Yellowstone 2008

We went to Yellowstone last week with my whole family (except Michelle and Derek because they were on the dreadful Pioneer Trek - we sure missed them). We saw wildlife, waterfalls and did lots of hiking. Here are a few highlights...

This is our little family at the waterfall on "Uncle Tom's Trail" - it's a very steep metal staircase hike. It's over 300 stairs, dropping 500 feet. It's pretty easy going down and takes just a few minutes but going back up took me probably a good 30-45 minutes - waaaay longer than the rest of my family.
This is the overlook at Tower Falls. Gorgeous view! The hike to the lower part of the falls was washed out and we weren't able to go down. We saw this big guy off the side of the road. Marie and Kevin were the only other ones that stopped to take pic's with us. I guess my dad didn't care since he can see one every day in his house.
This is everyone swimming at the 45th parallel. It's basically a hotspring that runs into the cold river just off the road going to Gardiner Montana. All those in the pic are Sara, Mike & Oliver, Matt, Grace, Spencer, Anna, Joe and MacKayla and some stranger. The kids had a blast!

This is my adorable family (Joe, MacKayla and Little Joe). This pic was taken at Tower Falls.

Everywhere we went Grace and MacKayla got shoulder rides. Too big for baby backpacks and too little to hike...but they're in training. Matt and Joe sure got their work out ... and Dad and Kevin and Mike.

This is my mom and Dad (Mark & Penny) with the three youngest grandkids (Oliver, Thomas and Joe). You can see that Thomas who is the youngest is probably as big as Oliver who is 18 months. Little Joe is a week older than Thomas but Joe's 14 pounds and Thomas is pushing 20 pounds!!! My mom helped with the babies sooooo much!
MacKayla and Grace kept calling each other "Best Friends" the whole trip...they always ended up fighting over something and then making up.

We were going to swim at the Fire Hole but it was closed because of swift currents so we went up further and went swimming in the Madison River. This is Kevin floating and Mike hanging out. When I say we...I never actually swam the whole trip, just most everyone else.

This is one of my favorites! This is me and my big girl Kayla. She and I are best buds and pinky buds! This is at the overlook to Old Faithful. It was a spectacular view...if only we could see Old Faithful erupt...they say it's not so faithful anymore.

It was an awesome trip!