First Days of School 2011

Now that Siena has started school, I feel like I can finally post their first-day-of-school pictures. Brighton started two weeks ago:

So handsome, and so grown up!

Chelsea's kindergarten orientation/back-to-school day was the same day as Brighton's first day:

Starting Chinese immersion and already loving it!

We are thrilled that she has Brighton's old kindergarten teacher-- she is the best!

But she officially started last week:

This is such a big deal now that she is in kindergarten!!

She was so proud to be the first one in line

And Siena started preschool this week:

So ready and excited to go to Mrs. Starr's

I can't believe how fast these kids are growning! It is so bittersweet...

Three National Parks in 3 days

We took a detour on our way home from Glacier National Park to visit one of our favorite places, Grand Teton National Park. On the way there we drove through Yellowstone National Park, which means we visited three great parks in 3 days. It was awesome.

A few of our stops in Yellowstone:

Waiting for Old Faithful to erupt

There it goes!

Three happy girls with their souvenirs from the Old Faithful gift shop

One of our favorite memories from our last trip here was the beautiful hike around Jenny Lake. So the next morning we got up early and did it again:

We rode the ferry back,

And had a yummy lunch in Jackson

Another favorite was riding the Jackson Hole gondola:

London was a little nervous about the height

You just can't beat the view at the top

Beautiful!

We loved staying at the historic Jackson Lake Lodge:

Eating at the Pioneer Grill

Having breakfast on the patio-- everything just tastes better when you're looking at those incredible mountains!

Our cute cabin

I couldn't resist pulling up a few pictures from our last trip 3 years ago to compare. So, so fun:

Ferry ride 2008

Ferry ride 2011

Hidden Falls 2008

Hidden Falls 2011

Jenny Lake 2008

Jenny Lake 2011

The antlers at Jackson Square 2008

The antlers at Jackson Square 2011

Grand Teton National Park 2008

Grand Teton National Park 2011

Love this place. We may have to come back again in three years.

Glacier National Park

I'm embarrassed to admit that when we started planning this trip I had heard of Glacier National Park but had no idea where it was. And as I started to tell friends about it I realized I was not alone-- "I've heard it's beautiful! And where is it again?"-- but now that I know where it is and I have spent time there I highly recommend it. It is an amazing place.

One of the many glacial lakes

We couldn't help but attempt to skip some rocks, and I discovered that my husband is a master rock-skipper!

Just a couple of the many pictures we took of our incredible surroundings

Not the greatest picture, but I just love the look of excitement on London's face

Grandma and Grandpa Allen, who made this trip possible!

A picnic lunch

We made several stops as we drove through the park, but I have to say the most memorable was Logan Pass. We were all amazed by how much snow there still was and thought we might have to abort the hike to Hidden Lake that we had planned to do:

Since we were there we decided we would just go part of the way,

But the kids were such troopers we just kept trudging along in the snow.

We took this picture of Grandma and Grandpa with all of the grandkids near the top, and once we were there we decided we might as well go all the way!:

I LOVE this picture!

So fun to be there as a family

This view of Hidden Lake was totally worth the steep and treacherous hike in slushy snow

But it was a tough hike! A much-deserved rest afterward for this little 4-year-old

And guess who wasn't tired because she had a nice nap in the carrier?