The Pischkes: June 2017

Friday, June 23, 2017

The Tetons from Isaac's Phone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ncKTcbGi4

More water park: We got some more water park action in for Lucy in the morning. Ironically this time Lucy didn't like the lazy river (the jets in the walls scared her) but she did enjoy watching the giant monkey bucket dump water on people (and she still talks about it every day).
We didn't leave for the park until 11:30 am though. Luckily the truck has a gas alert or we would have been pushing the truck!

Badlands National Park: The park pleasantly surprised us. Initially it just looked like grassland, but then opened up into the canyons. We did a couple outlooks and saw a big horned sheep (Lucy is still talking about that one). We had a picnic lunch at the visitor center and then hit the road as Lucy was asking for a nap. We will save the actual visitor center and hikes for a future visit. There is even a fossil lab that I think Lucy will like someday.

Kerry and Maddie quick jumped out of the car to check out the Window trail. You can see a huge part of the canyon that is otherwise obscured from view.

The Lucy quote of the day was when Lucy got very upset that we set Charlie's car seat down. "You have to carry him, Charlie is going to blow away!" Aww she must like him after all!

Corn Palace: The rest of the day entailed 552 miles home with a stop in Mitchell, SD for dinner and the Corn Palace. We were pleasantly surprised by the Corn Palace as we figured it would be a Wall Drug type of stop. There was actually a lot of history/education within the building and the community takes a lot of pride in the venue. We enjoyed our visit and had a difficult time tearing Lucy away from her red tractor where she became her alter ego; "Farmer Lucy". Lucy also napped in the car for only the 2nd time ever on this trip! Score.

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Water Park Day

Today consisted primarily of travel (7 hours) to Rapid City, SD. We had to stop several times in the first hour due to an mad Charlie. That's not to bad, considering it was his first real fit of the trip! He was having a very hungry 24 hours. Thank goodness that was the worst of it. Lucy was kept at bay with the DVD player. She wasn't sold on Little House yet though. We had to be re-routed early on as well due to flooding, and that added 45 more minutes to our day.

We pulled into Rapid City around 6pm to our hotel at the watiki water park. Lucy was so excited she could hardly eat dinner.

Lucy could be heard across the water park due to her shrieks of joy. She liked turning a wheel that splashed her and the lazy lake (river). She was terrified of the monkey bucket that dumped a huge monsoon of water though.

If you look closely, Maddie is getting splashed while Isaac and Lucy watch.

Tetons Day 4

The day started energetically for Maddie and Lucy. Looking out the cabin window, Isaac saw a black bear across the street. He rushed into Maddie and Lucy's room and got them up to look at the bear. Unfortunately, neither of the gals saw it. Maddie had to stumble around to find her glasses and didn't make it to the window in time. Isaac had a hard time picking up the wet noodle Lucy out of her pack and play. However, if you ask Lucy, she will tell you she saw the bear across the street. Which is fine with me, believing is seeing.

We then drove to Teton Village for Maddie to find a t-shirts and go on the bungee trampoline. She decided against jumping to so we kept shopping for shirts in Jackson Hole. Of note; it does not seem that Patagonia makes a buffalo shirt that says Jackson Hole on it.

During Lucy's nap, Maddie and Isaac went to take pictures out of the mountains at Jackson Lake. Isaac challenged Maddie to climb up a very steep hill which on the second try she did.

After Lucy's nap we went to Jenny Lake and took a big shuttle boat across the lake. We then hiked up to Inspiration Point. We forgot how hard hiking can be in the mountains (while wearing kids). The trail is quite steep without many flat parts. After 10 minutes everyone's legs were burning. Highlights of the hike included:

-walking out onto a large snow field

-Lucy holding a snowball and throwing it at Maddie

-Reaching Inspiration Point

- Lucy wanting to walk around Inspiration Point and then sending Dad into a panic as she refused to stop at the boundary line dad set up. Dad was right there to pick Lucy up and carry the screaming toddler back. Later after Dad cooled down he called over to Kerry and said "she really freaked me out". Lucy then called over to Mom "I really freaked Dad out".

- Inspiration point tends to attract 100s of people per day, and we can say we had it to ourselves for a few minutes! The regular trail is under construction, so fewer made the trip and we were there late in the hiking day.

