August 2018
WE FINALLY MADE IT TO YELLOWSTONE PARK!!!
It only took three weeks but we're here!
In the beginning, like a year ago when we were planning this vacation, I was really concerned that it was not a kid-friendly vacation spot. I was worried about taking my sweet Abi who likes to run and climb and has no stranger danger or impulse control AND young twins who don't know basic German Shepherd yet to a place that has annual deaths from falling into boiling caverns or off cliffs. Sounded really dumb actually and I almost convinced everyone to change the vacation location. I am SO GLAD we stuck with it! This was one of the best vacations ever! Abigail LOVED searching for "lava" and the twins loved being outside even if they were in the stroller or car all day. It was so fun! I would definitely do it again, especially now that I have learned the ropes of Yellowstone.
DAY 1.
On our drive in that first day we got to see a big herd of elk. In fact, this view is much of what being at Yellowstone is about - sitting in your car, staring through binoculars at animals. Haha. We had a couple pairs of binoculars so we let Abi have one to use and she adored that independence!
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| Elk on our way in the first day! |
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| Abi was so excited to see the lava! Haha! |
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| She loved having binoculars all to herself |
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| Aren't these two adorable? |
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| We three are pretty adorable as well |
After talking about this trip with Abi for weeks and months, teaching her about geysers and mountains, bears and bison, temples and family members, getting her excited for this for so long, it totally paid off! She was loving every second!
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| So much excitement this first day! |
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| Yellowstone geysers |
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| Such amazing structures |
This is how my kids looked every afternoon on our 90-minute drive back to the cabin.
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| If you do Yellowstone right... |
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| ...your kids look like this... |
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| ...on the drive out |
As ridiculous as it sounded listing out how much equipment I had to bring - two pack and plays, two high chairs, a double stroller, a toddler potty, three life jackets, etc - I was so glad to have every piece of it! Hyrum and Audrianne spent every meal of this leg of the trip eating on the floor watching everyone walk around them. The only difficulty was keeping the other toddlers from eating my twins' food before they did since they were right at that floor level. Haha!
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| How they spent every meal |
DAY 2.
We managed to all meet at the Old Faithful geyser to see it together and get ice cream at the restaurant there. I'm so glad we did this early in the trip (you'll see why in the next post). PS, this is not Old Faithful, just a pretty spring thing.
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| So clear, you just want to jump in! |
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| Beautiful colors |
We also did a good hike to wander around a bunch of these hot spring things. That was a lovely hike although it's really not stroller friendly. At one point, we had to get the toddlers out to lighten the load and carry the stroller up a hill. Fortunately, I had Grandpa and several brothers-in-law there to help (James had to take a job interview call and met up with us at the end of the trail) and it was a fairly deserted area where I wasn't as concerned with losing a child or having one fall into the springs and it all worked out well. They were happy to have some walking freedom. Next time, no stroller on this path though.
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| We hiked a trail! |
Overall, this was a lovely day in the park! The only bummer was that by the evening, my sister-in-law was not feeling super good and we were all very tired and went to bed early instead of playing together in the cabin. It's just exhausting to hike in the sun with kids all day, turns out!
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