Yellowstone: The People

Yellowstone in October -- I'd expected it to be colder.  Which explains the entire rubbermaid tote of every weight parka, coat, jacket and sweatshirt for each of my children.  Turns out, the mornings were a bit chilly, but half way through our first hike, we'd be stripped down to a light jacket or just a long sleeve shirt.  I made the mistake of wearing a long sleeve shirt our first day, and I thought I was going to melt under the oppressive heat :-)  Who knew it'd be near 70 during the day in October in Yellowstone!? Our last day we had a bit of rain, but all in all, we couldn't have had better weather!  

We stayed in a cute condo in West Yellowstone -- super clean and only a few years old, and with three bedrooms and two baths and a full kitchen, it really was a 'home away from home.'  The best part had to be that Greg and I had our own room with Isaac, while Aunt Lacy and Uncle Cody shared a room with my girls (a Queen size bed and twin bunk beds in one room) -- my suggestion for all vacationing parents is to find other people to room with your kids :-)  Ellie loved that she had her own 'low bed', as she called the lower bunk bed, while Cody slept up on the 'high bed'.  She was endlessly amused by this -- well, until bedtime, where her and Annie did freak out for long periods of time before going to sleep.  They were hard to get to sleep being overly excited and overly tired, but they both stayed in really good moods throughout most of the day, so I can't complain.  

Our first day we drove the first half of the day to get to Yellowstone, then headed into the park in the early afternoon (right as my sister in law's labor was picking up and we lost cell phone reception, of course!)  Within a few miles we saw our first few bison -- I think all of us were re energized upon seeing the animals; suddenly all the driving had a purpose beyond just making Ellie angry at us.  :-)  We went straight to the 'Grand Canyon' of Yellowstone . . .

Annie & Ellie (way) in front of the waterfalls

Cody, Annie, Grandpa Robert, Ellie and Grandma Karine.  One of the reasons Greg and I keep opting for family vacations with a number of other adults has to be for this -- there's no way Greg and I could do 'one for the money, two for the show . . .' for both of our girls at the same time (and carry the baby) if it was just the two of us!  :-)  Having tons of other people to play with is so much fun for the girls, and it's a huge reduction in work for Greg and I!  We commented a couple times how we don't know how we would've done some of the bigger hikes without all the extra arms to take turns carrying kids.

It was surprisingly warm, but when we went and hiked down to the Lower Falls, it was COLD in the shade.  Here's Ellie wrapped up in Grandma's sweatshirt.  As I was walking up, she was completely bundled up in it, up on top of this rock (to the side of the path) . . . only when I got closer did she poke her head out and yell, "Boo!"

It was really hard to narrow down pictures!  I posted about 150 or so on Facebook, but tried to limit this post to about 25.  It was really difficult to pick and choose which pictures 'made the cut'.  Each one was a memory, or a reflection of my family at their core -- how we function, what our personalities and relationships are like, just how freakishly close we are.  It basically came down to trying to get a sampling of pictures that included a bit of everyone (with a bias towards my children, of course).  So, here's a sister picture of Star, me and Lacy (this is the day before Talina and David got there, so she wasn't there yet).

Isaac with Daddy.  Isaac did SO amazingly well this trip.  He slept and ate and was chill.  I only remember him fussing a few times, and all out crying for just a few seconds after being put into a car seat (less than his big sister Ellie!  She got to where she'd freak out and scream when we'd strap her back in each time :-)  The child developed some car seat PTSD after so much time in the car!  I mentioned once, "You know, it would've been nice to do Yellowstone back in the '50s, just with the kids thrown in the back of some massive car, standing on the seats for a better view, not strapped into anything!"  My Dad responded, "The '50s?!  Try the '80s!  How do you think we vacationed with all you guys!"

Annie and Star up at Mammoth.  You can see why people guess that my girls belong to whichever of us are holding them!

Lacy and Cody.  This trip was made especially memorable for all of us because it's Cody's last family vacation for awhile.  He leaves in just over a week for Argentina to the LDS Missionary Training Center, and then will be in Uruguay for the next two years.  It's just starting to sink in for all of us, I think.  I cried the other day when I got a picture message on my phone that my Mom sent of his missionary name tag that arrived in the mail.  I can't believe he's really going to be gone for two years.  I'm so excited for him -- what a cool experience, being immersed in a new culture and learning a new language and doing something really good with his life for a solid two years -- but the selfish part of me has a hard time not thinking, "But I want him HERE!"  He's SUCH a hands-on Uncle -- he plays with my kids multiple times a week.  Down in the mud, or chasing after Annie as she rides her bike around the block, or teaching them how to play 'steamroller' on the trampoline.  My kids lives will be less fun, and less full, without him here.  But, it's one of the reasons I take hundreds of pictures of them with Cody -- at Yellowstone, at the Dinosaur Museum, in the sprinklers, in the sandbox -- they'll be able to relive a lot of their memories while he's gone!

