Home for the Holidays

Got my camera fixed (finally)! This now means I am now able to upload my favorite holiday photos from around home this year! So much creativity!

Photowalk

Today was the second annual worldwide photowalk. I had heard about this a couple of weeks ago and someone got a photowalk organized for Bismarck. It sounded like fun so I signed up for it. Basically, it was a group of about 15 people and we had a couple of hours to wander around snapping pictures. We met downtown which is a great location for photos. I didn't think I would need two hours to cover downtown, but really I ended up feeling bummed that I didn't have more time. I will have to find some time to do it again. I ended up walking with a lady from North Carolina. She was here visiting family and knew she wouldn't be home to do the one there so she signed up for the Bismarck one. We were the only two with plain Jane digital cameras, everyone else had high tech professional gear, but we ended up with some nice shots. I have to also post these to the photowalk site. There is a chance for prizes, but really I'm just excited to see what everyone took pictures of.Every time we heard the train we were at least three blocks away from the tracks. I still took a picture of the tracks.

This is one of my favorite shots. I got snap happy here and was probably the reason I ended up with a full memory card before time was up.

This is my "don't do anything" picture. Don't walk, don't rollerblade and don't skateboard.

This is my most favorite picture of all. I thought it was neat, but when I saw the picture I was so excited about how cool it looked. I found it in an alley, kind of to the side. So glad I wanted to take some closer pictures of the alley or I would have never walked by this.

This picture is for Fred's mom. Apparently this is where the Norma Apartments are. There were so many things I saw downtown that I had never noticed before. I drive by these places all the time, but when you are busy driving you just don't pay attention to them.

West Yellowstone trip.

Brian and I went to West Yellowstone this weekend with some friends to get away. We were going to go to Jackson but we abviously found a better priced cabin and other things to do in Yellowstone than we would in Jackson.

We got a nice little condo/cabin to hangout in. Everyone was going cross-country skiing on saturday and I knew they would be gone for most of the day doing that, and I did want to go but not over do it. So, I decided not to go and I just wanted to relax this weekend and walk around town and take a drive to the Gallatine Mountain pass. Brian stayed with me while everyone else went skiing eventhough I told him many times to go with them. I know he would have fun with our friends skiing most of the day but he still wanted to stay with me. It was hard for him but he said he didn't want me by myself for most of the day. I think it was even harder to be in town with me because we saw more snowmobile's in the streets than regular vehicles driving around. I've never seen so many in a little area before. I think I saw a tear in his eye. I guess we will have to work into our budget somewhere to save up for a used one for next year. Poor guy.

So the pictures I'm posting are from our drive through the canyon pass of the Gallatine Mountain's. It was such a perfect day out and so gorgeous! The drive to West Yellowstone is about 2 hours from Idaho falls and then we drove on saturday through the mountians for about another 50 miles. It was really worth it. Perfect day. During our evening's at the cabin we played the game of "Life" and "Trival Pursuit." I think we had more fun with the game of Life because I thought it was pretty funny that we didn't have any kids at the end of the game and we still lost. Brian also brought the Red Eye liquor and gave everyone a few shots. I think they enjoyed it. I also brought sinach dip which is always a nice snack. Well I suppose that's about it from our trip.

Also:

Eric and I went for a walk today. Leaves are falling that are bigger than my head! Here are a couple picutres....

Memorial bridge coming down

Today they took out the first section of Memorial Bridge. Grandpa and Grandma picked up Torii and watched the implosion by the river. Fred Rion was in school, but I showed him video of it when he got home. I watched it from the top of a blockhouse at Fort Lincoln. It was pretty cool. From where I was I saw the flash of the explosives, dust, and then about 10 seconds later a loud boom. We weren't expecting the boom and everyone jumped. It was really loud even that far out of town. Fred said the windows in the house shook. Dad took these pictures. If you want to see more go to www.kfyrtv.com. They have video posted and some good Sky Spies photos of the bridge coming down.

Gross Family trip

Cute old looking bus for yellowstone tours.(we didn't go on it)

We hiked to the bottom of the Upper Falls. I think there were over 300 stairs to walk down to, and then we of course had to get back up. My legs hurt the next day but it was worth it.

