Yellowstone

 Every summer we do a weekend trip with the Darrington family. This year we chose Yellowstone. At first we were excited because we haven't been in six years and none of the kids have been. It hit us while we were planning this that we have nine kids, infant to age four going on this trip. We decided to go and enjoy chaos and all.

On Friday we left Casey's parents in our caravan of vehicles. We all met up with Nicole and her family at the West Yellowstone entrance for a picnic lunch before we all headed in. Our goal Friday was to hit everything between the West entrance and our campsite at Grant Village which is located at the bottom of Yellowstone. We stopped and went to the Fountain Paint Pots, Grand Prismatic Spring, Biscuit Basin, the Upper geyser basin, and Old Faithful. We went back and forth between using the stroller and letting Peter walk. He did great staying on the trail with us, but sometimes he would climb things or want to stay put as we walked on. Kendal liked to wander along with us, however she fell off the boardwalk a couple of times when she wasn't paying attention. Old Faithful was our last stop for the day. We got some ice cream and went to the boardwalk to wait for the eruption. The kids devoured the ice cream and were enjoying playing up and down the boardwalk. Kendal made friends with two teenagers from Kentucky. She took pictures on their phone and chatted with them while we were there. Their mother was in awe of our gaggle of kids. I'm sure we were quite the site sometimes going along trying to keep 8 toddlers in line. The kids enjoyed the sites of the day. Kendal enjoyed everything minus the smell of the stink pots. We made it to our campground in Grant Village fairly late. Luckily we were all together in a family campsite and near bathrooms (THANK'S VANESSA!). We had a yummy tin foil dinner that had been prepped the night before and Casey and I made scones to celebrate our Anniversary. Cody arrived that night with his girlfriend Aimee. To quote Kendal “She is cute and wonderful, and smaller than Cody”. I knew sleeping wouldn't be ideal on this trip. Peter went into our trip with a small cold. So he had a cough and a stuffy nose which unfortunately made his night miserable. He would wake up screaming and crying because he couldn't breath and didn't know where he was. At one point in the night he was up and screaming we heard some howling from a pack of wolves or coyotes in the distance. Peter was quiet while they were howling, but after they stopped he went back to crying. I had a freak out moment thinking crap, my son is calling to these things and they're going to come and get us. (Nothing happened though, just me and my paranoid thoughts running wild.)

Saturday we went out in our caravan of vehicles once again to explore the eastern portion of Yellowstone. We drove along the lake and stopped at the fishing bridge. We spotted a swarm of tiny fish along the banks of the lake. Kendal and Peter along with the other kids quickly took to Aimee. She became their boon companion and they loved holding her hand and going along with her throughout the day. (Thank you Aimee!) After the bridge we stopped at the Mud Volcano and then went to the Upper and Lower falls. We used the stroller less on Saturday. Peter stayed with us as long as he was holding someones hand (and it couldn't be me or Casey). After lunch we headed up to Tower falls. Saturday was the day we saw the most animals. We spotted over half a dozen Bison, quite a few elk, some jack rabbits, geese, cranes, ducks, and a few small furry animals along the mountain side. Casey spotted a bear as we rode along, but the kids were asleep so they missed it. The kids were happy when we got back to camp; they were no longer confined to car seats and they could wander around and get super dirty. We enjoyed another delicious dinner and dessert then called it a night when dusk hit. I opted to sleep in the back of our car to save everyone else from waking up multiple times thanks to Peter. Peter had a rough time getting to sleep but once he was down he was out for the whole night. Sunday morning we ate some yummy breakfast and took our time packing while the kids played and continued to cake on the dirt all around us. We visited the West Thumb Geyser Basin as our last stop in Yellowstone and then all headed out. It was day three of being stuck in a car and the kids got crabby during the car ride home.

As we're all growing in families and life it's harder to get Casey's whole family together. This was great trip and we enjoyed spending some quality time with our family!