Neighborhood Bandit

Before you scroll down, can you identify this thief sneaking around our neighborhood? You can see his eyes looking at you from around the tree in the center of the picture.

We've seen this raccoon before, but Becky was quick with the camera this morning. We think he lives in another tree at he house next door to this one. Maybe he's scoping out new digs.

Montana Vacation - Day 8 - Junior Yellowstone Rangers

While I had my classes this morning, Alex took a course designed for his age group called Wilderness Survival for Kids. They learned how to wait for help to arrive, how to improvise a shelter using a tree, scattered logs, and/or a plastic trash bag.  He also learned a few easy food souces, including the tender bases of long stalks of wild grass.  After my lectures were over, we had the afternoon free, so we jumped into the rental car and headed back to Yellowstone to see some of the sites we didn't see the first day.  First we stopped at a ranger station and attended an outdoor lecture on the difference between gray wolves, coyotes, and foxes using pictures and pelts. We turned north then and headed toward Gibbon Falls.  We had sneaked by it on our way out on Saturday, but this time we stopped to check it out.  On the middle right of the picture, you can see where the lodgepole pines that fall into the Gibbon River make what appears to be a sloppy beaver lodge.

A little farther north we found Roaring Mountain.  The mountainside is dotted with fumaroles that make a roaring sound as they expel their volcanic gasses.  These places remind us that most of Yellowstone sits atop an enormous volcano that in theory could go off any day, but for now just lets of steam in the fumarole, geysers and other thermal features.

As we drove north again, we hit a patch of drizzle by the time we hit Mammoth Springs.  Usually that rocky plateau over their shoulder has cascading water, but it has been running a little dry.  We'll have to try this area again when we come back.  Even though is was drizzling at this point, I got the gang out to pose.

At the next ranger station, the boys turned in the Junior Yellowstone Ranger workbooks they had been working on since the first ranger station.  The workboooks contained age appropriate activities that they could do to learn more about Yellowstone.  When they turned them in, the ranger quizzed them on what they had learned, including details from the earlier "Dogs of Yellowstone" lecture.  They each earned a Junior Yellowstone Ranger patch for completing the program.  The patches are shaped like the actual ones the rangers wear, but Alex's has a bear print on it and Aaron's has a wolf print on it. 


As the drizzle let up, we realized we were running out of daylilght for what we'd planned yet to see.  A little further down the road we made it to one of the largest waterfalls in the park, Tower Falls, which was amazing to behold.  We drove up over a mountain and got above the cloud line. OK, actually we drove through the cloud line most of the time, which is like driving through a really thick fog, except the mists were more heterogeneous and swirling all around us.  As cool as the moment was, we were eager to get back below the cloud line before it got dark

As we cleared the cloud line, amongst the burnt remnants of the 1988 fire, we found an elk family picking their way through the woods.  As we got a little further down the road, we tried to stop near a line of parked cars, but there was nowhere close to park.  The people there said they were watching grizzly way down the hill.  Instead of trying to walk back to that spot on a narrow mountain road from a parking spot further down the road to try to see a distant bear in the fading light, we pressed on to Artist Point.   We missed this spot the other day, though we were close.  This waterfall, near the beginning of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, is the most painted feature in the park.  It was just past dusk when we got there, but we got to see the falls there by moonlight.  It was a nice topper to our second Yellowstone day. 

Montana Vacation - Day 7 - Swimming, BBQ, and Wolves

While I spent the morning in the conference and the afternoon learning practical improvisation of medical skills and equipment in a workshop, Becky and the boys swam in the heated pool under the shadow of Mount Andesite.  The pool was so warm that they had to take breaks to avoid getting overheated.

That evening we had a BBQ dinner at a nearby restaurant and then went on a hayride around the resort.  It was misting a little, but it was still fun.  Our horses were John & Wayne.


 That night we attended a special presentation by Bob Landis who has made several documentary films based out of Yellowstone.  The one he is working on now will be called Wolves - A Legend Returns to Yellowstone.  We got to see raw footage from it and he narrated the footage for us - kind of like the behind the scenes commentary on a DVD, except live.  This was such a treat, especially since we had not seen any wolves there the other day.  As we found out tonight, wolves are rather secretive and don't like to come near areas that people frequent.

Montana Vacation - Day 4 - Gallatin River and Soccer

After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes (Melinda's specialty) Nana and Becky helped the kids make necklaces and bracelets with beads and yarn.  Alex wasn't as interested, so he sat at the table and led us through several Mad Libs, letting each of us in turn filling in a silly word. We had to say good-bye to Mark and Leslie who had to get back to Oklahoma.

