Summer Flashback: Old Faithful Tour

July 09-

Next stop at Yellowstone was Old Faithful.


We waited...and waited...and waited. As we waited the kids played in some dirt. They seemed to like that.



After checking out Old Faithful our group split up. Cindy & kids, cousin Lauren, and our family stayed in the area to do a "little" hike. The layout is on the map in the middle of the above collage. We started at Old Faithful and did a loop up to the Morning Glory pool. The map said it was 1.4 miles. I assumed it was 1.4 miles for the loop - it meant each way. It took hours with all the kiddos - and it was getting chilly and dusk by the time we were done. It was very cool to check out all the hot spots on the way.



On our long tour of the area.



How could we resist posing by the Beauty Pool?



The reason for our sore feet. It really was pretty - even though the sign said that the colors had faded considerably over the past decades due to pollution. Cindy insisted that this was "the" photo op of the area. This is what postcards were made from and we HAD to see it. I think she was a little nervous that we didn't think the long walk was worth it...it was definitely worth it. The hike itself - hanging out, laughing, kids chasing around enjoying the sights, getting a steam bath from erupting smaller geysers - it all made it worth it.



A surprise on the way back to the parking area. The beehive geyser erupted as we were going by. The eruption was much more spectacular than Old Faithful, mostly because you could get so close. The Beehive isn't predictable, I think within a day or so, so it was a real treat. People closer were coming away soaked from the spray. It was getting a bit chilly so I was glad the kids were not tempted to get wet.

One final note:
So here we are. At Old Faithful and surrounding area. Hundreds of people. Miles of trails. Huge, packed parking lot. Been there for hours - I think about 7 by then. We were finally heading out and Abagial is no where to be found. There were huge crowds around the Beehive geyser and milling around Old Faithful still. We couldn't spot her bright red shirt anywhere. Come to find out that Allen had challenged her, betting that she couldn't run all the way to the car; maybe 1/2 mile from where we were, but certainly not within sight. Well, in the distraction of the Beehive geyser erupting she took off - but none of us saw her. Our group was a bit spread out at that point. When we all gathered, she was gone. Cindy hung with the rest of the kids at Old Faithful while Allen and I searched the crowds in different directions. Kind of a nervous feeling when a child is gone - even though you are sure that they are ok. We finally realized that the only explanation was that she took off to the car so Allen headed towards the parking area and caught up with her as she was coming back - wondering why we were taking so long. And I was so sure I had absolutely instilled "BUDDY SYSTEM" into the kids...now we know.

Summer Flashback: Yellowstone National Park

July 09 -

After leaving Utah, we headed up to Yellowstone National Park to spend a couple of days with some of the Bergstrom family. We met up with Grandma Bergstrom, Keith, Lysa, Laine, Christina & Nathanel & family, Cindy & kids, Stacey & family.

We camped for two nights. It was the beginning of July. It was FREEZING!!!! I figured it was summer - it wouldn't be too bad - I was sorely mistaken. Temps got into the 30's at night.

Our first night there the plan was to set camp and then go into West Yellowstone to see a play at the Playmill Theatre. Grandma Bergstrom had purchased tickets to The Secret Garden. What an awesome treat that was! Beautiful music, talented actors & crew, very well done show. We all loved it. (THANK YOU GRANDMA!)

Most families arrived ahead of us to secure camp spots. They set up in the rain. Brrrr. We arrived late, which actually worked out as the rain had stopped. Then it was a mad dash to the Playmill before the seats were given away.

After the play we all went to Grandma's hotel - a very nice, warm, comfy, cozy hotel - for dinner. None of us really wanted to brave the 30 degree weather for camping. Alas, the hotel only allowed 6 guests in the room, not 27 - so off to the campsite we went.

I really can't complain though as camping was my suggestion in the first place...that was months prior to actually realizing how FREEZING it can be in July in Montana. Next time we'll either convince ourselves it wasn't really that bad and try it again - or spring major $$$ for a hotel.

First day in Yellowstone was beautiful. The weather during the day was in the 60's and 70's - perfect.

