Grand Teton National Park

Here we are in Grand Teton. I loved it, the views are unbelievably gorgeous!

Here is Owen with Jackson Lake and the Tetons behind him. Thanks for the cool wolf shirt Nana and Papa, it fits great!

Little boy + rocks + water = good times

A short loop hike that started at the visitor center.

MYSTERY PICTURE!!

In the grand tradition of Thompson family vacations, I have included a mystery picture. Back when we used film in the olden days, we would always develop the photos and end up with one like this. What were we trying to take a picture of again?? I'll give you a hint....there is an animal in the center area of this photo. Leave your guesses in the comment section.

Cooking hot dogs at our cabin. In Grand Teton we went a little more rustic. The cabin had bunks you could lay your sleeping bags on. Owen did OK. It was a little cold the first night, but Mark had a fire going in the stove right away.

Boat ride across Jenny Lake. We did a hike to Hidden Falls on the other side.

Cracker break.

Boat ride back.

View from Jackson Lake Lodge. Beautiful vistas everywhere we looked!

Can you find Mt. Owen?

Taking in the views from Signal Mountain.

Great cell service here, right next to the tower. :-)

The "Mt. Owen" dessert. We HAD to get it!

Mt. Owen aftermath.

Checking out the visitor center. The movie on the floor was a big hit.

Watching the rain out the window. This was our one day of bad weather. We ended up heading to Jackson a day early because of the rain, but overall we had great weather on this trip.

Running out into the rain.

Last stop.....Jackson, Wyoming!

Cody, WY and Yellowstone

More pictures!!

From South Dakota we drove to Cody, Wyoming. It was a good 6 or 7 hours in the car, but Owen did very well. We made a few stops and ended up in Cody for dinner Sunday night.

Beautiful stop along the way to Cody. Difficult to see in the picture, but it was very stinky courtesy of a dead and decaying deer on the side of the road.

We saw six moose on our drive. This mommy has two babies laying in the grass behind her. Apparently we were very lucky to see so many, my dad was jealous.

Owen rarely sees "real" phones since Mark and I only have cell phones. Each hotel room he made a beeline for the phone, picked it up and said "Hello". He then proceeded to have conversations with everyone from Elmo to Daddy and would then say "goodbye" and hang up.

Owen and a headless Papa in the Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody. This place was huge! We spent the entire morning wandering around and looking at the exhibits.

Owen liked the big tile map on the floor.

Playing with antlers. He also loved pushing all the buttons to make the animal noises. We can all do a pretty good prairie dog call as a result.

Found a little cabin outside the museum.

After Cody we made our way into Yellowstone and headed straight for Old Faithful.

Waiting for the geyser.

While we were waiting Owen entertained himself by having everyone sit on his lap. This is Nana.

Here is Mommy.

Now Daddy. When it came time for Papa's turn, Owen scooted away! Hey....don't you know Papa has lost a lot of weight!

One of the many bison we saw. This one had just finished crossing the road in front of our car.

Going to see some paint pots. Owen liked all the steam. "Steam is hot" he warned us.

Lots of riding on shoulders this trip.

Yellowstone Falls.

More hiking. He wanted me to hold the frog's hand.

Inside the Old Faithful Inn. The structure is amazing.

Hiking around the other geysers and whatnot in the Old Faithful area. Our cabin was within walking distance to Old Faithful. There was even a bison that walked through our cabin area!

More steam!

Owen hunting squirrels in the West Thumb area.

Elk in West Thumb.

Owen with his "toy" for the afternoon, in front of Yellowstone Lake. It looks like an umbrella that got hit by lightening!

Next up.....Grand Teton!!

Cuzzfest 2009

Let the picture overload begin! I'm happy to report we had a great vacation. Owen is in the midst of potty training and only had one accident the entire trip. Yay Owen! I was pretty stressed about the potty stuff before we left, but everything worked out fine. We got to see lots of family and natural wonders on our trip.

