Big Bog Camping Trip

We went camping at the Big Bog State Recreational Area on the Upper Red Lake this past weekend.  When we got there on Saturday, it was really hot so we spent the majority of the afternoon in the lake.  On Sunday morning, everyone wanted to climb the fire tower.  It was very windy that morning, which made the last few flights of stairs more interesting to climb.  Jesse and Jason counted the steps, 139 of them.  Kora walked all of them up and down without being carried. 

Megan and Jason thought it was so fun that when we

got back to the bottom, they went back up again

so we could get a picture of them from the ground.

 

 

Then we went fishing at a little pond in the north unit

of the recreational area.  The kids caught lots of little

blue gill, pumpkin seeds, and large mouth bass. 

 

Kora enjoyed her cheerios and running up and

down the dock after she got tired of fishing.

 

We also walked the boardwalk that leads out into the bog.  Megan and Jason

 enjoyed seeing the Pitcher plants the most.  These are plants that eat insects.

 

 



 

On Monday morning, we went canoeing on the Tamarack River.  Kora also had to take a turn in the front seat so she could have a turn using the oar.  Before we left for home, we had to climb to the top of the fire tower one last time.  Kora again walked the entire way up and down.

Happy Birthday! 10 Years Old!

 

It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years already since Megan and Jason were born.

 

 

We had a birthday party at our house for them last weekend. 

Jason requested that he have his own cake instead of having to

share one with Megan.

Jason with his "Halo" cake.

Megan had a Garfield cake.

 

Today, on their actual birthday we went swimming at a pool.

 

Shooting water out of the noodles.

They still have great smiles and enjoy being together

like when they were infants, (most of the time).

Kora also enjoyed the pool.

July Fun

Here are pictures from the month of July.

 



With Cousin Jakob and Jordin at the July 4th Parade. 

Kora was working hard on getting the candy out of the box.

 



Sparklers for the 4th of July. 

 

Jason loves to light fireworks.  Megan was finally brave enough to start lighting some herself this year.  Kora and Jordin went in the house to go to bed once the sparklers were done and we started with the loud ones.  Megan still wore her ear muffs.  Couldn't talk her out of those.

 

 

July 11th was the last Saturday of soccer for Jason for the season.  



 

 

We went to the county fair and Kora got to ride some of the carnival rides

for the first time this year.  She was just tall enough to go on the rides. 

 

This was her first ride.  She wasn't sure if she liked it yet or not,

so no smile for the camera.  But she did decide later that she

liked them and wanted to go on more.

 

The carousel with Megan was her favorite ride.



Final Day in Yellowstone

On Thursday, June 18, we packed up our camp and started to head out of Yellowstone. On the way, we stopped at Mammoth Hot Springs. There was a boardwalk that took you all the way to the top of the hill.  It included a lot of steps.  Kora wanted to walk all the way to the top, too.  She did make it on her own, she only wanted to be carried on the way back down on the last few sets of steps.

Lower Terrace of Mammoth Hot Springs

We then started to head to the Northeast Entrance, but stopped at Tower Falls along the way.

Tower Falls

We saw pronghorn antelope, a grizzly bear, and thousands of bison in the Lamar Valley along our drive to the northeast entrance.

 

We drove through the Beartooth Pass on our way back up to interstate.  I'm glad Jesse was driving with all the switch backs and deep drop-offs on the side of the road.   It was nerve racking just being the passenger.  Jesse and Jason enjoyed having a snow ball fight at the summit.  Kora and Megan weren't very excited about it. 

 

Yellowstone Day 3

On Wednesday, June 17, we hiked around our campground in the morning.  We went on a longer trail this time. Everybody was worried about seeing a bear, but we didn't see one.

 It wouldn't be a family camping trip if Jason didn't cut or scrape himself in some way. This time he was standing on a log when it rolled and he fell and cut his hand on a sharp stick on the log.

This was as close as we got to climbing up the side of a mountain.

A bison was laying down near the road to our

campground when we walked back to camp.

 

 

In the afternoon, Jesse, Jason, and Megan went white water rafting on the Yellowstone River. Jason was very excited to go rafting. They all had fun. Jason almost got tipped out of the raft when it hit a class 2 rapid, but he was strong enough to pull himself back in. A man from Texas was not so lucky; he got wet.

Yellowstone Day 2

On Tuesday, June 16, we drove to the southern part of the park to see Old Faithful and the other geysers and hot springs.  Kora hated the smell of the springs and the steam in her face.  Megan really liked them. She wanted to keep walking along the board walks to see them all.

Old Faithful

Megan and Jason in front of sawmill geyser, which was erupting.

Jesse and Kora also in front of sawmill geyser.

Later, we drove over to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the Upper and Lower Falls.

Lower Falls from Artist Point

Brink of the Upper Falls

Lower Falls

Yellowstone Family Vacation

We left on June 13 for our family trip to Yellowstone National Park.  On the morning of that first day, both Jason and Kora had screws fall out of their glasses, which we couldn't find since they were outside in the grass.  Neither one has ever lost screws before, but of course since we were on vacation they both lost one within an hour of each other. Jesse did a wonderful job wiring them back together with some wire we had in the car and with the wire from a bread tie.  They lasted the whole rest of the trip. 

We got to Livingston, MT, where we stayed on Sunday night, June 14.  Here is a picture after 8 hours in the car.  You can see how happy Kora is about being in the car all day.
 

 

We arrived in Yellowstone on Monday morning, June 15 and got a campsite at Indian Creek campground.  After we set up our tent and had lunch, we went for a short hike down to the Obsidian Creek.

On our hike near our campground.

 

 

 

Here is a view of the road we drove on from

Mammoth Hot Springs to our camp site.

 

One of the many elk that was in Mammoth when we drove through.

 

 

That afternoon, Megan, Jason and I went horseback riding.  Megan was so excited.  She had been waiting a long time to ride a horse by herself.  Jason wasn't as excited initially, but he loved it afterwards.  Jason's horse was named Little Chief, which was appropriate for him.  That horse didn't want to stay back by Megan and I at the end of the line.  He had to move himself up to be closer to the front on the line. 

 

 

 

Jesse and Kora went fishing near our campsite.  This was the first time Kora had ever gone fishing with a real pole and jig.  She also loved it.  She caught 3 brook trout.

 

When we got back from horseback riding, we went fishing with Jesse and Kora. 

Jason also caught a couple of brook trout.

 

 

When we got back to the campground from riding horse, we had just enough time to finish supper before the thunderstorms moved in.  We almost got everything put away when it started to hail.  So we hopped into the car and waited it out.  This was the first time I've ever seen a hail storm with no rain, only hail.  It didn't start to rain until the hail was done.  Kora is now afraid of thunderstorms after watching the nickel-sized hail hit the car.