Hailstones in Idaho Take 2

The weather is so incredibly UNpredictable lately. I have decided that my ONE and ONLY tomato plant will not survive another episode of "Idaho Hailstones". I took pictures just so I would have proof that it actually hailed in Idaho. The storm came and went in about 1/2 hour.

2009 Father's day in Yellowstone - June 20 & 21

This weekend was incredibly fun. The kids decided to take their Dad to Yellowstone National Park for Father's Day. It was free admission into the park for the weekend. We left on Saturday morning and travelled to Yellowstone and into the Old Faithful area so the kids could see the geyser erupt. (Those that went included Travis, Ryann, Aftyn, Kaylee and Hunter, Chelsey, Tanner's wife (Tanner had to work), Alyssa and Blake, Tracy, Tyler and little Abby and of course Dennis and Jill - Tyler, Neta and Riley met us for lunch at Old Faithful, but did not stay the night)

We all checked into a hotel suite for $259.00 a night (13 people - not bad - a little crowded) We had a huge family "slumber" party. Tracy and Tyler slept in one bed, Travis and Ryann slept in one bed with Abby and Hunter in playpens between the two queen sized beds. Chelsey, Kaylee, Aftyn, and Alyssa slept on the floor with air mattresses. Dennis and I got the adjoining room with Blake on the floor beside us.

After watching Old Faithful erupt all of the kids and parents went swimming in the Holiday Hilton Sunspree hotel pool and Ryann and I went for pizza at a place called the Wild West Pizzaria - it had pretty good pizza - $14.99 for a large pizza! The next day we got up early and ate breakfast in the StageCoach restaurant attached to the hotel. It was free with your room reservation.

We then headed back toward the park and into the Canyon, Tower, Norris, Mamouth area of the park. I tried to take a few pictures, but it rained alot so it was hard to get people to pose for my pictures. The picture below is Dennis with all of the kids at Sheepherder Picnic area - it had a woodchuck that kept posing for us - Tyler B kept throwing it apple cores so it would stay out for the kids to see.

This is Dennis and I at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Park.

This is Tracy, Tyler and Abby enjoying the view!

This is the entire "wet" crew standing in the rain!

Here is Alyssa and Blake at Black Sand Basin in Yellowstone. This is a picture of Blake and Abby on my Mother's Day present from Dennis. A BIG TOAD! This was taken before we left for Yellowstone.

Chelsey was a huge help with all of the kids - we needed all the extra hands!Look at how much water is falling from the falls - it was a beautiful site to see.

This is Abby and Tracy in the hotel pool - she loved the water!

This is Alyssa and Aftyn smelling the sulfur pools - they did not like the rotten-egg smell as evident by Alyssa covering up her nose!
This is Dennis holding Hunter (Notice the "Drool" down his hand - Dennis just goes on like it didn't even bother him - I guess after 6 kids of his own it probably doesn't matter any more - he loves to be a "Grandpa") You just gotta love these crazy pictures!
Blake fell in love with all the geysers - he kept saying they were "exploding" instead of erupting. Here is Blake and Aftyn in front of the most spectular view in the entire park. The water coming down the falls this year was breathtaking. Sorry for so many pictures - but I love to share those "Kodak" moments.

Hailstones in Idaho

Well, it never fails, just because I decided to plant some flowers we get a 10 minute downpour of hailstone the size of marbles. It blew a lot of small limbs from our trees and plastered Dennis' Metro with green leaves. So much for being ambitious! Well, I took pictures so you could see the pathetic, beat-up flowers. The flowers did not have a chance against that size of hailstones.