some people take their kids to disneyland, today i took mine to wyoming. parker had a delivery in wyoming, and i jumped on the opportunity to take the kids to another state. the drive on the way there was gorgeous. i love drives. kindergartners are on break this week for "kindergarten testing" so i had 3 of the 4 with me. it was about a hour and a half drive there. through park city, past echo lake, and through canyons galore. the kids saw hundreds of cows, sheep, even buffalo. we drove right next to a train on the way there, and on the way home. it went through a tunnel and out the other side. the kids loved it, and i love when they get to experience things like this. after we got to our drop off location in evanstons, wyoming we drove into town and got lunch at walmart. conway and tilley picked lunchables and Q and i got subway. we decided that it would be more fun to eat at the river, a mile away. i'm so glad we did.
as we past this swampy pond, conway crossed paths with a pretty decent size snake. i screamed so loud and the kids all laughed at me. i hate snakes. from then on the hunt was for another. tilley kept asking if there were awigators and i quickly said "no" and then thought...wait, i have no idea. don't alligators and crocks live in swamps? i didn't dare ask parker...he still makes fun of the time i asked if there were polar bears and at the salt lake. it looked like a legit place for them to live in january. you could see the fog coming off the lake, and over by the mountains covered in snow...looked the part. after he laughed at me for 20 min. he said not to ask anyone else that question...ever. which is when i asked, "what about penguins?" ya ya...if you saw it you would wonder too.
quincy told me, "mom you're not going to be in any of the pictures in wyoming" which is when i said, "well who's going to take the picture." and then i got the are you stupid look from my 6 year old. she took one, then conway insisted on taking one. they did a pretty good job! on the trail we saw 6 trains, literally right next to us. there was even a little trail at one part that you could walk right up to the tracks. i was afraid, since they seemed to be coming every 5 min. sometimes sooner. we passed a giant fire pit thing, which the kids ran around for a while. crossed over 2 bridges. saw a stream, pond, river, and lake. the kids said they sang a stream song in primary...and were shocked i knew all the words to "give said the little stream" so we sang it over and over till they too knew the words. quincy is quite the little singer.
we hiked in for a good 45 min. and then turned around and hiked/walked back out. it was a gorgeous path, and the kids begged to walk to the end of where the river stopped. they wanted to hike up to the highway where they could hear the cars driving over us, when we were under the over pass. we did, and quincy then decided since it was bear river we should see a bear. since i told her that probably wasn't going to happen, she magically turned into one. she also asked if i could send her "bear picture" to her cousin "molly bear." she misses her so much. the kids miss all their cousins, and talk about our summer trip to az, when they get to see them all.
it was such a fun "day trip" with the kids. they were in their element. i love that my kids all love the outdoors. utah is a great place to live for that. monday we touched 80, and then the remainder of the week has been 50's. kinda lame. we're used to may being close to 100...and i am dreaming of the day i can officially put away the boots and jackets. i sleep with my fingers crossed. wyoming wasn't any different weather wise. cold, windy and even sprinkles here and there. we got home just in time to meet parker at the door. and course the kids bragged about all the fun things they saw...and parker pouted. if there was enough seat belts in the truck for him to come, i would have had him stay home and come with. someday, hopefully...there will be a "next time." maybe on our way to canada to see grandma and grandpa gruninger! we used to go every summer, and i loved it. it was 24 hours and we drove straight through. we're half way there being in utah...and 12 hours in the car is nothing when you like driving. which i inherited from my own dad.
