We had a great time playing and learning new tricks. Ali can now swim all the way across the pool. Carter was doing flips off the low dive and Tyler was cartwheeling off the low dive. They really have a great time hanging out at Northcrest. Ali is such a shy and quiet child...we really wish she would come out of her shell a little. (wink wink)
We were so lucky to get tickets to the Lion King. Carter came to his first Broadway show and boy was it ever better than Madame Butterfly that I had to suffer through as a child. Not that I can complain too loudly since I also saw lots of other shows but The Lion King is definitely the way to introduce a young one to Broadway. He loved it. He was on the edge of his seat, literally the edge nearly toppling off at parts. The animals were amazing. It really was a sight to see. The elephant was my favorite, Carter really liked the elephant and the giraffes. Such an experience.
We had such a blast on our last little excursions of summer. Tyler is getting ready to let his Dad load up a fishing hook. By the look of his dirty little face you would think he was going to eat the worm. He didn't! We have just been camping for four days....it gets you a little dirty. We were very excited to join my family at the condos in Jackson after our freezing but fun camping trip with our friends at the West Yellowstone KOA. We rented a little fishing boat and took the whole family out onto a lake near West Yellowstone for a picnic and a little fishing. Lucky for us we brought lunch because the fish didn't bite.
School started once again. Yeah!!! Mom was so excited to drop the boys off on their first day. I can not express how blessed I feel that my boys are able to attend their charter school. They are learning and thriving and doing so well.
Yes she is sitting there with a beautiful butterfly sucker that any girl in her right mind would be so happy to have....but the little teardrop in her eye is priceless. She dropped her sucker and it cracked and there is nothing sadder than a broken sucker. Yes it still tastes the same but when you fall in love with looks....so sad.How many times can you ride the musical express at Lagoon without loosing your breakfast? Ali and I did it three times in a row before I had to call uncle. Seriously why is it that kids just don't get dizzy? We had fun riding the musical express while the boys rode Colossus but when they got back they wanted to ride it with us so we went again....let's just say I was grateful for the bird show so I could take a minute to unspin.
We went to a little gold rush town in Montana and caught gold fever. We got it bad! The beauty of the gold panning is that we actually did find gold. Eight little flakes total between the two pans we panned. The kids had a great time and we got to pick out garnets as well. It was an adventure worth the $30 we paid for it even though we got maybe a buck of gold out of it. I can see how you could be swept in the gold rush frenzy....it was a little addicting. 
If you can believe it, we started a new tradition in Jackson Hole this year. I have been going to Jackson since I was 8 years old. Byron and I have been going every year since before we got married, 13 years now, and we yet again discovered something magical and fun to do there. We went out on a huckleberry hunt. This year, as opposed to last year when all we found were service berries.....this year, we got huckleberries. They were so delicious!!! We found a little patch just off the highway down through the pass and did pretty well. The locals all had their idea of where to hunt and we walked around in town asking a few shop workers where we could find some. We even had a grumpy old man tell us we couldn't pick huckleberries. We found a good spot though and have officially added it to our list of Jackson Hole activities. Did I mention how delicious they are. 
So, Ali wins the cute cowgirl award. She loved horseback riding and can't wait for next year when she can drive her own horse. The past few years she has been walked around on a lead. She looks fairly comfortable on a horse now though and will be ready for the big ride next year. Our wild child Ali is just to much fun to have around. If you need a pick me up just call her and she will brighten any day. She thoroughly enjoyed herself on our vacation. Even when we were just driving around Yellowstone looking for animals she made the best of it by being a dog with it's head out the window panting in the wind. I think she actually enjoyed it as much as a dog would have too. 
