Sneak Peak of Yellowstone

After setting up camp and having a bite to eat for dinner we decided to take the quick drive to see Old Faithful.  We figured at 6 o'clock at night the crowd would be leaving the park and there might even be a better chance to see animals on the drive to Old Faithful.  Our camp was 4 blocks from the entrance of the park and about a 30 minute drive to Old Faithful.  We stopped at the painters pots to take a look at a few geysers on the way.  The boys were excited to see what the geysers were all about, but of course didn't love the smell.  Gannon didn't like the steam coming by him either. 

We somehow timed Old Faithful perfect.  It goes off approximately every 90 minutes and we got there with about 10 minutes to wait, not bad.  We watched the quick explosion (or whatever it's called) and they boys thought that was pretty cool and then we headed back to camp.  Didn't see any animals, but the sunset was very pretty!

The Fish!

We stopped in a little town called Ennis on our way to West Yellowstone for lunch and they had these painted fish throughout the town.  Gannon has turned into a complete tourist and needed his picture taken next to each one that we saw.  He was pretty funny with his, "take my picture" and "cheese"! 

Saying our "see you laters"

The morning we were heading off to Yellowstone my grandparents came by to say "see you later" and hangout with the boys one more time.  It was so nice to visit with them.  I have great memories of my grandparents as a kid and am glad the boys are getting to know their Great Grandparents.  Grandma of course brought the boys some more of her cupcakes...a perfect breakfast dessert!

After the folk festival Grandma was feeling better so I dropped Dave and the boys off at the trailer and went to hangout with Grandma some more.  She cooked Grandpa and I a bite to eat and we finished looking at old photo albums.  It's always fun to sit and talk with Grandma.  I really enjoy my time with them.

Butte Folk Festival

The Butte Folk Festival was taking place while we were visiting my grandparents and Grandpa was excited to show us a fun day.  The festival is about 20 minutes from my grandparents house so it was a quick drive.  Grandma wasn't feeling good so it was us and Grandpa for the afternoon.  On our way over we stopped at Walmart to pick up some of Grandma's pictures and we quickly looked for a boat and trailer that Gannon has been dreaming of...and they had one!  Off to listen to music.  We parked, rode the bus up to the main stage to enjoy the music.  After grabbing some kettle corn for the boys and a burger for Grandpa we sat and listened to a Gospel group.  The boys love to listen to music so they were great to sit with Great Grandpa and enjoy.

We watched a western group and a rockabilly groups too.  These two were on the main stage which was build under an old mine shaft, pretty awesome stage and area to enjoy the music too. 

I brought the umbrellas because a thunderstorm was in the forecast.  Never needed them for rain, but they sure came in handy for the sun.  As if we aren't from California!

It was a fun day...oh and did I mention free!

Anaconda Visit

Dave went to lunch with one of his high school teacher's so the boys and I hung out with my grandparents and aunt for the afternoon.  We took a drive up by Georgetown Lake and to very pretty church at the top of a hill that overlooks Anaconda.  We then went to the giants slides in town, just climbing the stairs was a huge workout.  According to Garrett (who is probably very accurate) they rode the slide 6 times and were quite sweaty at the end.  I of course had to ride too so I talked my Aunt into doing a quick slide with me!

Grandma made a HUGE dinner for all us and it was of course very yummy.  Gannon loved the mashed potatoes and the glazed carrots, Garrett loved the steak! 

It's always fun to hangout with Grandpa and Grandma Ockler and it was fun to visit their house again.

Fairmont Hot Springs

Our camp in Anaconda was right next door to the Fairmont Hot Springs.  I swam here as a kid so it was fun to take Garrett and Gannon.  The pools are filled with water from a natural hot spring so the water is around 85 degrees! Perfect for swimming all day year round.  Garrett and Gannon are loving swimming this year and have become very brave in the water.  The pool has a huge under 3 foot area so they could walk around that and would swim on my arms to the deeper side of the pool to jump in and swim back on their own.  It was a fun morning of swimming.

Lunch with Tom

My dads friend Tom lives in Missoula and I have known him my entire life.  I was the flower girl in his wedding long ago.  I haven't see Tom in probably 20 years so I was excited to see him.  He and his wife were out of town when we were staying in Missoula so we planned to have lunch with him on our way back through from Columbia Falls to Anaconda.  It was fun to see him and catch up on 20 years.