A day in Yellowstone with Tom Murphy

The rooster squawked at 4:15 AM this day. Waking this early led to leaving at 4:50 AM with Dad, Mom, Uncle Jim + Aunt Ann, Ian, Ming, and Caitlin. We left at this time so we would arrive at Tom's place in Livingston at around 6:40 AM. We arrived in Lamar Valley at around 7:40. We arrived this early because we wanted to get to the valley at sunrise. We were tired in the morning, but it was fun.  I like traveling in the dark especially early so it was cool to see the busy streets dead and the sky dark dark blue. We were traveling with Tom and 5 of his friends so we had 4 cars going into the park. We were all staying in contact through walkie talkies, 1 in each car.

Not as much wildlife in the park I would hope to see, but it was

 good what we saw. We started the day with my mom spotting a wolf. My dad and I didn't see it even though we were in the same car as my mom, we went behind a hill. She put it over the talkies and Uncle Jim's car (the rest of our crew) turned around immediately and were able to catch a sighting for a couple seconds, and by the time Tom and his friends caught up it was gone, so the rest of us lucked out. Oh well. 

For the rest of the wildlife during the day we saw hundreds of elk, bison, some pronghorn at the end of the day, quite a few bald eagles, and 2 otters for a couple seconds. So fun day.

A Christmas Moose

A nice day in Big Sky, Mt. no skiing today, but a nice relaxing lay low day. The exciting part of the day was coming upon a moose and its calf. This gave me a chance to use some of my photography skills I was able to walk away with a few proud images. Merry Christmas

Airport Troubles

We've had a roller coaster and the ride went extra long. We missed our flight coming to Bozeman, MT. by about 10 minutes! We had delays going to pick up another family in a van instead of going straight to the airport this delayed us 30 minutes. Once we got to the airport the lines were as long as ever. If the lines weren't this long we would of had our bags checked, but that made the ride begin. We then had to be on a standby flight to get to Denver, CO which would give us more options. We got lucky and made it and then when we got to Denver we had to be on another standby flight not being guaranteed a seat to Bozeman. 2 flights we sat through not making it on through the standby list. We then had to get a hotel and stay in Denver... ugh. We got up early in the morning hope to get this next flight, but we had another twist in the ride. Chelsea and I were on the standby list, but not my dad (my mom was taking another flight). This took about 20 minutes at the desk trying to fix this problem. My dad nearly broke out the tears (acting) because we were in such stress. We managed to get the flight, but delayed 30 minutes. 3 hours later home sweet home.

We are home! Being here for only 4-5 hours it is still nice. My dad actually went up and skied the rest of the day at Big Sky Mountain, while my sister and I stayed home resting. So we got here before Chelsea's birthday (December 23rd) and before Christmas... Hallelujah. So a long vacation ahead filled with skiing, family, eating, going into the Park (Yellowstone) and possibly meeting with Tom Murphy. 

A Happy Birthday Indeed!

My birthday finished a couple days ago and boy it was a good birthday. I got some very generous gifts of a memory card, UV filter, and books that will improve my photography. I am already diving into one nature photography book I got and I love it. I think the books will really help. No new lenses or tripod because those are expensive, but I'm saving for those. Other gifts I received include.... a good Ping-Pong paddle, Seinfeld Scene It, subscription to outdoor photographer, and an itunes gift-card, a t-shirt, and that's about it. What a great birthday it was.

Now I am 15, nearly driving!!!! My last little note is I can't wait to get to Yellowstone for Christmas and do a lot more photography.   ~ Colin

A Happy Thanksgiving Indeed!

Just got back from my short Thanksgiving Trip up to Massachusetts. It was one of the best Thanksgiving's ever! The thanksgiving's at our old house were good, but this one was great because everyone was there on my mom's side of the family. It was another few memories stored in the vault. I went through a trip of football, hockey, guitar, photography, family, and stuffing my mouth with food! I got to see all me cousins (Annie, Max, Lucy, Harry, Matt, and Jack), my aunts and uncles (Queenie, Todd, Uncle Dave, Aunt Susan, Auntie Doe, Uncle Larry), and my grandparents (grammy and papa).  It was defiantly the holiday of family this year.

I started out the first 2 days of the trip at my Auntie Doe's house with Uncle Larry, Max, Harry, and Lucy. This is the part of the trip where I learned how old my cousins are getting, the new interests brought among the family. So this was a fun part of the trip. 

Then soon enough Thanksgiving came and I got to see everybody! It was a day full of football, eating, and just catching up. So it was a nice day.

After Thanksgiving I got to go see Matt and Jack's, my 2 cousins, hockey game. This was fun to see the skill they had at such a young age. Then after that I got to go to their house which I've only been to when I was really young, so that was cool. Stayed there for awhile then went to stay at Queenie and Todds house.