Aaron on the Waterslide

Aaron loved the kid-sized waterslide and with his new swimming skills, he didn't need a parent at the bottom to catch him. We stood at the exit (where I'm taking this video from) and watch as he made circuit after circuit down the waterslide, out the exit, then back up the stairs to the slide again. He even met a little girl there that he slid with several times while holding hands.

Montana Blog Posts completed

Now that I found out I can crank out prose at an accelerated rate (I'm at Chapter 10 with 17,277 words under my belt), I decided to complete the last two Montana bog posts this morning. I decided not to write a post about the pain in the backside we experienced trying to get back from Montana on United and Alex's assertion that Chicago O'Hare Int'l Airport is "not that big" as we hauled ourselves through 4 different concourses to get on a plane bound for Detroit. If you've missed any and want to read about our adventures in order, here they are:

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

Montana Vacation - Day 2 - Yellowstone National Park

Montana Vacation - Day 3 - Moose Baby and Scenic Lift

Montana Vacation - Day 4 - Gallatin River and Soccer

Montana Vacation - Day 5 - Nature Hike and Craft Day

Montana Vacation - Day 6 - Heading to Big Sky Resort

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

Montana Vacation - Day 8 - Junior Yellowstone Rangers

Montana Vacation - Day 9 - Wilderness Survival & Jeopardy

Montana Vacation - Day 9 - Wilderness Survival & Jeopardy

Alex had another class today, Wilderness First Aid for Kids.  Here he got to learn improvised first aid skills, and even how to transport and injured comrade to safety over flat ground (drag them on a tarp).  Alex came back with a red stripe painted on one arm as he got to play one of the injured kids.  We tried to meet for lunch after my morning lectures, but a storm blew in and disrupted our mountain picnic.  We still caught up at a table in the resort's coffee shop before I had to go back for my wilderness survival workshop.  One of the neat things about this entire conference, was that many of our lectures were taught by people who had written or edited my wilderness medicine textbooks that I bought last year.  Gary Kibbe was among the best teachers here.  I'll get some of his bio wrong if I attempt it, but I do remember that his is a former Navy SEAL instructor.  He taught them how to survive in the wild, now he had to do it for a bunch of doctors and nurses.  He showed us how to collect and find water, how to navigate using the sun's shadows.  We learned how to find food, including a log full of ant larvae that were packed with protein.  They don't taste like much, but the story was good for grossing Becky out.  We built improvised shelters and practiced lighting fires with flint and steel.  We even learned how to make our own twine by weaving together long blades of grass or other long fibers.  Easily my favorite course and one of the main reasons I wanted to come.  I hope I never have to use these skills, but I'll have them for life now.

We topped off the day and the week with a banquet that included a Wilderness Medicine Jeopardy challenge.  We were the giraffes, and Aaron volunteered to be our mascot for part of the evening.

The questions were pulled from topics from the weeks lectures, and a few random trivia facts thrown in.  Our team was victorious, thanks in no small part to me standing on stage and demonstrating how to move quickly from side to side when urinating in certain rainforest streams to avoid a having a parasite travel up my stream to lodge in a very bad place.
After the banquet we got to hear from Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mount Everest.  This was the first highlight of his career, but not the last.  He got to climb to the top of the newly named Mount Kennnedy in Canada with Bobby Kennedy to commemorate his brother John. He led a team of American, Russian, and Chinese climbers up to the top of Everest to show that if they could climb up to the top of the world's largest montain together, then their nations could come together to make peace.  It was an inspirational lecture and a great capstone to the week.
Tomorrow we have to pack up and fly back to Ohio, hopefully arriving with our luggage this time. 

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 5 - Nature Hike and Craft Day

After breakfast we climbed back up that hill behind the cabin that ran near the ski lift to see if we could see the moose family again, but they were nowhere to be found - probably hiding.  We found a plastic tub that had been discarded and used it to gather other trash off the mountain - the kids really got excited about helping the environment in this way.

Nana pulled out some more crafts for the kids.  We used paint and stamps to decorate shirts and visors.  Becky also brought some pet rocks for them to paint and decorate.  It was neat because each creation was different and reflected their personal style.

After lunch we broke out the Wii again and let the kids play each other in Mario Kart - a racing game with the Mario characters.  You steer by holding the Wiimote horizontally and turning it like a steering wheel.  We had rented the game, but a purchased version comes with a steering wheel-shaped controller that accepts the Wiimote plugged horizontally into the center. 

This evening we tried the hot tub again for the kids at a lower temperature and it was more enjoyable.  Nana even decided to soak awhile with them.  While no one in the tub had longer toes than Nana, they could all bend their great toes backward toward their ankles, proving that they were all true Evans grandkids :)

After they dried off and warmed up, we used the fireplace again to make s'mores.  Aaron got this glazed look in his eyes that was a combo of a full day, a relaxing hot tub soak and a sugar coma.


