We decided to go camping for our last little fling before school starts. Tony wanted to go somewhere that we could take the boat to do some fishing and my parents camper so I don't have to deal with 4 kids in a tent. It was decided that I would pull the boat with the suburban and Tony would pull the camper with my dads truck. Tony informed me the night before that he needed to stop at JCPenny's in Idaho Falls to get some shorts. Are you kidding me, you're just now deciding you need new shorts when I was just in Twin. So, I get to pull the boat through Idaho Falls and go shopping, oh yeah we also had to stop at Wal-mart to get fishing stuff. I informed him I would not be going to the mall with the boat and the kids and I would wait at Wally World. Let the journey begin. It's always an adventure when we decide we are going to go anywhere with the kids. But what do you excpect when you are taking 4 kids and a very grumpy husband who has been up all night and wants to leave right after work. Anyway, the day started at about 6:30 for me, when I finished cleaning my parents camper, got all the food out in the fridge and freezer and made a macaroni salad. Than and Gretchen were both up and helping get things loaded. Gretchen started coughing and threw up a bit, ( I chalked it up to the dry cough). Well needless to says she threw up 2 more times before we pulled out of town, but I grabbed the puke bucket just in case we might need it. The goal was to get out of town at noon. It's 11:30 and we're ready to go. Tony gives me the go ahead and to stop at Guffy's for a drink and we would hit the road. I had the 2 younger girls, Tony had the 2 older kids. I made it the first 2 miles of the trip without a problem, but where did Tony go? 20 min. later he pulls in. We get drinks and we're off on the 2 hour drive to I.F. I only made it through town before Gretchen starts puking again, and she decided that she didn't need to hold the bucket. I stopped in Gannett(5 miles into the trip) and change her clothes and tell her that she has to hold the bucket. Back on the road again.This time I'm in the lead. We finally make it to Arco where we decided to stop for lunch and all is good. After we all have full belly's we head out. Gretchen pukes yet again and about two minutes later Tony calls saying Dani just puked and I need to pull over, okay I'll pull over the next turn out. If you have ever drove to I.F. you know that there aren't many turn outs that are big enough for a suburban and boat and 3/4 ton pickup and 20+ ft. trailer. He calls yet again to see if I'm going to pull over or just go into I.F. (at this point we're only about 15 miles out.) yes, I tell him as soon as I find a big enough spot that we're not going to have to slam on the breaks to stop at. We finally stop, get everything cleaned up, I take Dani and we're back on the road. I head to Wally World and Tony heads to the mall. 3 hours and 2 sick girls later we head out toward our final destination. We made it to camp at 8:15, get dinner and settle in for the night and hope noone gets sick in the night. The next day we had plans to go into West Yellowstone and find a laundrymat to wash car seats and blankets and see one of Tony's friends. Laundry done, belly's full of pizza, and friends seen were headed back to camp. A couple of Tony's friends met him at the camp site to go fishing in the boat so I decided to take the kids back to Yellowstone for a day. I hope you enjoy our adventure as much as we did.
Tony trying not to look at the camera and smile. It would be just aweful for him if I actually got a real picture of him smiling. he he
Fun in the sand. Tony gave the kids shovels to play in the sand. Than had made little towns with baracades, it was so fun to watch him and his imagination. The girls had fun wrecking his things. What are little sisiters for?!
how can you resist that face!
Off to Yellowstone. 4 healthy kids a lunch and no agenda for the day other than trying to get back to camp at a decent time for dinner with the guys. Since it was a 1 1/2 hour drive from our camp site to Yellowstone I knew we would have to leave the park by 5, we left at 7. We had fun and that's all that really matters when you're doing this kind of thing with kids, right?!
Off to Yellowstone. 4 healthy kids a lunch and no agenda for the day other than trying to get back to camp at a decent time for dinner with the guys. Since it was a 1 1/2 hour drive from our camp site to Yellowstone I knew we would have to leave the park by 5, we left at 7. We had fun and that's all that really matters when you're doing this kind of thing with kids, right?!
Our first critter sighting. How exciting!
After our little picnic and ready to hit the road. 4 of the most awesome kids in the world!
Geiser pools. After looking at these and reading what actually goes on with a geiser it just reminded me of how amazing and "in to detail" God was with creating the world. How could any think that it all "just happenend"? Amazing God, how great thou Art!
Old Faithful. What is Yellowstone without Old Faithful and bison? Alot of extra time on your hands. After a nice picinc we head over to Old Faithful (not really knowing where I'm going and hoping there is a gas station there). I see the signs, gas and services ahead. Deciding I should get gas first, find a parking spot, get t-shirts watch Old Faithful then be on our way. Silly me, what was I thinking?! After an hour of driving aroung all the parking areas, going the wrong way and then being told the parking spot I finally found was not really a parking spot, even though there were cars all along there, were head out to the geiser. It was just finishing and it blows every 90 min. I was not about to leave so we walk around all the geiser pools which turned out to be about 1 1/2 mile walk. What a workout! We head to the restrooms, find t-shirts and it's time to watch what we came to see. Becca's tired and wants to nurse and the other kids are really not all the interested. Oh well, maybe next time.
Yellowstone Lake
These are some of the most amazing animals to me. It is rutting season for them and lately the have been attacking vehicles on the road so Tony gave me very explicit instructions to stay away from them ( would I really put myself and our 4 kids in that kind of danger) anyway, we got stuck in the tourist traffic jam for an hour watching and listening to these huge creatures. Than kept reminding me of what Dad had said but what do you do when the whole world is stopped in the middle of the highway taking pictures (a little too close I might add). Gretchen and Becca were totally awed by them. Gretchen calls them "bluppalo's". I love listening to her say big words when she is soooo very excited.
isn't it cute
Can we are say beautiful?!!!! This is the lower falls in Yellowstone. The kids and were kinda lost at this point in the day. I was trying to follow the map and hit all the highlights of the park that my friend Kathy (the Yellowstone expert) told me to go to yet get back to camp at a normal time. I missed the turn Kathy told me to take and ended up here. Not too bad if I do say so myself. It was nice to get out of the car and stretch a bit before we headed out of the park.
a lousy attempt at adjusting the brightness of a picture.
a lousy attempt at adjusting the brightness of a picture.
2 comments:
Wow, you got to see some amazing parts of Yellowstone that I don't even remember. I think I need to go again as an adult so I can see everything that I didn't really care about seeing when I was younger.
Than looks cool with his new haircut! I like it a lot! Its funny that he's been wishing and wishing for that haircut and then he gets it and isn't too sure about it!
Tell everyone I love and miss them!
Ok, I have tears in my eyes for some reason after reading this post. Maybe I AM what we talked about the other day!! that would not be funny. Or, maybe I am just missing those little turkeys!
Looks like we won't be making a trip to Idaho any time soon. Probably Thanksgiving:(
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