Some of the highlights are in the following photo collages:

One of our first "stops" was to pull over and Oooo and Ahhh at a huge herd of Bison. This picture doesn't even show a 1/4 of the herd. There were well over 100; all lying around or grazing. What the photo does show accurately was how close we were. A little too close for my comfort. As the kids walked behind groups of people taking pictures they got WAY too close at times. Very cool sight though.

Next stop was the Fountain Paint Pot. It was a little thermal area that is still evolving - according to the sign. It had a nice boardwalk to stroll around the area. It did smell awfully bad, as Oliver points out in his photo. I also remember the bathroom line taking almost as long as the actual hike.


We drove to Old Faithful and had a picnic in the trees. The kids had a great time playing...so much fun in fact that they kind of forgot to eat. So lunch lasted a really long time. However, by the time we finally packed up there was not much food left. They must have really worked up an appetite!

(More to come)

Summer Flashback: Visit to SLC, Utah

This post is from July 09.

During our visits to Utah we enjoy taking the kids to downtown Salt Lake City. We walk around downtown and check out the LDS church sites. We were joined by Aunt Keri and Aunt Jill and their families as well as cousins Skyler and Selena.


This collage is from when we visited Temple Square and the visitor's centers.
(The photo of the temple was taken from the top of the Zion's Bank building - pretty view.)

The map of Jerusalem is a huge topographical map and model of the city from the time of Christ. There are little pin lights that light up the areas of the city and surrounding countryside where important events occurred - especially during the last week of the Savior's life. The kids thought this was very cool and spent quite a bit of time there. Another highlight was viewing the new exhibit that focuses on families - I HIGHLY recommend that to everyone who visits. (It is up on the top floor in a room adjoining the Christus statue.)


Next we walked around downtown a bit. We crammed into an elevator at Zion's bank...the photo shows 10 Coleman cousins, but many others and adults couldn't fit in the photo. It was a tight fit. We also went to the Church Office Building and went up to the observation level. The photos of the capital building and mountains are from that vantage point.
I love the top left photo - it shows cousins Hailey and Hillary Heath. So cute.


Another stop included an unofficial tour of the Conference Center. The roof has gardens and a tour - apparently you are not supposed to just go up and check it out. Or so we found out. A nice guide let us bend the rules and took us around anyway. It was amazing all the gardens, pathways, and water features that are on the roof.

Abagail really wanted to go inside the Conference Center main auditorium, so I took her while the rest of the families headed to the museum. As a bonus the tour guide took Abagail and I over to the church art exhibit. The original paintings that were included in the Book of Mormon were on display. They were huge, as big as the wall in some cases, you could see so much detail and color in them - they were beautiful. Both Abagail and I were very impressed!



Last stop was the Museum of Church History (or some name like that - I never quite remember names of museums). They always have a rotating childrens exhibit that is very "hands-on" and the kids always look forward to this stop. This year the exhibit included costumes and a skit for recreating Lehi's Tree of Life dream. The kids had a ball performing the skit with their cousins.

I thought the middle photo was so cute. Up close you can see Oliver's frustration as his "stained glass" window falls apart...again. It took two people to finally get the window to stay.

It was a very long, busy, tiring, and fun day.


This was one of my favorite photos of the kids.

Summer Flashback: Yellowstone sneak peek

Each year I create a "year in review" album for Grandparents. This year I made some postcards from places we visited this summer.

This is the one I did for Yellowstone. Since I haven't gotten around to an official blog posting...I decided to just do the postcard - as a sneak peek.

Summer Flashback: Train to SLC

Here is a "Summer Flashback" post.

I never got around to completing the posts for our summer vacation. Every once in awhile I'll jump back and add a new post of things we saw or did.

This is from July 09. Oliver loves all things concerning trains. To help celebrate Oliver's 5th birthday our family rode the light rail - "train" - to Salt Lake City. The older kids had done this before and remembered it as a highlight of vacations past; so everyone was excited to go.


Kids waiting at the station in Sandy.

We waited...and waited...and waited. We had forgotten that the kiosk only took cash. So we arrived a few minutes prior to scheduled departure and hustled up to the platform. Realizing that we needed cash, which we NEVER carry, Allen jogged back to the car to drive to an ATM. The train came and went...another train came and went. Finally Allen returned (no close ATM's) and we waited some more for the third train.

