Halloween prep...

Every year we head to Michaels to see what kids of crafts there are to do. We always end up with wooden shapes to paint and then hang around the house, so we have a couple dozen already. Today we got out our Halloween decorations to put around the house and we found 4 brand new pumpkin shapes to paint! I guess we never got around to doing it last year, but this saved us a trip to the store! They spent a good part of the afternoon painting their wooden pumpkin shapes to hang around the house!

Here are a few of the ones they've done in the past!

Tomato sauce...

I decided to do something about some of the tomatoes that are growing in my garden. Last year we had a lot of tomatoes too and I made spaghetti sauce but I used quart jars and they proved to be a little to big because we didn't use all the sauce from one jar. So this year I decided to use pint jars. There are so many tomatoes that we can't keep up with eating straight off the vine. So, I took 12 pounds of them to make tomato sauce and there are plenty more in the fridge and on the vine! 

Next time I'll make some salsa and hopefully I'll have enough to do some chunkier spaghetti sauce, this one is smooth and smells like tomato soup, yum!

Boil, boil, boil

5 pints of yummy tomato sauce

Pickles!

I made pickles today using this recipe. It was super easy and one that I will probably use again with cucumbers that I grow from my garden. These ones are organic from OB People's and I added some pickling spice to a few jars as well as some green beans and green zebra tomatoes (not many, just a few).

My next canning will be salsa and spaghetti sauce, since we have so many tomatoes this year!

Start with pickles

Each jar is different! Some have green beans, some green tomatoes, all have garlic and some jars have pickling spices!

Done!

Day 32 - Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California!

We packed up the car and hit the road this morning, we were in northern Utah in a big city named Brigham City. It was a nice city but we couldn't stay. We have an itch to get home since we don't have any more stops planned along the way. Driving through Utah we saw lots of farm lands and they were surprisingly diverse! We passed the Young Living lavender farms! Beautiful landscape.

We drove through a tip of Arizona into Nevada and straight to Las Vegas! We treated the kids to a buffet at Circus Circus and a short walk on the strip. They were so excited at every turn. They want to come back. Soon. We tried to explain that it was mostly for adults but they didn't care for that answer. They said they'd hang out in the pool and the souvenir shops!

We also decided that we would get all cozy and comfy in the car for another potential 6 hours in the car so that we could get home tonight, so that's what we did! We watched Las Vegas disappear into the night, saw the Welcome to California sign, made one last potty stop in Baker, CA and fell asleep. We drove in at 2:30am and were all asleep, we were all happy to be home in our cozy beds by 3.

Phew! What an awesome trip! We will do another road trip again but for now we are enjoying being home around all of our stuff.

A little rock art outside the hotel this morning, this one is Noah and Rebekahs

 Ben's rock art (Luigi from the Mario Brothers)

 Hannah's

Striking a pose with Elvis glasses in Las Vegas

Circus Circus!

Welcome home!!

Day 31 - Leaving Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah!

As we left the park this morning we saw a bison hanging out alone right by the highway. There were another bunch of cars but at least this time the people stayed and watched and took pictures from across the street. I'm thinking he's the same one from yesterday since he's alone and in the same general area. We stopped at the last visitor center of the park and the kids did their little interview for their patch. Rebekah didn't want to do it at first and then she was the one who did most of the talking! The rangers loved it. She told them that she "saw a big bison when we left Yellowstone" and that we saw a "big giant geyser that shot up water in the air". She wanted to tell her more but the ranger was ready to hand over their patches. Rebekah wore it proudly for a few hours today.

We stopped in the Grand Teton National Park for lunch and a little fishing on Snake River, the kids were dying to fish again so we had to stop before we packed up the rods. Corey had his fly rod out and went fly fishing for a bit too. There were some French tourists eating lunch nearby and took a picture of Corey because he was using a fly rod. It was funny because they didn't know I could understand them ("les super bon fisheurs savent..."). The man was telling his family that the really good fishermen (meaning fly fishermen) know where the fish are! Corey caught a fish, it was a small one but the kids were thrilled (as I'm sure Corey was) that he caught one on our trip! The tourists had long left so they didn't see.

We traveled through Idaho pretty quickly and into Utah, this northern part of Utah is beautiful! It reminds us a lot of the eastern sierras with the trees and shrubbery, the sage, the mountains and the lakes. So beautiful!

We are heading home and I think we are all ready to be back home. It's been a great road trip, one that we will probably remember for a long time. We are hoping to get as close to Las Vegas as we can tomorrow, we will see about that!

Hannah and Ben getting their Junior Ranger patch!

