Together in Island Park

Adam returned from his mission on August 21st and  fall semester at BYU was starting  September 4th, which meant we had a whole lot of things to squeeze into a little less than two weeks' time.  In addition to needing to let Adam decompress for a minute and have some time to go through his stuff, he needed to write and give a homecoming talk and we hosted an open house, we needed to get Adam settled into his new apartment before the semester began, we needed to do a little shopping for him to update the shoes and clothes he'd been wearing for 2 years straight, and, most important of all, we wanted to be able to gather all together as a family for the first time in 2 years. 

Whew!  It makes me tired just looking back and thinking about all the things we squeezed into those couple of weeks!  

I touched a little on the first few days he was home in this post, and now this post will be dedicated to capturing our family gathering we held in Island Park, Idaho the following week.  We picked Island Park because we wanted to go somewhere within a reasonable driving distance of home and also because our family has made a lot of good memories there over the years.  

We had a loose schedule for things we wanted to do while we were there, but we tried to leave some flexibility built in, so we could allow the kids (who are actually all adults) the freedom to help plan as we went along and also to allow the actual kids (Lucie and Oliver) time to take naps most days.   One of the spontaneous activities the kids got excited  about was choosing t-shirts for each other and then wearing them all at the same time. We drew names and spent a few hours wandering around West Yellowstone shopping for each other, which is where these pictures were taken. 

 The results were hilarious and we laughed as we went to dinner at the Gusher in these, then onto see Anastasia at the Playmill.   Both the Gusher and the Playmill are traditions for whenever we visit Island Park/West Yellowstone! 

 

Don't ask me how or why this next part developed, but Emma, Cami, and Adam somehow decided they were going to run a 1/2 marathon together in Island Park.   Adam was fresh off his mission and clearly hadn't trained at all.  The girls had a little more running under their belts, but it was a stretch for them as well.   They wended through cow herds and through the beautiful scenery and all three accomplished their goal.  Glen, Denali, and I met them along the way to bring them water, and to cheer them on! 

We also had an ongoing quest to eat as many s'mores as possible, which meant we had a campfire going  most nights. 

We toasted and ate a lot of marshmallows and just enjoyed the opportunity to sit around the campfire together.

Then campfire time would usually morph into appreciating the night-sky time.  The stars were amazing! 

We did some exploring in the area, including this trek to Big Springs to see the ginormous fish and gorgeous scenery. 

We saw some wildlife...

We hung around the cabin (which we'd rented on VRBO) and sent some postcards (of course)...

We took Lucie on a little nature walk and she filled a bag with all sorts of interesting things she'd found while wandering around the cabin. 

We  wandered into Yellowstone on the  last day of our Island Park adventures, including visiting Artist Point and Old Faithful.  The kiddos were very tired this day and we'd checked out of the cabin, so we kept things as easy going as could this day before trekking to Idaho Falls for the night. 

All in all, it was a great five days together and we very much enjoyed lots of good food, gorgeous scenery, and time together.  The only downside was that Spencer didn't end up being able to come.   We hoped that by picking somewhere somewhat close to home (a 5 hour drive), that he'd be able to come for part of the week at least, but, in the end, it ended up being too hard finding care for Kiwi, so he stayed home.  😢

And, no,  I'm not done yet with the late August/early September updates.  Stay tuned....

Top 10 of Cabin Life

The cabin in Island Park, Idaho is a family treasure.   

Glen's maternal grandparents built it themselves many years ago and Glen's been going to it every few years since he was a child.  Because of how far it is from home, we don't get to it as often as we'd like, but over the years we have made a lot of irreplaceable memories there.   Here are a few from our trip there this summer (Aug. 10-15, 2015).

    

 TOP TEN AWESOME THINGS ABOUT THE CABIN 

(in no particular order):  

10. The hammock.  

 What better way is there to relax outside than a cozy hammock big enough for three?  My kids consider the hammock one of their favorite things about the cabin and it is not infrequent to find one of them out there taking a nap on it!   When Cami had a fever for a few days, she spent a lot of time there on the hammock!

9.  Wazowie!  

 Glen's grandpa used to give him a big giant underdog push on the swing and yell, "WAZOWIE!!!" as he let go.    Glen told the kids about that memory one day and now he's constantly giving "Wazowie" pushes whenever we visit the cabin.   Probably more than he cares to.  But it's something the kids love, so he does it anyway! 

8.  Yellowstone.   

 Island Park is only about 20-minutes away from the west entrance to Yellowstone National Park, so we always like to spend at least a couple of the days we are at the cabin touring around the park.  We love the beautiful drives, hikes, and gorgeous vistas! 

7.  Wildlife 

Bison, moose, elk, zebra, great gray owl, bald eagles, prairie dogs, marmots...we love all the wildlife we see around the cabin!  Most of it we see in Yellowstone, but the two moose were actually in Henry's Fork of the Snake River near Macks Inn and the great gray owl and bald eagle were right in the backyard of the cabin!   

6.  Campfires

Every time we sit around a campfire, I always think that we should make them more often.  I love the conversations and the delicious fire-roasted food! 

5. Being Outside

The thick humidity and swarms of  bugs that are par for the course during DC summers, are noticeably absent in the West.    It did get pretty hot during the day, but it didn't have the same oppressive feel and the cooler (bug-free) evenings made it downright delightful to be outdoors!  

4.   Fishing! 

Glen is a fisherman at heart and he tries to work a little fishing into every vacation we go on.  We've been fishing in some pretty amazing places over the years--New Zealand, Asheville,  Canada, Minnesota, etc.      The crystal clear waters around Island Park though, are home to some of the best freshwater fishing in the entire world.  Henry's Fork of the Snake River is just a stone's throw from the cabin,  and most, if not all,  of my children have caught their first fish right under the bridge at Macks Inn.   

You can't fish at Big Springs, but we love to go see the amazingly pure water right as it bubbles from the earth and the large fish that  thrive there in the clear water that manages to stay 52º F year round!   

3.  The "stray" dogs-

-they aren't actually stray, but it's small towny enough that the neighbors let them wander freely and my kids took full advantage.   My kids loved friendly snuggles and games of fetch, and I loved that it helped alleviate a little of their sadness at leaving our own canine at home.   

2.  The Playmill in West Yellowstone!   

We saw performances of Mary Poppins (see below) and Damn Yankees (because you know me and how I like dams).   We love the small theater homey feel and we especially love the fun atmosphere and high quality performances.   We try to go to at least one performance every time we're in town.

1.   FAMILY!!!!  

 This is the best part of all.   We picked up Grandma Sandy in Denver on the way there and Aunt Lara and family flew in from California to join us.  We absolutely LOVED having them there and were especially excited to meet Carissa (1) and Caleb (3)  for the first time!   We are already looking forward to our next visit!