We planted our family downstairs and forbid the kids upstairs without our help-we were totally picturing many falls down the stairs, especially from Kade, but the kids were pretty obedient and we all came through in one piece. The kids all packed into one bed (besides a night when Skylar slept at the condo with all of the girls) and despite the many spiders that discovered poor Nicky's leg, we had a pleasant stay.We arrived late on Saturday, the 19th. Sunday morning we headed to Sacrament meeting at the church and arrived to a small crowd-only 1100 people!! They reported that there was 1400 just two weeks before and were expecting that many the next weekend as well so we actually had a little elbow room-ha ha! Needless to say, it is a very popular destination for us LDS folk.
After church we all hopped into the car-my parents in ours (we got that minivan just in time!) and headed for Yellowstone for the day. My family is a little spoiled when it comes to the park-we've been there so many times! We went first to see the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the beautiful waterfall there
. After that we stopped for some lunch nearby and found some awesome 
teeter-totters that someone had constructed out of logs and stuck them between some trees. This supplied plenty of entertainment for all-including my parents who even took a turn. Later on we drove up to Tower Falls and then headed back down to see Old Faithful. Of course, we showed up minutes after it had gone off and had to wait around for another hour to see it. We had some ice cream and hung out in the lodge.
After watching Old Faithful, we headed back to the condo for a late dinner. We didn't have any time to stop for the stinky geysers along the way but it was a fun day anyway. We never made it back to the park this trip. We always try to get a day in swimming in the Firehole River but I guess they've outlawed it now and my brother, Jerry, had just gone up and had gotten a $150 ticket for swimming in it so we decided not to risk it. That's kind of sad because it's one of our family's favorite things to do up there.On Monday, our family split up for different activities. Ben, Skylar, and my sister's family all headed up to the Lewis & Clark Caverns. Steph's family had never been there before but Ben and I had. It's seriously a cool place to go.
I wish I'd been up for it, but besides the hike up the mountain, there's parts in the cave where you have to get down and sort of crawl and my body just does not bend anymore!! We also didn't think the boys would do too well in the caves either. The boys and I went with my parents up to Virginia City and then took a train to Nevada City to see the ghost towns there. The boys thought it was cool to go on the train and see the old houses. Anything that they can explore is fun for them. We had a nice time. I don't have any pictures because Ben had taken the camera with him. The caverns crew all had a really fun time too. Skylar loved it! We all arrived back at the condo later for dinner and some hanging out.
Tuesday we hung around Island Park and did some swimming at the condo's pool and a lot of fishing. Grandpa's really good about bringing his pole over to let the grandkids reel in his catches and they each get a turn but Skylar wanted to do it completely by herself this year.
Ben helped her a little bit until she got the hang of it and then she was doing great! She caught two all by herself!! She was especially proud that they were rainbow trout since rainbow is her favorite color right now. We had a great time and came home with some yummy fish to eat!
Wednesday morning we did a little more fishing and then Steph's family headed for home. We were sad to see them go. We had so much fun and the cousins loved being together. We, with my parents, headed to Jackson Hole after they left. Ben and I had our honeymoon there so it's always kind of a special place for us to go back and visit. We hadn't been since we've had kids so it was fun to go. We did a little bit of browsing in the shops, ate some dinner, and then headed up to Grand Teton National Park for awhile to see the beautiful Tetons at Jenny Lake. It is one of the most beautiful places in the world! We wished we could have stayed longer but we wanted to get back before dark since the mountain pass is very scary with its 10% grade.
On
Thursday we packed up the car and headed for home but a trip up to Idaho has now been deemed incomplete without a stop at Bear World. My parents joined us again and we were awed by the bears walking around our car! It's so cool to see them so close! After a couple of drives through the bear section, my parents took off and the kids got to go to the petting zoo and hit the little rides they have there. We had a lot of fun! We decided to drive through the bears one more time and the last time we got to see a wolf! It was just chilling next to the bears. It was really cool to see!
We spent the rest of the day driving home and perfectly arrived in SLC about 10 minutes before the Pioneer Day fireworks at Liberty Park were set to go off. We decided to stop and watch them and were able to see a great show. The kids thought it was so fun to watch from the back of the car! We were even able to beat the crowd out! It was nice to have somewhat of a celebration even though we were out of the state most of the day! It was so nice to be able to get away for the week and have a break from the everyday stuff. I'm so glad that my kids have the opportunity to go up to Island Park and enjoy the beautiful nature and all the fun things just like I did as a kid!
No comments:
Post a Comment