Noah and Rebekah getting their Junior Ranger patch!

Grand Teton!

 Snake River

 Watching Daddy fly fish

 Elk!

 The drive-in diner, like the 50's (in Wyoming)

Day 30 - Yellowstone National Park

Today we took the day and spent it at camp, went fishing and took showers! It was important for the kids to hang around camp today and we were OK with that idea since we are heading out tomorrow and it might end up being a long driving day. We are heading more directly towards home! So we had pancakes and the rest of our eggs for breakfast and got ready for the day.

We drove to a nearby spot on Yellowstone Lake for some fishing. When we drove up there was a family wih 4 kids eating lunch and they were the same ages as our kids! And their order was the same, boy-girl-boy-girl, we don't see that very often. While the kids fished we could hear lots of thunder rumbling and we could see the big grey clouds looming closer and closer. The arctic wind blew in and we all high-tailed it to the car for lunch.

As we left the fishing spot we saw a crowd of cars on the side of the road and slowed to see what it was all about and so as not to crash. And right there by the road was a bison, laying on the ground taking a rest. It might have been 20 ft from the car. And there was an older woman approaching it, trying to get a closer picture with it. We couldn't believe that she was so close since we got a packet when we entered the park. There was a flier inside saying that visitors have been gored by bison! Maybe she didn't read it or maybe she had and was just testing her superpowers. The fliers are also posted everywhere in the park. We all commented that she was not being smart.

It started raining and we didn't want to go back to the tent to just sit in it so we found a dry spot in a nearby visitor center. That allowed the kids to work on their Jr Ranger programs. We are used to zipping through the programs on this trip and getting the badges but for this badge we had to really do some work and find answers throughout the park! So we looked around yesterday and kept our eyes open for answers that we had to write down today. There was a lot to do but they are mostly done now.

At camp the kids played with some new friends who were going to Mount Rushmore tomorrow and our kids were thrilled to tell them how cool it was and that they had already been there! They played games and found wild strawberries around the campsite. The berries were so tiny but they still picked and tried some of them! Aw my little foragers...

To finish off the day, the rain cleared and we went to the campfire program and learned about the history of bears in Yellowstone and how and why they've become such a problem. It was such a great program and I think the kids really enjoyed it too.

Tomorrow we start our trek home!

Daddy and Rebekah going fishing

 Little fishing girl

 Noah

 Elk!

Wild strawberries in the campsite!

Day 29 - Yellowstone National Park, WY

Well it rained a good part of the night last night, I was so glad that I had the forethought to keep my earplugs from the Unity Raceway! They came in handy last night. The campground we are staying in is really packed with people and tents everywhere. There are barely any trees to separate the campsites and it feels like we are able to touch our neighbor if we reach out long enough. It isn't the ideal camping spot. But I had my earplugs and I slept, the kids were dead asleep with no problem the poor things are so tired at night! So I almost missed the rain but it rained a lot and hard, and I heard it!

We were up early this morning and ready to explore Yellowstone! The rain got everything we left out wet and dripping, mostly our camp chairs but they were drenched!  And we were all hungry and uable to sit so we decided to leave and find food. First stop was a grocery store to pick up breakfast foods. Then we hopped over to the Visitor Center to find out where to go and what to do. The kids picked up the Junior Ranger newspaper and we actually got right to work on it. We drove around the park for a good part of the day, did some quick stops to see some sights but no hiking, unless lots of steps count, and they do in my book!

We stopped at some mudpots and watched them bubble and steam for a while. The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and waterfalls were awesome to see. The canyon was so deep and the falls were huge! Amazing! Our last big stop today was to watch Old faithful blow and we stayed for dinner so we got to see it twice! The kids had to time the first eruption and figure out from their little chart how long it would be until the next eruption. They loved being able to predict it and see if they were right. They were 2 minutes off from the actual time the 2nd eruption happened. Pretty cool!

On our way back to camp we crossed the Continental Divide a couple of times.

Mudpots

 Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with Falls

 Old Faithful

 Lake Yellowstone at sunset

Day 28 - Cody and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We had a nice morning with the Verley family! The kids played and we talked. One of the highlights was Ashtyns John Deere tractor. She zipped around on it really fast. She was having a blast chasing us around the front lawn!

We got to Cody right as the visitor center was closing but the lady let us in and told us that there was a gun fight in front of the Irma Hotel just a few blocks away. So we decided to go to the hotel and watch after we got some dinner. Buffalo Bill Cody was there and some wranglers were causing trouble in the little town shooting up the place, they weren't there to kill anyone but just wanted everyone to know they were there and rob the bank. In the end there was a huge gun fight (which was pretty loud for little ears) and the bank robbers ended up dead on the ground. It was really cool. We got pictures with them and one of them had Ben hold his pistol gun for the picture.

