our summer in review!

I can't believe another summer has passed. This year was such a weird summer weatherwise it doesn't seem like we had much of a summer. We spent the first part of the summer getting ready for our family vacation. We don't always get to take a vacation every year, but this year we were doing it and we were excited to go to Yellowstone with Shule's side of the family.

our family by a geiser

We rented a cabin about an hour outside of Yellowstone in what is called Island Park, Id. We got up early on a Monday morning and drove 12 hours to get to our destination. The kids did an awesome job in the car. There was minimal fighting and Spencer did well at entertaining himself and watching movies (thank goodness for portable dvd players). The kids were super excited to see all their cousins that they don't get to see very often. We spent the first night settling into the cabin and then Tuesday we all got up early and headed to Yellowstone. We got to see Old Faithful blow 2 times and explored some of the paint pots. There was so much more that I would have like to have seen but the kids were oober bored and were complaining so we decided too call it a day and head back to the cabin.We didn't see much wildlife while we were there. We saw a quick glance at a buffalo who was frolicking in the grass and this herd of elk. The kids wanted to see more animals but didn't want to drive the long distances in the park to go find them...go figure!Old Faithful, which erupts about every 74 minutes

Wednesday we rented rafts and most of us went floating the river. It wasn't the warmest day for this event to happen but it was fun nonetheless. The water was a balmy 52 degrees I believ and it was only 70 outside. It was a workout for sure...the wind was blowing just enough that if you stopped rowing you ended up going back upstream. I didn't bring the camera on this trip and I so wish I would have!!!

Friday we packed up and made our way to Utah but not before stopping at Bear World. The kids enj0y that place the most. You start off by driving through an open zoo of sorts. The animals are uncaged and can come right up to your car. We saw buffalo, elk, mountain goats, deer, moose, and of course bears!! it's basically most of the animals that you can see in Yellowstone all in one convenient location
This place was pretty cool, in fact we spent 3 hours there, and the kids could have stayed longer. Once done going through the park you can get out and they have a petting zoo with all kinds of animals...and carnival rides. You can feed all the aninals including ducks, fish, etc. I would highly recommend you go if you are headed that direction. You can drive through the park as many times as you please also!!

Saturday we went and enjoyed the Tripp family reunion. We figured that it had been about 8 years that we had been there as a family. Shule went a couple years ago without Sariah and I.
So, it was fun seeing everybody and playing at the waterpark. It's at the same place every year and it's sometime that we look forward to when we can go. The kids had a great time going on the waterslides and hanging out with their cousins that also made the trip down from Oregon!!

Sunday, we took the kids to a pretty cool, but extremely overpriced mexican restraunt for lunch. They have cliff divers that put on a show for you. The kids enjoyed the show and $125 later, lunch was done!!

It just so happens that that happened to be mine and Shule's 15th wedding anniversary that day also!! After lunch we were able to go visit with Shule's grandma and aunt, which was nice seeing them!! We had a great vacation!!