We’re back from our RV trip to Yellowstone and we had such a great time.  The weather was wonderful (mid 70’s with blue skies) and the RV made traveling with Alex and Julie so much easier.   The hardest part of the trip was probably the airplane ride because it threw off the twins' nap schedule, and now that they can walk, they really don’t like sitting in one place for very long.  It helped that many of the people around us on the plane were either parents or grandparents who just loved observing Alex and Julie in action.  At Yellowstone it was the same thing, probably 75% of the people visiting the park were retired and we had so many people come up to us and chat about Alex and Julie and tell us about the ages of their grandkids.  When we let Alex and Julie walk around in a public area, they did a great job looking adorable and working the crowds so no one seemed to mind when they occasionally blocked a path or walked up to someone.  With so much natural beauty at Yellowstone it was surprising to see so many people just watching the twins.

We started our trip by flying into Jackson, Wyoming where we rented an RV to drive up to Yellowstone.  Susan did some research and found a place in Jackson that rented baby stuff (pack-n-plays etc.) that made our trip so much easier because we didn’t have to haul everything with us on the plane.  The RV was great because it allowed us to feed the twins or put them down for a nap any time we wanted.  We established a really good routine where we all woke up around 7 a.m.  The babies would get bottles of milk while the adults showered and dressed.  We would all eat breakfast around 8:30 and then we would let the twins play until they started getting sleepy, usually around 9:30.  We would then pack up the RV and prepare it for travel.  Conveniently the RV park we stayed at was centrally located in Yellowstone and about 1 hr away from most of the big attractions we wanted to see.   The babies would nap in their car seats while we drove and they usually woke up just as we were arriving at our destination.  Depending on the terrain at the location we would sometimes put them in a jogging stroller, or put them in backpack carriers when there were stairs.  Around noon we would stop for lunch and then see a few more sites before taking a nap around 3.  Adults took advantage of this time to either nap, read or sometimes we would drive to another location while they slept.  Once they woke from their nap we would feed them a snack and then explore another part of the park until around 6 when we would head back to the RV Park.  Often we had dinner on the way back, usually pulling off to the side of the road that had a beautiful view and make dinner as the twins played in the RV. 

We saw so many beautiful and amazing things in the park and took a ton of pictures.  A few of highlights were the buffalo, the elk, quite a few geysers, steam vents and boiling pools.  Here is a link to some of the pictures we took: Link to photos 

Videos will be posted soon.

We were very lucky to have Aunt Kristi come out and take care of the twins while we are between Au Pairs.   Alex and Julie loved having Kristi around and really had a great time all week.  We realized on the last day that we forgot to take pictures so we quickly snapped a couple that I've posted to the site.

The rain has started to fall in Seattle, signaling the end of summer and the start of the 9 month rainy season.  Fortunately Alex and Julie are all set in their cute new rain gear.  We posted a few pictures of them in their rain coats, but their feet are still a little too small to fit in their matching boots.  No worries that the rain may stop falling before everything fits, so look for additional pictures posted of the full ensemble. 

Finally figured out how to post HD videos onto YouTube, so the video quality should be a lot better than the stuff we've been posting.  The videos below are in the order they were taken.

 

The first video is the much anticipated one of Alex and Julie eating their first birthday cake (cupcakes).  Link to video

 

This video is of Alex riding on the rollercoaster toy we got the twins for their birthday.  He was a little scared at the end of his ride.  When you're only a 1 year old, that first drop probably feels pretty huge.  Link to video

 

Here is Julie on the rollercoaster, and she was all smiles.  Link to video

 

Here is video of Julie on the day she started taking her first steps. Link to video

 

Here is Alex taking his first steps.  Link to video

Laure has been working with Alex quite a lot to get him walking.  Today, he took several steps on his own!

 

Julie is walking 95% of the time now.  She looks a little like Frankenstein, but she gets better every day.  She only has one bruise on her forehead from falling this week... as compared to last week where she continually had 3-4 bruises across her head. 

 

This past weekend, we took the babies to Etta's for lunch and the Pike Place Market.  They did really well in the restaurant and we now know that Alex likes Cornbread Pudding (it was yummy!).  Julie didn't like it, but that's ok.  We realized that for our next restaurant outing we need to take our own placemats or at least bowls/plates that stick to the table.  There was a lot of banging the plates at the restaurant.