The amazing adventures of Hiney-nor and Ivy-nor*

*Recently I have been informed by my toddler that she and her sister are no longer named Eleanor and Marian. They now go by Hiney-nor and Ivy-nor. Although Stinky-nor, Poopy-nor, Stinky-roo, and Silly Goose are also acceptable names. Ah, the two year old sense of humor.  

Argh

While we haven't quite been sailing the seven seas, we have been on a whirlwind of traveling over the past few weeks. Thus the radio silence (although is it still called radio silence for a blog?). 

I did have awesome intentions of doing a series of blog posts detailing our travels. However, the combination of travel PTSD, a crazy two year old, a baby who still refuses to sleep through the night, a massively overgrown garden, and you know, life, have sapped all my energy. 

Here is a much-abbreviated version of what I was originally intending to write.

We drove from Oklahoma up to Chicago. Saw lots of friends, ate tons of yummy food, and visited some of our old stomping grounds. Went to a wedding, drank some awesome homebrew.

Relaxing in the Shakespeare garden at Northwestern

Running around near a freaky statue

Ella thought The Rock was the coolest thing

Chilling in the dinosaur footprint at the Field Museum

Next up: Flew to Big Sky, Montana for a conference. Went to the Museum of the Rockies to see dinosaurs, per Ella's request. Played around at the resort. Took the kids hiking one morning. Had some kid-free time while we ventured to the top of Lone Mountain (or the Lonely Mountain, as Ella called it- think there are dwarves?) which involved a ski lift, tram, then a gondola. Oh, and Jim did lots of science-y stuff.

Mini golf at the resort

Riding the bull. We had to stop and play with this thing multiple times a day. 

Mommy/Marian selfie at the Museum of the Rockies

Hiking along the Moose Tracks path. Did see moose tracks. Sadly did not find any Moose Tracks ice cream. 

Jim and the kiddos, plus a walking stick

At the top of Lone Peak

View from the top

From there, we had a whirlwind three days in Yellowstone. Despite having such a short trip we packed a lot in- hot springs, geysers, canyons, waterfalls, bison (or hippos, if you are talking to the toddler), elk, antelope, moose, a grizzly bear, a black bear, and wolves.

Playing by the water

Hot springs

Clearly not impressed with Old Faithful

Afternoon nap in the Ergo amid the hot spring

Middle Geyser Basin

Hot springs

View from Grand Prismatic Spring

Grand Prismatic Spring

Early morning waterfall view

Yes, Ella is still in her pajamas. We got the kids up at the crack of dawn

Looking at bison through the binoculars

Family picture during one of our picnic lunches

Mommy and baby moose. Supposedly there are only 6 in Yellowstone so we were super lucky to see two

Hiking around the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

At the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River

Tuckered out after a long day

Mom, Dad, and two tired kiddos

Grizzly bear. In case you were wondering, this is very zoomed in on my camera- no desire to get close to a grizzly

Our intrepid navigator

Our lunch companions 

Super grumpy bison. It was mating season and all the males were feisty

Playing around in the lake

Hot springs by Lake Yellowstone

Doesn't do justice to the amazing colors of the hot springs

More hot springs

Herd of elk running through the water

Antelope

Traffic jam

Another traffic jam- everyone stopped for the baby bison that needed to nurse in the middle of the road

Mammoth Hot Springs on our last morning

Yellowstone was absolutely amazing and I wish we had had more time to spend there. We're already talking about doing another trip out there. Along with the Grand Tetons, Glacier, Rocky Mountain National Park...

Then to top it all off, we had to fly back to Chicago and drive back down to Oklahoma. Phew! No wonder I am tired!

I'm putting a moratorium on family travel for, oh, at least two weeks.