The plane rides were OK. I think Owen just gets so excited about being somewhere and doing something new. All of a sudden I feel like he has eight arms and I can't stay ahead of him. He wants to grab and touch everything and wiggle all over the place. Everything was on schedule timewise and ran smooth. We were even on our second flight with cousin Veronica and didn't even know it until we got off.

The first part of our vacation was spent with the Thorson/Thompson side of the family at Cuzzfest 2009! The last gathering was in 2006. Owen was still in my tummy, so it was fun for everyone to get a chance to meet him. Owen did assault my cousin Tye with an orange crayon, but other than that he was pretty well behaved.

We shared a very nice cabin at the Palmer Gulch KOA with my parents and my aunt and uncle. Our location in the Black Hills was just a short drive from Mt. Rushmore. The KOA was awesome, we did not have time to do all the activities they had!

Mark and Owen playing outside our cabin. Owen made a beeline for those rocks as soon as we arrived.

Owen and Nana on the cabin deck. They are watching the horses go out to pasture for the night. There were trail rides available, and Owen enjoyed going down to the stables and visiting the "ponies".

Playing on the rocks holding two of the toys Nana got for him. I wish I knew she was going to bring the toy store, I could have saved myself the trouble!

Owen and mommy at the Crazy Horse Monument. This is a mountain carving type monument, similar to Mt. Rushmore. This is unique in that it is not state or federally funded. The carving is done mostly by family members of the original sculptor.

On the left is what the mountain will look like when it is done. Beyond that you can see what they have carved so far.

Owen, Nana and Mommy on the swings at camp.

Playing putt putt with no shoes on. This was his first time playing. He treated it more like fetch. Each time someone would hit the ball, Owen would helpfully retrieve it for them.

On the hay ride around camp.

With the hay ride ponies.

Funny ceiling made of sticks. This restaurant was horrible!! We waited to sit, waited to order, and waited for our food. But this picture is cute.

Entrance to "the faces" as the locals call it.

Owen was calling all the mountains "Mt. Rushmore" after this.

Dad and his sister, my aunt Kim. I love this one!!

Mt. Rushmore lit at night. This was Owen's first really late night of the trip. The program didn't get started until about 9pm. He was in bed past 10pm and up by 7am.

Silly great-Aunt Katie and great-Uncle John in their "sweat" shirts. The family was gathering to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

At Reptile Gardens. Between Rapid City and Mt. Rushmore there are all these tourist attractions. We visited this one with my cousins.

Huge snake!!

Owen's favorite part of the place was the sandbox.

Trying to pet the turtle.

Checking out the prairie dogs.

Hugging the giant tortoise.

Back at camp. Trying to gather everybody for a family picture.

Much of the gang taking pictures of John and Katie as they cut the cake. They brought their wedding pictures and many anniversary pictures from over the years. We had a great time looking at those.

Owen wearing his new backpack. I bought this so he could carry his stuff around. It worked better than him trying to carry 10 toys in his hands.

My uncle's drive through liquor store in Newcastle, Wyoming. I tease, it's a bar/coffee shop/restaurant too. My dad and his siblings grew up in Newcastle. We went to my Uncle Lee's restaurant for dinner and family presentations.

Uncle John starting things off. Each branch of the family did a presentation about their Thorson. My aunt Kim brought a great video about my paternal grandma, Marjorie. We saw so many wonderful old pictures of the family. It was a lot of fun. Owen had an even later night, not getting to bed until past 11pm. But he wasn't as cranky as I thought he would be. He was a trooper.

Keeping the kid busy. Nana and some stickers work wonders.

Siblings - Kent, Kim and Lee

Cabin playtime

"Steering the steering wheel" in Papa's truck.

Next.....off to Wyoming and Yellowstone!

Kayley's 3rd B-Day party

Owen's little classmate Kayley had her 3rd birthday party last weekend.  Many of his friends from school were there.  It was cute to see them all interacting outside of daycare.  The entertainment for the party was the Lizard Wizard.  He was a big hit.

Toddlers run wild.

Owen didn't want to get up close.  Here he is watching the Lizard Wizard from the safety of Mark's lap.

