Special Visitors

On Friday (June 17th), Grammie, Poppie, Uncle Dave and Aunt Betty came to visit.  This is the first time they have met Matilda.  Grammie and Poppie got a rental car in Bozeman (a minivan!) so that they could all fit and so could us kids! Mom made a lot of pizzas the night they arrived. It was a really pretty and warm night, but Grammie still had her wool Christmas scarf on!

Uncle Dave and one of the Barbeque Chicken pizzas.

Then we took a walk around the loop. On the way, we saw a dead Bull snake on the highway. It looked like it had been run over by a car. Dad got a stick and picked it up and brought it to the side of the highway so that we could examine it....

The next morning, Mom made two big German Pancakes for breakfast. They were so good!

Then Aunt Betty played Candy Land with Fiona and Preston.

Bennett and Preston were so entertained by Poppie's iPhone!

After breakfast, we went down to the beach. The river has come up so high!

After we came up from the beach, we packed a picnic lunch so we could go up to Mammoth and show them the Visitors' Center. It was a perfect day for a picnic!

We went down to the Rodeo parade and had a tailgate party on the back of the cars.  There was so much candy. Dentist, here we come....

We came back home and got all of our cowboy shirts and hats on to get ready for the Rodeo in Gardiner. Mom made quick pulled pork sandwiches before we left, so we wouldn't get hungry there. Rodeos are my type of Disney World!!

The Rodeo clown.

Cow roping:

My favorite part...Barrel racing!!

Bull riding:

The next morning, we ate a quick breakfast before going into Lamar Valley for Father's day. We saw bison, elk, deer, mountain sheep, swans, pelicans, geese and a big Grizzly bear with two cubs!

Bison by the road:

Geese with goslings:

The snow was packed up along side the road.

Then we decided to go to Canyon.

Aunt Betty and Uncle Dave with Lower Falls behind them:

Grizzly bear with two cubs (its really hard to see them...they are down by the lake).

Mammoth:

We wanted to show them Woody. Dad asked Preston if he wanted to ride him, and he said yes...Preston loves Woody, Woody loves Preston. They play together in the field sometimes.

Aunt Betty and Poppie really wanted to go on a horse ride (so did I!), so we decided to go up to the Stermitz ranch and take a trail ride. Kim was our trail guide and she rode "Stinky Pete". Aunt Betty rode a horse named Badger, Poppie rode a horse named Crow and I rode a horse named Ash. They were all super sweet. The trail ride was two hours long and it was sooooo much fun!

Ash and the scenery (overlooking the Stermitz property).

Stinky Pete:

Poppie on his horse Crow:

Kim and Aunt Betty:

When we got back from the trail ride, we found that someone had left the car doors open and inside we found a cute little barn cat in the van....it was enjoying our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

On the car ride home from the Stermitz, we saw an Antelope with twin babies. They were so cute!

We found poppies that have bloomed up by the cattle guard and out our kitchen and bathroom window. We got Poppies picture by the poppies (Fiona wanted to be in the picture too).

The day before Aunt Betty and Uncle Dave left, they wanted to go to Old Faithful. Grammie, Poppie, Bennett and I went too. We had a really good time...it was really hot!

My Mom used to drive these street cars up in Skagway, Alaska.

Then we walked to the new Visitors' Center they built last August. It was really nice inside!

Then we took a walk around all the geysers.

This is the Old Faithful Inn:

 The next morning, we went to Bozeman so that we could take Uncle Dave and Aunt Betty to the airport. Their airplane left at 3:45pm, so we had some time to play. We went to the Western Cafe in Bozeman for breakfast. Preston, Fiona and I got Mickey Mouse pancakes (they were huge) and Bennett got a whole plate of biscuits and gravy....and he ate it all!!

Then we took a walk in downtown Bozeman.

Then we had to take Uncle Dave and Aunt Betty to the airport. :(

After we dropped them off, we went to the free Belgrade waterpark since it was 90 degrees outside. It was so busy!

After we did our shopping, we took Grammie and Poppie to Famous Dave's barbeque restaurant.

Mom said, "I love the stage when they can be entertained by a purse strap"!

The next day it was so hot, that Bennett and Preston took the hose and put it on the trampoline.

Then we drove to Chico Hot Springs.

Poppie's birthday was on June 24th, so my Mom made an Ice Cream cake. We also drove up to the OTO (the oldest dude ranch in Montana. It's 6 miles away from us). Usually, there aren't any people up there, but they were having an open house the next day so there were some relatives of the OTO family who were up there cleaning and getting things ready....we got a private tour by the family members!

This is a picture of the original lodge:

O.T.O. means "Ordo Templi Orientalis".

This is a picture of the Maid's uniform.

There was a creek that had overflowed over the bridge (the bridge has been there for 100 years)!

Once we got back from the OTO, we went to Outlaw's Pizza for Poppie's birthday. We love Outlaw's!

Then we came back home for Poppies' Ice Cream cake. Yum!

The day that Grammie and Poppie had to leave :'(, there was a Kenyon Noble home show in Bozeman. They had prizes, 50 cent hot dogs, workshops, shetland ponies and a bouncy house. It was really fun...my Dad even won a free water filter!!

We each got to build our own shelf.