- Lucy saw a marmot and heard it squeak. This excited at her so much she talked about seeing the Marmot at least 40 times down the mountain.

Several other points of interest include the shuttle boat back nearly not taking us. Isaac pleaded with them to take us but he was turned away as we were a party of four and there was only one spot. Once Kerry arrived with Charlie, they managed to find room.

During the tough hike Maddie decided she wanted some cheese curds so we ordered some at Trappers Grill. Disappointingly, we had to send them back as they were overcooked and hard. Cheese curds truly are best in Wi.

We were not disapppointed by a huge brownie sundae!

The night got late on us and Lucy had some tantrums getting ready for bed. She redeemed herself by reading to Maddie and Isaac. Her interpretations of the Berenstain Bears books were quite humorous.

Jenny Lake shuttle. Photo bomb by our new friend from Flagstaff😛.

A cute Dad-Lucy moment.

Cascade Canyon.

Snow! Even caught Lucy's snowball in mid-throw.

Inspiration point!

Selfie stick moment.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Tetons Day 5

Today marks the bittersweet day of leaving the park. Our next destination was only 1.5 hours away though, so we took the day to do some more sightseeing. We packed up the car (which always takes longer than expected with a squirrelly toddler). Lucy woke up earlier than usual and she was in quite stubborn mood! Also Happy Fathers Day! Lucy told Isaac he stinks like a skunk (or stunk as she says for skunk).

Family photo: It was finally perfect conditions for a family photo, so our first stop was the Mt. Moran turnout. The yellow flowers and blue sky with the mountains looked so perfect it's almost fake looking. We know it's real life though because Lucy threw a huge fit and refused to put her Dora coloring book, crayon or Oo-oo down. We managed to pose in front of the book, but our official photo will feature the other two items.

Moose in moose: finally after trying 3 previous times, we saw a moose. Isaac and I have officially seen moose and bear every time we are in this park! It was behind a bunch of trees, so it wasn't the most exciting view for Lucy. The spotting happened on the Moose-Wilson road.

LSR preserve: tried again to visit the preserve, but the line was just as big as before. It's always good to leave something for next time.

Visitor center: our favorite visitor center is in Moose. It was busier than we've ever seen! Lucy loved touching all the animal fur and is also enjoying her new book "Whose Butt". We also took a picture at the Mather plaque with Charlie in honor of his namesake.

Lunch: by this time Lucy had become a holy terror. We ate at Dornans which luckily had a big outdoor space for her to spaz out in. Kerry and Maddie also got some hats as souveigners (buffalo hats).

Scenic drive: we drove out of the park on the other main park road and hit a new turn off called Schwabergers Landing. It had a short trail and the view was mainly of the Grand and its reflection in a very calm section of the Snake River.

We ended our drive at Jackson Lake Lodge and then started off over the Towgahtee Pass where it appeared much of the snow had melted.

Wind River KOA: We rented a little "Kamping Kabin" and Lucy was immediately enamored. She said "this is the most wonderful day". Lucy loved throwing rocks, swinging and sliding and sitting on our porch swing. After a power nap, she ate mac n cheese and did some balancing on the benches. After a tumble she asked Dad to kiss her butt. We made a campfire and roasted marshmallows. The campground even had a nice indoor pool. We could see ourselves stopping back again.

Saturday, June 17, 2017

Tetons Day 3

We slept in....again. Maddie took us on a photo shoot to where we usually camp and to Jackson Lodge. Lucy was excited to see the mountains and enjoyed looking at tents and running around the amphitheater at Signal Mountain Campground. At Jackson Lodge Lucy enjoy looking out the big windows and seeing a stuffed grizzly bear that stood 8 feet tall and weighs 600 pounds. Kerry and Maddie found the kiddos adorable matching pajamas. In the afternoon we all went on a cowboy dinner that prove to quite memorable.

Lucy moments:

1. On the way to the Cowboy dinner Lucy said that she has friends named Der and Henner. They are nice to her and they look for Animals together. She shines a light on the animals to find them and then she kisses them and then she shines a light on them to shoo them away. 2. Waiting for the wagon ride Lucy said she was going to ride a black horse and save the town, she then proceeded to do three large circles while she galloped saying Neha Neha. 3.In honor of Uncle John (who told Lucy she might see a moose in moose) while riding on the wagon Lucy said she was going to see an elk in Elk.

