Of Buffalo and Bears

Wyoming was our first destination.  This least populated state in the country is probably best known for its national parks. We stayed in the town of Cody, created by Buffalo Bill (Colonel William Frederick Cody), which despite its small permanent population has a regularly served airport known as as the Yellowstone Regional Airport.  The last time we visited Yellowstone I left from the different Yellowstone Airport (which is at the west entrance to the park, just in Montana). One day I may fly from Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport in the north west to complete the set.

So yes we planned to visit Yellowstone but Cody is also a pleasant place to start.  The campground is less than a mile from the airport and is billed as a destination in itself rather than a place just to spend the night.  It had the usual facilities like a swimming pool, playground and jumping pillow.  It also had a games room that impressed me for having things children would actually want to play with (an indoor climbing wall, a games console, up to date movies).  The most Wyoming activity was horse riding and this was very popular with Hatty.

The first time she took the horse herself and the second time she had rounded up her friends for a group expedition.  Needless to say she was a natural.



Mikey is not ready for that but he still enjoyed the playground and jumping pillow.




Our trip to Yellowstone was marred by some poor weather.  It was cold drizzly so we were much less adventurous than previously.  It was still an incredibly beautiful place.





The highlight of the trip was just as we were about to exit the park and we noticed the tell-tale sign of lots of cars parked by the side of the road.  There must be something interesting here!

And there was...








  

End of Third Grade

During the final week of school there was the usual frenetic activity.  The After School program put on its show: a series of sketches they wrote themselves.

The final publishing party of her class showcased the kids' poetry. Hatty's was about Baxter.

She was lucky enough to have a sleep over with her best friend Natalia.  I was not quite so lucky though we had some peace and quiet when we went to the movies to see Jurassic World II and later when walking in Central Park.  

On the Sunday it was New York Pride and we joined up with Natalia's folks to see the parade in the West Village.

 

The final day of school came tears were shed.  It has been an interesting first year in her new school and there is no doubt that she loved it.

I am more ambivalent.  It is hard to give up having a school one block away in exchange for one that needs a subway ride followed by quite a walk.  Not only the physical distance but the school was distant in other ways and it is hard not to feel like an outsider because that is what we are.  Nonetheless, Hatty loves it so I have tried hard and made sure I attend as many of the parent events as possible.  I even attended the sports night and to my astonishment was the first parent to score a point at basketball.

The benefit of starting again in a brand new school that is undergoing a lot of change was that she would be in a gifted and talented program.  Compared to last year when it was probably not challenging enough the pace definitely picked up and I very much liked the curriculum including dedicated science teachers and coding.

So we are looking forward to fourth grade but first the small matter of the summer vacation.  We caught a flight to Denver and then a small regional jet whisked us to Cody, WY.