Hell on Wheels

Just a few days ago, Hayden finally got the hang of his bicycle. He's been riding it for months, but was always very cautious and just look like, well, a fish on a bicycle. Until last weekend. He saw a big kid ride by and he just had to take off after him. And he hasn't stopped since!

Every time we go outside he runs for his bike, grabs his helmet, and pedals away. He goes up and down the sidewalk in front of our house dozens of times and his favorite request is to ride up to the mailbox.

Of course, little brother cannot be outdone by big brother. And now, whenever we are anywhere close the garage, Benjamin grabs his helmet and either goes for the tricycle or scooter. He can't really ride either one, but that doesn't stop him. Lately, his favorite is the scooter. He just steps right up and give us that "come on, let's go!" look!

He doesn't have a notion to try to propel himself yet, so he just waits for one of us to start pushing. He went all the way around the block like this last night!

And now our trips to the mailbox will never be the same.

No more baby. . .

Today is the day we tamed the frizz and my little baby officially became a little boy.

Hayden was in need of a haircut and I had decided at his last one that Ben would finally say goodbye to his baby curls on the same day Hayden got his next one. I was having second thoughts about that decision, but the frizzy state of Ben's hair today convinced me it was time. So this was the scene at Cowlicks this afternoon:

Two haircuts and I now have 2 little boys. Ben was too interested in the toys to cooperate for a nice photo, but it turns out he was at the perfect angle for a before and after comparison shot!

They were quite pleased with their spiffy new 'do's and the free lollipops!

A great day in Yellowstone

We played hooky from the real world on Monday and headed down to Yellowstone. We actually headed to Big Sky on Sunday night to stay overnight and after a gorgeous sunrise (okay this was about an hour after sunrise) and breakfast, we headed on down to Yellowstone.

Our first stop was at Artist's Paintpots, which entailed about a mile hike to some thermal features and bubbling mud. Benjamin was an eager hiker!

(So, do you think Ben is ready for that first haircut?!)

And a closer view of the boiling mud that was keeping their attention:

Some of the brilliant colors that give the area it's name:

We drove a few miles up the road to Norris Geyser Basin. It's a smaller area than where Old Faithful is, and the geysers there aren't very active, but it is pretty colorful!

We did a little more hiking on the boardwalks over the boiling pools and stinky sulfurous, smoking fumaroles.

And since no body of water is safe from the reach of a 3-year-old with a pebble, Hayden stopped to toss in a few rocks.

This guy greeted us outside the bookstore and was our first close encounter with wildlife for the day. . .

Next we drove over to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.

The park service has constructed a great viewing area with nice benches and room to walk around. The boys took a little rest and Hayden "flew" his newly acquired eagle around.

Then we headed south to the Hayden Valley, hoping to see some more wildlife.

Our first jackpot was spotting a trio of wolves. And I was wishing I had a lens longer than 85mm!

Our next find were herds of bison.

They weren't as shy as the wolves and had no problem wandering right along the roadside.

Which made for some amazing photos, with me sitting safely in our trusty minivan. This one's my favorite, but I can't decide if I like it better with the old-west feeling processing or with the true colors of the afternoon.

They happily posed for quite a while for me, which means I got lots of great shots!

As we headed out of the park through Mammoth Hot Springs we saw the resident herd of elk that like to pose for the tourists, but I didn't snap any pictures of them. Then, just before we exited the park we saw some more creatures along the side of the road.

As we got closer, we realized they were big horn sheep!

So, in the last hour of our time in the park we spotted bison, elk, wolves, sheep and lots of birds. Pretty good score for the day! We headed out through the Roosevelt Arch and stopped for dinner right outside the park.

As we drove home through the Paradise Valley, I stared in awe out the window as the near-full moon followed us moving in and out of the clouds. I shot these next pictures through my passenger window, moving at about 60 mph (so if you were to look at them larger they're pretty blurry!), but I just had to try to preserve the amazing scene. I kind of wish I had a tape recorder, too, to remember Hayden's endless chatter about which animals come out at night and his inquiries about whether or not they creep up on you. And his howling (coyote style) at the big, bright, gorgeous moon!