Fun With Our Sons: Yellowstone 2016

Derek's wanted to take our family to Yellowstone for years. Well, this was the year for it! Hooray! When you go to Yellowstone, you're supposed to make your reservations a year in advance. That's really hard for me--I'm a last minute kind of girl--so in February I started looking for a June reservation. Ha! Thanks to this really awesome thing called Trip Advisor, and a few phone calls, I was able to find a room for us in West Yellowstone, Montana, about one mile outside of the park. It even had a full service restaurant with breakfast included in our room reservation. Whew! What a relief for this last minute mom. :)

We left on June 2nd, one day after Braylen came home from NY. His luggage wasn't home yet, so he had to get creative with his packing. Good thing he's a boy. :) We drove to Rock Springs, WY and stayed there for the night. All 3 boys love to tease each other, and when you're in the car together for hours at a time, you do a lot of teasing. They gave each other nicknames for the trip. Braylen was Muscular Mike, Kaleb was Billy Joel, and Aaron was Murray. I've always loved their little boy sillyness. How happy I am that it's continuing into their teenage years. Of course it never gets out of hand...HA! They played in the hotel pool that night, and Derek and I loved the fact that they still like to do that.

Taking slo-mo videos while jumping on the bed

The next morning we had about a 5 hour drive to West Yellowstone. Braylen helped out with a lot of the driving, and added more states to his driving record: Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana! He even stopped at every new state sign for me to take a picture at. His dad is training him well. ;)

When we finally arrived at our lodge it felt so good to be there. Our room had 3 queen beds, which was awesome, because nobody had to be on an air mattress or a lumpy pull out sofa. We walked around the cute little town and found a diner to have supper at. All 3 boys order from the real menu now--no more kids menus--so our food budget went WAY up. Sometimes I wasn't all that hungry, and some of the portions were too much for Aaron, so he and I split several meals. Every little bit helps! West Yellowstone, MT reminds me of Grand Lake, CO, only without the lake. ;)

Our lodge is behind me--it's called Three Bear Lodge!

The morning of June 4th, we drove into the park. We were so excited to finally be here! The BEST thing I did for this trip was download an app for $4.99. It used our GPS location to tell us what we were seeing along our way through the park. It told us what was up ahead, where to pull off, what to look for, etc. Without it, we wouldn't know what we were seeing. Brochures and park maps are nothing compared to this awesome app. The kids named it Joel, so all week we listened to everything Joel had to say.

We explored every inch of the park that we could in 3 days. It really is beautiful, and that's the understatement of the year. Our first day was probably my favorite. We did a LOT of hiking, which gave me blisters on my toes. But when I think of that day, I think of all the laughter we shared along the way. Side by side, talking, being silly, and laughing--what more could I ever want? The pictures tell the rest of the story...

The first of MANY buffalo sightings

Everywhere we looked was picture perfect.

I loved all the boardwalks. It made it really easy to see everything up close.

This area had a lot of hot springs and boiling mud pots.
It smells like fireworks!

Getting a better view of a waterfall

We had a picnic lunch every day, and they made fun of my table cloth every time. :)

Our hike to nowhere, and we didn't even have bear spray. Yikes!

While hiking the rim of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Kaleb's binocular cap fell
down the side of the canyon. A tree root stopped it, and Derek snatched it up.
I was too scared to try! Derek is so much braver than I am.

One of my favorite pictures from the trip, because this is real life right now.
They're all legs and arms--must be growing teens!

Braylen has always taken great pictures.

I finally asked someone to take my picture! The view behind me is a very popular
Yellowstone picture of the canyon and falls.

I love them!

Porcelin Basin

The sun is starting to set. We had this place to ourselves!

This was June 4th. Whew!

June 5th was Old Faithful day. We did less walking, but that was probably a good thing. My feet needed to recover, and it was very warm in the park. Again, we listened to Joel tell us about everything we were seeing.

The fumeroles, hot springs, and geyers are up ahead.

They were always taking pictures. Sometimes I had to tell them to just look with their eyes!

I'm trying not to get a sunburn!

See the boiling water run into the cold river?

Our boys looking at Grand Prismatic Spring

Another very popular site at Yellowstone

Old Faithful erupting!

Let's be real.
It was hot, and Aaron didn't want his picture taken. But here they are at Old Faithful.

Me and my honey

I think this is Saphire Pool.

Aaron's favorite--Jewel Geyser--erupts every 7 minutes.

Here it is!

Derek and his GoPro, aka selfie stick ;)

We found cooler weather at Yellowstone Lake.

Standing on the Fishing Bridge. Ironically, they don't allow you to fish from it anymore.

Back in our room, we had energy to order pizza, and that's it! Another full day!

On June 6th, we had one more corner of the park to explore: North and Northwest. This day was filled with a lot of driving, but we stopped a lot along the route to keep everyone active. Another gorgeous day in the park!

These are called Sheepeater rocks, after the Sheepeater Indians I think.

I see my colorful kids!

The flatlands at Mammoth Springs

A well known stone formation near Mammoth Springs.
I can't remember what it's called.

Braylen and Derek at Mammoth Springs.
That's not ice in the background--it's some type of white rock.

I asked for another waterfall picture of me.
Good thing I asked for proof I was with them! :)

My favorite picnic spot by far

They skipped rocks--big surprise. :)

Aaron wanted to go to Lamar Valley all week, and we finally made it.
He wanted to see wolves. We were there in the heat of the day, so no wolves for us.