Day 5
This was the morning we packed up and left the Big Horns and started the second half of our road trip.
First stop was Buffalo Wyoming which was only 15 minutes away from South Fork. On our road trip in 2012 when Zeke was just 6 weeks old or so we had to make lots of stops for nursing sessions. We had just gotten our first smartphones prior to that trip....life saver! Whenever Zeke would start to cry or it was close to his feeding I would start looking for nearby parks we could stop at. I would feed Zeke in the van while Michael would take the older 3 out to burn off some energy. We were on our way to Thermopolis, Wyoming when Zeke was ready to eat so we stopped at a park in Buffalo. It ended up being one of my favorite memories from that whole trip. It was just such a great find and totally off the beaten path we would have never stopped there if Zeke hadn't cried. The fun thing was we actually found not one, but two parks. The kids played at the first park and then we went on a walk and found the second one. It was crazy busy and the kids were super small then so they weren't brave enough to play at the second park. I really wanted to have a redo and find the park so the kids could play at it.
Isn't this amazing!!!!
The kids didn't remember this at all and they were so excited to play on it!
Of course it was SO hot...almost 90 and it was only 11am!
We were almost the only people at the park. I'm sure all the locals don't come unless it's early or late in the day.
This kids still had a great time though!
I even had fun running around with them.
I love how almost all the kids have decided that wearing sunglasses is a good thing. I couldn't function without mine!
Jackers is the only one that doesn't wear them. I'm not sure if we just haven't found a pair he likes or if he just doesn't want to be bothered by them.
These slides were crazy fast and they threw you around. They don't look like they would be, but man that turn is brutal.
Ella's face says it all! This yellow slide was the only one that was partial shaded the other slides were way to hot to go down!
This tire swing merry go around was the coolest thing I've ever seen at a park.
It wasn't even moving that fast and it was so much fun!
I wish they had one of these at a park near us.
Maybe Pa could make my kids something like this in the backyard....you'll get right on that right Pa? ;)
I'm a giant kid at heart and I love playing with my kids!
Once we were out of breath from pushing the tire swings around I figured we should make our way to the original park we stopped at in 2012. But first you have to go across a stream.
The kids wanted to cross over on the rocks, but I used the bridge.
Here is the picture of the park from 2012. I took this picture sitting in the van while I was nursing Zeke. You can see Michael right at the base of the enclosed slide. He's taking a picture of a kid coming down.
The other reason I wanted to visit this park was to capture comparison pictures. I've seen so many of these on Facebook and I thought this would be great 8 years later!
Look at this sweet Owen...only 5 years old!
A lot has happened in 8 years and the toy that Owen was on in the original picture isn't there anymore. So we made due. You can actually see the toy he's riding on in the current picture behind on the left in the original picture.
Look at those cheeks on Jackson. He has the best squishable cheeks.
He's just gotten slightly bigger in 8 years! :)
Ella and her curls! She's a gem that girl!
Girl loves to strike a pose!
Zeke was such a cute bald baby!
I just noticed that we didn't put him on the right toy he should have been riding on the same one Owen was in the current picture. Oh well! I love how he balled up his fists like in the original picture.
And since we will probably come back one day in the future the kids wanted to take some more pictures to recreate someday!
I'm so happy the kids humored me and went along with these pictures...it was great fun!
It's so crazy how fast 8 years has just screamed by and how much they have changed!
Cute stair steps!
After this we were all hot and thirsty and ready to get on the road. We walked back to the bridge and I wanted one last picture. The kids were done by this point though!
We got drinks filled up in the van and hit the road. It was only about an hour and a half drive to Gillette to my Aunt's house.
This picture was actually taken by my Dad on a previous trip. I didn't take any pictures of Aunt Linda's house. Her house is connected to another house on the left, but you'd never know it. I never once heard the neighbors next door.
This is her staircase! It's so gorgeous and since this picture was taken she's added a runner on the middle of her stairs. It's so much safer now.
This is the upstairs media room that the kids and I stayed in and this is only half of the room. There is another single bed just outside of view on the right. Also where the chair and end table are in this picture is now a queen size bed. I slept on the queen, Owen and Jack both got to sleep on the single beds and Ella and Zeke slept on the floor on the other side of the single beds.
After getting all our stuff out of the van the girls....Ella and Alli really wanted to go swimming so Aunt Linda, the girls and I went down to Walmart to see if we could find a pool. No such luck...we honestly weren't surprised. I did find Ella a new bathing suit and thankfully it fit since the dressing rooms weren't open for her to try it on. We did go to Home Depot and get the girls a sprinkler to run through. While the girls were running through the sprinkler the neighbors granddaughter came over to play. The three girls had a blast playing together.
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