After lunch today, we decided to find a good spot to stick our toes in the Gallatin River that we drove past on the way in. I used Google Maps to follow the river north and found a spot where we could pull off into a trail head that led into the Gallatin National Forest. Instead we found that the parking lot was near a little tributary creek that fed into the river.  This time we were prepared with water shoes and did a little bit of wading in the COLD water.  After a few minutes it wasn't as uncomfortable because our feet were numb.  Papa stayed on the parking lot side of the creek and documented our adventure in pictures.

We walked a little further down the trail and hooked up with the Gallitin River and found a shallow eddy at the edge that we could wade in a bit.  The river rocks were moss-covered and slippery, so we bailed after several of the kids slipped into the water.  That's when we discovered we were sharing the eddy pool with a small water snake that was startled by our presence.  We agreed to leave each other alone and dried off to go back to the cabin.

After dinner we set up and impromptu soccer match in the circle drive in front of the cabin.  Grown-ups vs. kids - Mostly Nana and I against Alex, Marli, and Marcus.  Becky and Aaron played catch nearby and Papa got more pictures of us.  The goal we had to defend was much larger than the kids', but Nana and I held our own.  It was actually fun to watch the kids realize quickly that they little chance against my defense if they charged me directly, but that if they worked together and passed around me, they could more easily score.  It was hard to run at that elevation, so the thinner air finally forced an end to the game.

Montana Vacation - Day 1 - No Bags, No Rental Car, Beautiful Scenery

Today we landed in Bozeman, Montana for a 10 day vacation.  I've got a medical conference at the end of the week, but we arrived early to see the sights.  We barely made our connecting flight in Chicago, but our bags didn't make it.  We were told that they were being routed to us through Denver and they'd deliver it to us by noon tomorrow.  That also left us without the boys' carseats, which was OK, because we didn't have a rental car.  Turns out, they were out.  They did hook us up with another car rental agency who got us a car at about $200 more than we had our other one reserved for.  A couple of loaner car seats later and we were driving to Big Sky about an hour south.  Before we left, we met up with my brother, Mark, and his new girlfriend, Leslie who came in on a flight just after us (with their bags).  His two oldest kids had driven up with my parents over the last 2 1/2 days and were already waiting for us there.  We caravaned down through some very beautiful country.  The last 40 minutes of the drive were through the Gallatin Mountains with the Gallatin River flowing along beside us. It was a beautiful start.

As we drove up the mountain into Big Sky, we ended up at the Cascade Cabin, a four-bedroom cabin that Mom found for rent online.  It had a full kitchen with a large 8-person table.  There was a fireplace downstairs and a hot-tub out on the porch that went around 2 sides of the house. You could see the nearby Lone Peak mountain from the porch which also looked out onto a largely undeveloped area that included a small brook and a trail.

Mark, Leslie, the kids and I took a walk down the trail.  The kids picked wildflowers and we found a pond in the middle of the brook's flow that sheltered a duck family.  I posed them for a shot on one of the bridges that ran across the brook (or is it a stream by this point?)

The trail was near the bedding grounds of 2 mule deer.  At one point they even walked by the porch at the cabin.  They still had velvet on their antlers and were beautiful to watch.

We grilled burgers for dinner and got the kids down at a reasonable hour.  I had checked with the airline and our bags were due in a little before midnight and I wasn't keen about waiting for delivery tomorrow.  Dad and I drove back up to Bozeman - that scenic drive is not very scenic at night.  Instead it is a long series of hairpin turns that you can't see until you're right upon it.  The plane was delayed (naturally) but when it did arrive, our bags were on it and we brought them home and crawled into bed at 2AM (4AM to my Ohio brain) to rest up for a trip to Yellowstone National Park tomorrow.
Cascade Cabin, "backyard" walk, grilled burgers, driving back up to Bozeman in the dark, back by 2 AM

Mosquito Central

Aaron told us he wanted to go on a hike.  I had been trying to log time in all of the area Metroparks, so I looked online for one we hadn't been to with hiking trails and settled on Pearson Metropark in the nearby suburb of Oregon, OH.  We packed gear, snacks, and (thankfully) bug repellent.  What we didn't realize was that the Black Swamp Trail was aptly named - not for the swampiness; it was actually dry - but for the swarms of mosquitos that smelled the only fresh meat for miles - us.  Having never been on the trail, I got a little turned around.  I knew the trail was a loop and so if I kept going straight, we end up at the beginning.  After the fact, I realized that we were going exactly the opposite way I thought we were (clockwise instead of counter-clockwise around the loop).  I thought I might have made such an error somewhere in the middle, but I wasn't sure.  Around this time I realized that we were not having fun getting attacked despite our DEET repellent and we wanted to get off the trail as quickly as possible.  So, we just kept going around the trail's 0.8 mile loop as fast as we could, swatting away the mosquitos with our hats.  At one point I saw something rustle in the gras and said something to the effect of "Boys, come here! Look at the frog. OK, Let's go."  When we got to the end I only had 4 bites due my stronger DEET concentration, but the boys had a couple dozen each.



