Yellowstone Family Reunion!!!

Our trip to Yellowstone was fantastic! Steve and I left Wednesday about noon and got there by 5:30pm, just in time for dinner. :) We then unpacked and enjoyed visiting w/ everyone. We all stayed at a large cabin in Island Park. It was great to have everyone in the same house with a little more space then our parent’s house, especially w/ all the grandkids there are now.

The next morning the boys went fishing while we made breakfast. We then packed a lunch to take with us and headed out. We jumped in Pauline/Chris’s car so we wouldn’t have to pay another entrance fee. We stopped at some hot spots, and then met everyone at Old Faithful around lunch time. We all watched the geyser, then found a place for lunch in an INN which had a view pointing out to Old Faithful. By this time some of the kids needed naps or whatnot, so some people went back to the cabin while the rest of us went on our way. We switched cars and jumped in w/ my dad the rest of the day. We went to Yellowstone Lake, the Falls, Fisherman’s Bridge and back. We got to see a lot of elk, bison (who walked in front of the car as we were driving), and some bears. It was a long day of driving but it was worth it to see. We then had dinner and visited w/ everyone.

Steve showing us the nice trees


Beautiful geyser





Beautiful Yellowstone


Steve and I at first hot spots


Cute chipmunk eating Cheetos


The kids watching the chipmunk



Old Faithful


Ali and Char eating some peach rings....good thing we brought some they were a hit!


Wade, Steve, Haley, Summer, Dakota, Dexter and Michelle eating lunch


Daron and Kristi eating lunch


Dad trying to talk mom into letting him get an ice cream cone :)


Chris Coates and Chris Grayson w/ their mulberry ice cream cone...Pauline helping to eat it




Steve pointing out where the bison is


Silly bison taking up the road


At fisherman's bridge


Elk



Friday we did a similar routine. The men went fishing, we made breakfast, then packed lunches and headed out. This time though everyone pretty much went their own ways since it took too much time to coordinate w/ others. We went w/ Pauline and Chris again. We went up to the Mammoth Hot Spots and stopped at a place called Sheepeater’s Cliff. We also stopped at West Yellowstone and walked around some. We also got a 50 cent ice cream, yumm! It was another fun day. We were the first ones back so we helped w/ dinner.

Char got sick of walking to Pauline was carrying her



Mammoth hot spots


Sheepeater's Cliff



Steve doing his funny pose like in Budapest w/ the elephants...we don't know


Steve in West Yellowstone mimicking the bear


The boys wanted to go out fishing again so I decided to go w/ them. The mosquitoes were pretty bad, but it was still a nice night out. We gathered around in the living room and reminisced about times growing up. We laughed a lot! We had some good times growing up that’s for sure. It’s easy to forget them if you don’t try and reflect every once and a while. We stayed up talking then finally went to bed. Steve and I slept in the loft the first night, and then decided the couch was more comfortable so slept there the next 2 nights. It was good other then we could hear everyone get up. That night we heard Anna’s little boy Colten crying so we went down there and tried to calm him down, then brought him to Anna. Shortly after Dexter’s Kolten woke up crying from a dream or something, so Steve went down and calmed him down and he went back to bed. Ironically no one else heard either of them crying….. :)


Everyone fishing off the bridge.....didn't get any though but it was fun


Steve fly fishing next to Wade



Saturday we had breakfast then packed up and cleaned. Since Sophia was a little fussy I decided to ride w/ Rose on the way back to try and help; Jared rode w/ Steve in our car. That lasted til we got to Pocatello, then she wouldn’t stop crying. Rose put her arm back to help comfort her which helped somewhat but not much. We then switched it up and put Rose in the back next to Sophie, Jared driving, and we took Ali in our car. That worked for an hour or so then she started crying for no reason. I called Rose and she said she does that right before she pukes (from car sickness). So we all pulled over, put Ali back in the van, and we took Summer and Ava in our car. We rode the rest of the way like that and switched back right before they went towards Tooele and we went to Salt Lake. It took a little longer, but we were glad to help out. Overall, it was a really fun trip, just too short of course. I honestly didn’t remember from when we went when I was a kid of all the driving you do in Yellowstone. It was beautiful but of course made it hard to visit w/ everyone since we were all in our own cars for the most part. We’ll have to try something else next time for the reunion so we can be more together during the day/outings. Either way it's a great time to get together :)