One bonus: the kiosk only gave gold dollar coins as change. We ended up with about 22 of those. The kids thought it was really cool to check out the different presidents on them.


Family hanging out on the train.


Arrival of the return train in SLC. It was a really long one - 6 "trailers" according to Oliver.


Simon boards the train

Oliver's assessment: When I asked if he like the train he said, "Yep - but I didn't like that it was so bumpy - and it was kind of long.

The nice thing is that the light rail travels on REAL train tracks (which both Simon and Oliver totally thought was cool) - then (EVEN COOLER) it starts to go on tracks in the middle of the street with cars going down both sides.



The train scores another thumbs up from our family.

Flashback: Scout Camp

This summer Gabriel attended Buffalo Trails Scout Reservation near Ft. Stockton, Texas.

He attended the Mountain Man program. Basically that is where the scouts hike 3 miles into the "mountains" (hills) and camp fairly primitive. They spend their time learning skills of a mountain man from the 1800's. (Think Davy Crockett)

Hmmm. All my text disappeared from the above collage. So here is a recap:

Day 1 - scouts meet in Seguin to pack up and head out.

Travel to a state park where they camp on the road to avoid the mud (quick overnight stop).

Day 2 - pack up and get cleaned up to attend church at the nearby branch.

At Camp:

This collage shows the Mountain Man site. They had a gourmet kitchen, high tech tents, first class restroom facilities and even their own leech infested water hole for daily bathing and swimming.

Beautiful area to camp in.

Gabriel's story: The first day at the waterhole (Noch): I spent 30 min. pulling leeches out of my feet, we were only there for 45 minutes. Day two: I slipped and got a large cut on my foot, more leeches. Day three: the cut got infected and oozed green puss, made it kind of hard to walk, more leeches. Day four: cut quit oozing green puss, got attached by huge ants, more leeches. Day Five: had to clean out the latrine, lots of fun, three mile walk back to base camp, very sore foot. All in all, lots of fun.-Gabriel.

Some of Gabriel's activities:

Black powder shooting

Knife and Tomahawk throwing

Rope weaving - out of the Agave plant...which most boys ended up getting an allergic rash from - not to mention the spines were painful.

Tanning hides

Flint and stone fire skills

Daily hikes - totalling about 12 miles

Group after hiking to Indian paintings.

Troop 300 at Buffalo Trail Scout Ranch (Gabriel is middle row, 2nd from right)

Hanging out at base camp.

Gabriel came home completely exhausted - he went to sleep Saturday night, went to church Sunday, and went back to sleep until Monday. He had a great time and can't wait until next summer!

P.S. After returning from camp Gabriel declared that he was done traveling for awhile. He had

just gone on our long, 6 week summer trip - traveling from Texas, all the way up to Montana, back through Arizona and home again. We returned from the trip on a Friday night. Gabriel had to unpack, re-pack for camp, sleep and leave 8 a.m. the next morning to head out for the week-long scout camp. The silly thing was that camp was 10 hours away in Fort Stockton, Texas. His group drove there on Saturday. The day before our family had been driving through Ft. Stockton on the way home from our vacation. Poor kid. A 20 hour round trip in two days...just to end up back where you started.

Happy Birthday Dear Gabriel...

Gabriel turned 14 on Halloween. 14!!! Someone seriously has to tell that kid to quit growing!

This week we had a birthday party with a few friends at a local bowling alley. Gabriel invited 3 boys and 2 girls. (I suggested that if he was going to invite any girls he needed to invite 2 that were friends so they could hang out.) Unfortunately only one of theboys was able to come. I'll tell you what...the dynamics change dramatically when girls are invited. There is more silliness...from both the boys and the girls. Yikes. The sad thing is that I totally remember being the hyper girl...vying for attention - many of my friends and family probably remember that too. :)


Gabriel shows his camping cake. There are gummy people hiking, fishing and sitting around the campfire. No, it's not that the picture doesn't do the cake justice. It was just that I made it - and you all know how that goes. Not much artistic material to work with there. Thankfully the kids appreciate my effort and always seem to look forward to whatever creations I come up with.



Hanging out at the bowling alley. Gabriel and his friend, Travis, huddled over a game when it wasn't their turn. The girls often took off to the air hockey table. We ended up being the ONLY people in the bowling alley for about an hour. It was very quiet - or maybe we just seemed really loud since our voices echoed in the empty place.


