Bear World and Yellowstone

For Grandpa's 90th birthday, my family took him to see Bear World and Yellowstone in August. My cousin, Stacy, works as the head bear trainer at Bear World in Idaho so we thought it would be a great trip for Grandpa.

Here is part of our group at Bear World: Grandpa, Stacy, Ben, me, wooden bear, my brother Kevin and his wife, Stephanie.

Kevin and Stephanie looking at the huge fish.

Here is a close-up shot of the huge moose that lives at Bear World. He used to live inside the petting zoo area but they had to move him out when he got too big. Now he hangs out just outside the fence of the petting zoo.

I think he misses his friends.

This goose is biting Ben's toes. Stacy warned him and, of course, he had to try it.

This is my sister, Kim, and her family: hubby Neil, son Devan, and daughter Kami.

We LOVED the petting zoo. We spent so much time there. Here is a pic of Kami and Devan petting a deer with Ben.

Stephanie had her camera in her back pocket with the wrist strap hanging out. This turkey must have thought it was a worm because he kept trying to eat it out of her pocket. So funny!

Devan was a little afraid to pet the animals, but Ben helped him be brave. Isn't Ben sweet?

Kevin kept petting this one little goat. Several times that day we would look around for him and he would be back by the goat. He wanted to take it home. Here is Stephanie taking a pic of her hubby with his new friend.

Kim and Kevin by his little goat friend.

Kim and Kevin are joined by Devan and Kami. Man, Kevin loved that goat.

My favorite animal was this little pig. He was so cute.

He was so cute, Ben tried to pick him up to bring him home. When Ben finally put him down... oh, you should have seen him run away. Poor little piggy. He went 'wee, wee, wee' all the way home.

Since he had so much success picking up the pig, Ben thought about picking up this deer. Then he thought better of it.

Ben and I found another little goat that was so cute. It reminded Ben of a goat he once had named Rudy.

He decided to pick him up to bring him home.

Success!!! Ben picked up the goat.

That goat was not happy when Ben put him down. Ben is trying to get away quickly before the goat kicks him in the face.

After the petting zoo, we went on a curator tour with my cousin Stacy as our own personal tour guide. This is one of several different kinds of animals we saw from the curator truck.

Neil, Devan, Kim and Kami feeding the animals from the curator truck.

Neil, Devan, Kim and Kami paying attention to our awesome tour guide.

Stephanie and Kevin also listening to the tour.

This is me and cousin Stacy.

On the curator tour we were allowed to feed the animals. They provided bread and powdered donuts for us to feed the bears. The bears LOVE powdered donuts. This big girl sits up and waves for a donut. Isn't she cute?

Here are some more bears sitting/standing up begging for donuts.

This bear wanted a donut so badly he started to climb into the truck.

Here is Ben feeding the bears.

Look at that donut headed straight for that bear's mouth. They were really good at catching donuts in their mouths.

Another part of Bear World was the feeding of the babies. This was an extra expense so only me, Kevin and Grandpa were able to feed the babies. It was worth it. They were so cute and they made the funniest noises while sucking.

Here is Stacy getting the baby ready for the guests to feed him. He is sucking on her arm and making the cutest noise.

Grandpa feeding the baby bear with Stacy.

Me feeding the baby bear with Stacy.

After Bear World we decided to drive through part of Yellowstone. This is a buffalo/bison sitting next to the road. A little scary getting this close to him.

Here are the girls: Me, Stephanie, Kim and little Kami. Here is the picture that I paid for with my feeding of the baby bears. I loved that experience. I was looking forward to petting the babies to see if they are as soft as they look. They aren't. In fact, their fur is very course and stiff. It was a little disappointing, but still a lot of fun to feed and pet the babies. Thank you, cousin Stacy, for spending the day with us and taking us on a tour of your job.