humpf. By the time we finished the loop it was late once again & dinner, baths & bed was late as usual. Dalton is easy to put to bed, but my night owl, Annika, is a procrastinator & looks for excuses to stay awake. One day she’ll understand how precious her sleep is.

July 11 Yellowstone National Park

Rough night for me. Dalton fell off the bed around 2:46am & I knew it was going to happen. I didn’t set up the baby’s pack n play like we normally do & it kind of acts as a barrier so the kids won’t fall off the side of the sofa bed. Annika kind of fell off one night in like a slow motion kind of way, but was just wedged in between the sofa bed & the pack n play. She was still asleep so no booboos there. Dalton on the other hand landed with a thud & then screamed. I jumped out of bed & swooped him up then put him in bed with us. He woke again around 4ish then again at 6:30ish. The baby was up early because she fell asleep early & slept all night long. We thought about trying to sleep in & take our time leaving the park since we couldn’t check in to the Yellowstone camp until 2pm, but we got up & did the tear down routine so I could take the kids to the beach one last time.

On the way down to the lake we saw a deer with probably 6 point horns. It was just munching away near the road. So neat. Annika wanted to get a photo of the deer, but he got spooked since Dalton doesn’t always whisper. It’s funny to hear Dalton try & whisper. It’s not much of a whisper really, he’s so darn loud. We got to the lake & the mountains were beautiful & the air was crisp. It was a little cool, but not too bad. I loved it. Annika was trying to create a river by scraping a line thru the sand to make a trench then the water was trying to make its way in & down the path, but it wasn’t quite getting in there. Annika started throwing rocks in the water to create ripples so the water would push its way into the path. Smart thinking, but it still wouldn’t go all the way in. Dalton in the meantime was busy throwing rock after rock into the lake & was picking up some pretty big ones. I was just waiting for one of them to fall on his foot or even worse his head since he had to put them over his head to throw them. Annika tried her trench again in a different area & it worked. She was thrilled. After about 30 minutes I had to use the bathroom really bad so we quickly made our way back to camp. Kurt was relaxing at the picnic table & was all ready to go so he loaded up the kiddos while I did my business. We said good bye to the beautiful scenery & made our way into Yellowstone.

Kurt’s mom got the kids these national park passports so they can get passport stamps from all the parks. Of course I forgot to get them & they got packed away, but we’ve been stamping on pieces of paper so we can put them in their books. Well we forgot to get the Grand Teton passport stamp & when we remembered we were heading out of the park & there was no visitor center at the exit/entrance where we were at. Bummer. Oh well maybe someday down the road we’ll be back & can get it then.

The drive thru Yellowstone wasn’t as picturesque as Grand Teton, but it was very green & foresty. We got to the campground & they were busy. This campground is the only full hook up place in the whole park so I was grateful for at least one night. I asked if they had any cancellations, but she encouraged me to check back later. We set up then headed out to see Ol Faithful. The geyser only went off every 90 minutes so we weren’t sure how long we’d have to wait. They had several buildings there with souvenirs, restaurant, visitor center, etc just in case we needed to kill time. Well we got lucky & got there in time to see it. We had to wait, but not too long. Ol Faithful sent steam up then bubbled & teased us then it spouted up way in the air. It was fantastic! Afterward the crowd dispersed quickly so we headed to the gift shop for our souvenir t-shirt. I wasn’t going to miss my opportunity again. We haven’t been in any gift shops in a while so this was the test to see how it would go. Thankfully the meltdown was minimal, but could have been missed all together if hubby would have let Annika have her miniature toy wolf or whatever it was. She decided on this nifty all in one compass, flash light, & whistle. She was happy with that & who knows it could come in handy.

There are a couple loops to drive in Yellowstone so we went to finish the loop where Ol Faithful was. It’s a lot longer then it seems because the speed limit is only 45 mph & people stop in the middle of the road to take photos of wild life. It was annoying. I personally feel that if you’ve seen one buffalo you’ve seen them all. We had our very close encounter with buffalo back at the Badlands so we didn’t feel the urge to stop & photograph every single one that was near the road. Plus we had 3 kids with us that don’t understand the concept of time & get fussy pretty fast. There were more geysers & hot springs along the route & they had some beautiful colors in them. There was this one area with 3 or 4 hot springs & they had yellows, oranges, turquoise & almost a reddish color to them. They were stinky too. It was kinda windy & a bit chilly so I had Emry snuggled next to me & she fell asleep on our way back to the suv. We saw a huge hawk flying above & we missed seeing the impact, but it dove into the river down below to catch a fish. Gotta love nature. We also saw a raging river & water fall. It was starting to sprinkle so we took turns running out to see the sites so we didn’t have to take all the kids out. Getting them out isn’t a big deal, but getting them all back in is not fun. Hubby told me I had to get out & see this one river & falls so I took Annika with me. I carried her & took the umbrella then we took a photo of just the 2 of us with the waterfall in the background. I made the comment that I looked gross or ugly, but Annika said “no mommy you look beautiful”. I thanked her for being sweet. I need to remind myself not to say those things in front of her because I don’t want her to grow up thinking the same thing. I don’t’ want her feeling the way I do when I look in the mirror. I want her to be confident in herself & be happy with her looks. She’s a beautiful girl & I know she will be a beautiful woman. I look back on my photos & I was cuter & youthful looking, but motherhood has changed me. The sleepless nights have aged me about 10 years, but hey I wouldn’t change it. My babies are worth it. I’m just ever so grateful my hubby loves me just the way I am.

Anyway, this loop took us about 4.5 hours, which seemed like forever. We saw more buffalo & elk, but want to be able to check off all the wild life from this park. We still need to see a fox, coyote, wolf, moose, bald & eagle. As we got back to camp I ran in to see if there were any cancellations. I have luck on my side because they did! We were able to get 2 more nights & I flashed my smile & batted my eyes to an older gentleman who was able to keep us in our same spot. Talk about the ending we needed & wanted. Now we could relax about where to stay the next couple of nights. Tomorrow we do the other loop around the park.