4th of July in Yellowstone

 We arrived at Bridge Bay Campground on Wednesday July 4th.  The camp spaces we all next to each other in the trees next to the forest.  Thursday morning we went out in 2 guided fishing boats for 4 hours.  Both boats had 5 or 6 Cutthroat Trout that had to be released.  The boys boat had 7 Lake Trout that could be kept, but the girls boat had 20.  Nice start to the fishing.

We had 2 more trips in my boat and caught 20 more.

 Lots of wildlife in the park.  Check out the baby buffalo below.

 We always take our bikes and ride down to the Morning Glory Pool.

We stayed for 4 nights and had a great time with family bonding. Great memories for many years.

Evan's 1st Birthday

Grandma decided that we needed to see Evan for this 1st Birthday, so off to Logan we went.  He got a bunch of play balls and a tent to pay with them in.  What a fun day.

They on Memorial Day we got "Pink Flamingoed" by Hailey.  What a fun surprise.

Spring Break on the Big Island of Hawaii

Well Spring Break found Grandma and I on the Big Island of Hawaii. It sure was nice to leave a foot of snow and home and go to 80 degree days.

There was lots of green plants and lots of lava. Even the beaches had lots of lava rock. The picture below looks across the bay to Captain Cook's Monument. It is the white dot at the water line in the middle of the picture.

Oh yes Flat Stanley got to go to Hawaii also.

There were lots of turtles close to the shore.

Grandma took a picture to make sure we could prove we were there.This shoreline is by the Sheraton which shines spot lights on the water and the Manta Rays come up in the light to eat plankton.

The following pictures are at the Volcano National Park.

There was not any hot lava flowing, but the gases were escaping from one of the craters.

In Wyoming the 4th graders went to Teton National Park and went snowshoeing on their field trip. In Hawaii the 4th grade field is to Volcano National Park. As you can see below Joyce had to get a picture of these 4th graders.

The light colored strip in the picture is a hiking trail through one of the volcano calderas. The larger picture actually shows people hiking on the trail.

The Big Island is called the Orchid Island. What trip would be complete without a trip to the Orchid Farm.

This is Rainbow Falls near Hilo. It was interesting to discover that the Hilo side of the Island receives about 200 inches of rain and the Kona side gets only 5 inches. When we were at this island 29 years ago, all the development was on the Hilo side. They have since decided that the tourists don't like so much rain, so the development has taken place on the Kona side. They have even developed the main airport in Kona.

We had a great trip. We enjoyed the great weather and great scenery. It was a great place to relax. The only frustration is the travel to and from Hawaii. We left Kona at 8:05 pm and got into Salt Lake at 12:45 pm the next day.

This past week Aunt Virgina Bingham passed away. When I retired one of my goals was to make some of the funerals that I could not make when I was working. So Tuesday Morning I drove to Burley for a graveside service of Aunt Virginia. She was the wife of my mother's brother Woodrow. Then I went to Twin Falls for the luncheon at the Church.
The pictures above and below are of the Headstone for Grandma and Grandpa Bingham. As you can see Grandma passed away in March of 1975 and Grandpa about 9 months later in 1976. As I remember that was a tough 9 months after he lost Grandma.

Uncle Woodrow and Aunt Virginia's headstone is just accross the road from Grandma and Grandpa's. It has to be hard to live another 40 years after your beloved has gone.

It was a sunny 45 degree day with no wind. The service was nice.

I was nice to visit with family at the church. Below are Aunt Barbara with one of her daughters and Uncle Lynn.

Pat and Lee are at this table.

Dee is sitting at this table.

I feel bad that it has been so long since I have seen these people. It has been over 30 years for many of them.

So many years ago when we were kids and the cousins our age were friends. Such fond memories of Dee and Lee, Lynne and Greg, Larry and Randy, Elaine and Ron. It is too bad when we grow up and have our own families and get too busy to renew those friendships. Our kids don't even know the Bingham family.

Such a great heritage from two great people "Charles and Myrtle".

Thanksgiving in Star Valley

Everyone came to Star Valley for Thanksgiving. They all arrived on Wednesday. The weather forcast indicated the best weather day was Thursday so we decided to get Christmas Trees before having turkey dinner. I was a nice day.

Grandma just couldn't find any trees.

We used the snowmobiles and found our trees. It was much easier than tromping through the forest.

Then it was time for some snowmobiling and tubing. The kids had lots of fun.

Todd got the price for the shortest tree.

Todd decided that Ivy needed a rest after Turkey Dinner.

Then Oakley had to teach Grandpa how to used the Ipad. What fun we had.

Gentry was hauling the candy for the parade around and protecting it. She was saving it for the parade.

Then whenever we were not on the snowmobiles going around the house, we were in the hot tub.

Even Grandma spent a little time with the kids, but she said they splash too much.

This was our first holiday that was consumed with Ipads and Ipods. We had so many at times on the network that we had to shut them all down and rebook the network so the online shopping could be done.

Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend has always been the Holiday Light Parade in Afton. After the parad last year, the kids decided that they wanted to have a float in the parade.

So we put a golf cart and snowmobile on a trailer with lots of lights. We said "Star Valley is a great place WINTER OR SUMMER." They had 25 pounds of candy and managed to throw it all out.

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It was a cold night, about 6 degress and I thought that they would rather watch than be in the parade. They assured me that particpating was better than watching and they want to do it again next year.

Then we took some pictures of the grandkids. This is why we like Star Valley so much. They love to come here.

Then we had our last lunch before everybody went home on Sunday.

Autumn got her birthday present early. It was a wonderful weekend to be together as a family. We are thankful to have such a great family that gets along so well with each other. Star Valley is for families.