Summer time and the livin's easy

Ok. My first official blog was going to be all about our adventures this summer, but we’ve had too many to possibly give them all the credit they deserve. The biggest adventure was the birth of Andie Michelle on July 8^th. The older girls fell right in to their roles as big sisters, showing Andie the world as they see it.

In mid August, Andie did go on her first camping trip. We spent an awesome weekend in Teton canyon.

As far as Michelle goes, early summer meant she was mega-prego and by mid summer, we had a new bean that was too young for our wild weekends. This gave me PLENTY of excuses to take the other two girls out for some fun. We had multiple fishing trips on the Henry’s fork, complete with nights in tents. It was awesome.

The most notable night out was the girl’s first backpacking trip. We hiked the 1.3 miles into Aldous lake on the Idaho/Montana border. The trail is part of the continental divide trail and was perfect for 3 and 5 year old legs. I’m still not sure how I fit 3 sleeping bags, 3 sleeping pads, 2 pet pillows, a 3 man tent, cook gear, clothes, and enough food for a week (mom did not want her babies to go hungry) into my pack. It was completely awesome.

Fast forward to last weekend. I was chomping at the bit to go do something, so I used my usual excuse. “Honey. Would you like me to get the girls out of your hair for a couple of days?” Tee hee hee. I asked the girls what they would like to do. Of course it was Yellowstone. I bought an air mattress that would fit the bed of my truck, loaded our stuff, and headed out. (See James Halfpenny’s book about Yellowstone Bears. There is a great story about a grizz in the Indian Creek area bear named “The Tent Crusher.” This is why Michelle was much more comfortable with us sleeping in the back of my truck)

Our mission was to find bears. Kellie and Katelyn are both just crazy about them. We have had good luck lately, but not so much on this trip. We struck out. However, we did come across 10 wolves. 1 on the Blacktail Plateau, 3 at the east end of Lamar valley, 3 near Slough creek, and 3 more in the Hayden valley.

We spent a lot of time in the car, but had a total blast!