I've been on the road to Seattle for quite some time now. First we stopped by
Mount Rushmore for a couple of days. That was amazing for my husband and I. My kids just liked to throw rocks. If you ever go, you should definitely go to the night lighting. The movie and ceremony they held was wonderful. Then they light up the monument in the evening dusk and it was magical. At the end, they invited all active duty and retired military to the stage. They filled it up and then some. They all received a standing ovation and had a few of them take down the flag and fold it. It was concluded with each of them telling their name and branch they served. 2 of the gentlemen were WWII veterans and 2 of them were in Vietnam. How amazing it was to see our men and women standing so proudly under 4 of our nations greatest presidents.
The day out, we took the
Wildlife Loop Road, located in
Custer State Park. We were actually stopped for a while to allow a herd of Bison come through, more like up, the road while cars stopped on both sides of the road to allow them to pass. If I stuck my arm out the window I would've touched a lot of them...but thinking smartly, I didn't! My kids favorite part was coming up on a bunch of wild donkeys. Our windows were all rolled down and within seconds each window was filled with a donkey's head trying to get whatever food they could. My kids were eating pretzels, which they decided to feed them, and that seemed to make them happy and they were on their way. It took us about 15 minutes to get out of there after that since they all assumed my kids were giving out free pretzels and we were bombarded with the rest of the herd.
After that, we took the trip on the road again over to
Yellowstone National Park.
This was a 3 day excursion that could have easily been a week long. We were able to fit it all in though. While we were at the mud volcanoes it started snowing...in June! I couldn't believe it! Amongst all the heat and steam popping up, there were flurries of snow falling down amongst it all. Very cool!
My favorite stop there was the Grand Prismatic Spring at the Midway Geyser Basin. The colors were simply STUNNING to say the least. They are formed by a bacterial that only grows in this one place in the world. I felt like I was on a different planet.
The kids took part in the
Junior Ranger Program that they hold for all National parks throughout the US. To become a Junior Ranger, the kids are given free 12-page activity paper that you can get at any Yellowstone visitor center. Only children visiting the park can complete the requirements necessary to earn the patch. After completing the age appropriate requirements described on the last page of the paper and reviewing their work with a ranger at any visitor center, the kids were awarded an official Yellowstone Junior Ranger patch. The Ranger stopped everyone in the station and announced they were to be sworn in. They had to repeat after the Ranger with their hand held high. They were BEAMING!
We saw tons of Wildlife, including, bears, both black and grizzly, elk, bison, a huge wolf, a marmot, numerous chipmunks, really cute ground squirrels, osprey, and my son's favorite, a mountain goat. So fun for all of us. We each had our own binoculars to use.
And of course, you can't leave out Old Faithful. We got there in plenty of time to see it, but after I locked the keys in the car, time was running out. Thank goodness that I did it in the biggest tourist spot in Yellowstone and they actually had a car repair place there. So $55 later, we were walking down to see her blow!
Next we were on our way to our new home in Seattle....well, the hotel that we stayed in for 10 days until we found a home. After day 6 I was getting a bit freaked out and frustrated and had a breakdown. I was just sure we'd end up in an apartment with no yard and no place for me to continue with my
ETSY boutique. On the 8th day, we found a place that we thought would work, but were not too excited about. We rushed back to the hotel to fill out the applications, which cost us $86, and faxed it in. Later that night we had one more appointment to look at a house in Issaquah, WA (about 10 miles east of the city). The house was on a private drive and sat on 1.2 acres of land. From the second we got there my kids were in LOVE! I didn't see them the entire time we were there. The house had plenty of room for all of our things as well as a finished room in the basement for both my studio and the kids playroom. I was HOOKED from the second we arrived. And to seal the deal, the neighbor came down with her 3 year old to say hello to us. So for a second time that day, we filled out the necessary application, this time only costing us $40, and pulled our applications from the first place. By the next afternoon we had a house to call home. Only one problem...we moved in on the 1st of July, but the movers couldn't get our stuff to us until the 11th. YUCK! Oh well, we went ahead with it anyway. And now we are living in the fabulous house with 4 folding camping chairs, a computer, which we just got Internet yesterday, and 3 blow up mattresses. We did buy a grill on the 4th for a BBQ. That was interesting.
So to make a long story even longer...I will not be receiving my machines until the 11th and after that probably will be unpacking for a few days before I can actually get back to work. So sorry for any inconveniences that I have caused for people who are wanting to purchase items from the shop, but this was definitely not planned. I will send a new post out the moment I am up and running...which is hopefully soon!
Thanks,
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