Summer Vacation

So around the middle of summer, I was getting ready for girls camp, Taylor was in the thick of a very hard class, and we had scheduled a week long trip that was seeming to not fall at the most opportune time. We, however, were desperately in need of a vacation that included our busy daddy and so we let him bring his homework, and we went anyway. We had such a great time at one of Taylor's favorite places on earth. We spent a week at the Davis cabin in Island Park including a day in Yellowstone. It was beautiful, quiet, and perfect.

Here's us enjoying dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's before we headed up to Island Park.

At Yellowstone . . .

Oh, I really, really love this place. It's so weird. And so, so beautiful--a favorite combination.




Max wanted to see the animals and so we looked and looked for them. We didn't see any close enough to be really impressed all morning and it was starting to stress us all out a little. After lunch Max fell asleep in his car seat whining "I want to see animals . . ." and seconds later we passed a buffalo along the side of the road. We stopped and yelled for Max to wake up. Anna shook him, and poked him. The buffalo even put his face right next to Max's window. But Max kept sleeping. Happily, we spotted another buffalo in the trees a little while later (I believe he was sent to us to spare us from losing our minds) Max's vacation was complete from that point on.

While waiting for Old Faithful with three little tired kids and their drippy ice cream cones, I thought "Is it really that cool?" Then the geyser went off and I remembered. It is.

I also remembered something else. . .this song about a horse. I love it because my dad sang it to me when I was little. . .

Old faithful we roamed the range together
Old faithful in every kind of weather
When your roundup days are over
There'll be pastures white with clover
For you old faithful pal of mine

Hurry up old fellow cause the moon is yellow tonight
Hurry up old fellow cause the moon is mellow and bright
There's a coyote howlin' to the moon above
Carry me back to the one I love
Hurry up old fellow cause we gotta get home tonight

Old faithful we rode the range together...
For you old faithful pal of mine

Back at the cabin . . .

And on all the days we weren't in Yellowstone
we threw rocks in the lake. I think that is officially our families favorite past time. I guess that says a lot about the stage of life we're in.


Another favorite activity at the cabin was playing with Taylor's old nerf gun. As always, Anna's ears did not go unprotected.

And another important thing to mention from our leisurely time at the cabin was that we bought ice cream cones every day after nap time. I dreamed of living in a cabin and owning the ice cream shop in Island Park and I thought that might sound better than going back home.



Grandpa Kent and Grandma Sonja and Casey came up for the last couple days to be with us and we had lots of fun with them. We got out the boat and the jet skis and loved the rides. Charlie even liked the boat and tolerated his life jacket--he was such a good baby the whole time. He slept where ever we happened to be, yelled at us when we didn't share our ice cream, and his fuzz-hair looked really sparkly in the sunshine.


Here are some pictures of Anna and Max on jet ski rides with Grandma and
Grandpa . . .
The jet skis were the most fun for Max when the driver was driving crazy and trying to hit floating ducks and they were the most fun for Anna when the driver was driving slow and pretending to be riding a unicorn.

And for our final picture. . . My mother-in-law and I had fun looking around at a boutique set up in Island Park. I bought these tie-dye clothes because they were so bright and happy and vacationish, and also because I love it when my kids match, although I don't fully understand why.

After that, I dressed everyone in their matching clothes and I took this picture to remember the best vacation ever and how much I love being the mom of our family. It's a good job.