...Happy Birthday to you!!!!!

Such a Messy Little Girl

It may not look like it...but Amelia really liked that chocolate pudding.
(See the chocolate smile she painted on herself?)

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween this year we had the following:
Gabriel - Nerd (note the pocket FULL of pens, calculator and glue bottle relabeled as "nose spray")
Katrina - Friendly Vampire
Abagail - Felicity - from American Girl
Simon - Luke Skywalker
Oliver - Pirate
Amelia - Piglet





Luke Skywalker was such an easy costume for Simon. He has the hair, he has the eyes, put on an old Karate uniform and let Katrina craft him a "lightsaber" and we are good to go.

Oliver and Simon were very excited to go trick-or-treating.



For those who don't know the tradition...Amelia is our 6th piglet. I made Gabriel this costume when he was a year old for Halloween. Each time a child has been about a year - give or take a few months - this is their costume by default. I'll have to get all those photos together one of these days and see just who looks the most alike when all you can see is their face.

It turned out that Gabriel went out with some friends in another neighborhood. Katrina and Abagail went around with another friend that would move "faster than mom would". That left me taking Simon, Oliver and Amelia around. It was way easier when the kids were closer in attention span, speed, and leg length! - Amelia of course was in the stroller.

The Cinderella Ballet

On the day of Halloween, the girls and I attended the Cinderella Ballet, put on by the San Antonio Metropolitan Ballet.

The ballet was held in this beautiful old Auditorium. It was a very cool place; very classy. We heard that renovation is about to take place that would update the interior...probably good for those actually having to use it but sad for the loss of history. It was kind of cool to be able to attend while the auditorium was still in it's original state.



Katrina and Abagail posing in front of the Municipal Auditorium in downtown San Antonio. Abagail is hamming it up as a "Cinderella Stepsister".

The activity was part of a Girl Scout event. As it was Halloween, the scouts were encouraged to dress up as their favorite Cinderella character. Katrina and Abagail decided that the three of us would go as the Stepmother and two Stepsisters. Abagail was Anastasia and Katrina was Drizella (if that's how you spell it).

The funny thing was that the only other person dressed up was a little girl about 6-years-old, she dressed as Cinderella - and she was in a readily identifiable Disney costume.

The girls and I dressed up in clothes that we had borrowed from Grandma for Halloween costumes...but they were real clothes that Lysa and I had worn as children. They didn't look exactly like costumes. My dress was a long, blue dress that I haven't worn since Gabriel was a baby - mostly because it is NOT in style now. I'm sure I will not be wearing it again since I had to seriously suck it in to get the poor dress zipped. Hey - it's been a few years. (Note for Lysa: it was your dress that you wore in the family photo we took when I was a HS senior - the one with a toddler Laine sitting on Mom's lap.)

We got some very confused/amused looks. I think people were trying to decide if we had dressed up as characters or if these clothes were our way of dressing up respectfully for the ballet - and we had a WAY out of date sense of style. Abagial and Katrina had asked me to spray-color their hair. Abagail had a shade of red; Katrina had a bit of black sprayed in. Hopefully that tipped people off. :)


Abagail and Katrina posing in front of the stage. It was such a BEAUTIFUL ballet. I was so impressed with the set, costumes, make-up, and of course the dancing.

Funny though, the girls were not used to such a formal setting. They thought it was kind of long.


Posing with one of the stepsisters.


The girls were able to go backstage prior to the show and watch the ballerinas warming up. They were also treated to an autograph session post show. One surprising note: this ballet did not contain a stepmother. (So much for my "costume") But we got a photo of the Father with the Stepsisters - close enough.

Band Night

The school hosts a "Band Night" each year where members of band from 6-12 grade participate at a home football game. It is really fun and the kids look forward to it each year.

Although it was a bit cool this time it was NOTHING compared to the freezing weather last year...so we were happy.

The Fans....




Gabriel prepares to go down to the field for the half-time performance. There were over 200 band students on the field.


Katrina poses with her friend, Makenzie. The 6th graders did not play instruments during the 1/2 time show. Their role was to wave American Flags and march along and cheer the band on.