While we were there we shopped a little in the souvenir shops. Rebekah chose a pink glitter baseball cap that she loves to wear backwards like her Uncle Chris! Noah got a skull mood ring (after he saw how cool Hannah's was), Hannah found a magnet for her collection and Ben got a Sheriff badge, so watch out San Diego! There's a sheriff coming to town!

After Cody we headed out of town to Yellowstone National Park. We saw a fox as we were turning into the campground. It had a rodent in its mouth and he wanted to go somewhere to eat it but he was all flustered because he couldn't figure out how to get past our car to cross the road. We are all keeping our eyes open for wildlife. E wise we want to see more! There's elk, bison, moose, deer, squirrels, birds, and so much more to see.

Thank goodness we had reservations (because the campground was full!) because we were getting there so late we ended up putting our tent up in the dark. Thinking about it now though, I have put a tent up and made camp late at night so many times in my life it should be something I'm used to. But I'm not. Also? It was going to pour down rain! Any minute. So we hurried to get the tent fly up too. We aren't allowed to leave anything (like a bare campsite except for a tent) out so everything got thrown into either the car or the tent for the night. We will deal with it all later!

Tomorrow we will take on the park! We hope to get a hike in and some fishing as well as some exploring.

Shell Falls, Bighorn National Forest

 Gunfight show in Cody

 With the bad guys

 With a good guy

Day 27 - Wind Cave, SD and Wyoming

Today we drove to Wind Cave National Park. It's a little park near Mt Rushmore and one of the many cave attractions in the area. We took an hour tour of one of the caves and it was beautiful! As we were going down into the cave Rebekah turned and said "Mommy, I've never been inside a cave before!" she was very excited but I think she was getting a little nervous about it as we walked the path. She did great though, there were lots of slippery steps to go down and she walked the whole way! What a trooper! Good thing there was an elevator to take us back up because she did get tired! The kids worked for a little while on their Junior Ranger badge and then we left to head to Wyoming!

As we drove out of the park we ran into a herd of bison, we pulled over of course! They were ranging free just inside the park, one couldn't figure out how to get around the gate and one was trying to knock down a sign. It was awesome! They just walked right past the car, maybe 6 ft from the front door. I had one wish before I left South Dakota and that was to see a bison and here we saw a couple dozen at once! And so close to us, it was like a personal bison show. That's it, I'm ready to go home...my trip is complete ;)

We got to Wyoming and to Annie and Mikes house just in time for dinner (she had it all ready for us!!). We stayed in their camper trailer for the night and it was perfect! Rebekah and Ashtyn played and Ashtyn showed our kids all around her room and shared her toys and princess shoes. She even got dressed up in a princess dress with a tiara, like Rebekah does regularly at home. They are so alike!

As we got settled in for the night, we watched the skies for lightning and counted how far away the storm was (8 miles!).

Being an elk in the visitor center

 Wind Cave NP

 A bison outside my door!!

 The girls watching as the bison walked by...kinda felt like a safari in Africa

Day 26 - Mount Rushmore, South Dakota

We stayed the night in Wall, SD just outside the Badlands National Park. This morning we visited Wall Drug, the place we saw advertisements starting 350 miles away for. It was such a tourist trap with all the souvenirs and promises for 3 t-shirts for $10, we barely made it out alive! Thank goodness there was Coffee Cabin where we got some surprisingly good coffee to last us the morning of massive souvenir shopping.

We made it to Mount Rushmore by lunch time and it started raining on us the minute we ate our picnic lunch out of the car. Lightly at first and then heavier but we weren't going to leave because of a little rain! We hung out for a while and it blew past us. Last night we saw lightning storms in the distance. It was so awesome! The kids really enjoyed looking for them, except Noah kept missing them and would screech each time we'd say that we saw one. He finally saw one so he was happy.

Mount Rushmore was awesome! The work they did to sculpt and carve and blast it (they used dynamite!) to perfection in the early 1900's is amazing. I'm constantly amazed with the ingenuity and creativity along with the perseverance people have had to make our nation amazing and beautiful.

From the road!!

 Heading in!

 Working together on the Junior Ranger booklets

 Rebekah has her own version

 Trying to explode dynamite

Some of the smaller models used

Kids talking to the Ranger to get their Junior Ranger badge!

4 newest Junior Rangers :)