Island Park & Yellowstone

 Oh what a fun week we had! But it takes nearly as long to pack for vacation as the length of our whole trip! We loaded up Monday and headed for our rental cabin in Island Park. We were in charge of picking up the kayaks and paddle boards in Rexburg. That was a nightmare only to be beat by our drive home with them where they nearly fell off six times. After two hours, they were attached to Jason's truck and we were off. The first night we were in charge of dinner and did tinfoil dinners and dutch oven dessert. The next day was lake day. We loaded up those pesky water toys and headed to the reservoir that was less than a mile away. We spent most of the afternoon in and out of kayaks, attempting to paddle board, and picnicking on the grass. A few people tried a little fishing there, but no one caught anything all week. 

 The next day was our Yellowstone day. We rode with Daniel's dad which was fun because he is pretty quick to spot animals and knows the park pretty well. We all finally met up at Old Faithful around lunch time. We all had gotten stuck in a buffalo traffic jam, but Sophie thought it was great fun. We watch Old Faithful and hiked around the surrounding geysers. We picnicked again and visited Yellowstone lodge where Sophie fell asleep in the stroller. She got a little power nap in while we drove to the next attraction.

We saw hot springs, paint pots, and geysers. Sophie would yell, "Ewww, stinky poo!" when something was smelling too strongly of sulfur. I was reminded what a neat and unique natural occurrence Yellowstone is. If we had older kids, I would have suggested maybe hiking around more, but we were all pretty wiped out in the end. We stopped in West Yellowstone for ice cream and fudge.

 The cabin was a really great idea. We had a good amount of space and the kids loved running around and exploring outside. I feel like Sophie is going through withdrawals now that there aren't a million kids to play with. We had 14 kids under the age of 9. There are a pack of girls right around Sophie's age which will be more fun as they get older. I wish would could have booked a couple more days because before you knew it we were packing up and heading home. I could have used some more nights in the hot tub and another round of s'mores. The country was absolutely beautiful.

 Daniel's brother Alan had rented a cabin on a small resort just down the road. We all spent one evening exploring what was around there. They had a pond that was swarming with tadpoles and baby frogs. Sophie thought that was the coolest thing ever. She wouldn't touch them, but talked about seeing frogs for days after.

 On the way home most of us stopped at Mesa Falls. It's a wonderfully easy stroll down to some beautiful waterfalls. Then we stopped in Ashton for a classic burger and root beer float. This vacation was great and I can't wait to do it again. {We are almost all convinced we need to invest in some property in Island Park now}