Marli asked Becky to teach her some basic crochet techniques and she spent the evening before bedtime curled up in a blanket by the fireplace practicing her new skills.

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

Armstrong Air & Space Museum

After a pancake breakfast and packing up the campsite, we drove a few miles away to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum in Wapakoneta, OH.  Named after Wapakoneta's hometown hero, Neil Armstrong.



There were a few space capsule mock-ups outside for the boys to climb around on.  BUt the real magic was inside.



There was all sorts of momrabilia from Armstrong's childhood to artifacts used on space missions.  There were space suits, dehydrated food samples (behind glass, not to taste), and space capsules.



Near the end of the tour there was a movie shown in the auditorium that was housed in the big cement bubble seen in the top picture above.  It was a movie about the manned moon missions and the excitement that it caused back in the day.  At the very end there was a mission simulator that Alex used to try to land the Space Shuttle.  I was taking notes for the day he asks me to borrow the family car.  I'm afraid it doesn't look good.

Camping at Grand Lake at St. Mary's

Today we launched our summer camping trip, this time at Grand Lake at St. Mary's state park.  Technically we left the house last night, but it was raining with the threat of severe weather later.  We had a break from the rain long enough to set up our tent last night. We spent the night in a nearby motel and headed back to the campsite today under much clearer skies. After eggs and bacon, we geared up for swimming.  Grand Lake is Ohio's largest inland lake.  When it was built in the 1800's, it was the largest man-made lake in the world at the time.  We really didn't explore the lake, just the beach near the campgrounds.  The cove floor was a little mucky, but the boys had fun.  The beach itself smelled fishy, and when we were leaving we realized that it was due to the sand-covered dead fish about 20 feet from our towels.



The campground let us rent bikes - actually chopper-style trikes that Alex tooled around in for an hour. 



Tonight we built a fire and roasted hot dogs for our dinner.  Later we roasted marshmallows for s'mores.  A group of people set up a soccer game in a field behind our tent and the boys watched the match until bedtime.  After we put them down Becky and I engaged in our favorite camping activity.  Sitting by the fire and talking until we burned up all of the wood by about 1 in the morning.

Hovercraft Fun

Chris pulled out a fun device that he built - a hovercraft. Seriously. I can't replicate it, but I think I got the general idea.  It is a piece of plywood that he covered in a blue tarp and used measured cuts and duct tape to shape the lower section into a skirt with an opening smaller than the base.  He cut a hole in the board and stuck the output end of an electric leaf blower into it.



When you turn it on it pushes air under the board and out the hole in the tarp, providing lift.  He push the boys around the driveway for a while.  He assured me that it would hold me and so I took a trip down the driveway as well, when I discover a serious design flaw - no brakes.  Chris chased me down and stopped me with a broomstick, that I realized he has used for this purpose before.  I don't think I'll try this at home, but it was cool to ride.

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.

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 7 - Missed It/Repeat It Day

We had planned all along to save our last day to do the things we missed the first time around or repeat the things we loved.  We felt we had done all we wanted to do at the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom, so we crossed those off.  We knew we missed a few things at Epcot and we had so much fun at the Studios the day before that we decided to tackle what we could there - no rushing or killing ourselves with the pace today.



When we got to Epcot, Becky, Alex, and I immediately got in line for Test Track as it was up and running today. It put us in the role of test dummies while a car was put through its paces.  After nearly missing the final crash wall (see the look on our faces above), the car sends us racing around a track at over 60mph pulling some G's.  Becky then got her chance to ride Soarin' with Alex and I, which she loved. We all got back together and watched our 3rd 3D movie, Honey I Shrunk the Audience.  We walked counter-clockwise around the start of World showcase, featuring Canada and Great Britain. There we were able to take a ferry from there to a dock in front of Disney Hollywood Studios.



When we got there, we made our way to the ABC Commissary for lunch where we had cafeteria items named after ABC shows (Dancing With The Stars Mambo Combo Cuban Sandwich, Grey's Anatomy The McSteamy Chicken Curry, etc.) which was edible but not amazing.  We split up again so that Grammy, Grandpa, and Alex could do the Animation Academy a couple more times while Becky and I took Aaron to his second day of the Playhouse Disney show which was a montage of the various Disney Channel kids' shows (Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, My Friends Tigger and Pooh, Little Einsteins) but acted out on a stage with large puppets.



