The last few days at Grandma's house

Once we got back from Yellowstone we enjoyed the last few days at Grandma's house soaking in all the love we could possibly get.  Auntie Alisha enjoyed playing in the hot tub with the girls.  And Grandma read to them for over an hour while I put Everett to bed.  The best part was they cuddled on the tramp.   We bought Everett a new swing so he could enjoy Grandma's back yard under the apple tree.  He loved it.  Then Grandma took us to the Idaho Falls zoo where we saw Lions, and Red Pandas and a baby zebra.  Oh and  Pink Flamingos, Grace's favorite.  

We also made a trip to Reed's Dairy because a visit to Grandma's house is not complete without Reed's dairy Ice Cream.  

We had a blast and can't wait to come visit again next year. 

Petting the goats at the zoo

Yellowstone

Man we had a fun time in Yellowstone with Grandma and Grandpa Thomas and Auntie Alisha.  We stayed a really nice place.  We went swimming and watched TV.  Then on Friday we went into the park.  Gwenevere and Grace wanted to see hot Lava but the bowling water was pretty impressive.  We ate lunch in the car and say the grand canyon of Yellowstone.  We also saw elk and bison. 

The next day we swam some more and then went shopping in West Yellowstone.  After picking up our survivors we packed our bags and went back into Yellowstone.  This time to see Old Faithful.  It was a lot of fun.  Then Grandma and Grandpa took us to a restaurant to eat lunch.  We drove in the car over the Continental divide, saw a beautiful lake and more hot springs.  We drove home through Jackson Hole and saw the beautiful Tetons at sunset.  

During our summer travels we made our way through 6 States 3 of which we covered while traveling to and from Yellowstone.  

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for the wonderful adventure.  We can't wait to come back and explore more with you and bring Papa.

Yellowstone Here we come

Thursday afternoon we loaded up the great white Van and headed out on our adventure.  We drove to West Yellowstone through Targhee National Forest and stopped along the way at Lower and Upper Falls.  When we got to the Lower Falls trail head we discovered hundreds of caterpillars.  the short walk to the view point took half an hour with all the caterpillar stops in between.  We killed at least a dozen with loves and hugs and At least one caterpillar made it into the car via Gwenevere's jacket.  The water falls where beautiful and we all had a wonderful time on our drive.  Everett mostly slept on the drive and Auntie Alisha listened to her music while she slept or tried to sleep.  

driving in the Van

Everett thought it was great sitting by me

caterpillar heaven 

Upper falls with Grandma

When we got to West Yellowstone, we unpacked the car and got right into our swimsuits.  We found a life jacket someone left behind so to help ease my mind I made Gwenevere wear it while we swam.  The kids loved the water and played for a long time.  Then we went back to the Hotel room ate dinner, took baths and went to bed.

showing off her swimming skills

West Yellowstone 

Our stay at Grandma and Grandpa Thomas

The Girls where so excited to be at Grandma's house and to see Grandpa and Auntie Alisha again.  We where spoiled with Auntie Alisha's bedroom for the stay and the girls (mostly Grace) "oohed and awed" over my porcelain doll collection given to me by my Aunt Paunie Mae.

We all slept on the king size bed but I think Grace enjoyed the rest the most

Putting Everett in this chair brought back memories of when we lived here when Gwenevere was a baby.  I even have pictures of her in this chair

Grace thought the chair was pretty neat too

Grandma pulled out the baby gate and we all had fun playing by it.  

Auntie Alisha spoiled us with a hot tub playdate before bed

Grace and my baby doll

We ran some errands and got ready for Yellowstone.  Thursday morning I stopped by my friends house to visit while Grandma Thomas watched the girls.  I got to help organize a yard sale fundraiser for an adoption.  Pretty cool experience and the friend time was priceless.

Thursday afternoon we loaded up the car and took off to YELLOWSTONE!  Grandpa Thomas is the best tour guide EVER.

dreaming of yellowstone

Gwenevere's dream

Last night I had a dream that we lived a long time ago and we saw yellowstone erupt.  We watched the  hot lama but we where far away.  Then we lived for a long long long time and we went back to Yellowstone and the hot lama was cooled and we could walk on it.

Summer time Travels

The day after Father's day my mom flew out to help me drive the kiddos to Idaho. She came and did her superhero powers and cleaned the house while I packed everything.  

Then Tuesday morning we woke up bright and early and started our drive.

I got my first ticket for speeding.  I'm kinda proud of it. I know I shouldn't really be proud of a speeding ticket but I"m proud of the way I handled it.  I don't do well with authority.  hehehehe  So for the fact that I didn't try to back talk the police officer, I give myself full credit.  We had just come over the top of a Mountain inwhich I had my foot on the petal harder than normal to keep the car moving in up the mountain.  I was slow to release my pressure as we started our downhill descent increasing speed faster than normal when the cope car pulled me over.  That is the truth.

The kids slept most of the morning.

We stopped at windy rest area, Walmart, MacDonald and my favorite stop, the Adam Family's new home in Mt. Home.  OH my goodness what a cute house they have.  I miss them so much and it was awesome to visit with them even though the visit was too short.  I'm just sad I forgot to take pictures with them. 

Can you tell Everett loves Ice Cream

So many to choose from Thanks ladies for sharing

The one who started the ice cream tongue pictures

The one who seconded it

We made it to Idaho shortly after midnight making us from 5:30 am-12:05 am to make the drive but we had a  fun day in the car with Grandma.