I guess the “glory summer” is officially over. School started today. I really could use another week or two of summer with the kids at home. This schedule stuff is hard to take. It’s been so long since I wrote anything, I’ll try and do a quick summary. We just got back from a super-fun trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. We all had a fantastic time seeing big animals and lots of geysers. We saw a 7 point bull elk as we drove to our campsite the first night. And we saw a bull moose in Grand Tetons on our last day. In between we saw probably 200 bison and a few more cow elk. Bison are enormous- especially when they are right next to your car. We even had one we could see out the window of the cabin we stayed in. We camped for the first two nights at Madison Campground. Then we stayed in a cabin at the Yellowstone Lake Hotel. (We needed a shower by then, and some restaurant food). Then we camped for a night in Grand Tetons National Park. The weather was perfect- we wore jeans in the evenings, but shorts and t-shirts during the day. We saw Old Faithful spout twice and went on some hikes. We saw geysers, mudpots, waterfalls, the grand canyon of Yellowstone and Yellowstone Lake. And while we did all this the boys completed the requirements to be Junior Rangers, so before we left the park we had a mini ceremony at the ranger station where they got their patches. It was all just great family time together. We have an unofficial list of places we like and places we could do without. Twin Falls, Idaho is a cute little town with a huge waterfall on the Snake River. Idaho Falls on the other hand is not a place you need to visit. We drove something like 1800 miles within 6 days, but the boys were great travelers (the dvd player and video ipod helped Jayden, and reading Erragon is how Jamison passed the time in the car). We stayed caffeinated with the iced coffees at McDonald’s- we think they’re pretty good if you haven’t tried them. I personally only like the regular flavor though. We got close enough to Bend on Saturday that we listened to the Ducks win on the radio. The only good thing about summer ending is that college football season is here… Go Ducks!
I should check the “official” number, but I think we found 18 or so geocaches. The boys reluctantly came with me on most of them.
Before we left on our trip we had a great visit with the Portland Dovers and my sister and Libby. I’m pretty sure I have the cutest little nieces out there…Oh my goodness…I could just squeeze them.
I can’t even remember what we did before that, so it must be time for bed.
First day of first grade for Jayden today- he was kinda grumpy all day. He may have been exhausted from the anticipation- I don’t know. Jamison is a fourth grader and just loves his teacher, Mr. McKim. They got cool calendars and really cool folders they get to keep all year- so he was pretty happy.
Looking back it was just a fantastically fun family summer. We’ll probably never have one quite like it. Jim’s working on a good job possibility, my mom is healthy (and playing great golf- she shot a 79 in the club championship)…I could go on and on, but God has been very very good to us all and for that I’m grateful.
Shoshone Falls (Twin Falls, ID) 50 feet taller than Niagara.
The big bull.
I didn’t want to do all the cooking.
Old Faithful
Jenny Lake, Grand Teton Nat’l Park
God’s Country
