We’re in Montana! It’s wide-open, mountainous, and gorgeous so far!

To wrap up our week in Idaho Falls I have to share some pics from the Zoo. It was small but they had lots of unique animals, many of which we haven’t seen before, and that’s saying something because we’ve been to quite a few zoos and sanctuaries!

How adorable are these Golden Lion Tamarin!?

We loved them!

And loved them even more when we saw how they shared their treats:

And the Cotton Top Tamarin! Is he an 80s rock star or what !?

We.love.primates.

(That little one kept sucking his thumb!)

And our fave of the day!!!! Oh my goodness this guy “talked” the.entire.day!

Listen to him:

The Debrazza’s monkey just seems like a wise old Yoda type to me:

We haven’t seen a variety of primates like this anywhere else and we just love them!

Are you ready to say, “awwww” ????

Here you go:

A baby red panda! So cute that you just gotta squeeze your sister so hard you make her cry 🙂

Not that that ever happens in our family….

Another fave were these Tucan-type birds that sounded like they were laughing.

We had never seen this animal before! The Patagonian Cavy, 2nd largest rodent in the world!

Of course everybody loves the lions. I love that this female was awake and playful:

And those who know our AB….. can’t you totally picture this!?

My kiddos love animals and I’m sure they will all pursue either hobbies or vocations involving them!

We met a nice man in our RV park this week that is a consultant for zoos and sanctuaries and it was great to learn from him and hear his perspective. Of course we would all love wild animals to stay wild but it’s becoming more and more of a challenge. We appreciate zoos and sanctuaries that rescue and care for animals and let them be ambassadors for their siblings in the wild that need our protection and respect!

Speaking of wild life…. I have been wanting to see a Moose since 2006!!! I blame Sandra Boynton (“a moose and a goose together have juice”) – but I’ve been driving the kids and B batty as I jokingly look for a moose everywhere we’ve been, even though I know moose aren’t there 🙂 This month in Montana and Yellowstone is my chance! On my jogs around Idaho Falls, I got so excited thinking about it every time I passed this cutie:

I really enjoyed exercising on the Greenbelt

Anytime we stay at a place where there isn’t a national park around and we have to look for things to do, the Lord always provides us with friends and new people to chat with! I love thinking of His provision in each day! We could never thank Him enough…. there’s just thousands of gifts every day that we can be thankful!

This family from Alabama was so great. The girls just adored each other right away, the boys had a blast, and the mom and I really clicked! Within 3 minutes I was having such a deep conversation like I would with one of my best homeschooling friends.

Wow I’m just amazed at the common themes the Lord is putting in moms’ hearts all over the country!!!! It’s wild and it’s affirming.

We also meet a ton of doggies on the road. This cutie was our fave this week:

And this squirrel was so bold coming up to us that he kept scaring me haha I’m not used to them being so close! All I could picture was the scene from Christmas Vacation. “Squiirreeell!!”

Snake River RV was a nice little park. It even had a pool and hot tub but for some reason we didn’t even use it! The kids did use some fun money on pancake breakfast:

We sure do miss our NC friends and family…. I’m grateful that the kids know they are missed 🙂

Thanks for your prayers and love! We have our bear spray (thanks Sherri!) and we’re so excited for Glacier National Park!