Some of the animals

Bison
Young ElkYoung Elk

Old Faithful

Old Faithful is the small steaming thing in the back round.

This is a photo of Old Faithful erupting...basically a bunch of hot water that made a huge plume of steam!!

more at Yellowstone

Yellowstone National Park

In the snow coach.
out the portal of the snow coach


We went to Yellowstone National Park with Levi and Julia. We went on a guided tour in a snow coach. Yup we rode out into a snow filled park on a groomed trail in a big van like thing on skis and treads. The day was clear and cold. But we did not mind because we were all bundled up. The trip was very cool and we learned lots of interesting things about the park...like how the whole thing is a giant volcano that could blow at any time and do way more damage then Mt. Saint Hellenes. We saw lots of thermo activity in the form of mud pots, hot springs, guessers and one other thing that I can't remember. We also saw lots of wild life bison, elk, swans, ducks, geese, and coyote. And yes we did see Old Faithful erupt. Enjoy all the photos we have to share.

Eating

Elsie is progressing slowly on the solid foods front. She has tried 3 kinds of cereal, all but one of her vegtables and a few fruits, these seem to be her favorites so far though. I was reading in a baby book about what a 7 month old should be able to do. It was a short list and Elsie could do all of the things except feed herself a cracker. I was so upset that I had never given her a chance to feed herself a cracker!! So after buying some teething biscuits and handing her one I was no longer upset. Of course she had no problem picking up an object and inserting it in her mouth. The only difference with this object is it can be eaten and it tends to get really gooey! Why did I even worry?

The Big Tub

Elsie has graduated to the big tub. She did not like it that much at first but now is really enjoying the freedom of movement. For now her favorite bath time activities are splashing and eating any toys that are in sight.

And after bath time she gets to use this great turtle towel she got for Christmas.

Mobility

Yup that is right mobility is the newest thing in the Shumway home. Elsie started by pushing herself backwards. Every once in a while I would come into the living room to find her legs disappearing under the couch! I would say this and rolling were her sole means of mobility for about a month. But now she has mastered the next step. No she can not crawl yet but she is getting very close to it. She pulls with her arms and pushes with her legs to move forward, I think it is called the commando crawl. So now anything on the floor is fair game!!!

In this picture she is pushing herself up onto her knees where she can stay for a bit and then collapse back to the tummy. It is amazing how fast she can pick up a new trick.

Our blog

Our blog would not be complete without another series of cute pictures of Elsie....not that there is anything else on this blog! What I mean is here is Elsie in a bunch of cute outfits including a few pairs of cute shoes!!

Sock monster

One of Will's late Christmas present was some warm socks. He decided that the best thing to do with them was to put them on Elsie's arms and legs. He created a sock monster.