Lacy and Annie walking across the rocks in the river!  My girls LOVED having Aunt Lacy there -- since she's away at school (or living abroad or back East or off on her latest crazy adventure) the girls don't get to see her as often as they like!  And, turns out that Aunt Lacy is a baby whisperer, as she could get Isaac to sleep better than pretty much anyone but me!  Meaning she got to lug him on a hike or two!  :-)

Ellie wearing Annie's Yellowstone Park Ranger vest (under her pink coat, obviously).  Annie got this vest from Grandma Ruth last time we went to Yellowstone -- last August with Greg's whole family.  This trip had a lot more animals, because it was October and not summer, but August involved camping and campfire, which the girls missed A LOT!

My little boy with his Mommy!  This kid just melts my heart!

See, heart melting as we speak!

Grandpa Robert with Annie.

Sad, tired Ellie cuddling with Uncle Cody.

Isaac and I again -- funny, 'cause I'm realizing there's a hugely disproportionate number of pictures of Isaac and I in here!  We show up in fewer pictures than pretty much anyone else (except maybe Greg), and yet I'm using almost every one of them here on my blog post.  (Well, we do have dozens of him in the carrier, asleep and covered in blankets -- but very few of him with his face showing and awake  :-)  Have I mentioned that this kid was an ANGEL on the vacation?!  I'm still so thrilled with how well it went bringing a three month old along!

Everyone but my Dad (who's taking the picture) on this rock.  We took pictures of the girls last year in August on this rock, so I dragged my whole family back into the woods to get pictures there again this year :-)

Ellie fascinated by the wonders of Yellowstone.  Once we really clarified that it was all steam and not smoke (she's kind of scared of smoke and fire after the fire near our home last month), she loved it!  And, if you asked her why it stunk she'd promptly respond, "Hydrogen Sulfide!"  (And no, Greg didn't tell her that (people's first thought) . . . it was actually our chemist, Aunt Talina, who taught the girls that.  Ellie would walk around waving her hand in front of her nose going, "Eww, hydrogen sulfide, stinky!")

Annie with Daddy.  Annie actually walked an amazing amount this trip -- including up almost ALL of the stairs at the Uncle Tom hike down to the falls (which is wickedly impressive to anyone who's ever done it!)  We were all so impressed with how much of the walking and hiking she did on her own.  But sometimes, we'd speed things up with piggy back rides!  (The other 'hurry 'em along' tactic we used with the girls was 'hiding'.  The girls would run up ahead of everyone, hide behind some tree or rock and jump out (usually with Grandpa or Cody) and say, "BOO!" and 'scare' everyone.  This 'rushing ahead' thing worked well to step up the pace.  Otherwise Ellie was collecting every rock and stick she could find.  And that takes FOREVER!)

Me (holding Isaac), Star, Cody, my Dad (who wanted us to hold him up, but Star and I refused to hold his legs) :-), Lacy, Annie and my Mom

Sibling picture!  Me, Lacy, Cody, Star and Talina.

Ellie found Grandma HILARIOUS.

Another family pictures.  Dang, I'm realizing now I grabbed the wrong one!  My Dad was in one of the pictures we had a stranger take for us, whereas he's the photographer in this one.  Oh well, imagine him over by Greg or something :-) 

Ellie slept on a couple hikes.  This was easier for Greg than when he just had to hold her in his arms for long stretches!

Ellie and Daddy (on the drive home, thus the yellow Fall colors in the tree.  Turns out, there are NO Autumn colors in Yellowstone, 'cause the entire park is nothing but pines.  Still amazingly cool and all that, but not gorgeous and colorful like our drive home through Northern Idaho was!  That is possibly some of the prettiest landscape on the face of the planet!

This is kind of out of order now -- 'cause this comes from my other camera that we gave to the 'other van' to take pictures with.  So this is back to our first day, with Cody, Annie and Lacy above the Falls.

The girls being tossed over the rails by their Aunt Lacy, Grandma and Uncle Cody (who I believe is also blowing raspberries on Annie's belly!

One of my favorite pictures -- this was when my Dad ran up ahead to 'hide' from the girls.  Annie thought this was hilarious.

Talina with Isaac

Uncle David and Annie making faces on a stop on our drive home.

David and Ellie -- Ellie was pretty tired on the drive home, but she was refusing to sleep much!

All in all, it was an amazing vacation.  By the time we were pulling in our driveway, after a whole day in the car with Ellie freaking out, I was all, "I NEVER want to do that again!  At least not until our kids are out of car seats!"  :-)  Which is the same thing I said last year as we pulled in after our long drive.  But, in the end, the vacation was well worth the hellish drive home :-)  The kids enjoyed themselves, Greg and I loved it, and I got to spend most of the week with most of my favorite people in the world!