Lower falls in Yellowstone with pretty rainbow.

This is the start of our rafting trip in Jackson.

One of the 4 bald eagles we saw along the river.(you click to enlarge)

Floating along the snake with the teton's in the background.

This was our starting point of the rafting tour.

Another fun time with family and we are all so tired. We did so much while Joe, Meredith and Jennifer were here. These pictures start with our trip to Yellowstone park and to some of the falls we went to see. We did see some wildlife of course and had to take pictures of the buffalo and elk; like we haven't seen them before. But it was neat to see them in their natural habitat i guess. The weather the whole week was so great! Just perfect to be outside and not to hot or cold.

We also went to Jackson Hole again and went on a rafting tour. We traveled on the snake river for 15 miles and we made a pit stop for a dinner along the river that was included in our fee we paid. It was a wonderful dinner and everything was worth the price we paid. It was so gorgeous the entire trip on the river and so relaxing. The tour guide was telling us about the area the whole time and where all the stars live and what the houseing market is around the area. But the best part was learning about the birds we would see; there were some unique birds around and any other wildlife we would ask about, he would know. He was a great tour guide. We even saw 4 bald eagles during our trip. One of the bald eagles was flying over us and the tour guide said it was a baby so we will see the parents along the way because they stick close together.

We went to Crater's of the Moon again and we got there pretty late because the park does events in the summer called "A Star Party." Basically a bunch of people who can afford big telescopes will fill one side of the park and star gaze all night. Some friends of ours camped there overnight and we drove home that night. Anyway, we met a few people from N.D and met another guy who knows quite a bit about the constellations and galaxy's to look at and it was fun to look at some things in the bigger telescopes. Very neat! Plus, Craters of the moon is so far out in the booney's, the sky was lit up in stars, we saw so many shooting stars and a slight meator shower. But, before the whole star party started, I wanted to show Joe, meredith and jennifer the Indian Cave before it got dark so we walked to it just in time and as we were walking through the cave, I said"Oh look Jennifer, there's the swallows or pigeons we saw last time!" So, jennifer and I are doing our "oh so cute" thing and then we paused a bit because these birds were swooping down to our heads like we were close to a nest or something. Brian said "ummm those aren't birds, those are bats." What???!!. So, we ran to the one side of the cave where brian and dad went out and we went to explore that area to get out. As we were just about out, I heard a russeling sound again, and brian said he made that noise, then once again the bats were flying right above our heads and flying in front of our faces. I could only think of Goonies movie when they were walking through the cave and yelling "Rabies, Rabies!" Anyhow, it was fun but the bats I really didn't like. They are just ugly and annoying.

Well, I better quit before this gets to long. I have to get to work soon and I will call everyone soon to catch up.

Pictures from the lake

These pictures are from a couple of weekends ago. I think we are also going to the lake tomorrow for the day. It so much fun out there. We took a ride on Dave's pontoon. Rion kept looking over the side as we went, he thought it was neat. Cordelia didn't like it because she had to wear a big life jacket. Later the boys fell asleep on the pontoon. Cordelia and I only stayed for the day but the boys stayed the night. Rion said that was too long to be there. He missed me and the computer. I told him we are going to the lake tomorrow and he said he didn't want to go because he would miss me again. Cordelia liked splashing in the water and eating sand. The boys were also getting on top of the surfboard and Dave would tip them in the water.

Rion is enjoying school and on Friday they have their first field trip. They are going to the Powwow. His favorite thing at school is of course recess. I think he is getting used to the long days.

Torii had a good birthday. On his birthday he got to pick out what was for dinner and he picked ice cream. We finally talked him into something else, which was McDonalds. Then we had ice cream cake from DQ. We let him open our gifts and he was so happy for a Max and Ruby video from Rion that he said, "Ohhh thank you Fred Rion" and gave him a hug. The next day we had his birthday party. He played Mortal Combat with Nathan and daddy.

Today we went to the Shaumburg playground. It was such a beautiful morning and I wanted to get the kids out before it got so hot. I love that playground because it's so big and there is also an infants area. Cordelia had fun crawling around there and she loved the swing. I will have to bring the camera next time because she was laughing so much.