#6 Yellowstone

Grams and Pa have been wanting to take the family to Yellowstone National Park for quite some time now. They finally got enough points saved up and after spending much time on the phone, Grams figured out the hotel accommodations which would enable all of us to stay with them while we visited the park.

When we first got there, the kids were excited to be out of the car and loved exploring the SwAnkY hotel. When they learned that Grams had several crafts planned in the down time, they decided that crafts were the number one thing to do, and that seeing Yellowstone would be the thing to do in the down time. Thanks Grams for the fun hats!

After the first craft, we took off to see the park. Thanks to Cort and Mandy, we got in the park for free. They were up with their family the first few days and as we passed them on the freeway they gave us their pass. Transferable or not....a penny saved is a penny earned!
Just as I remembered as a kid, there were several hats out in the thermal areas off the walkway. The wind must blow just right in this area to catch people's hats. The boys quickly decided they were going to cinch up their hats so they wouldn't lose them. (Seth's was sooooo tight, I'm surprised he didn't create some sort of brain damage.)

Beautiful, Bahama-blue water in the middle of the mountains

The one thing the boys wanted to see were the mud/paint pots. Overall, the kids were very let down by Yellowstone Park. In preparation for the trip, Grams had them over one night and showed them a video on Yellowstone. BAD IDEA. After walking around for a few minutes looking at hot water, then getting back in the car and driving for 30 minutes, then getting out and looking at some spouting water, then getting back in the car and driving for another 50 minutes, then looking at an elk or two (whoopty-do), then driving some more...they all agreed that Yellowstone was NOTHING like the video. You know, the video doesn't show people driving for 40 minutes in between each attraction. It shows all the attractions, back to back, summer and winter, all different animals, wolves taking down rabbits, elk engaged in antler fights, etc.
The most enjoyable part of the entire vacation came each time we stopped near a river.
Except for the MOST famous river spot in all of Yellowstone...Firehole. We had heard so much good from other family members that we came prepared with life jackets for the kids, scheduled an entire 1/2 day to play, and woke up early to get a good parking spot since in gets so crowded each day that they actually close down the loop when it gets too busy.
Ya, we really should just stick to throwing rocks in the river. John and all 4 older kids where above the little fall and I was down below with Karissa (in ankle deep water) when all of the sudden Seth starts wailing out in the devastatingly sad and horror-filled way that only Seth can do. He slipped while heading over to John and as he went down the little fall, he clung for dear life to the rock just under the water. Blake, afraid of nothing, jumped to his rescue only to miss and float down stream himself. I told Seth to just let go, I'd get him (if he didn't bottom out himself first). When John got to him he was a little scared and VERY upset that he only had one flip-flop. A lady on shore said she could see it floating down, down, down the river and that it was a goner. Oh the sadness. Did I grab my camera during this moment of hysteria for a picture?!?!? Why of course I did. I knew he was in NO danger, and that this would be a great way to remember good ol' Firehole River. Needless to say, our 1/2 day stay-and-play, turned into a mere half an hour of drama and defeat. Back to the hotel we went to play in the pool...literally for the rest of the entire day. And to think, we didn't even get a photo of the hotel pool...where we spent most of our vacation!!! We left the hotel pool 7 hours later for dinner in our hotel room.
Karissa's favorite thing about Yellowstone was playing with the boxes of soda. She had great fun pulling the cans out and rolling them around the floor.
Brooke was the only one who would get out of the car and smile at the Continental Divide. Of course she had another reason to get out also. Since we were in the middle of potty training her, we brought along her little training toilet so that she would always have somewhere to go, without excuse. How many people can say they know EXACTLY which way water runs on each side of the Continental Divide from "personal experience"?

Karissa mountain crawling
The kids LOVED throwing rocks in the rivers
"Careful Brooke, you'll throw your back out!"

We sat Karissa with her legs straddling a big rock and she was a happy as could be. She sat in this same spot for 30 minutes just throwing rocks and splashing. It didn't take long before all the rock that she could lift were gone from that area, so we kept bringing handfuls of smaller rocks and made a pile next to her. This is how she'd let us know her rocks were gone and she needed some more.

Another river....Everybody outta the car!

Dad found a "chalk rock". Along the shore of one of the rivers were many white rocks that kind of felt like pumice rock. They were very light and airy, and they could write on other rocks.

Look Mom, a heart rock!

Here we are at Old Faithful. Our timing was perfect. We only had to wait a few minutes until it went off. It was a cloudy day so it was kinda hard to see, but it was Old Faithful none-the-less. The best part of this day is that I thought the bag with the kids hiking shoes was in the car. John had gone out to the car before we left for the day and had taken it out. So after driving for an hour to get to Old Faithful we realized that Seth had NO shoes. Nice. I had my hiking shoes in the car and we decided that until we could find a store that sells flip-flops we would all wear the shoes of the person just above us in size. (ie, Kenz wears mine, Blake wears Kenz', Seth wears Blake's). Seth did not want to do that so he became the first boy to ever walk around Old Faithful barefoot. We got some weird looks, buy hey, what do ya do?!?!

Watching Old Faithful on a chilly morning

I HAD to get a picture of this sign. Here we are at the Yellowstone General Store. Read it carefully: Souvenirs, Apparel, and Film. REALLY? Does anyone still buy film?!?!?! Yes, Seth is still bare foot, and no, the General Store does not sell flip-flops.....just film.The rest of our day was going to be hiking waterfalls. So with no hiking shoes for anyone but mom and dad, and absolutely no shoes for Seth of any kind, we just hit all the rivers some more. He figured it would be okay to wear someone else' shoes for a few minutes just to get to and from the river bank.

The ONLY bear we saw in Yellowstone Park.

While waiting for the Yellowstone Vintage Car Parade, Pa and the older kids entertained themselves with string tricks while sitting in the back of Pa's truck.
Not many kids were lining the streets for this parade. So as you can imagine, when they saw a few kids they really threw lots of candy. Turned out great for the kiddos....no competition for the flying taffy. Great Grandpa Mackay LOVED this parade. It took him back to the good ol' days. The only bad part for him was that they drove by too fast and not in single file.

...still at it!

Since we didn't see any wild life other than elk, one day Grams and Pa took us to the Bear and Wolf Refuge. It was lots of fun. We got to see big bears up nice and close. The wolves were kinda lame, not much more then a large dog. But the bears were quite fun to watch.

A handful of kids each day got to go into the bear enclosure and hide food for the bears to eat. Grams got there early and got the kids on the list. Later that day when it was time for the feeding adventure the sky clouded up and it POURED rain. Bears eat rain or shine, so the kids fed the bears in a cold down-pour. They took all the bears back into a building and then the kids got to follow a ranger into their enclosure and hide food in trees, under rocks, in the river and ponds, inside logs, etc. Then they got to come out and watch as the bears overturned big rocks with ease looking for the small pieces of lettuce, apples, dog food and whatever else was in the little pail they provided for the kids. Afterwards they all got to choose a button with a picture of their favorite bear on it. The kids also had a fun afternoon when Pa and Grams took them to a movie and played with them while mom and dad got to stay back at the hotel and relax a bit with just Karissa and Mackays.

Thanks Grams and Pa!

In the end, the trip to Yellowstone was not all we had anticipated. We packed up 4 days early and just came home. We left at 9:00 PM and got home around 2:00 in the morning!!! I was soooo tired, but it was fun to talk to John for 3 hours on the phone in an effort to help keep ourselves awake. Yellowstone is a great place...for us to visit when the kids are all 5 years older than they are now. :)