The Marchant Family, one day at a time: *YELLOWSTONE*

The condo had a very nice pool area. Not only was there the huge pool and two hot tubs, but also a wadding pool perfect for the little kids. All we heard every night was

"can we go swimming, can we co swimming".

Our first sighting of wildlife! Little did we know we would see this same heard twice a day as we entered and left the park. They seemed to stay put in one certain little valley by a stream. Seeing how it was our first sighting though, everyone was particularly excited. Tanner jumped out right away to start snapping shots with his brand new camera.

That would be me running up a steep hill from Fire River... not so "fiery" though. It was beautiful however, and in the summer, I'm sure it would be a lovely little swimming hole. We were there in mid/late October though.... not so much swimming weather. I was a little bummed because I was imagining a nice dip in a steamy hot oasis.

We all told Dan it was HOT, but would he believe us??? Of course not. I'll say this though.. that was the last hot spring he tried to touch... hee hee.

Lot's of walking in cold weather. It was fun to see Yellowstone this way though.

The contrast of hot and cold, steam and snow was amazing.

It SNOWED!

At the Bear & Wolf Discovery Center we were able to see wolves and bears! Shocking I know. It was nice for the kids to be able to actually see some though, seeing how to catch a glimpse in the park you have to drive to the northeastern boarder (about 3 hours away) at dawn (about 5 or 6 am). I know Jaxon and Tanner would be fine with this... but not the rest of us. Tanner and Rylie also got to hid food in the bear enclosure. As part of their enrichment they have food hidden around that they get to find. In the summer months there can be as many as 30 kids doing this. One of the perks of off season is that Tanner and Ry were the only ones doing it that day. Jaxon and Jocelyn would have loved to join in the fun, but there was an age restriction of 5 and up. Something about electric fences and little kids.. blah blah blah... lol

One day we caught the wolfs during an enrichment. They were given a bucket of trout in their little stream. It was neat to watch them catch the fish. One was particularly good at catching them, but not good at keeping them. Once she would catch one, someone else would steal it.

Here's the kids getting the wildlife talk before they entered the bear habitat.

More SNOW!

2nd animal sighting... this time closer, but still elk.

You wouldn't know it to see these beautiful pictures of West Thumb, but it was a full on blizzard when we started down the path. I didn't think it was worth the walk. Luckily a few minutes in it blew past and cleared up. This was probably my favorite area. I remember going there as a kid and arriving just in time to see the rangers hauling off a baby moose....

fall off the bone tender you might say.

3rd animal sighting: Mr. Whiley coyote waiting for handouts obviously. This guy just camped out at the paint pots area in the parking lot. It was a little alarming to get out of the van and unload Jocelyn then look over and not 10 feet away is this guy staring at me. *yikes*

Finally some BISON!