Splish, Splash!

(I love this picture, it looks like she posing for a swimsuit ad or something. Silly girl!)



Today I bough Abby a little swim pool for our backyard. Its not even June yet, and it seems so hot in the afternoons. Abby absolutely loves to be outside, so I figured the only way to survive the heat all summer long was with some water to cool us down (even though the chances of me getting in the pool are slim to none!). She played in the pool for about an hour, and LOVED it! I think the $25 it cost will be well worth it for hours and hours of summer enjoyment.

Petting Zoo

Today we visited the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. Unfortunately I forgot my camera, which I'm so mad about. But Abby loved the animals, and even let the goats eat some food from her hands. We went on the hayride, but didn't even attempt to put Abby on the pony's because I knew it would be a disaster. It was perfect weather, the sun was shining, but not too hot. This activity at Thanksgiving Point was actually quite reasonably priced, and I wouldn't mind making another trip this summer (and maybe I'll remember the camera).

Working in the Yard

Well, it's been a slow process, and we aren't done yet, but this last week we have (or I should say Cameron has) been making progress in our backyard. With tons of dirt, that is often mud, we are tired of it getting tracked into the house. So we covered some areas in bark and evergreen trees. We also splurged and bought a nice bbq grill, something we have wanted for years. I'm so excited for all the new dinner possibilities (and Cameron doing the cooking). I love the way it turned out, and can't wait till we can do even more, but it will have to wait till next year because we already shot our wad.

Thanksgiving Point Garden

Yesterday Abby and I took a trip to Thanksgiving Point Gardens to see whats left of the tulips from the Tulip Festival. We went with my friend Jolynne and her brand new baby Tayslee. It was so pretty and a nice little walk. Abby loved everything that had water, the pond where we fed the fish, and the waterfalls.

There are tons of waterfalls. We walked past so many, and Abby kept saying "more, more", she just loved to see the water.




It was such a nice day. I love finding local things to do with Abby that she (and I) can enjoy!

Yellowstone

This last weekend we took a trip to Yellowstone. We went with Cam's sister Are and her family, and also Cam's little brother Ethan came along. We left on Thursday, and drove all day to Island Park, ID where our cabin was. As a group, we decided to splurge and get a nice cabin that was so cozy and even had a hot tub.




We were surprised at how much snow was still up there. When we pulled up to our cabin, it looked like it was totally buried in snow. Thankfully there was a path to the door shoveled out. It's still the off-season there, so a lot of the touristy stuff is still closed. That made it hard to find places to eat and buy groceries. The first night, we found a restaurant that was open, and we were the only people there.



On Friday, we went to see Old Faithful,


and then walked around for about 2 hours to see several other geysers and hot springs.


It was SO cold, and I felt totally unprepared for 40 degree weather. We scrounged up as many warm clothes as we could, and also several blankets. Poor Abby was wearing two jackets, one of my jackets that covered her head to toe, and a blanket.


She must have been quite warm because she slept through most of the walk. After that we decided to drive around the park to just sight-see. We spent a lot of time driving all around the park because we were DESPERATE to see a bear. But, we never saw one, I think there was still way to much snow on the ground. With all that driving through the curvy roads, Abby got car sick, and threw up several times all over the back seat of the van. Luckily every one was a good sport and helped get things cleaned up as best as we could.

Saturday, we went Yellowstone's grand canyon and saw amazing waterfalls. A lot of the trails to get close to falls were closed, but we still managed to get some great views.



Abby really enjoyed this day, because we let her walk on all the trails we went on. Thankfully, it warmed up a bit more and we weren't quite as cold.

We saw several animals all over the park, and its amazing how many buffalo there were. There were herds of them, just walking down the road.




We also saw tons of elk, a bald eagle, and a coyote, but no bears, wolves, or moose, which kind of bummed us out.




But all in all it was a great trip, and I can't wait till we can plan our next family adventure.