Yellowstone - Day 2

The morning started out beautiful!  It was a little chilly so we grabbed some sweatshirts, packed lunch and piled in the cars.  This time we only drove two so it was easier to keep track of each other.  It was beautiful every where we went.  Yellowstone is an amazing place to visit - we saw elk, deer, swan, etc all day!  At one of our early morning potty stops - Maxwell said "oh, no Mom is this one of those pottys with the whole in the ground AGAIN"  It cracked me up - yes, it was a hole in the ground potty but at least they had them.  There was one today that was so bad I wanted to puck - poor Grandma almost didn't make it!

Do you see how incredible cute these kids are - we adults are so bad - but the kids are adorable!  I am so glad we took so many pictures!  I love all the pictures of Maxwell with Derrick!  Maxwell is always beaming - our kids loved Uncle Derrick and his roughing - they had so much fun!  I also love this shot of my mom and dad with all the kids - so cute!

Just as lunchtime hit we had some rain so we drove for a bit and thankful it stop near the Old Faithful Inn so we grabbed a table and ate their.  Next store was another gift shop with hats - these kids love trying on these crazy animal hats - so funny!  Also there was a group loading up and getting ready for a Old West cookout expedition that night.  The horses were beautiful.  We had kind of wanting to do one of those but I think it would be so much better when we can all ride the horses to it (Maxwell and Marin were still too young).  Next time we do Yellowstone - kids will be older and one of those will be on our list!  Look at Maxwell's face as Derrick teases him - pure joy!

The end of the day it cleared up again and we found a spot for some awesome pictures of everyone together!  I guess I can't have too many pictures of all of us together!! 

And as our afternoon winded down - we finally saw a BEAR and a MOOSE!  It was so exciting!  The park service had patrols out to make sure people kept their distance (you would be amazed at how many people got out of the car and tried to get really close - it is still a wild animal, really people!)  Crazy and irritating!

Just at the end of the day - our last day - a MOOSE and a BEAR!

THE RODEO
I had booked some tickets at a rodeo (Rodeo Yellowstone) and I was a little worried it would be lame and cheesy but it was awesome!  It was small and not a big deal rodeo but what do you expect for $13 a ticket?

It was pretty funny how they got the audience to participate - they had a rodeo clown that was actually pretty good.  He had the younger kids )Marin, Maxwell, Ethan) come out and do a calf chase - so funny cause I don't think Maxwell knew why he was even chasing the calf!  At one point in their warm up he had them rolling on the ground - yuck all that manure in the dirt.  Then he had the older kids come out (Megan and Hattie) but they just had to dance before they chased the calf.  None of our kids catch the calf -  of course Hattie later claimed "we weren't trying that hard".  The next audience participation activity was a dance off - Grandpa was called out of the ground as the "older gentlemen" but Derrick jumped in for him!  Little did he know it was to be a dance off between him, a little girl, and a young woman from Russia!!

So here it is the now famous Derrick Smith rodeo dance - it has been posted and reposted! I have a new appreciation for my brother - he went all out, hurt his knee in the process, and won a $5 off $25 coupon at a BAR (lamest prize ever :).  We all loved it - he did a great job and was a great sport!  My kids still talk about this as the best part of our vacation! 

It was a fun night - much better than I expected!  All of us laughed so hard and really enjoyed it!