Trip To Yellowstone With The Silas's!!

At the beginning of August, my sister, Karen, and her family drove all the way out from Missouri to visit us.  We decided to start out the visit at Yellowstone National Park, so we drove up to meet her family there and we all spent a couple of days exploring the park.  This was Chris and mine's second visit to the park, and Karen and her family's first visit.  Last time we went, we just viewed the middle of the park and the southern part (where Old Faithful is).  On this trip, we explored the North side, South side, and a little bit of the East side (Where Yellowstone Lake is).  Then we left through the south gate and drove through Grand Teton National Park.  These parks never get old!!  Well, I mean "old" as in we never tire of seeing them (they both actually have very old and amazing features).  It was a great visit full of bison, elk, thermal features, waterfalls, incredible views, and a screaming toddler (yay!).  Yes, while most of the time, Mitchell was really good (thanks to his cousins who were kind enough to ride in our car and entertain him), towards the end of each day he had had enough of his car-seat.  And he wasn't shy in letting us know it by screaming and crying.  Haha, so basically, the mornings of this trip were spent exploring and enjoying the park, while the evenings we spent racing back to our hotel with our very upset child.  In his defense, he didn't get a single nap the days we spent in the park.  Overall, he was a champ and the trip was a blast!!

Yellowstone really is one of the most beautiful places!!  If you have never been, add it to your bucket list.

On our way to the North side, we stopped at a rest stop and decided to give Mitchell a break from his car-seat.  Haha, he decided to use the break to sit down on the ground (He really was just copying his cousin, David.  He wanted to do whatever David and Mason were doing.).

Mammoth Hot Springs!!

Mammoth Hot Springs was pretty much a barren wasteland, with bright colors where the hot springs flowed, and it was all surrounded by mountains.  It was pretty, but we heard it was even more bright during rainy season.  But that is one thing that is neat about Yellowstone, the park will look different and have different features depending on which season it is.  

Family photo, including our little guy in my belly:)

After climbing up to the hot springs (which is not easy when you are out of shape, pregnant, have a bummed knee, a toddler, and a stroller... Although let me give an awesome shout-out to my brother-in-law, Dave, who kindly carried the stroller up all the flights of stairs to the hot springs.  Thank you Dave!!), we decided to have a picnic lunch.  And apparently, when you are in Yellowstone, it is not uncommon to have elk walk right by you.  Craziness!!

Just enjoying our lunch while random elk walk by.  Haha, Mitchell was not happy to pose for the picture; at the time he was chasing a bird that was hopping around, but it kept leading him closer and closer to the elk, so we had to stop him.  Poor kid:)

The Artist Paint Pots.  The thermal features in Yellowstone are amazing.  And so much prettier than pictures could ever show (Haha, and usually much smellier as well).

This was a feature that was different the last time Chris and I saw it.  When we saw it in 2014, these were spewing out liquid and mud; this time they just had a lot of steam and were really loud.  Fun fact: these didn't even exist until after an earthquake in 1959.  Haha, can you spot Chris through the smoke?  

The Grand Prismatic Spring.  The bright oranges, yellows, blues, and greens make this spring so gorgeous!!  And when the wind blew just right, we got a nice steam bath.  Haha, Chris said it reminded him of being in Missouri with the intense humidity.

On our last day in the park, we decided to stop and eat by the Kepler Cascades.  Yes, that is our family having a picnic up on the cliff, overlooking the waterfalls.  This was also a "Mitchell Tantrum" moment, since he wanted to sit with his cousins on the edge of a cliff and we wouldn't let him (Aren't we just horrible parents?! LOL).  He got over it after they got done eating and came back to play with him:)

It's hard to tell from this picture just how tall these falls are.  The canyon they fall into was pretty deep.  Again, another feature that was way more beautiful in person (Plus, just imagine listening to that running water).

Mitchell saying, "Hi," as he checks out Yellowstone Lake.

Haha, our "engagement pics" pose.

Everyone is checking out the temperature of the water.  Thank you Aunt KK, for giving Mitchell a feel.  Haha, with my pregnant belly, by balance is a bit off and  it was hard enough for me not to fall into the water when I bent down to feel it.  And I definitely didn't want to fall in with Mitchell:)  Dave estimated the temperature of the water to be about 60 degrees.  Burr!!  And I read that even in the summer, if you head further into the lake, away from shore, the temperature averages about 45 degrees.  And there were people kayaking in the lake!!  Man, I would hate to be one of them if they fell in.  That's cold!!

Uh-oh, Mitchell's hand got dirty and wet.  Haha, anyone who knows Mitchell, knows he hates having his hands dirty.  He loved feeling the water, but he didn't love the after-effect.  Haha!!  Oh kid, what are we going to do with you?!

When we left Yellowstone, we drove through Grand Teton National Park.  Check out this amazing view of the Grand Teton Mountains overlooking the lake.

The sun is drowning out this picture a bit, but it is still a beautiful view of the Grand Teton Mountains.

This is a geyser by the Paint Pots.  Before the earthquake in 1959, this geyser only went off occasionally and randomly; but since the earthquake, it is constantly going off.  It is not nearly as tall as Old Faithful, but it is still pretty cool.

Here are some cousin shenanigans going on in the car.  Haha, David and Mason were so great at entertaining Mitchell.  He just thought everything they did was hilarious.  Haha, and don't worry, the games they played didn't always involve screaming and going crazy:)