4. After eating dinner Lucy began eating her jacket. Isaac asked her what she was doing and she said I'm reeeeaaaallllllllly hungry.

The cowboy dinner was quite the experience (which means it will likely be readily recalled when thinking of this trip). We came ready for rain but the Cowboys did not. It started to rain as soon as we arrived to the dinner site which was about a 45-minute wagon ride. The setting was a beautiful open area looking out at the Tetons and near a cottonwood grove. The meal was very good (steak, excellent mashed potatoes, corn, cobbler and cornbread). Lucy was very excited to be by the campfire and wasn't phased at all by the rain. The drizzle continued without signs of letting up (which is a little unusual as mountain weather often blows in and out). It was getting close to time to leave when the lead cowboy offered to call van for those that wanted to get out of the rain. We readily jumped at that opportunity.

We were told the van would be there in 20 minutes. 30 minutes later the lead Cowboy said there was an incident and the van would be here in 20 more minutes. Meanwhile the Cowboys brought a truck and trailer and started loading up their horses while we stood getting colder and watched. Finally the van came and we loaded up only to make it 100 yards where the truck and horse trailer were stuck blocking the road. We then waited another 10 minutes for the truck to get unstuck. Then we wait another 10 minutes for them to reload the trailer with the horses. And then we made it on our merry way. We were quite disappointed with the process as since rain was in the forecast all evening it would have been nice to have offered the van ride back earlier and had the van ready. It would have been nice if they would have put us in the horse trailer. Or like their counterpart to the north in Yellowstone where the wagons are covered. And then Isaac stepped in poop. Just kidding. But Lucy's Nuk dropped in mud and if she gets giardia they're in deep s***.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Teton Day 2

We all apparently needed to still catch up on sleep as we easily slept past the 9am mark. Isaac did sneak out for some coffee on the porch. Our plan was to attempt a hike to cascade canyon, but we were getting such a late start we weren't sure there would be any parking left at Jenny Lake.

Hike: attempt # 1: Cascade Canyon-We were super excited to arrive at Jenny Lake around 10:30 with plenty of parking available. Unfortunately the boat shuttle didn't start up until the following day and we are not able to add 4 extra miles to our hike at this stage.

Attempt # 2: Laurence Rockefeller preserve-we arrived only to join a big line of cars waiting for a parking spot as the preserve only allows 50 cars at a time. We decided we couldn't out wait the line so headed onward.

Attempt # 3: Granite Canyon-we were starting to run low on time prior to lunch and had also decided to try and attend a raptor show, so we just did an out and back hike on this trail and didn't make it to the canyon itself. The hike starts through a grove of aspen trees (which seemed to have been affected by a tough winter). We made it to a mountain stream and now Lucy talks about how her sound machine sounds like the mountains every time we turn it on!

Teton Raptor Rescue: We cooked some backpacking food at the trailhead parking lot and then headed into Wilson to see the raptors. They had a Golden Eagle and hawk out in a lawn area and then we attempted to settle in to an hour long talk with a toddler missing her nap time. The commentary was interesting but not high action enough to hold Lucy's attention. We got to see a owl, peregrine falcon, and bald eagle up close. An interesting tidbit is that owl's eyes don't move, hence their need for lots of neck mobility (they have twice as many cervical vertebrae than humans). Owl's eyes also take up 1/2 the space of their heads!

Nap time: We drove home through Jackson and got a peak at the famous antler arches. Lucy was quite squirrelly the whole drive but thankfully went down for a nap upon getting home at 4:30 pm.

Dinner time: A highlight to any Tetons trip is always the foot high nachos and blackberry margaritas at the trapper grill at Signal Mt Lodge. Maddie and Kerry went to get a table on the porch and order with Isaac and Lucy rolling in at 6:30 just in time for food. The waiter warned us how big the nachos are and I assured him we already knew.

Photo time: After the kids were all asleep, Maddie and Kerry headed to the beach to try some dusk photos of the Tetons with Maddies camera equipment.

First time using the selfie stick. Granite Canyon hike.

Teton Raptor visit. Young bald eagle in the background.

Charlie is finally awake! Enjoying dinner on the lodge deck.