Off the trail, the bugs diminished greatly, but we didn't want to take any chances, so we headed indoors.  The park has an air-conditioned building with chairs in front of a long set of windows that looks out into a clearing.  We sat in there and ate our snacks.



Out there they had installed an artificial fountain/pond and several bird and wildlife feeders.  We snacked and drank and identified as many birds as we could using a guide on the wall.  In the center of that picture is a goldfinch on the feeder perch.



Then we ran over to the park's jungle gym and let the boys run around for awhile.  This park has a pedal park pond that we didn't sample and a sledding hill that we may sample in the winter.  Otherwise, we may leave this park to the mosquitos.

Cincy Zoo and Slip-n-Slide

Yesterday we drove to Cincinnati to spend the weekend with our friends from medical school - Dawn, Chris, and their kids Rachel and Ben. We got up today and decided to go to the Cincinnati Zoo.  They are revamping some of it, but we got to see most of it including a great exhibit of male white lions.  They were pretty and at one point they roared a roar that would make you evacuate your insides if you were out on the savannah.  Some of our favorite moments of the day didn't involve animals.  We rode on the zoo train which the kids loved.



The kids gravitated toward the playground which included a big spider net jungle gym.  We thought we might catch a live bird show that was on the schedule.  It wasn't until we got to the outdoor ampitheater that we realized that the schedule we were given when we entered was for the next day and there was no bird show.



Instead, we were treated to a free concert by Roger Day.  He's a children's music singer/songwriter and we had a great time for this hour-long concert in the zoo.  He got the kids to help him act out some of his favorites, like "Mosquito Burrito" (those are mosquito finger puppets that Aaron is waggling above), "Dream Big", "It's a No No to Kiss a Rhino", and "Ready to Fly".



We did get the three boys to capture and then pose on a stray crocodile before we left.  He wasn't moving very fast, so it was easier than we thought.



To cool off that afternoon, they set up a slip-n-slide up on a hill in their yard.  It was great because of that hill - gravity pulled you so you didn't have to worry about timing the run with the fall on the face.  You could just start out on your face if you wanted. 



We ate grilled meats, helped Dawn with a puzzle she was working on, had fried ice cream-flavored ice cream for dessert.  After we put the kids down, we played Guitar Hero III on their Wii late into the night.  Dawn schooled us by playing "Slow Ride" by Foghat on Expert.  I guess we'll have to get out own and practice.

Spring's Here!

We always try to get a picture of the boys in front of the spring flowers.  This year we had our blooming weeping cherry tree that we planted last year in the shot also.



After today's soccer game we scooted to Sidecut Metropark where we let Alex practice baiting his own hook and he caught the only fish of the day, a little bluegill sunfish.  Alex needed to finish this step to complete his fishing elective as part of the Wildlife Conservation award.  (Yes, we conserved the wildlife by letting him swim free.)

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 3 - Animal Kingdom and Date Night

This morning we got up and took a bus to the Animal Kingdom Park an hour earlier than normal because we were staying on the resort. The park has a large tree in the center built around an offshore oil platform. You can't miss it.

Our first "ride" was the one that makes the Animal Kingdom unique - Kilimanjaro Safari. We boarded a open air vehicle and were driven around the safari grounds where we got to be feet away from all sorts of wildlife - flamingos, hippos, alligators, antelope...

...rhinos, lions, and we even got to help "rescue" an animatronic baby elephant from poachers.

After the safari, we took a walking tour of the Pangani Forest Trail which put us face to face with even more animals.  In the African area we came upon a group of street performers that had extra instruments for the boys to play along.



We then went to a live show of the Festival of the Lion King which had live performers singing songs from The Lion King, dancing, jumping on trampolines, swinging on trapezes and getting the crowd to join in on the fun.





We then went up to Dinoland where the kids played for awhile in the Boneyard.  This was a huge playground that had casts of dinosaurs that the boys could climb on and slide off of.  They could pretend to excavate some bones, or just run around and burn off some steam.



While Aaron continued to explore Dinoland with Grammy and Grandpa, Becky and I talked Alex into the Dinosaur ride which put us into a time traveling buggy which went back to prehistoric times to observe and possibly rescue a baby iguanadon from the meteor that wiped them out.  The ride was a little too loud and bouncy for Alex who spent the ride both trying to hang on AND cover both ears.



