Yellowstone Is Amazing!

We Salt Lake City Mays joined forces with the Vancouver Mays and the California Kings and ventured up to Yellowstone earlier this month. Lisa had never been and she and the kids literally spent months preparing -- checking out library books, looking at websites, and pretending to be Yellowstone animals. Kirse's siblings put us up in great style at their houses in Idaho Falls our first night and we'd like to offer them a special thanks.
There was some concern that the reality of Yellowstone wouldn't live up to the hype, but it more than did! On our first day in the park, (after immediately seeing several elk on the side of the road) we drove straight to Old Faithful, which happened to be due to erupt within minutes. We watched the whole splendid event from a great vantage point and the kids (particularly Stella) just adored it. Next we hiked a trail that started near Old Faithful and took us past multiple geysers and hot pots. Emerson and his cousin, Ethan, held hands the whole way and marveled at all the names for the various features while Stella unexpectedly enjoyed riding in the jogging stroller the whole way (a welcome surprise when burning death lurks disguised on either side of the trail). We topped off our first day with a hike at Fountain Paint Pots where some of the geysers and mud pots have been turned green or pink by algae and bacteria. It was like a mysterious lunar landscape that we could hardly believe was earthly.
Day two involved some brilliant planning by Kirse, making it possible for us to encounter a whole herd of bison roaming and resting on either side of the road. At one point, a bison pair crossed the road immediately behind our car and the male turned his head, looked at our car, and gruffed. Emerson and Stella were thrilled! And the close encounters didn't end there; when we arrived to hike the mud volcano trail, bison were on either side of it, at one point crossing at a nearly uncomfortable proximity. It was on this hike that Emerson made his top two comments of the trip. When he and Ethan were strolling along next to Caroline, Emerson turned to his aunt and said, "You probably don't want to hold our hands because we're going to talk about gross stuff." As soon as Caroline let go, Emerson turned to Ethan and said, "So what about T-rex poop?" While watching a bison standing next to a small geyser, Emerson remarked, "He's standing there so the geyser will hit him in the butt." Oh the humor of a four-year-old boy!
We also got to see both the Upper and Lower Falls, images of Bierstadt and Moran paintings flashing through our brains, particularly at Artists' Point. On our way out of the park that day, we saw bald eagles and more elk, in addition to the trout we'd seen in the river during our lunch picnic.
Our final day, we didn't explore Yellowstone but stopped at a couple of fun places as we drove home. First we visited Big Springs, which consisted of a gorgeous pond and stream where we saw a giant trout and a muskrat swimming in the water (launching a weeks-long obsession with all rodents for Emerson). Then we stopped by Mesa Falls, a gorgeous water fall with gray cliffs cloaked in verdent, cascading ferns. It was a perfect way to cap off the visual extravaganza that was our trip. And once again, we were completely blown away by what excellent little travelers our kids were; they slept well in strange places, were champs on long car drives (with very minimal dvd viewing), and excited about both the sights and their cousins the entire time.
In other news, Lisa had her second prenatal doctor's visit. After a little hunting, the nurse was able to find the baby's heartbeat for several glorious seconds (with the speakers turned up so loud that Stella still thinks the baby's heartbeat is a deafening boom). Perhaps it's Lisa's innate paranoia, perhaps it's the fact that she didn't have to take any confirmation pregnancy tests at the doctor's office, but until that moment, Lisa had started to wonder if this pregnancy might all be psychosomatic. Feeling better at an early stage and being forced by the needs of her already existing children to ignore most symptoms had literally made her forget, at times, that she was pregnant. But all hopes and joys were restored as Lisa heard that little heartbeat.
Preschool started back up for Emerson yesterday, reminding us that summer truly is coming to a close. How did it go so fast? And while our little guy loves going to preschool, we're somewhat sad to have him gone again three mornings each week -- we can't even think about kindergarten next year. So now we're again cherishing each afternoon of splash time in the back yard when Emerson and Stella bask in the sun. And we're finally enjoying all the fruits (or vegetables, as the case may be) of our garden -- super-juicy tomatoes (making excellent salsa) and crunchy cucumbers -- and anticipating the ears of corn that actually grew, apples that weigh our tree heavily (Lisa sees the near future in this plight), and pumpkins for which we still hope. We hope you all are well and send our love.