Pioneer Day and Pioneer Day Observed

Happy Pioneer Day!

We celebrated Pioneer Day on the 24th of July and the 25th of July this year.
On the 24th we went for a hike (and scooter ride) as a family. We hadn't been very long on the trail when Jr. made the comment, "There's a beaver."
"Where?" I asked as I turned toward the river not thinking there was actually a beaver there. "Oh, there really is a beaver." There it was climbing down the bank into the water.
Jr. was surprised as he had said it kind of jokingly not thinking it was actually a beaver. We see a lot of muskrats around Utah. There was no mistaking that tail, though, and it was bigger than a muskrat.
Jeremy handed the camera to Nichole so she could get some pictures for us as I pointed it out to the younger boys. Jet was asleep in the stroller.

That was cool and a first time beaver sighting for me in Utah. Now I've seen beavers in three states and none of them The Beaver State. Ha Ha.
Nichole kept hold of the camera to take more pictures of wildlife- a squirrel eating an apple, a wasp nest with wasps, and an American dipper.

Since it was Pioneer Day, on the drive to the trail, Jeremy and I thought of some alternate lyrics to some Pioneer songs to reflect current situations. "Pandemic children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked." "In Our Lovely Deseret" was given lyrics such as "Whenever they should meet, they stay a distance of six feet, while the coughing and the sneezing they despise."

Lucky had some fun with his scooter. He held on to the stroller so he wouldn't have to kick off from the ground and just be pulled along. We asked Jr. to take pictures and this is what he got.

As we got back to the van, we talked about how the pioneers wore face coverings, bandanas and such, and wearing face coverings is like wearing a scarf over your face and mouth in the Winter.
We also had some fun taking pictures of ourselves and the beautiful clouds and evening lighting on the hills. Nichole had a lot of fun.

Mom: Everybody say, "Happy Pioneer Day."
Most of us: Happy Pioneer Day.
Nichole: Happy Pioneer Day Observed.

On the 25th, our ward had a Pioneer Day Parade for the Primary children and their families, driving around the neighborhood waving American flags out the windows, dressing in Pioneer garb and having decorated vehicles if desired. It was fun to see how many ward members came outside their houses to wave and cheer us on.

Lucky was unhappy that he wasn't by a window that opened during the parade so when we got home I got pictures of our kids with their flags.

We didn't give Jet a flag during the parade but he was asleep by the time we got home and his hand was in such a position that I just had to stage this picture. So cute.

For participating, the kids also got a little snack- salt water taffy and a bag of microwave popcorn each. They ate their taffy soon after we got home and ate their popcorn while watching the movie, 17 Miracles.
There is a part in that movie where one of the pioneer women is given food to take back to the group by a "traveler." As she left, she remembered that she forgot to say thank you to the man so turned back but couldn't find him or the cave that had just been there. While watching that part, Lucky made the comment, "What if she said, 'Marco?' He would have said, 'Polo,'" Ha Ha Ha Ha. I guess that would have been a way for her to find him again.
That evening we played the video game, Oregon Trail, which is also about pioneers, just not pioneers for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the game, we made sure to get to Independence Rock before the 4th of July after traveling to Independence Rock in real life and learning about it last year.

Lots of celebrating for Pioneer Day and Pioneer Day Observed. But no big fireworks show at the mall this year.

What We Did at Yellowstone- Day 2

Day 1 of our Yellowstone trip was mostly searching for wildlife.  Day 2 was more on the geologic side.  Of course we wanted to see Old Faithful.  You can't go to Yellowstone and not see Old Faithful.

We saw plenty of other geysers and hot springs as well.  Again there was so much to see.  Some areas were too crowded so we saw some things as we drove by, but we went on a few scenic drives and were rewarded by what we saw.

We did stop at Mammoth Hot Springs to walk around a few of the hot springs as our first stop in the morning.  So cool... or hot.

We saw swallows nesting in the mineral deposits.  We saw a killdeer walking around the lower areas of water.  I'm guessing it was probably cooled off enough by then.

It was so neat.

We stopped by the National Park Ranger Museum.

The couple there who were explaining things to us were so friendly and informative.  They even gave the kids stickers.

And this is what happens when your brother-in-law hands you his camera and says to take pictures with it:

At the end of the day on our way out there was major traffic backed up because there were bison all over the road and on the sides of the road.  Luckily we were stuck next to some bubbling mud pots which we were able to watch while waiting for the bison.

Driving in Yellowstone is also so scenic.  I mentioned before that there are so many different types of places around.  We did drive around flat areas with meandering rivers.

We drove through canyons with rapids and waterfalls.

We drove by rivers and ponds and lakes.

We stopped at one place called Fishing Bridge which is clearly marked "Closed to Fishing."

While there we watched a beaver swim by with a big branch in its mouth.  They do exist.  This one was smaller than those we saw in the Pacific Northwest last year.  I blogged about those on July 10, 2016.

Looking back at some of our pictures, there were also river otters swimming around.  They were farther away so the pictures aren't that great, but we could definitely tell there were otters.
We were driving through mountains as it was getting darker and we did see a black bear.  Unfortunately it was too dark for the pictures to turn out but it was definitely a black bear.  That was fun.

It was a good second day at Yellowstone.