Family reunion and Yellowstone

When I was a young girl my mom's parents lived in Rexburg, Idaho and we would spend every Fourth of July there. We rollerskated at a family-owned rink, we ran from my uncle Phil who liked to pull our loose teeth, we dreaded our grandma's very firm hair scrubs in the sink, we cousins put on plays, and jumped from bed to bed in the "cold room", a bare-floored storage-type room lined with double beds, we went to the July 4th parade and scrambled for candy thrown from the passing floats, and we stayed up late sitting on the lawn on the side of the house and watched fireworks. We often went to Yellowstone during those visits, but that was nearly 30 years ago and the only thing I really remember was the smell of sulfur, and that any food we ate in the park had the sulfur taste. And Old Faithful, of course.

Every three years for the past twelve years or so my mom's family has come together. Now it is all of my cousins (and there are a lot of us) and all of our kids. It is a big group! This year we went back closer to our childhood memories and stayed in some cabins in a little town right outside of the west entrance to Yellowstone. It is always really fun to see my cousins and their families. We had the traditional Wiffle Ball Games, card games, talent show (if you can call our acts talents) and the GARNie Awards. This year the girls really connected with second cousins. It was fun to have them disappear first thing in the morning and have to call them in at night from the surrounding woods. Good good times.

One day a group of us went to Yellowstone. One day was a mere nibble, but it was a great nibble!

My mom, her sister Kris, my brother Nate and his wife Kim, my cousin Ashley and her family, and another small second cousin, Addie

While waiting for some construction my brother Nate got out of his truck with his portable toilet and walked a short distance from our cars before sitting down. Always good for a laugh when things get dull...

A gorgeous canyon and falls

We had all the girl cousins packed into our van. Geoff was a very good sport! They had a blast.



While driving we saw a buffalo walking along the road.


It wasn't the last! We saw buffalo everywhere.

We also got pretty close (probably too close!) to this elk.


And then we pulled over to see why people were running off over a prairie. There was a mama bear with cubs! We parked our cars and ran to see for ourselves. There was a ranger to keep people at a safe distance (about 200 feet). It was so awesome to see!

The mama bear is eating a dead elk carcass in the water. The three cubs followed her wherever she went.

I love this picture of my brother Nate and me. I absolutely adore him.

Yellowstone is located inside of an active volcano. The ground bubbles and steams.

I wish this picture was a little closer. This was a herd of buffalo with a lot of baby buffalo lounging off the side of the road.

My mom, Nate, his wife Kim and me waiting for Old Faithful.

My cute mom and Adele

Waiting for Old Faithful...

She didn't disappoint

On the way home we had to wait for some buffalo to cross the road. I don't know if you can see but the mama is butting her little one who was a little too slow. (All of us moms can relate!)

The reunion went a little too fast, but we wasted no time in packing up and moving on...Geoff's family reunion here in Auburn was already well underway!