Second Grade!

The year is finally here when we are in the same grade level!

Official First Day Picture

Swiftsure Jr. Rodeo

Wow.  What an exhausting week.  

Monday meant the start of work and gymnastics camp, followed by an evening meeting for me and a daddy daughter date for the other two.  Tuesday night was a birthday pool party for Emily, and Wednesday was a milestone - Emily had her very first sleep over with her gymnastics team at the gym (followed by an all day camp on Thursday!). Thursday night was another pool party at her coach's house, and since there wasn't camp on Friday, Emily spent most of the day at school with me and attending Meet the Teacher.  Then it was another afternoon mad dash to Swiftsure for the end of the summer Jr. Rodeo.   

After the BBQ, she was waiting her turn to ride. 

Emi with Brooke, her riding partner for the summer

The lady on the right in the above picture was Cally, Emily's first instructor when we started in 2013.  Emily adored Cally, who isn't instructing anymore, so it was such a treat to see her.  Just as a comparison, this is Emily on her third lesson that first summer.

Hugh, Cally, and Emily on Sydney

riding Trigger

School starts on Monday, and phew! There's a break from gym and riding for a week!

Babby Farms

Driving home from Oregon, we stopped and stayed in Nampa Saturday night.  On Sunday morning Aaron was up with the sun to go to a shooting competition, while Emily and I were off to Babby Farms.  This "zoo" is a non-profit organization that gives children and adults with disabilities the opportunity to interact with a wide range of animals.  To help with their cause, they are open to the public and you can pet and feed most of the animals.  We were there just as they opened at 9 AM, and after getting our tickets, one flattened souvenir penny, and a bag of animal food; we were off to see the animals.  Even though the animals were starting to eat their breakfast, as soon as they saw Emily with the bag of food, they came running!

sika deer

angora goat

zedonk - a cross between a zebra and a donkey

yak

baby wallaroos

lemur

But the highlight of our visit was the sloth.  At Discovery Cove in Orlando, there is a sloth named Lucy that we missed seeing, and Emily was bummed.  She was pretty excited that she was able to see this sloth.   

When we first entered her cage, she was doing what sloths do - sleeping.  And as we started to pet, and take a few pictures, she amazingly started to move.  She left her crate and crawled up the sticks and limbs and hung from the top of her enclosure.  Then Emily was able to feed her some vegetables.  

Turns out sloths are pretty cool animals.  We probably could have stayed there a lot longer, but with it being a "school night" it was time to head towards home and get things ready for the crazy week ahead (which includes two pool parties and a pizza with a movie night at the gym). 

And, we did miss Gerda!

One Last Hurrah!

It's back to the routine of school for me, and Emily's last free week of summer vacation will be spent at a gymnastics camp.  With our lazy mornings and fun days coming to an end, we took the opportunity to  get away one last time to Lakeview, Oregon to visit our friends Clint and Heidi (while Aaron was taking a Thunder Ranch class anyway!).  

We left last Wednesday, and stopped plenty of times at coffee shops, gun stores, and playgrounds along the way.  We arrived in Lakeview in time for dinner with friends Shay and Peter who were also there for the class.  We stayed on the Thunder Ranch property in the guest cabin.  Emily and I spent the mornings watching the deer, breaking open cattails, throwing rocks into the pond, and hiking around looking for nature's treasures like feathers, bones, and snake grass.  Our afternoons were spent at the city pool, before meeting everyone for dinners.

an evening stroll 

collecting cattails

Mustache the cat is Emily's favorite

Saturday morning was spent watching the class, while Emily found rocks and trees to climb!

By early afternoon, class was done, the cabin was cleaned, and goodbyes were said before starting the journey toward home.  

Yellowstone National Park

After three hours on the rope and zipline course, we headed into the park.  We had to stop and check out some geysers, mud pots, and hot springs.

We all had rooms in the old wing of the Old Faithful Inn for two nights.  We were to the Inn in time for dinner, which we ate on the deck, and the kids all watched their first (of many) Old Faithful eruptions.

Then we headed over to the visitor center, picked up Junior Ranger books for the kids, and then attended a ranger talk on the geology of the area.  Before we got ice cream and headed off to our rooms, we walked some of the boardwalks around the geyser basin.  

We didn't leave the area on Thursday.  We spent the day watching as many geyser eruptions as we could catch within walking distance of the Inn.  However, I'm sure all the kids would tell you their favorite part was playing tag and other games on the breezeway of the Inn while waiting for Old Faithful to erupt (I stopped counting after 8 eruptions)!

Castle with Beehive in the background

Grotto

Grotto - different angle

Riverside

working on her Junior Ranger book to earn
her Yellowstone badge

Old Faithful from the breezeway

Our plan was to drive the Grand Loop on Friday and part ways at Canyon Village as the Bond family would exit the east gate to head back to Iowa, and Emily and I would head out the west gate toward home.  We were hoping to see animals, and we heard Hayden Valley would have plenty.  We didn't have much luck finding anything - in total, a few elk, 2 bison, a snake, and the bee that stung Emily's finger on Thursday.  Luckily, one of the bison was just outside the Inn as we were packing up, so the kids got a really long, close view of this old male. 

Even though we didn't get to see a lot of wildlife, we did stop by the geyser basin near West Thumb, then the Upper Falls, and finally the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

We had lunch at Canyon Village and then parted ways.  That's when Emily and I saw our second bison and an elk.  

 It was a great vacation, thanks Colt, Drew, and Jack for sharing Yellowstone with Emily!

Jack, Emily, Drew, and Colt