From there we got to see a new production of Finding Nemo: The Musical.  They created songs from the story and performed them on a stage with large puppets, though you could still see the puppeteers.  The effect looked great on stage and I could see it being performed on Broadway (if Broadway had 35 minute shows).  We made one last mad dash then over to the Kali River Rapids, which was a river raft adventure ride through various Asian habitats.  Aaron was so excited to clear the 38" height limit after getting turned away from Soarin' yesterday.



Then we split up and left the kids with the grandparents.  They had a buffet dinner in the Animal Kingdom at the Tusker House while Becky and I raced back to the Polynesian.  We changed quickly (leaving the camera battery behind) and went to the California Grill restaurant at the top of the Contemporary Resort.  We had an excellent meal, maybe the best meal we've ever had, while watching the sun set over Bay Lake.  From there we spent the rest of the evening at Pleasure Island, an adults only series of nightclubs.  We started, as is tradition for us, with the next showing of the Laugh Factory - an improvisational comedy show using suggestions called out from the audience.  We then went across to The Adventurer's Club which is a more eclectic comedy experience that puts on a more scripted show, but a lot of fun nonetheless.  We ended the night at and Irish-themed pub called Raglan Road for a nightcap and a performance by an Irish band. It was a fun night out without the kids.

Out Standing In Our Field

We spent the day a new park for us - Secor Metropark on the edge of town. Becky packed a picnic and sweatshirts for the cool late summer day. One of the park guests gave us a huge praying mantis on a stick, though this picture doesn't do it justice.
This park boasted an enormous field that we used for tag (look at that head start Aaron has on Becky) and practicing cartwheels.
Alex also used the field to practice bike riding. It was safer to fall in than pavement, but we couldn't get enough speed up to keep his balance. Aaron got some trike time on one of the park paths. The park also boasts a great nature photography center that we'll add to the Toledo tour for out of town guests.

Friday at the Zoo

I've decided to start working all day on Fridays (I was working every other for a 1/2 day), starting in 2 weeks. Since this was one of my last days off, and Aaron isn't in school on Fridays, we went to the zoo. One of our favorite things to do is to race carousel animals. Aaron's bottle-nosed dolphin edged out my stork-thing by a nose. I couldn't get my steed to stretch his neck toward the finish line or we would've won.
This lion was getting a little loud and bossy, so Aaron sat on his head. That seemed to shut him up.
Aaron wasn't so brave around the new butterfly house though. He's never been bit by one yet, but he gets that look in his eye when one flies near him. These were pretty tame thankfully.

Woodchucks at School

Becky was walking into school this morning and noticed that a couple of woodchucks have set up camp in a small patch of trees near the preschool playground. I assume they are accustomed to the noise.

Tiger Cub Acheivement 5G - Go on a Hike

After lunch I talked Alex and and Aaron into going on a hike around a nearby lagoon here at Bay City State Park. We started at a nature center that had some neat exhibits about the surrounding wildlife, including this bear.
The staff member at the nature center recommended we pick up the lagoon trail near a fishing pier and walked all the way around.
We found a few side trails that led to great views of the lagoon.
Alex has started taking more pictures, and he took this picture of a bird sitting on an old sluice gate. We kept hearing frogs, but couldn't find them amongst the lily pads and cattails. There were a couple of benches for us to stop, drink, and regain our wind. It took about an hour in all and the kids did great. Alex needed to go on an outdoor hike as part of his Tiger Cub Badge Requirements, so I'm glad we had this chance.

Camping on the Bay

The evening at the campsite was much better than the day at the mucky beach. The weather was great and we mostly liked our campsite. We did have to be careful because the campsite was surrounded by poison ivy and about the farthest possible point from the bathroom. No wonder it was the only spot left in the campground. We actually only got the spot by reserving it for Saturday and Sunday night. We left after one night which effectively doubled the cost of the site, but since we've only camped once this year, it didn't matter that much. We roasted hot dogs and made s'mores for dinner.
After tucking the boys in, Becky and I sat by the fire for awhile until we burned up our wood. We heard a noise right behind us in the direction of the picnic table. We spun our flashlight around quickly and and caught a fat raccoon running off into the woods with a bag of our snacks. I chased him, hoping not to stumble in a patch of the poison ivy, and caught his trail. I found the bag he dropped and found he had grabbed a package of baby wipes too. I retrieved them from a disappointed raccoon and we discarded anything near the hole he made - something about raccoon spit I believe. Nothing like a little adventure to round off our camping trip. The groceries spent the night in the van.

Monkey Shirts and Mozart

Alex had his 1st day of baseball practice this week. He's playing in a YMCA league, but with kids from his school on his team.
Aaron was entertained by a kitty some girls brought named Mozart. I think he was more pleased about the encounter than the cat, but he was very gentle.