We had such a fun time camping in the Beartooth Mountains, near Cooke City this past weekend. It's been a family tradition of my husbands for many many years. Over the years, the family has expanded by spouses, kids, friends, new dogs, and new/old campers! My first trip was 7 years ago already, hard to believe!
This was the fist year I had been back in a while, between having babies and the loss of my beloved sister-in-law, Paula, I was needed in other directions. Needless to say, having a four year old (Colter and Joey went last year and baby Levi and I stayed home) and a one year old on our camping trip with us was a change! Colter does great, he is a good boy and loves camping...besides the soggy feet at the end of the day because of 'accidentally' playing in the puddles and mountain lakes, of course (boys)! He was relentless in trying to find Smokey the Bear, which we never did, luckily Papa had some Smokey reading material to get him through until next 4th of July in Red Lodge! He loved catching fish with Papa, playing with his new girl friends, gathering flowers for mommy, taking special 4-wheeling rides with daddy and hitting the bumps just right, exploring old mine shafts (don't worry it's blocked off just past the entrance) and eating wild strawberries.
Levi, sweet Levi.....was into everything. He's at that age where he wants to do what brother is doing but just can't quite do it yet! He actually did great, but it took a lot of extra energy to keep him out of things (eating rocks, etc...) and entertained. He fell asleep EVERY single 4-wheeler trip we took (in the baby bjorn), apparently babies like bumpy roads a lot more than mommy's do! He even slept through the mine shaft exploration (and the hike to get in and out of it!) He really wanted to play with the fish Papa caught, and be a big boy sitting in his own camp chair (daddy was right there to catch him if he bailed). He was a major daddy's boy this trip, which allowed me to take WAY to many pictures, which is why this post has to be in two parts! He also ate so many strawberries with his Mama Carla that he nearly passed out asleep and she had to catch him and come back to camp! Exhausting work for little babies!
Papa Bill and Mama Carla entertained the boys so Joey and I could take one 'kid-less' 4-wheeler ride, like the old days. I took some more pictures (photographed Carla's favorite blue flower...I kept saying "blue flower, red thorns" Shrek much?!), we tried out some new trails, looked for moose (with no luck), and froze our tootsies off. It was fun though, and reminded me why I love the yearly tradition of getting away camping in the Beartooths, it's so refreshing! It's been fun to look back at how our lives have changed in the past 7 years, and the change that will come every year moving forward!
Here's part one of my photo journal, if you're interested!!
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