Why we Love Island Park

Cooler weather

 G-ma

 Adventures!

 Hikes

 Freedom to make noise without grumpy Germans banging below us.

 Time spent with Adye...the twins' first word was Adye

 Family time

 Newfound independence

 Grammy and Pompa

 More independence

 Wild daisies

 Cousins

 Missing Old Faithful, twice.

 The cabin

Father's Day 2011

Last year was Tyler's first father's day and it was kind of a dud. We spent the day in an airport in Florida. So this year, I planned an extra special week of festivities that conveniently fell around our family's annual trip to Island Park. Which is conveniently one of Tyler's favorite places to be. But I seriously worked hard to make it the best father's day ever!

 Yummy breakfast in West Yellowstone

A new Kelty for Daddy's hiking trips!

 A hike in which the Kelty would have been useful but tragically left behind...

Exhausted children

 And the sweetest wife in the world.

Only for you honey...Love you.

Swim Lessons

We ventured out for an activity. Two weeks of swim lessons. 

 The boys loved it and then hated it and then loved it.

 My sweet, sweet SIL Elizabeth played surrogate mother for those two weeks.

 Perhaps people thought of us as "wesbian wovers." For more, see Baby Mama-greatest movie of all time.

We learned to kick and row, splash in mom's face, blow bubbles, and drink lots of chlorinated water.

I love my little fishies!

Outside my Kitchen Window

In yonder brake there is a nest;
But come not, [dear], too nigh,
Lest the poor mother, frightened thence,
Should leave her young, and fly!

Think with what pain, for many a day,
Soft moss and straw she brought;
And let our own dear mother's care
Be present to our thought.

And think how must her heart deplore,
And droop with grief and pain,
If those she reared, and nursed, and loved,
She ne'er should see again.

"The Bird's Nest" by William Lisle Bowles