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Welcome to the Bettineski Blog. Our goal is to post some pictures or updates weekly, but you know how it is with two kids.. we'll see. :)

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Wyoming Stories

Thought I would write down a few of the things the kids said about our trip to Wyoming...so here goes.



Tyler's version:



Animals we saw-grizzly bear, deer, moose, buck, bison, elk, chipmunks, birds, and daddy saw marmots



My favorite part of the trip- making a campfire and seeing the animals



Places we went- Jackson, the water park (in Meridian, ID), the Wal-Mart that people sleep at (that would be the parking lot of the Pocatello, ID Wal-Mart where we white-trashed it up and spent the night), our campsite (Colter Bay outside of Jackson, on Jackson Lake), and the "Yellow Stone", aka Yellowstone National Park (Tyler was disappointed we never saw the "Yellow" stone)



What we saw at Yellowstone- water flowing thing that looks like a volcano (that would be Old Faithful). We stopped at a gift shop there and the kids picked out rocks for a souvenir.



What we did in Jackson- got a raptor claw (that would actually be a bear claw from the Ripley's Believe It or Not gift shop), some bugs (bugs set it resin- from the same lovely store as the claw- he picked a beetle, and a fiddler crab, and then a bat and a tarantula to earn, and Ella picked a necklace and a centipede in resin)



Where else did we go- the Moose Museum (that would be the Visitor's Center in Moose, WY) where the kids were able to touch about 20 animal furs and learn about the habitats and diets of the animals. A very cool place to take the kids. They also had an amazing gift shop, where the kids picked a few books and Tyler picked a stuffed bat and Ella picked a finger puppet chipmunk.



Dad brought back some cool rocks from his climb up the Middle Teton (Tyler was excited- Ella was disappointed- she wanted something "girly".)



Tyler was able to buy 3 comic books at the little grocery store at the campsite- he picked Batman and 2 Spiderman. His quote- "they're like magazines mom". He enjoyed reading them to Ella and asking over and over again for us to read them to him.



At the water park, his favorite part was going on the ride that went "back and forth and forth and back and back and forth". This was a ride he did with Chris- Ella was too short.



We did canoe rides on the lake.



He liked everything about the trip.



People we camped with- "Darlene, my buddy Jim, and Shelby (their dog). Hunter, and the two buddies with the same name- maybe they're brothers". (that would be Jeremy Wilson and Jeremy Hurl- 2 guys Chris climbs with.) "Hunter's mom- Kelly. David- he helped with the fire. He was good at making fires."



On the last night of camping, Tyler got to stay up late with the boys and hang out at the campfire- he loved it. He told them stories and kept them entertained.



Ella's version:



Her favorite part- seeing the bison



Places we went- Jackson



Animals we saw- bear, chipmunks, deer, moose, elk, and bison



Things we bought- raptor claws, glass bugs, necklace, and the decorator mirror (it was a Melissa and Doug wooden mirror with stickers, glitter, and jewels to decorate). Oh and my chipmunk and Tyler's books.



Daddy brought back rocks from the climb- I don't like them.



Scariest part of the trip- seeing the bison out the fence- they can charge you out of the fence (once while stopping to take pictures of the bison, two of them walked out of the open fence and she freaked out).



"On the canoe ride mommy got frustrated so it wasn't awesome- I just wanted to be done." (we rented a canoe on the windiest possible day- it was awful- we couldn't even get out the marina)



People in our camp- "Hunter" (the little boy- his parents were also there, as well as several others- but she only mentioned Hunter)



Interesting to hear their opinions of the trip...some are a little different than mine :)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

More Wyoming

Here are a few more pics of our trip...


Tyler and I playing Battleship in the trailer



Getting ready to roast marshmellows


Sign next to Old Faithful

I know it's impossible to tell, but there is a HUGE grizzly bear inside those bushes, which were only about 50 feet off the highway.

Having fun in the trailer








See the mama moose?





Ella and her "silly" face

Tyler showing off his new bat from the Moose, WY Visitor Center

Darlene reading Tyler's new comic book to the kids


The kids being sily

Hunter pulling on Ella's hair

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Road Trip

So, we've made it to Wyoming. We left Wednesday morning about 10, and stopped in Meridian, ID at Roaring Springs Water Park for a few hours of fun. We then got back in the truck and drove to Pocatello. We stayed the night in a Wal-Mart parking lot- we are now "Officially" white trash. :) The next morning we drove to our campsite at Colter Bay, about 40 miles outside of Jackson. We saw buffalo along the way, and since have seen a grizzly bear. 2 moose, a buck, an elk, and lots of chipmunks at our campsite. The kids have enjoyed a canoe ride on Jackson Lake (not so fun for the parents by the way...the wind was so bad we couldn't get out of the marina), lots of roasted marshmellows, a few hiking excursions, and lots of bug bites. We also went into Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful.
Here's a few pictures from our adventure....

Having some problems posting pics on the site- the connection speed in the campground is quite slow...post more later. Notice the Pendleton sign in the background?
Big Foot

Entrance to a park in Jackson, WY






The Tetons