Springbreak Staycation

I'm growling in the pictures, in case anyone wonders why my face looks weird.

Last week was our "spring break" and we spent it at home, watching sick kids. Woo hoo!

By the end of the week, kids were well enough to leave the house. Lucas would stand and cry by the door because he wanted to play outside so bad. The poor guy doesn't understand staying quarantined when he's sick.

Luckily, I heard a radio ad for discounts at Yellowstone's Bear World. We live a short (2 hour) drive from Yellowstone and I guess some tourists would rather just stop and see the bears up close in the zoo near us than in the real Yellowstone. I'd never seen the appeal of Bear World before - especially with the non-discounted prices but we really needed out of the house (and the ad talked about bear cubs, a petting zoo, rides, and free fudge. Sold!)

 I'm so glad we went! It was a great time with the kids. We started by driving around the park. It is divided into sections with different animals grazing, wandering and sleeping. My boys love just to drive by cows and horses, so driving by Elk, wolves and Bears was a huge deal.

Scott and I talked about how fun it is to see things through our children's eyes. By ourselves, Bear World would have been neat, but not nearly the place of wonder and fun it was going with two little boys.

At one point, a shaggy black bear walked up to our car and tried to eat our side mirror. Surprisingly, it didn't scare the boys. They started laughing and laughing. I love listening to Soren's belly laugh. I thought he would grow out of it, but its the same laugh he's always had.

After we finished the drive, we parked our car and went to the petting zoo. It started drizzling and after seeing bears, the kids weren't interested in goats, pigs and chickens. However, they were excited about the amusement rides. Soren loved the roller coaster. Lucas thought he loved it, but it still made him pretty nervous.

We pet the baby bear cubs and ate our free fudge - plus some more. It was great, despite the drizzle and previous week of sick kids.