Wyoming Vacation 2011 (part 2-snow edition)

Did I mention we had a blast on this vacation of ours? Well, we did. I shall now proceed to share a brief synopsis of the vacation happenings in as few words and pictures as I am capable. (HA!)

We played with The Cowboy's Skid Steer. I did a rather terrible job of driving it, as it's been some time since I've driven a tractor type of thing. (That's the technical term.) However, I can see that if I had one of these, I would be compelled to drive it as often as possible, therefore gaining skill, one would hope anyway. It's fun! Yes, I drove it in my Sunday Finery. Thanks for noticing. We had all manner of fun on the 4-Wheeler.

And on horses. Thanks to The Cowboy and Auntie A for showing us such a good time, and so patiently teaching the kids how to use/treat the tools/animals, etc! :-) Kiki announced last night that on vacation she got to drive a skid steer, a 4 wheeler, a horse, and drive offroad in Uncle Cowboy's Truck. That's a pretty good vacation for a 6YO!

One tradition when we visit this sweet family of ours in Wyoming is to make sure we drop in on the loveliest little book store ever, Dog-Eared Books. We did this time, of course, and had so much fun. It's such a perfect little store, completely {refreshingly} void of modern marketing that comes into play when you visit any large bookstore, and it literally has treasures on every. single. shelf. Among a stack of kid's books and a copy of Pride & Prejudice for me as I've always borrowed that from the library, and never actually had it in my library, my dad found "The Complete Book of Camping" to add to my small but wonderful collection of how-to books from the 50's-60's-70's era, photographed below. I can't even begin to say how much this collection gives me glee. The Complete Book of Home Freezing was written in the 50's, the Camping one was written in the 60's, and the published date of the Food Lover's Garden was 1970. They are FULL of great advice, it's great fun to read advice that has no bearing today due to advances in technology and equipment, and greatest of all, they are COMPLETELY without regard for political correctness as we know it today. It is thoroughly charming, and I cannot get enough of it. Thanks for the trip to the bookstore, Dad and Mom!

Thursday, we awoke to a gray day that very quickly turned into a snowy day! And, as much as I enjoy spring, and the camping part of summer, I will admit that this snow thrilled me (and my girls) to pieces. We are such cold weather people. Thankfully, being the prepared sort, I had packed most of our snow clothing. (I forgot the girls snow pants, oops.) So, we dressed warmly in layers, and went for a hike. Because it didn't seem right to have such a wonderful gift of snow, and not go out to enjoy every minute of it.

Heading into the woods...

Me, and my little brother. It was SO good to see him, and hang out with him, and tease him for a week. I miss this guy.

Please duly note:

I had approximately 46 pockets on my person. I felt, for some unknown reason, that instead of using said 46 pockets, I ought to stuff everything in the two front pockets of my Marmot Precip jacket (talked about here), therefore appearing to be pregnant. I am most definitely NOT pregnant. I do feel compelled to share with you the following list of all the things I had in my pocket.

TWO pairs of my children's fleece socks, because their feet were sure to get horribly soaked. (They did.)

One Blackberry

One bulky blood sugar testing kit

One Bag of Glucose Tablets

10 Packages of Fruit Snacks

One plastic wrapper from one of the Birthday Gifts on Sunday

Chapstick

One Dr. Appointment Card from an appointment 2 months ago

5 Junior Mint wrappers

These pockets are amazing.
It was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. Not too cold, only about 30 degrees I think.

Me, and my girls. Who slogged through creeks, jumped rocks, rolled down snowbanks, and were generally champion hikers. I was so proud of them.

By this time I had realized how rediculous I must look with all the stuff in my pockets, and embraced my bulging jacket belly. Of all the awesome outdoor gear I have and wore on this day, however, I would like to take a moment to talk about my pants found in the picture below. They are the ExOfficio Nio Amphi Nylon Pants, (I believe Frank got them here.) and I LOVE them. They are technically a warmer weather hiking/outdoor pant, but I'd noticed that they appeared to be very water resistant, and also they dry so quickly, that I decided to bring them along with thermal underwear to wear underneath in case it did snow. They performed WONDERFULLY under these conditions. They are vented at the knees and pockets for warmer weather, they dry in moments (I actually tested this, as we slogged through the edges of the creek/river we were walking along at a few points.) Best of all, the fit is amazingly comfortable. They have a soft lined waistband that settles perfectly into place. I also have a pair of North Face nylon pants, and they're acceptable, but these one's have exceeded my expectations in every way. This was the end goal of our hike... It was a perfect, lovely way to spend an (almost) Summer day.
Stay tuned for my last Wyoming Vacation post, coming soon--the weather in those pictures will be much more summery, I promise! And, special thanks to Auntie A, who took almost all these pictures.