Yellowstone Vacation Part 2

We spent a good amount of time in the cabin, mostly in the evenings.  We'd cook and eat dinner, play games, and watch movies.  (That's my kind of vacation!)  But it was really fun.  Here are some pictures of us relaxing in the cabin. :) 

Eric and Brandon

Brandon, Andraea, and Eric

All the kids (except you can't see Kyle...what else is new?  He is sitting directly in front of Brandon, and I have no doubt that he was trying to hide from the camera!)

Still no Kyle!  Really?!  Now he is behind Dallin...

Jacob, Dallin, and Brandon

Andraea, Eric, and...(wait for it!)...KYLE!  Sweet!

This is a close up of Eric's "pony tail."  He hadn't cut his hair for a long time, that little rebel! HA!  But it was pretty funny, I must admit! And I love him either way, of course! :) 

On the last day of our vacation, we rented a raft and floated down the river.  It was really cool!  I've been on a river run only one other time, when Todd and I were first married, but it was a swift-moving river.  This one was just really calm and slow and we could take it at our own pace, which was nice.  However, we weren't sure how long it would take us to complete it.  The guy at the rental place said it could take anywhere between 3 and 4 hours.  (It depended on how fast we paddled!)  I was a little stressed about that...but we plunged ahead and I'm really glad that we did!

The scenery was beautiful!

Me and Jacob!  (with "windy" hair!) :)

Todd and Dallin

And we even saw a moose! 

 (It's far away in this picture, but I zoomed in on the next one.)

It was really cool and even though it doesn't look like a very big animal in the picture, trust me, it was!  :) 

Eric and Me and Jacob

Todd, Dallin, and Kyle (Yep, Kyle!  And is that a smile I see?) :) 

Andraea and Eric

And look at the cute little duck family!  So fun!

And then, just after a couple of short hours, we saw the END!  I was relieved!  :) 

 (I guess I don't like the thought of being in the middle of a river, not knowing how big it is, or when it will end...that's just me, I guess.) 

Land! (whew)  Ahoy! 

Yep, it was a welcomed sight! :) 

And after all my nervousness of going on the river run, I just have to say that it was one of my favorite activities on the whole trip.  It was very calm and peaceful (except for when the children were fighting...that wasn't calm or peaceful), but luckily that wasn't the whole time. :)

We really did enjoy our trip.  And just like with any other wonderful trip, it was nice to get back home too.  We had a super fun week of family time, but I was ready to have it end.  

So, until next time... :) 

Yellowstone Vacation Part 1

 8 people, 2 cars, and lots of miles!  

We left for our trip to Yellowstone on July 13th.  We rented a home in Island Park for 6 nights!  

We were so excited!

One of the first places we went was called the " Artists Paint Pots."   I pictured colorful ceramic pots in my head, but that is not what we saw at all...

Here is the first "pot" we saw.  I know, right?  How is that an Artists Painted Pot? (See? I'm not the only one who's confused!) :) 

These two pictures were taken while looking over all the "pots."  I guess I see some colors out there...

It was so hot!  Jacob and I were dying!  I love this picture of us.  It's a selfie, and we're both trying to smile through our sweat!  It totally makes me laugh.  Look at Jacob's face...so funny!

Of course, another big place we went was "Old Faithful."  It was really cool!  Apparently the geyser only erupts about every 90 minutes, so when we got there, we heard it was going to go off in about 1/2 hour.  So after we ate a quick lunch, we hurried outside and only had to wait about 5 minutes before the geyser blew!

But first, look at all the people who were there!  We were far away, but it was still awesome.

And then it erupted! 

Sweet, right? 

 It was definitely worth the 2 hour drive.

This is a picture of the inside of our cabin.  

Of course I can't ever get anyone to actually look at the camera.

And smiling is out of the question! (Kyle, that little pill!  He never looks at the camera!) :) 

Well, we're getting closer to a few smiles...

Another place we went was the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center.  It was fun.

There were real animals and none of us had to worry about running for our lives, since they were all caged. HA!

I don't think I could outrun this grizzly bear, so I was okay with it being behind a fence...

I love this picture of Andraea and Kyle...so cute!

Look!  A hawk!

And a bald eagle!

We even saw some cute little ground squirrels. (It's on the right in the corner.)

There were these two white wolves.  They were one of my favorite animals that we saw.

Kyle going down a slide :)

After we saw the animals, we went into the nearby gift shop.  

What good looking boys!

Me and Todd

Dallin, Brandon, and Eric 

(And if you look real close, you can see Kyle in the back between Dallin and Brandon)  

That is hilarious! (Of course he's not smiling! HA!)  Photo bomber!

Todd and his hat

Jacob

So...these are what I pictured in my head when my husband said we were going to see some Painted Pots.  When I saw these in one of the stores, I had to take pictures.  And my family just laughed and laughed!  But seriously, these look like painted pots to me....right?

I was really glad that we finally saw some real pots! HA!

And the fun will continue in my next post...Yellowstone Vacation Part 2. :)