Yellowstone Continued

More pics. I'm posting pics from the end to the beginning. So hopefully another night of this and I'll have all of them posted.

Glad to be back posting.

Lillian at 6:00 AM same morning. She had gotten car sick on the way to Lamar Valley due to having an empty tummy. We set up the chair and snuggled her in and there she slept. And yes....she's sucking her thumb. Again.

Madeline is PJs hugging dad after she saw the wolf. The group grew quickly when I...yes...I spotted the wolf and then she chased an elk. The standoff lasted an hour and was like watching a scene on a TV program. It was amazing.

Lillian feeling much perkier and now dressed and eating breakfast.

At Mammoth Springs

Lillian is holding her hat over her face and refused to take it away from her face because of the smell. But I promise there was a smile under there.

All tuckered out. Grandpa says he liked riding in the back. We soon realized why.

Burble Burble POP!! Our favorite feature of the whole trip.

Speckles of mud the mud pot threw. Lillian is wiping it off her ear.

Lillian and Grandma doing dishes. Lillian loved this job. She also liked to scrub tables. I'd hire out but I keep her busy myself.

First the dishes then the feet. Lillian laughed and laughed at her foot bath.

Foot fashion after the foot bath. You won't loose her in the woods or a crowd.

We actually saw this guy a couple mornings previous to this on our way to Lamar Valley the first time. Yes....he's getting close. We are in the Sub and parked on the side of the road. He actually looked at us and headed straight towards us so we moved. He crossed the road where we had been parked. We teased Lillian he smelled her Froot Loops and wanted some. Well...she thinks we were kidding. It was a little close for comfort.

About three miles down the road we saw this mama and her two cubs. Her cubs are hiding at the moment. They also got too close and we weren't in the Sub but soon found it for refuge.

WOW!! I've got a lot of explaining to do!!

Sisterly love in Yellowstone

It's Hot! And it stinks!

Address in Yellowstone 2010

Madeline getting instruction from the pro. Rick spent alot of time with Madeline while watching the wolves the second time we went to see them. He remembered her from the first day we went.

Rick and Grandpa Mark helping Lillian see the wolves. The wolves were at least 2 miles away.

Where are they?

Breakfast at Yellowstone Picnic area after seeing the wolves the second time in Lamar Valley.

WARNING! Hold onto Bitty Baby!

Ok. Pic a little far away but it's a mama grizzly with her three cubs. We weren't getting closer.

Madeline playing on the beach at Yellowstone Lake. It's COLD!

Home Sweet Home before it's all taken down.

Sorry. This is a bit scary I know. Lillian insisted. The girls thought it was hilarious to see me in piggy tales.

Oh yes, Bitty Baby was along for the vaca. She is sitting on the prize loon bought at a sidewalk sale at one of the stores in the park. We thought it was fitting that our little loon have a loon of her own.

Ok, I know, I know. I stink at keeping this up to date. In my defense I have had a computer on it's last leg all summer. But now......watch out. Thanks to Mike I'm back in action.

This summer has been such a wild ride. I'm going to take you back to the beginning and slowly post a new entry every so often. It won't take long because I'm discovering most were lost in the computer debacle.

So from May till late June nothin:(.

I'll give you a run down.

May 28th-May 31. Memorial Day - Camping at the lake. Quieter than usual but a very good weekend.

June 1-3 Madeline goes to Church camp with Grandma Trudy.

June 7-10th Madeline has Dance camp

June 7-10 Lillian has Bible School

June 19,20, 21 College World Series tailgate party

June 24-July 3rd Yellowstone!

July 4th Crawford

I'll stop there. I'll give you some pics to look at. We went to Yellowstone with Eric's parents. AND we owe Mandy and Roger a big thanks for letting us use their pop up which was bigger than our other option.

Lillian's Week

This week Lillian was very busy! To begin with she had a starring role as a "prop" for the Columbus High School Choir concert. The girls choir was singing a song from "The Little Mermaid" and Allie asked if Lilly could pose as Ariel. It just so happened that Grandma Pat had been commissioned to sew a mermaid costume for Madeline a couple of years ago for Halloween. To top it off Lillian's dear friend Eli was asked to pose as "Eric" the prince from the movie. Needless to say Lillian thought this was a great idea! All possible bases were covered, favorite friend, costume, flowers, and center stage. Could it get any better?

Today, Lillian had preschol "graduation". I use this term loosely because she has another year of preschool before starting Kindergarten. She turns five in September and we've decided better to be oldest than youngest. We'll get back to you in a few years and let you know how that pans out. Again, center stage. The pics are not very close so she's the little one in the middle with a white and pink floral dress. For the first few songs you could hear her voice over everyone's. Little package.....big impact:)

Alicia and Lillian. Very good friends. Alician live just down the street. She has another close friend Jaryn who lives near by as well but we missed getting a picture with her... maybe next time.

We don't look alike do we?

See ya next time:)!!!

Dance Recital Review and Pics "Some Days You Gotta Dance"

This last Saturday was dance recital!! I'll tell the story using pics. There are plenty! The pics are from the day of the recital. Prior to the pics were numerous practices at the high school. Friday night was dress rehearsal which lasted for Madeline until 8:30. My mom and Jackie came Thursday and spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with us. It was good to have them here. We actually filled an entire row with family and friends! (14). This was Lillian's first dance recital and our first shot at coordinating different schedules etc.

Madeline at 8:15 a.m. with her vanilla bean frap from Starbucks, texting and getting her hair done. 8 going on 18.9:15 a.m. pics in costumes before heading to one last practice at high school. This costume was for "Stupid Cupid" Myfavorite outfit.

Costume for "Santa Claus is coming to Town" Madeline's favorite outfit.

Costume for "Frosty the Snowman". Madeline's favorite dance. And as it turned out my favorite.

Dress rehearsal for Finale in Stupid Cupid costume.

10:45 a.m. Lillian's (yellow shorts) practice for finale. She might be hard to see in some pics. She was/is the smalles dancer in the whole production!

Madeline stays at high school and I bring Lillian home and go back to high school with my mom to watch the first performance starting at 1:30.

Eric took Lillian to get her hair done at 2:30.

5:15 p.m. Lillian's turn! Our fierce lion.

She was not sure how to smile with all that fluff in her face but she figured it out on stage.

7:30 p.m. Lillian danced about 30 minutes into the program. She did the best during the recital. Must have worked out all the jitters during rehearsal. She was pretty bewildered during dress rehearsal but it got better during the Saturday morning practice and by recital she was ready.

Too cute! The video is shaky because I was laughing so hard.

Madeline in green and on the right in her second dance and having fun.

The face says it all!

Our favorite moment. During the first recital she was actually dancing so hard she fell! She popped right back up and went on dancing as if nothing happened! She kept right on smiling. This pic was actually taken during second performance. That smile didn't leave her face through the whole dance.

Backstage.

Flowers from all her admirers. She was pretty excited to see us. She had been done dancing for quite a while but was wide awake and bushy tailed. She gave hugs and kisses to all and watned to stroll down the halls greeting friends. She was all smiles

BUT.......

her sister was trying to recover from the tears she always cries at the end! Madeline always cries because the seniors are done and will never be back and she "won't see her friends from dance till September!". The tears start on stage and carry on back stage and sometimes all the way home!

It's blurry but it tells the story. Lillian crashed in the 3 minute car ride home.

Madeline recooperating the next day.

(I had a margharita.)

Lillian practicing her "L"s