My parents have a time share there and go every year. This is the first year we went with them. (this was very generous and brave of my parents considering the fact that we have a 13 month old). The reason we haven't gone with them in the past is because it's really the one vacation they have all year where they can relax, stay up late watching movies, sleep in, and go out to eat. None of those things are easily done with small children. But my Dad was going to be out of town for the first part of the week and neither of my younger sisters could get that much time off of work, and my Mom really wanted to go for the week, so she invited my family to go with her. Adam had to work for the first part of the week too, so my Mom and I packed the mini van (yes, I drive a mini- van....I know, I'm as surprised as you are) , and when I say packed, I mean every nook and cranny full of kids, toys clothes, snacks, juice boxes, a stroller, pack and play ( you get the picture), and set off for a 5 hour car trip, with no men to help drive, carry heavy luggage, kill bugs, light fires or do any of the rest of that stuff we need them for. (Our food lasted a lot longer with no men there though :) )
We stopped several times on the way to buy ice cream, eat lunch and play at the park. We stopped at a park in Soda Springs ID (which we now call "money park because of the pile of quarters my mom found in the grass) to eat lunch.
We finally made it to the condo at 2:00, but didn't realize we couldn't check in until 4:00. To kill time we headed to the city park to let the kids play while my mom and I created our menu/ shopping lists for the week. When we got to the park we found it was closed for renovation, so we settled for the playground at the local elementary school.
We finished our lists and headed to the grocery store. Taking kids, who have been trapped in the car for most of the day to the grocery store is just a disaster waiting to happen. Surprisingly, they were all better behaved than I was. I was tired too and didn't have enough patience to deal with 4 cranky (albeit pretty well-behaved) kids. We made it back to the car and realized we didn't have enough room to cram a weeks worth of groceries in to the already "fully loaded" van. We some how squeezed it all in though, and headed back to the condo. We unpacked every thing, sat in the hot tub, turned on a movie and recuperated for the rest of the evening.
The hot tub at the condo.
The next day was Sunday so we found the local ward house and got all of us out the door for Sacrament meeting by 10:00 am! After church we relaxed in the sunshine (the weather was in the 70's and beautiful all week!) outside the condo and the kids amused themselves finding rocks and sticks and animal poop and playing Dance Dance Revolution.
Madison was a wake the next morning at 5:50. I didn't want her to wake up every one else (especially Logan) so I bundled us up and took her for an early morning walk. It was.....cold.
We spent the day on main street with the kids, looking in the little souvenir and candy shops and picking out t-shirts for the kids. We ate lunch at The Merry Piglets- this awesome Mexican place. SOOOOO yummy!
Hailey and my Mom at The Merry Piglets:
The Elk Shed arches around the city square. There are four, one at each corner.
The Buffalo near the candy shop. "Don't worry, it's dead". -Logan
Tuesday we had a picnic at the park, went to the candy store again, and went to the gift shop in the Wildlife Art Museum. (The museum itself was too expensive so we settled for the gift shop) and the Mountain man Rendezvous.
My mom and the kids out side the Wildlife Art Museum.
Inside the Museum. These are the t-shirts the kids picked out on Monday.
Wednesday we went to the county aquatic center. It was so fun. There were two indoor water slides and by the end of the day even Logan was going down the big (three story) water slide himself!
My Dad, Adam and my sister Shannon came up on Wed too, but didn't get there until after midnight.
On Thursday we drove to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful. It was a six hour round trip drive, but the kids said it was worth it. On the way up we saw a bear sleeping in some trees off the side of the road. Some of the other animals we saw on our trip that day were: buffalo, elk, 3 foxes, a wolf (he was BIG) a marmot, and some deer.
The kids thought Old Faithful was cool and loved seeing the geysers (for the most part). Logan hated the way they smelled though and refused to walk past any that were steaming. In fact, he he kept yelling in his sleep later that night, "No! I don't want to go past the geysers, I don't want to go past the geysers!" Ha ha.
My family and my sister Shannon outside the Lodge at Old Faithful.
Waiting for Old Faithful.
Watching Old Faithful.
Maddie was more concerned about her blankie than the geyser.
The Castle Geyser.
On our way out of the park our side of the road was blocked by a fallen tree. This is Adam, my mom, Shannon and my Dad trying to move it. It took three more guys from two other cars to actually move it far enough out of the way for us to pass.
The Wolf. I was surprised how big it was in person....or in real life I should say....It's an animal not a person, so would you say, "in real animal"?
Friday we went back to main street and back to the Merry Piglets so Dad, Adam and Shannon could go, and through all the shops (and you guessed it- the candy store again). We ended the day with Bubba's Bar-B-Q (Awesome).
Another funny thing was Logan had to stop to talk to EVERYONE we saw all week.
"Hi. My name's Logan. We don't live here. We're on Vacation. We live in Eagle Mountain."
By Friday we'd be walking down main street and people would stop to say hello to Logan. He knew half the town before we left!
Hailey and I in Western hats that were too bright for any REAL self respecting cow girl.
Adam and Logan in front of the Elk sheds (Adams favorite part of the town).
Saturday, we packed up and headed for home, but not without stopping at "money park" on the way.
This is the back of the condo just before we left.
And this is the view from the front.
Shannon and Hailey on the teeter-totter at "money park".
Grandma and Maggie on the Teeter-totter at money park. This one is going in the "collection" of pictures of my mom- Mom, you know which collection I'm talking about. (the one we'll use for blackmail one day.)
Grandpa and Maddie.
We had an AWESOME time. Thanks Mom and Dad!
2 comments:
Oh I'm so sad we missed it! We are totally going next year! How cute is your family!! :)
Love that candy shop! We once had driven from our cabin in Star Valley to Jackson Hole, upon arrival the weather turned from sunny and warm to wet and cold. We decided before turning around and doing the 45 min. drive home, we needed to a least go to the candy shop. I'm certain if it was a later in the day we would have done Bubba's as well, another family favorite. I'm glade you guys had fun! Maybe in the future we can do a wyoming trip together.
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