My favorite yet weirdest time of the year

I had the best of intentions to get back to blogging once a week but when I sat down two weeks ago, I discovered I only had 2 pictures in my feed that could go on the blog, and one was just a meme I had downloaded just to txt to a friend.  This was the other one, but one that makes my heart soar:

A few years ago, nearly every male in both James and I's families got a Calvin and Hobbes anthology for Christmas.  While I find them entertaining enough, they hold a special place in the childhood memories of James and the grandpas and uncles.  They weigh a gazillion pounds so are stored on the bottom shelf of our bookshelves to prevent an inevitable collapse.  Matthew discovered them a few weeks ago and since then he sometimes disappears for 20-30 minutes and this is how we find him (though for this pic he was using it as a distraction while he brushed his teeth).  It's a silly thing but I think both James and I get a kick with sharing this with a new generation and secretly hope Matthew eventually reads all 80 lbs of these!

The transition from May to June is always a weird one.  I've gone from having very little to share to having too much!  Though next year our "busy" season will be bookended by the school calendar, for now we've been using the bookends of gorgeous weather to kick off our summer season!  Early June is also the season for our family's now annual pig roast at my cousins which is another great way to kick off the summer!

James took the kiddos to the museum early one morning while I had a prenatal appointment.  They had the Yellowstone room practically to themselves and had a blast!

 We finally got a few good rainstorms which has led to some pretty good rainbow spotting:

 When she's not spotting rainbows, Catherine alternates between being our rough and tumble outside helper and beautiful princess.

After our second weekend of working in the yard, I got a call from Uncle Matt as he was on his way to grandma's.  He and I have been discussing how he wanted to take a Wyoming trip and a Montana trip this year and somehow I got it in my head he wanted separate trips.  However, when he called the Sunday of Memorial Day, I realized that there's no way he was going to be one state away with grandma and I wasn't going to maximize my time with him!  15 hours later I was on the road to Wyoming for a week!   Before we left, it was haircut time for a certain little man who got his first "buzz like daddy":

 I took the kiddos through the park and they worked on their binocular skills while we spotted bison:

 After we missed two of the picnic areas because they hadn't been plowed we eventually stopped at the south edge of the park for a potty break and to play in the snow!

 Catherine fell asleep but as we left Teton we spotted this mama bear and her two cubs.  Wish we had the time to stay for a better pic, but it was certainly exciting!  (Oh and to be clear, there was this was definitely not a case where I was just driving along and spotted them!  The bear apparently had been out there for a few hours so there were no less than four ranger cars with flashing lights, a whole line of photographers with lenses that weigh more than my kids and gear more expensive than our house!)

 We then got to enjoy more snow over Towgowtee pass ending in a stop in Dubois.  The kiddos were ecstatic to find a letter on a mountain that wasn't an M!

Of course we also had to stop and ride the jackalope!

 Once we arrived, it was Uncle Matt time!  There were presents, stories . . .

 and of course some rough housing!

 The next day we headed to Hudson to pay our respects to family, friends and all those who have served our country:

 And ran into one of dad's childhood best friends who joined us for some BSing and donuts.  Catherine was enamored with "that man who was papa's friend":

 Showing off the brass the guard had given them from the 21 shot salute:

 Back at grandma's we took it easy and Catherine helped grandma play cards:

 At some point poor Matthew crawled into the house and proceeded to fall asleep.  He's never done this!  He had a bit of a temp but woke up the next day fine without any other symptoms.

 Catherine took advantage of Uncle Matt's undivided attention to use him as a jungle gym!

 And though she never slept, she did eventually slow down a bit:

This was just day one of our trip but as I have a newly planted garden to water and a game night to finish planning I will close here with the promise of more pictures of Uncle Matt (he thought I took too many but I completely disagree!), a roasted pig, grandma and some cousin cuteness.  Assuming you all already got a look at the bathroom beaver, I'm thinking my next post may be 100% taxidermy free which may just be something to look forward to!