Jenny Lake

We got up in the morning and headed to Grand Teton.

Jane entertained herself jumping off a rock while we made a game plan.

It was definitely more crowded and harder to find parking, so we ended up at Jenny Lake.

We went on a nice trail where we ran into a moose! We had to wait at a distance while she took her sweet time getting her baby away from people and the path.

The whole park was beautiful and the weather was perfect.

Cousin silliness.

Rick and Mal

Perry getting some meditation in hillside.

We went up to the waterfall at the end.

It was worth the extra effort to make it that last stretch.

The boys made some tiny chipmunk friends. They were not shy.

Then we took a boat ride back across to the entrance.

It was great being there with my siblings and nephews.

Back at the house, we celebrated Rick and Ced's birthdays.

Present time

And took a family picture

what a backdrop.

Jess was taking a polaroid of Jane and she closed the hammock at the last second, so she has a picture of a closed hammock now.

Malcolm enjoyed this bazooka. The kids all wanted to camp in the backyard, since we couldn't camp at Yellowstone, but they all ended up coming inside throughout the night and chilly, dewey morning.

Jane loved exploring the large property and having kids to play with all around her.

Rick's shoulder was still healing, which was better than the previous family trip when Jess broke her arm and needed surgery.

Oma reading some bedtime stories to Ced and Mal.

Jane wrestled Scott to the ground.

One last trip up the canyon.

Perry loved their cat.

Jess took him up on the ATV.

Seeing them off up the trail before heading inside to get packed and put the bedding back together.

Matchy cousins.

Scott got some new freckles on their outing.

A final game with Gloria.

The kids all loved playing with her.

Some hugs from Aunt Harmonica.

And a last treat for Griz.

We left and stopped at the Afton temple on the way out.

Jane showed off her somersault skills.

We stopped again at a playground on the way.

Then we met Sarah and Nate's family and Julie and Christian for dinner in Utah.

We were originally planning to stay with Julie for the night to break up the drive, but they started their kitchen renovation, so we were going to get a hotel. Instead, we decided to just drive through until we got tired.

We stopped at the salt flats to use the bathroom and practice our Elsa powers. Then we drove most of the night and made it home the next morning, tired and happy after a lovely trip.

Yellowstone

I bought waffles for the kids to have for breakfast and Gloria piled them high with whipped cream. I came down to Jane with her cup of cocoa, complete with little marshmallows from a big jar Gloria keeps for grandkids. 

It was hard to get the kids away from such a fun home, but we wanted to drive up and see Yellowstone. Our first stop was the side of the road to see some snow.

I got eaten by mosquitoes and panicked a little, but I sprayed us all down, killed the ones that got in the car, and thankfully ended up not seeing any the rest of the day.

We saw bison on the drive in, then found Old Faithful and went hiking around the area.

We saw lots of smaller geysers and springs.

I made someone hold Jane's hand at all times because the smaller boardwalks next to boiling water made me nervous.

We read the displays and learned all about what we were seeing.

Then we went back for the next big eruption.

Right on time, as predicted.

We got out of the misty rain for a bit and toured inside the museum.

Then we went to Silex spring 

and the paint pots

which were very smelly.

It was super misty and Jane got some beachy waves.

Our last stop was the grand prismatic spring.

We walked across a bridge and around the boardwalks.

It was really beautiful in person, but the rain started coming down in earnest.

We were SO glad we weren't camping as originally planned.

As we left, the weather cleared up and we saw a big bear down by the trees.

We only saw a fraction of the park, but everything we saw was amazing. We'd love to come back and explore the other areas.

On the way back we stopped in Jackson Hole at Hand Fire pizza for dinner, which was phenomenal. We made it back to the house where Rick and Jess had arrived.