Bison and Elk and Bears -- OH MY!!!

My parents invited us to spend the week with them in Big Sky, Montana a couple of weeks ago (I know -- I am behind on my blogging!). Although Graem could not stay for the entire week, we had a fantastic time! The weather could not have been better -- beautiful, sunny, warm days & chilly nights!

I know from past experience that when the Ropers take a trip, they like to see EVERYTHING...but I don't think Graem and Mason realized what they were in for. We rented a mini-van and put over 2,100 miles on it. That's a lot of driving! We not only saw lots of Montana, but also a good chunk of Wyoming and Idaho. Not to mention we covered every square inch of Yellowstone. Beautiful country!!!

It is hard to say which part of the trip was my favorite. I LOVED Yellowstone. It is such a cool place. The first national park in the world is full of so many wonders of nature! It is truly the grandaddy of national parks.

I also enjoyed watching all the wildlife in their natural habitats. In addition to bison and elk and bears (OH MY!), we saw antelope, mule deer, whitetail deer and moose!

This was Mason's first airplane ride! What a great little traveler! I brought along lots of toys, books, snacks, etc to keep him occupied...but who needs those things? He spent countless hours playing with the armrest, window shade, seatbelt and tray table!

The whole family. This picture was taken in the Porcelein Basin of the Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone. As you can see, there is lots of thermal activity in this area...steam vents, geysers, mineral deposits, hot springs. So cool! The ground looks white from all of the mineral deposits. This is how I'd imagine the surface of the moon to look!

Bebe and Mason spending some QT at one of our picnic spots.

This picture was taken at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The yellow color of the walls of the canyon inspired the name of the park.

What a trooper!

Lake Yellowstone

Old Faithful!!!

This is the first of many elk that we saw during our trip. Unfortunately for documenting purposes, we usually saw them early in the morning, at dusk, or at night, so it was difficult to capture them on film. What a regal animal! This one even bugled for us -- twice!

This picture was taken during a hike we took one day. I read in a guide book about some caves in the side of a mountain that had old Indian carvings in the walls. Of course we had to see them! Our little hike was a bit more than we anticipated...it was really steep in places and much longer than we thought it would be -- but totally worth it.

Daddy checking out the view from the top

Daddy climbing in to the mouth of the cave

Share the roads!

Herd of buffalo in the Lamar Valley

Grandaddy and Mason stopping for a photo with Buffalo Bill

A couple of mule deer. Aren't they sweet?

Jackson Lake and the Grand Tetons

Mama Bear. Baby Bear is hiding in the bushes. We saw them outside of the Lazy K Bar Ranch in the Crazy Mountains, north of Big Timber, MT.

Mason playing in the leaves with Bebe

Mama Moose and Baby Moose. Baby is on the right. Big baby, huh?!? This was literally in the yard outside of our condo!

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures! We definitely enjoyed the trip and recommend it for anyone!

What a milestone...

I can hardly believe my little Mason is one year old! In many ways, I can't remember what life was like before he became a part of it. He has brought unmeasurable joy to our lives. We have been richly blessed!

From This:

To This:
Okay, okay...we over-did it on the stripes!

Mason's Birthday Bash!

All these presents? Just for me?!?

Thank goodness Daddy can help me open them!

Favorite gift -- hands down! Thanks, Nana & Grandaddy Clark!

Check out my new ride, Gigi!

Cake for everyone and a "mini-me" version for the birthday boy!

I know what to do with cake! Where's the ice cream?

Nash-Vegas!

Graem and I love any excuse to take a trip to Nashville...and Mason loves any excuse to take a trip to the farm! What better reason did we need than for the USC v. Vanderbilt football game?

After dropping Mason off at my parent's house, we headed on up to Nashville, met Deborah and Jason, and had a great time hanging out at all the honky-tonks on Broadway! The only unpleasant part of our trip was a period of about 3 hours on Thursday night. Those Gamecocks really can increase a girl's blood pressure! Seriously, how did we lose that game??? I think I saw some of the players out at Tootsie's in the wee hours of the morning the night before the game. That must explain it!?!

There is nothing I love more than a celebrity sighting. Unfortunately, my celebrity sightings are few & far between. The only real famous person I have ever seen was Jeff Gordon at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas (the one in Nevada, not Tennessee). I was hoping to run into a famous country star, but the only quasi-celebrities we encountered were:

• Kelli Pickler (she sang the National Anthem at the game)
• Matt Mason (from "Nashville Star" -- which I have never watched, but he was great and I like his last name)
• Andre Bauer
• Todd Ellis
• The Crackman. I will have to delve into the subject of the Crackman in another post. He is quite a character and certainly deserves his own post. Stay tuned...

Beach Crawler

I think I have figured out how to post a video...hopefully this will work!

Hilton Head Happenings

What a great week to spend at Hilton Head...with school back in session, the island was much less crowded than it is during the rest of the summer. We had perfect weather during the first part of the week...until Hurricane Fay decided to blow in lots of wind & rain.

The last week of June we were at Ocean Isle...and although Mason loved the beach during that trip, he could only take so much of the sun & sand before he was ready to head back to the house. What a difference 6 weeks makes! On this trip, Mason was all over the place and simply could not get enough of the beach! The beach at HHI is so nice and wide that he had plenty of room to crawl...and the waves are so calm that Mason loved crawling in the edge of the water. I have a video but I'm having trouble uploading it to the blog. For now, enjoy the pictures and I'll work on getting the video posted.

The Whole Clark Crew - at dinner in Savannah

Chillin' with Uncle Brian

Nap Time!

Checking out the sea kayaks...

Beach Crawler

Acting Silly at the Condo

Living Large at Lake Murray

Okay, so Mason isn't "large", but he knows how to "live large!" We had a great time at Lake Murray on Saturday. We enjoyed hanging out with the Smyths, the McCartys and the Dickens!

In typical fashion, I think Mason caught as many fish as Arch did! Yes, that would be a total of zero. In reality, I think Arch actually caught a couple of fish this time. Good job! Way to provide for the family, now that you will have another mouth to feed in a few months!

Mason LOVES a boat ride! Check it out: