We survived Yellowstone!

Hey, you can never get everyone looking, especially when people are waiting, but man was this a beautiful vista at Artists Point of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone!

Lowell loved taunting the bison that created traffic jams. This one snorted at him when he told him he stank, the next one almost tried to ram the car!
Darling Cyndel at the lower falls of the Yellowstone River.
Our little family in front of the Grand Prismatic pool, yes the boys love their new cameras.
I think this is our best family shot, in front of Yellowstone Lake at West Thumb Geyser Basin.
All 3 of my cutie boys at Tower Falls (you can just see it off to the right).

Okay, so we are back and almost all in one piece. I may have left a bit of my sanity on a trail somewhere, but the rest came back with me. What was I thinking tent camping with 2 2 year olds! Actually it wasn't that bad, well, depends who you ask and when you ask them. By now we have had a good night's rest on our very wonderful Tempur-pedic, yes it makes even the air mattress look awful, and we're a bit more chipper. After 2 nights of hardly sleeping while wrestling 2 bed-hogging children and getting yelled at by the mean neighbors next door, we were less happy. But I digress . . .the trip started late because we were waiting for the second camera to arrive in the mail. I knew if we went with only one we'd be in trouble and I was only hoping the second would come that day, having been a week since I bought it on ebay. Thank goodness it did come but not without a yellow jacket bite for me from the nest under the mail box (now eradicated thanks to my buff hubby). It was quite traumatic for me, seriously, I am allergic and I was freaking. My hand swelled a fair amount but it wasn't anything too exciting, it still hurt though. I think people all have different pain tolerances for different things. 3 days after my C-section I was driving between NICUs with only tylenol for pain (no Percocet and driving) and doing fine, I have had teeth pretty much rot out of my head and it didn't bug me a bit, but that sting really hurt! Anyway, I digress again. I think I better do the Reader's Digest version of this trip, it is almost midnight already.

So we got to Yellowstone pretty well, we did skip the dinosaur park to conserve on time and good things as we didn't get to camp until 9 pm. We still had to set up, eat s'mores and get everyone to bed. The boys were a struggle to get down and ended up snuggling with Lowell and I during the night to keep warm, but that was actually pleasant to me, waking up next to my darling Carter. Then we went adventuring through the park. I forgot just how much driving there is in the park but the boys handled it pretty well. The hard thing was that we ended up at Old Faithful around naptime and were half-way around the loop back to camp. That meant at least an hour drive during which my kids would probably sleep but then not nap when we got back. And Lowell and I needed naps! We were excited to see Old Faithful, I thought the munchkins would think it was pretty fun but it wasn't so faithful for us. They have it timed down to about 10 minutes but of course it is a variable thing. We got in a good spot and waited expected to be there 20 minutes max. 45 minutes later the boys had had it, were fussing and downright screaming and the stares of the crowd finally got us on our feet and on our way out. And of course, you all guessed it, half way to the car it went off. Oh well, thus it is. So what I predicted did happen and there was no rest for the weary back at camp. So we took another drive just to cool off from being cranky and irritated and came back to camp pretty happy if beyond dirty and exhausted. That night the boys again were hard to get down and wanted to snuggle, but this time they really just wanted our spots. They pushed and kicked Lowell and I who each took turns at the bottom of the matress or on the floor freezing as our kids screamed if we tried to lay next to them. Little stinkers! Next time, 2 matresses!!!! Anyway, the next morning we packed up and got a shower, oh blessed day. I seriously have never seen my kids dirtier, and that is really saying something. We checked out the upper and midway geyeser basins that we had bypassed the day before and headed for civilization. No nap on the way to Rexburg meant we would not be staying for my Grandpa's birthday party, it was still 2 hours away and no one, me especially, wanted to be around my grumps. We let them play at a park, bribed them with some ice cream and then they finally fell asleep for a while on the way back. Lowell and I got to visit, a surprising treat since we live together and laugh at a couple of episodes of Friends. This whole trip has made me more anxious for our anniversary getaway coming up in 2 weeks. I loved spending time with my boys this weekend. It was fun to see them take it all in and just be in love with rocks and their cameras. I got a lot of snuggle time in and was reminded of lots of things I love about being a mom. But I also remembered what it was like to just be me and Lowell (we went to Yellowstone 4 years ago before the kids came along) and I miss that too. So our overnight away is much needed and will be much appreciated.

I am working on videos of the shots on each of the kids' cameras--very funny really, lots of pics of the ground and feet and blur, but a few good pics-- and on mine that I will post later. It is time for rest for me! Loves all!