Our Trip to Yellowstone!

This year we decided our big summer vacation would be a trip to Yellowstone with my family. Jeremiah and the kids had never been and I hadn't since I was really young (like 7 or 8), so we were all so excited to go. We drove up to Malad and stayed with Michelle, Brian, Ashton, and Branson on Thursday night. We were so excited to see Branson's game and have a fun sleepover! Then Friday morning, we drove the rest of the way up to West Yellowstone. It was a long drive for all of us, especially since the kids aren't big fans of car travel, but we made it! We stayed at the West Yellowstone KOA in a cute little cabin. Unfortunately, I didn't ever get a chance to take a picture, but it really was a nice little place complete with bathroom and small kitchen.

Once we got checked in, we had a quick lunch and headed into the park to see as much of it as we could. Our first stop was a beautiful waterfall.


Since we aren't big hikers or anything, the kids haven't really seen anything like this before and they were in awe. I got tons of pictures of them with their backs towards me because they couldn't rip their eyes away from what they were looking at.


Here's a picture of all the cousins that made it (we missed Libby - and Kylie and Jedd during this trip - they were busy putting in their yard!).


Zach absolutely loved the "real" binoculars Nana and Papa let him borrow during the trip (I don't think he took them off the entire trip other than to sleep and eat, although I think that more to my insisting than his!). He informed me they were a lot better than the toy set we brought - I think he's decided he needs a real pair for himself and he's planning to ask Santa for some this Christmas.


Hailey loved the waterfalls, she told me that they were so pretty.


Tate was happy hanging out in his stroller most of the time, he loved getting out of the car and being pushed around outside.


Both Hailey and Zach spent most of the time at the park riding in everyone else's car - we pretty much had only Jeremiah, me, and Tate as we rode around looking at things. So this was about the only family picture that we got. Seems we're not as fun and exciting as everyone else in the family!


Here's another fun picture of all the cousins.


And one with Nana and Papa with the grandkids that were there.


After the waterfall, we headed to the next stop which was the "Artsist Paintpots." The colors really were spectacular, although the smell wasn't so much so. Hailey kept plugging her nose and telling me it smells like cooked eggs (someone had told her it smelled like rotten eggs, but she got confused - I thought it was darling!).


We stopped at quite a few places and had fun seeing everything. Even the driving was nice because the views were spectacular!


By the time we made it all the way up to the Mammoth area, it was late and we were all starving, so we drove around the little area before heading back. What was amazing to me were all the elk just roaming around the area.


They seemed so peaceful and you could pull up right next to them and take pictures. It was amazing!


The scenery up at Mammoth was so beautiful, so many colors!


Tate spent a lot of time like this, poor thing was so tired without having good naps during the day. He was such a good boy despite the short driving naps though, we were really proud of him!


This picture is hard to make out, but if you look closely, you can see a Mama Grizzly Bear and her 2 bear cubs out in the valley. We were so amazed as we've heard that seeing grizzly bears is so rare!


There were little herds of Buffalo everywhere! We were lucky enough to have some right next to the road as we drove by several times. They were so big!


One of my favorite areas was the "Grand Canyon" area of Yellowstone. There was another breathtaking waterfall that I just loved.


There were quite a few places to stop and view the canyon and waterfall, so after a few times, Jeremiah and I just took turns looking and just let Tate stay in the car - he was all smiles and loving just playing with his toys.


After viewing the canyon from one side, we drove to the other to see it from there. At one of the viewing areas, there were quite a few stairs, so I stayed at the bottom with Tate and Zach took the camera to get some pictures. This was one that was taken up at the top of the viewing area, so cute!


This was probably my most favorite area to view the waterfall - it was just beautiful and I loved seeing it as well as the area below.


After lunch and some resting, we headed off again. This time we stopped at the dragon's breath area where there were more hot springs and clay pots. And of course more yucky smells!


And our last stop was Old Faithful. The kids had so much fun walking around the area, looking in the gift shop (where they each got to pick out a souvenir - Zach chose a flashlight and Hailey chose a little carry purse), and then finally out around the geyser where we waited for it to erupt.

Tate and Hailey both had little meltdowns while we waited, but were over it and in good spirits when the eruption came. It really was amazing that it shot so high up. The kids loved it.


After that we headed out of the park and back to the campground for dinner and smores. The next morning we woke up early, had breakfast, and began the long 5 hour drive back home. We were worried about trying to do so much driving at once, but the kids did great. Of course, they were so tired from all the sight seeing and sleeping in another bed. In fact, the last hour and a half of the drive they did nothing but this ...


Yes, you can always tell your vacation is a success when the little ones sleep alot of the way home! We had a blast at Yellowstone and enjoyed seeing it with our family. I think we'll go again in another couple years, the kids already can't wait!