Yellowstone!

Back in 1999, the Ballard family took a family vacation to Yellowstone after attending a family wedding in Jackson Hole. We had so much fun together. My brother Mike and I were the only married kids, and this was the first time we had vacationed together since any of us were married. This is my scrapbook page from back then. (Love the old school scrapbook pages!)

Fast forward to 2010...we decided to do it again. You can read my sister in laws post for details and more pics. This time we had Mom and Dad, Me + 3 (Tyler had to stay home), Mike + 4, Steve + 6, and Karen +1. We were missing David and his family. They were definitely in our thoughts throughout the trip. Love you guys! If you add this all up it equals 10 adults and 10 little kids all under 10 years old. Here is a pic of some of us.

Tyler couldn't go because he had a trial during the trip that he couldn't get out of, but I thought I could handle it on my own. My family would be there to help. The drive over was great. Jack is an amazing car traveler and he takes care of the other two for me. Our DVD player broke before we were at the end of the street, so we did make a pit stop to Walmart to purchase another one. It was the only way I could do this on my own.

The first day of our trip was rainy and cold! We were so wet, and it was hard on the little ones. I volunteered to take the little kids back to my cabin while the other adults and bigger kids enjoyed a few more attractions. On the drive home, this is what happened:

I carried each of them into the cabin where they all woke up. I fed them cookies and played with them until the rest of our group came back. Gretchen (girlie in the blue and pink jacket) is so much fun. She loves to "babysit" She wanted to bath Logan and Myckaleigh as soon as we arrived. We just loved them and held them instead, because the cabins did not have bath tubs. I had fun holding both Logan and Mychaleigh at the same time; neither of them liked me holding the other alone.

Jack and Jake didn't mind the rain at all. They were having fun in their rain ponchos.

The next day was beautiful. We hiked a lot, saw lots of buffalo, elk, and even a coyote. When we saw the coyote, Sam said, "Mom are we in Africa?" I carried Logan in my Kelty pack and several adults tried to keep track of Sam. Sam was a little difficult. He would take of running and wanted to be carried a lot. This picture is a perfect representation of Sam on our Yellowstone trip.

Here is a fun picture of me with all three of my boys. I need to remember to get in front of the camera every once in a while. I definitely like taking the pictures better than being in them, but this is a fun picture of all of us.

I am so glad my family planned this trip, and that I was able to go. I love them all, and I think we travel together very well. I can't wait to see them all over the 4th.

I will finish with a few great quotes from the trip:

Jack: "I don't need to get out to see the buffalo unless they are going to head butt."

Jack: "Wow that Yellowstone movie was really good, I didn't pay attention at all last time."
Jack: "Can I have a pocket knife?" repeated 5000 times until I gave in!

Jack: "Do you see this spear? I am pretty sure it was made by Indians." Holding a freshly sharpened stick probably used for some hot dog roasting the night before.

Jack: "Those Elk are probably domesticated, Buffalo are herbivores, Bears are carnivores, fish are intelligent, and every other fact he knows about animals." Repeated throughout the whole trip. Seriously, I sat through a lecture about the mating habits of cuddle fish. I can't wait for him to ask me what mating is. Maybe he already knows. UGHH.

Jack: "I am glad it is non toxic, or I would probably be dead by now." After he bit a hole into a glow stick and got it in his eyes and nose.

Sam: "Mom, what is that!?!" Pointing to the phone booth. An older couple stopped to listen to me try to explain it to Jack and Sam. They were laughing their heads off.

Sam: "Can I go to Grandma's cabinet?" He called our cabins cabinets. It was really cute.

Sam: "Carry ME!!!"

Sam: "My legs hurt! Give me tylenel!"

Sam: "But what about our friends?" I would say what friends, and he would answer, "You know our cousins!"

Sam: "Where are we going?" "But we already went to Yellowstone!"

Sam: The second we got into the car to leave, "I really miss Grandma."