The long awaited nachos and blackberry margarita.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Tetons Day 1

Travel: We had all day Tuesday to pack and organize for our trip. The weather in South Dakota was starting to look questionable so we contacted Paula and picked Lucy up from daycare early and hit the road a little after 3 pm. This made for a mad scramble right at the end! Lucy was very excited to hit the road in Aunt Molly's truck. We also learned that our child seats can't fit behind the captains chairs, so lucy got the middle of the back row and could look straight out the window.

We drove for about 4 hours and then stopped for dinner. It became clear on the radar that severe weather was coming about 30 minutes down the road. It looked perfect out though... Then it came, a big black band of weird looking clouds. We found an a good place to hide out in our car at the Sioux Falls municipal transportation building. In the midst of the storm, a bunch of highway patrol cars came racing in and made us move because they wanted the spots. Eventually they pulled into their car wash and we got the spot back. It was unfortunately 1.5 hours of lost driving time. Isaac was a caffeine machine and drove through the night with Kerry taking over around 4am in the middle of nowhere-Wyoming. Charlie traveled amazingly well, and Lucy did better once we reclined her car seat. The last 4 hours of the drive were by far the worst and we had to stop at a playground for Lucy as she kept saying "get me out of my car seat, I need to get out".

We arrived to Signal Mountain Lodge at 12:15 pm. Lucy and Isaac immediately took naps. Kerry, Charlie and Maddie explored the stores and campground. We woke the others up at 4:45 and headed off for a hike and dinner.

Hike: Colter Bay Lakeshore Trail. 1+ miles with great vistas and mosquitos. There were several loops, but we chose one that had a good and unique view of the mountains. Lucy did a little hiking but she needed to ultimately be put in the hiking pack as we were getting hungry.

Dinner: We tried out Leeks's pizzeria for the first time and would definitely go back. Even though Lucy was overtired, she loves to people watch, so she was entertained. Only one tantrum occurred...when her purple icecream wasn't purple enough!

Lodging: We are staying at the Signal Mountain Lodge (right next to our favorite campground). We decided to lodge it this year as it seemed a little too cold in June to push camping with Charlie. We have a 2 bedroom rustic cabin that has a a decent view and a porch. It even has electricity.

Driving over the pass into the park...snow everywhere. Yikes! It was a winter weather advisory the day before we arrived.

Lucy watching her first ever movie (Frozen). She is exhausted at this point and didn't even want to watch the whole movie.

The playground we let her burn some steam off at.

Ahhh mountains. We can't get over how different the tetons look with all that snow. We don't feel like we are at the same park.

Charlie's first national park hike. He slept the whole time.

Lucy loves big rocks. It took some negotiation to tear her away in order to do the rest of the hike.

Here's Maddie!

First family picture in the tetons 😊

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

We Made It!

We left Tuesday at 3:30 pm and and arrived Wednesday at 12:15 pm, followed by naps.

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Rain Delay

We took cover until the state patrol booted us out of their fill up area.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Charlie Week 6 and 7

Highlights: Charlie went to the cabin for the first time for Memorial Day Weekend. We picked up Maddie along the way and she was helpful in getting Lucy to fall asleep while Mom was able to continually put the Nuk back in Charlie's mouth to keep him asleep on the rest of the drive north. Charlie also went to his first state track meet to cheer on Maddie and Johnny (he of course slept most of the time).

Changes: Instead of the constant "caveman" grunts, Charlie is starting to have cute little coos and goos. He is starting to get onto a predictable schedule in terms of awake periods and naps. His head control is improving when sitting up and being carried and he feels more durable in general. He is starting to take a bottle with a little bit more ease, but he gets rusty when we don't practice on a regular basis.

Sleep: A 4 hour stretch of time is a bad night now, and the record is 7 hours! Charlie goes to bed between 8:30 and 9. He's usually up for the day by 7 and spends the first 1-2 hours of the morning kicking happily and staring at things like fans and curtain rods. He cat naps here and there throughout the morning but does a monster afternoon nap from 1:30-4. Both Mom and Dad recall how hard we had to work with getting Lucy to sleep at night (but once asleep she was a champ). Charlie is easy to set down awake and so far he's a decent self-soother. Fingers crossed that this will continue.