Cleaning the little turtle.

Cleaning the BIG turtle.

Snakes!

Little tiny frog.

Here are all the kids holding the 10 foot snake.  Notice how Owen is nowhere to be found?

Cupcakes, finally!

Potty Training 101

Owen is currently enrolled in Potty Training 101, but I feel like the one getting an F.  He wore underwear last week at school and his teacher kept saying "he is doing so great, no accidents!". So Mark and I think, great, this weekend will be a piece of cake.  Of course Owen had other plans. That kid can hold it!  He holds it and holds it.  He dances around with his hand between his legs, you sit him on the toilet and......nothing.  Then he gets down and dances around some more.  It's exasperating!  Just pee, you'll feel much better!    

We did end the weekend on a positive note, he successfully completed #2 in the potty last night.  I was helping him and having flashbacks to giving birth (PUSH!, PUSH!, PUSH!).  After he was done he proudly checked out his accomplishment in the toilet.  "It looks like a poo-poo pickle Mom".  Yes it does buddy, good job.  

Beach and Aquarium in Carlsbad

Sunday morning we took a little trip to the beach because the aquarium didn't open until 10am. Don't they know we've been up for four hours by then!?

Tip Top Meats - A great place for breakfast

For some reason Owen had a spectacular time on the swings.  See the video here.

Owen loved the beach, especially chasing the birds.  

He never caught one, not for lack of trying.  See video here.

Running towards the water...

...and running away!

Full on action running shot.

The first thing to do in the SeaLife Aquarium was the slide!

It seems like more aquariums have these bubbles in the tanks lately.  I love them!  Perfect for pictures.

This one is my #1 favorite from the trip.

Owen the shark baby.

Legos, no way!

Mark likes legos too.

Legos even in the dining area.

LEGOLAND!

Last weekend we spent in Carlsbad visiting LEGOLAND!!  We've thought about going a few times, but always ended up going to Disneyland instead.  :-)

But we finally made it.  And between the park, beach and aquarium had a great time!

Here we are!  Owen seems perplexed...that will pass.

Hugging tightly to Mickey.  It's OK buddy, you'll like this place too.  Actually Legoland is geared more for the younger set.  There were lots of rides and activities that were just his speed.

On safari through the jungle full of lego animals.

He spent a lot of time playing at this fountain.  When you stand on those yellow circles, the instrument plays and shoots water.  He loved it.

On the fairytale boat ride.

Not sure what fairy tale this is.

Ahhh, lego romance.

Another winning fountain.  He got to shoot lego frogs and alligators with the water gun.

See what I mean?  This place knows what little kids like.  Legos and water.  Too bad it was cold out.  He would have been stripped down and dripping wet in no time.

They even had little kid holding cages.  We loved it!

Miniland is such a crack up!  Here Owen and Mark are admiring lego Golden Gate Bridge.

Lego Lombard Street.

Lego Vegas strip.

Pier 39 - I love the lego sea lions!

Hollywood Bowl.  Owen really liked to see the little lego buses driving by.

NYC in legos.  Moments after this picture, Owen decided to lean over the little fence.  He took a nice header into the lego subway system.  He was OK, just scared.  But the other parents around looked like they were going to call the lego police.

He finally crashed.

Taking the fairy talk boat ride again, he liked it so much.  This picture makes us laugh.  Fluffy humidity hair.

Watch out for the lego squirrel droppings!

Owen has a passion for sand, especially sand in boxes.  They had a big sand area where kids could unearth dinosaur fossils.  Here I am trying to keep the sand from leaving his brush and entering my eyes.  

Hey, watcha doin' daddy?

He is still talking about how he had ice cream and it was green.

This lego/water combination was a big hit.  He played here for a good 20 minutes. 

Throughout the park they had play stations with legos, of course.  We were surprised to see how into the legos Owen was.  He usually gets pretty frustrated and loud if something isn't going his way.  But he worked diligently on putting legos together.  If what he was building broke apart, he just kept on going and put it back together again.  Next post - the beach and aquarium...