Wednesday, July 11, 2007 ;
4:49 AM
9 July (backdated post)
Monday
Slept better on the night of the 8th. It was much warmer with the stove laden with burning wood. The only thing is, it is not a thermostat-controlled heater, hence, everytime a log is added in, the fire burns stronger, and it becomes very warm and stuff. So I will have no choice but to remove my jacket and the kids' jackets. Otherwise we will be sweating profusely.
This is a tricky operation because I need to do it without waking the kids. This will last for half an hour, then it will start to be cooler again cos the fire has stabilised and the outside cold starts to cool the whole tent. Then I have to put on the jackets again.
The good thing is, we no longer need the gloves and scarves.
The bad thing is: dh wakes every hour or so (supposed to be half hour, but we decided to let it be colder before we add more logs) to add a log. And I wake about the same intervals to put on or take off jackets. Still, we could sleep an hour at a time, a marked improvement from the 1st night.
Above left: In the morning, when I woke up, I saw ds1 sleeping like that. He covered himself totally with his jacket and blanket. Fortunately he is not an infant, otherwise he'd suffocate! He must've felt very cold.
Above right: After I removed the jacket from his head.
Below: Ds2 in the morning. He loves being so close to the birds and trees. There are several burrows right outside the tent, and there were many Uintah Ground Squirrels that pop out every once in a while, so ds2 likes to squat at the holes and "ambush" them. Rather, it is more like, both the squirrels and him get a shock each time they emerge.
The morning after we moved to Yellowstone, he was so sad when he woke up. So much so that he cried. He couldn't verbalise it that well, but the fact that he rushed out of the door to collect some stones and sticks to place inside the room, squatting there to arrange and rearrange them for a long time, kind of shows he misses Mother Nature close by.
At the Teton camp, he will wander off to the forested woods behind. So one of us always has to go after him once he is out of sight. Again, because of the many bear and coyote residents there.
The mornings from Mon to Wed were all devoted to Bible classes. The first 2 lessons will be combined. The kids usually get very restless by the 2nd one. But we get to move around the amphitheatre whenever the sun hits our sitting area, so it's not too bad.
Then there'll be a short 15min break, before the kids get their own classes. They divide into 4 yrs old to 2nd Grade - 1 class, then 3rd grade to 7th grade and then teens. Then I have the ladies class.
ds2 doesn't have a class. I was invited to bring him to ds1's class but I have to sit in with him, because the activities were more for older kids (4yrs to 8 yrs). I like Ladies Classes and the speakers were from different congregations, so I decided to bring ds2 with me to the Ladies Class. It was very good, because he almost always (only for 1 day he was awake) napped during the Ladies Class. And I enjoyed every session. It was good to have ds1 away from me for a while. I so look forward to Sept when his preschool starts. :-)
I risk sounding like a lousy mom here. But ds1 talks and asks too much that sometimes I am just glad for some peace. Now that he doesn't take a nap in the afternoon anymore, I feel as if I am listening to a broken record the whole day. ANd this isn't an ordinary broken record. It is one that is played at maximum volume. I told Angeling about this, and good thing she gave me some suggestions to deal with it. :-)
ds1 enjoyed the Bible lessons very much and they had a great teacher (Elder's wife) so it worked out really well.
After lessons, we go back to our tent, cook and eat lunch then set off for hiking and wildlife viewing.
We drove to several areas where there were some bison, but this (Antelope Flats Road) was the jackpot. Where the most bison are, and where we could stop and view them from the safety of our car, yet they did their own thing and let us observe their way of life for an extended period of time.
Above left: 2 bison were charging at each other.
Above right: Bison birth is Spring, and so summertime sees the calves growing bigger. It was lovely to see the mothers care for their young.
Above left: 3 birds sitting on top of this bison.
Below: a typical Teton landscape. Lots of sagebrush and wildflowers across the whole plains.
Above right: we went hiking some short trails all about the Park. This one seems to be near Oxbow Bend, where we walked alongside Snake River for quite a bit, hoping to see moose, otters and waterfowl.
Above left: Pioneer settlers who build their houses and barns here. Backdrop: the tetons.
Above left: It's not too clear in this small thumbnail-sized photo, but we tried throwing pebbles into the lake and taking pictures of the ripple effect. :-) We saw some other pro-looking photographers do that and copied them. haha.
Above right: along the Snake River.
Above: we bought another digicam, cos i was hogging our Canon Ixus all the time, bringing it everywhere I go. so dh wanted his own. And we tried to get something different. Hence, he got an Olympus digital SLR from eBay. He also bought an extra lens and we brought both on this trip. They've got different uses. Anyway, the above was taken with the Olympus.
Above left: we were so used to seeing "Dangerous Wildlife" signs. This looked refreshing and I took a pic of it.
Above right: The Jackson Dam.
Above left: Pelicans swimming in the Jackson lake.
Above: can't rem if this is the Cascade Canyon glacier or the Mount Moran canyon. That's the problem of updating and sorting pictures too long after a trip. Anyway, these are formed by glaciers and you can see the snow cascading down the whole canyon.
ABove: close up of the sagebrush.
Above: This should be the Schwabacher's Landing. We reached it by driving down a steep dirt road called Schwabacher's Road, then spent some time there. Kids enjoyed examining all the rocks and stones and insects under those stones.
They also kept wanting to step into the Snake River, but I didn't have a spare change of clothes, and there were a lot of organisms inside the river, so I didn't let them. Below right: then they ran around picking up sticks and pretended to do sword-fighting with the sticks. I really wonder where they learn all these from, cos they don't watch TV shows. The VCDs they watch are all those Disney/ Barney/ Little Einstein kind...
We then went back to cook and eat dinner (below). We ate cup instant noodles so that it'd be quick. But we did have mixed veggies for a
rainbows every day, do not worry for the morrow
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Above left: 2 bison were charging at each other.
Above right: Bison birth is Spring, and so summertime sees the calves growing bigger. It was lovely to see the mothers care for their young.
Above left: we were so used to seeing "Dangerous Wildlife" signs. This looked refreshing and I took a pic of it.
Above left: Pelicans swimming in the Jackson lake.
Above: This should be the Schwabacher's Landing. We reached it by driving down a steep dirt road called Schwabacher's Road, then spent some time there. Kids enjoyed examining all the rocks and stones and insects under those stones. 
We then went back to cook and eat dinner (below). We ate cup instant noodles so that it'd be quick. But we did have mixed veggies for a