Alex and I broke away after that and did the Star Tours ride for our third time and Alex declared it his favorite ride at Disney World.  Aaron got in a little more of the Honey I Shrunk...playground before we hustled to the Backlot Express burger joint to wait out the rain storm that popped up and to have a little dinner.  When the rain cleared for a bit, the boys posed in front of the water shooting AT-AT from the Star Wars: The Empire Stirkes Back Hoth invasion scene.



We had not gotten to see one of Disney's amazing fireworks shows yet. We hadn't wanted to deal with the after-fireworks crowds getting back to the buses. We had heard that the Studios show, Fantasmic, was amazing so we stayed for the 8:30 show.  We got there over an hour early which was recommended for good seating in a stadium surrounded a lagoon which encircled an island.  The show was wonderful, combining live action Disney characters on the island and on boats in the lagoon with scenes from Disney movies and cartoons projected onto sheets of water sprayed vertically in front of us.  There were also water effects that were timed with the projected movies to look like water was shooting out of the cartoon toward us. And of course there were fireworks.  The show told of a battle between the good Disney characters, led by Mickey in his sorcerer's apprentice hat, and the evil characters including this large snake with highbeam eyes.  I won't spoil it by telling you which side won, but hey, this is Disney. 



The rain that had slowed us down earlier started up again during the show.  We whipped out the ponchos we'd been carrying all week and we were relatively comfortable.  After the show, when we were filing out of the stadium, the rain poured down even harder, prompting us to whip out the umbrellas.  Aaron had had enough by then and let us know it.  He conked out waiting for our bus, exhausted from having so much fun.



All in all this was a dream trip.  Thanks again to Grammy and Grandpa Hardage for inviting us and making this possible.  We resolved that this would not be our last trip as a family.  Besides, they're opening a new Toy Story ride this summer.

Disney Vacation 2008 - Day 5 - Magic Kingdom

On our way to the Magic Kingdom we were able to ride the monorail right from the Polynesian Resort.  The boys and I got to ride up in the front compartment with the driver.



When we got into the park, we had our picture taken with our ears in front of Cinderella's Castle - this is apparently some sort of family vacation Disney World law, so what could we do?



Then we started working our way through a touring plan that I had been working on for weeks with the help of various guide books and online sources.  The goal was to spend as little time as possible waiting in line, through hitting rides at off-peak times (i.e. starting as early as possible) and using the Disney Fast Pass system which holds your place in line at some specified point in the future.



We started with the Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride through an animatronic Hundred Acre Wood.  It was so much fun for the boys that we got immediately back in line and rode it again.  We then took a similar trip through Never Never Land on Peter Pan's Flight.  We then introduced the boys and Grandpa to their first exposure to It's A Small World so they could get that song stuck in their head.  Then we had a treat, the new 3-D show Philharmagic, which showcased the best of Disney's "4-D" theater experience.  Then I ran ahead and got FastPasses for the Haunted Mansion, which was just recently refurbished.  The kids loved seeing the ghosts in the car with us in the mirror at the end.  We also rode through the refurbished Pirates of the Caribbean, complete with Captain Jack Sparrow.  The boys, Bob, and I climbed up and then down the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, though Aaron was dissapointed that he couldn't play in there longer.  



He was thrilled however to play in the playground at the exit of Splash Mountain with Grammy & Grandpa while Alex, Becky, and I followed Brer Rabbit through the briar patch to splash down at the end.  This was Alex's most adventurous ride so far.



We beat the parade to Tomorrowland which let us get across the park easily and got into the Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory where our laughter at moderately funny jokes from animated Monsters helped them power up their city. Next door we finally did the ride we'd been waiting for all day - Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin which let us shoot lasers at Zurg's minions while spinning through space.  In addition to throwing Zurg in jail...



...the boys were rewarded with a personal picture and autograph with Buzz Lightyear himself.



We only had time for the boys to splash around at a water playground for a little while before we boarded a ferry for the Wilderness Lodge for dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe.  The Wilderness Lodge is beautiful, huge, and styled after National Park lodges out west.



The Whispering Canyon Cafe was our favorite family meal this week.  The food was served family-style and consisted of all we could eat fresh baked cornbread, smoked pork ribs, pulled pork, oven-roasted chicken, pork sausage, mashed potatoes, creamy coleslaw, beans, and corn on the cob accompanied by hand-dipped milkshakes.  The boys got to ride around the dining room on wooden horses and had to promise the waitress guiding them that they would stay up late, jump on the beds with their parents still in them and never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER go to Universal Studios.

When we realized that we had no ketchup for our fries, we asked for some.  The waitress yelled "WE NEED KETCHUP OVER HERE!" and then a family from another table brought ten bottles over to our table.  Needless to say, we had to return the favor (minus the one we held back for our needs) when the next table needed ketchup.  We'll make a point to come back here the next time we come to Walt Disney World.