Pierced ears

Well, my little baby girl is growing up.  Emmy is soon to turn 8 and she has been asking for a while if she could get her ears pierced.  I think it must be a popular age to do it since most of her girl classmates have been getting them done for their birthdays.  Anyways, we agreed many months ago that she could have her ears pierced for her birthday.

Since Grammie is in town now and will leave before Emmy's actual birthday, we decided to get them done a little early.  So on Saturday Stevie, Grammie and I headed to the Tacoma Mall.  Yes, we were crazy since it was 1. Labor Day weekend, 2. rainy and 3.  the weekend before school starts!  What were we thinking?

Before...

Heading into the mall with Daddy

There was a bit of a line at Claire's but it gave us time to select her earrings and an extra pair for when she can take her starters out.  They're a cute little pair of fox heads that she desperately wants to wear!

Waiting in line...

It's her turn.  She looks a little nervous...

 She asked to have them done at the same time so they had two employees help - one for each ear.  Daddy was holding her hand so I could take pictures.

Ready, set...

GO!

No tears!  Just a happy grin.

After

Heading Home

This morning we had to pack up and head out for home.  We all drove to Bozeman where we left Grandpa to catch a flight back to South Carolina.  Grammie stayed with us to drive back to Washington and visit for a few more weeks.  The countryside driving back to Gig Harbor was just as beautiful as the drive out.  Most of it was completely different since we were driving a circuitous route.

This little stop was a scenic pull-off from Highway 90 in eastern Washington.  It was an overlook of the Columbia River.  

Can you believe how tall he is now?

 Across the river is the Ginko Petrified Forest State Park.  Who knew there were petrified ginko trees in eastern Washington?

Day 8

It's our last day in Yellowstone today and we're heading over to Lamar Valley - the place that is famed for having great wildlife sightings.  We're hoping for a wolf, a bear, or at least a herd of buffalo!  It wasn't long after we entered the valley that we had our first sighting of a herd of buffalo!

Tatonka!

We drove on to the end of the valley, but didn't spy too much more.  Grammie suggested a hike so we  found one in the guide book that was not far.  Trout Lake was supposed to be a good "family friendly" hike, but the guide book failed to mention that it was pretty steep in the beginning which left some members of our party puffing a bit!   Emmy has been pestering Steve recently to take her fishing and we actually had packed a pole for Emmy and London.  When they heard Trout Lake was a good place to fish, they went flying up the trail with  pole in hand!

Trout Lake

True to  his word, Stevie was showing Emmy how to fish.

London was trying out his skills too.

Meanwhile, Cannon and I took a walk all the way around the  lake.

As we passed back through the valley, we found the buffalo had moved closer to the road so we were able to get some better shots of them.

A Momma and baby

Ahead, the weather was changing which made for a cool shot of the  valley with the rain and the dust blowing.

It was a great vacation to  see Yellowstone, but we must head home tomorrow.  Good-bye,  Yellowstone!

And one last sunset...

Day 7

It was another beautiful morning at our Montana cabin and the little guys wanted to go greet the horses in the field just outside our front door.  The family on whose ranch we're staying goes to rodeos every weekend.  We haven't met the family, but we've met the horses!

Kiss kiss!

 After everyone was ready to roll, we headed out the door and back into Yellowstone.  Today we first headed south to stop at the Artist's Paint Pots.  This little stop was a good place to see a different kind of geothermal feature that we have't seen yet - mudpots.  These were really bizarre - they were bubbling blobs of creamy smooth mud.  Just fascinating to watch!

Along the way - a herd of elk

Emmy in front of a hot spring

Mudpot

As we were driving down the road again, we spied a couple of bison by the road just hanging out.  I always pictured the  bison in huge herds roaming the open plains, after all, that's how it was in Dances with Wolves so it must be true, right?  But so far we've mainly seen individual or pairs of bison hanging out in the woods.

Big Daddy and his lady friend

One of the things that Emmy and London have been most looking forward to on this trip is seeing a wolf.  They are quite fascinated with wolves right now and they know from a report that London did in school last year that Yellowstone was the first place that they were reintroduced in the mid-1990s and consequently is one of the best places to maybe see one.  All our eyes have been peeled for a sighting since we've been here, but no one has *definitively* seen one yet.  (I say this because Grandpa thinks he saw one lying under a tree, but it could not be confirmed by anyone else.)

So today we were going to make sure they saw one by going to the Wolf and Grizzly Center in West Yelllowstone.  They were rewarded with up close sightings of several wolves and some grizzly bears (which we haven't seen either).

They were a little sleepy since it was the afternoon of a warm day, but they were still beautiful to see!

These guy were behind a chain link fence, but I think the photos turned out pretty well.

The grizzlies were entertaining too!

After our tour of the Wolf and Grizzly Center, we headed out to one of more famous Yellowstone sights, the Grand Prismatic Spring.  The colors from this hot spring are intense and absolutely beautiful.  So surreal!

Driving  back to the cabin we passed some elk just grazing along the road...

That night Cannon, London and Emmy set us up a nice bonfire for some roasted marshmallows under  the incredibly full, busy, starry sky.  We saw lots of shooting stars, some satellites racing by and Grandpa, Grammie and Stevie even saw a colorful shooting object they think was a piece of falling space junk.