Poker Run

About a month ago, Mike took both kids to the Poker Run. The poker run is where people take 4 wheel drive vehicles and drive from point to point gathering playing cards and then at the end, those with the best poker hand win prizes.

I was really excited because they were going out Friday evening and would be coming back Sunday morning. I was thrilled to have some alone time. Christy and I also planned to do some things together.

Late Friday night, just as I was going to go to bed, the phone rang and it was Mike telling me they were coming home because there

had been a little mishap. They got home and Mike explained that about 10:30, a guy was driving up a hill and hadn't secured his tailgate or his spare tire. It came rolling down the hill

and hit the truck with some force. I was really upset, but Mike said he was glad it had hit the tent instead of the tent. He said that it had hit with such force that had it hit the tent it would have seriously hurt or killed one of the kids.

The next morning when I got up, Alyssa was sitting on the couch and I hugged her and told her that I was glad she was home safe. She looked at me and said, "Mommy, we were protected and blessed." I got tears in my eyes and agreed with her. I am so glad my family was protected and that I had them home safe, rather than having a "free" weekend.

The cousins

Margo and Clay brought Tyler and Joel to Trunk or Treat on Halloween. Joel was Buzz Lightyear and was thrilled about it. Right before he would start to run, he would punch buttons on his arm, just like Buzz. It was soooo funny! Tyler on the other hand was not exactly thrilled to be a mouse. As you can see. Curtis and Alyssa were thrilled to have them there.

October

October is a blur, as was September. My class this year is difficult and it has taken awhile to get them under control. I can now say that I love my class and am glad they are mine. We are still working on getting some of the kinks out and unfortunately I got a new student with severe behavior problems a couple of weeks ago. I have already written a referral for shouting out during the math test, "Mrs. Buma is the worst teacher!" Needless to say I have not been very good about updating the blog. So basically I will update the month of October with a few pictures. So here are some Halloween pictures from tonight and some from the pumpkin patch last week. I'll try and add some pics from Curtis' birthday party (from September) at a later date.

Alyssa and one of her favorite people in the world, Chris Davis. She was so excited when he had dressed up as Batman.

Curtis dressed up as a Clone Trooper and Alyssa as Bat Girl. We also got some pictures of the kids with their little cousins, Joel and Tyler, but I will post them later, I can't get the computer to load more pics to this post.

This Summer, Part 2

I thought I would continue where I left off....

We went to Old Faithful. They are building a new visitor's center. When it is finished, it will be awesome! They said it will be done next summer. I would love to go back and see it. Alyssa was very impatient while we were waiting for the geyer to errupt. She couldn't understand why it wouldn't go off immediatly. There were also some people sitting by us who were very rude and pushy. She got pushed a couple of times by them and I thought she was going to lose it, but she didn't. So whew... Crisis averted.

When it did finally go off, she loved it. Curtis did too. I think they were amazed at the height the water and steam reached. As for me, I am always thrilled and amazed when I see a geyser erupt. They are so beautiful!

We saw many more examples of the geological wonder that is Yellowstone National Park.

We saw many different kinds of animals in the park. I think Alyssa's favorite was the pelican. We saw lots of those. Although I didn't get a picture of one. Curtis loved the bison. We saw lots of them. At one point we came upon a here crossing the road. Traffic was stopped as the mosied across the road. I think there were several hundred, including many calves. It was a neat experience. We also came upon about 5 elk lying in the shade near a picnic area by the Mammoth Hot Springs visitor center.

Summer fun to be continued...

Our Summer

In the last post I told about the very beginning of our vacation. I fully intended on several other posts about our vacation. It didn't happen and now I have to go back to work officially on Thursday, but realistically tomorrow, so my room is ready. So I will just post a few pictures and give the highlights.

We went to the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. We spent part of two days there. We loved it. It is five museums. There is of course the Buffalo Bill Museum with lots of things from his career and life. Then there was the plain Indian museum. That was really great too. There was
also a natural history museum with exhibits about the region. I think that and the Buffalo Bill were my favorite. There was also a firearm museum. There were guns from the 1500's. It was interesting, but not my favorite. I got bored really easy. Guns are not my favorite thing. Finally there was a western art museum, which we skipped. The kids weren't interested and quite frankly, neither were Mike and I.

We went to Lovell, Wyoming on two different days to see my grandma. We only went for short periods of time and did other things around our visits. One of the things we did was to drive up to the Devil's Canyon overlook. I never get tired of that view. It is gorgeous. Wow! It makes me think of my Grandpa Cox. I don't know why, but it does.

After our 5 days in Cody, we headed to Yellowstone Park. We stayed in the park and had a great time. We saw lots of wildlife: deers, buffalo, pronghorns, marmots, etc. We also got to experience the beauty of this wonderful place. The kids did the Jr. Ranger program and got their badges. More on that later.

Alyssa did not like the stinky smells of the gases. In fact she complained about that a lot. All in all we had a great time.

To be continued later.....

The Tractor Man

What's that stupid song about a tractor being sexy? Well, I don't know if it is sexy, but it sure is cute, especially with these two on top!
Mike is grading off part of the yard (for those of you who know) where the travel trailer has been sitting. He wants to build a garage there. I think right now, it will just be a cement pad for now.

More Living Desert Pics

Curtis is petting a desert tortoise. Alyssa did too, I just didn't get a picture of that!

They have a really great set up of model trains. It is one of Alyssa's favorite things to see everytime we come here. They have it set up like the United States. Now that we've been to The Grand Canyon, the kids love to see that part of it. Alyssa can't get enough of watching the trains go round and round.

Once again, just an all around great day!