Rule #54: vacations should end in hot tubs

We went to Yellowstone with my Papa, Emma and our collective families. The Lawson's were unable to come due to the distance and the ever increasing belly of my sister. :) Jason/Laura and kids were also unable to come due to the distance, and Jaymes, Robbie and Lyle were missed as well, for work related reasons. Hopefully someday we can all take a vacation together.

But for those of us who were able to go, I think I can speak for us all, it was fantastic! Papa and Emma rented a beautiful "cabin" in Ashton, ID. It's about an hour away from Yellowstone. I use the word cabin loosely, this place was amazing! Unfortunately I wasn't thinking about blogging and therefore did not take any pictures of the cabin. To see pictures check out my sisters blog. Click here It sleeps 30 people, several bedrooms, hot tub, pool table, ping pong table, air hockey, theater room...you get my drift. This was no dumpy drafty cabin. And to top it all off, it was right on the lake, with a large grass area and a fire pit! Have I sold you yet? You wanna go too right? I don't blame you.

It was only about a four hour drive to Ashton, which is very doable. Especially if you have a champion traveler like my son! I had high hopes that he would sleep...I was wrong. But even staying awake for most of the trip, he was very pleasant.

Pretty content to just read his books!

We all took turns cooking meals during the trip. Hands down the Millers out shined everyone else with their mexican meal. Mmm, delish! But thanks to all who cooked, it made meals so nice and simple.

Ryan and Morgan

On Monday we went to yellowstone. I haven't been since I was a little girl. I had a really good time, but I had forgotten that once you are in Yellowstone, you still have a LOT of driving to do to go see any sites. And there was a very inconvenient road closure that blocked off the quickest route to the falls. Because of that, we all went to see Old Faithful, and then ate lunch together. After lunch our group split up. Papa, Emma, Jenny, Emma's brother Scott and his wife Melanie and the Miller clan all drove the round about way to go see the falls. The Daly's and my own little family opted to stay with the geysers and then head back to the cabin. It was so nice to be able separate like that, so everyone was able to do want they wanted to. I don't think we felt any pressure to stay together every moment. It was a very chill, relaxing vacation that way.Emilie, Tennyson, Karaia, Melanie in the back, Emily and Brooklynn

The weather got down right hot while walking around the boardwalk, but we all had a wonderful time. Beckham and Karaia never leave me bored. They had to take turns reading the signs of the geysers. Sibling rivalry, even when minimal is somewhat amusing to me. (We'll see how I'll feel when it's my kids.) And Alex was almost banned from being their uncle with a few of his blunt/adult comments. "if you fell into the geyser you'd die" etc etc. Brooklynn and Beckham! How cute is that?!

After our loop around the geysers then we split up once more. The Dalys wanted to see one more site, while Alex and I, but mostly Evan were pretty much done. Alex wanted to stop in West Yellowstone to find a rock shop. And boy did we ever! We spent over an hour in one store! Evan was so relieved to finally be able to crawl around! There were two cute old ladies running the store who practically fell in love with Evan. (who wouldn't?) There was a VERY large table piled with polished semi-precious stones. Evan couldn't get enough of them. He kept wanting to crawl onto the table. Finally one of the sweet old ladies said he could, that it happens all the time. I very well might have been the highlight of the trip for Evan. While Alex was still deciding between this rock or that rock, evan played and babbled in his pile. Alex took a picture with his phone that I'll try and remember to upload later. This is Evan, pretty much done with the stroller. But super cute in his new vest!

Then on Tuesday, to further demonstrate our laid back vacation. We just kicked it at the cabin. Evan let Alex and I sleep in even! The kids played in the river, Ryan and I played a few games of badminton, I remember being better at that game when I was younger. Many a pool game was played and I just about knocked my fathers fingers off playing air hockey.

The adults sat in the hot tub every night and gazed and the stars. And at the bat, it was officially decided it was a bat we kept glimpsing in the night. Every vacation day should end in a hot tub.

We left Wednesday morning, wanting to make it home early enough for me to take a nap for work that night, which we did. Evan was again a wonderful traveler. Myself on the other hand, I was so sick of being in that car! The last 3o minutes felt like 2 hours! Brooklynn and Morgan keeping Evan entertained while the adults cleaned up!

Thanks again to Papa and Emma for provided such a fun and wonderful memory! I'm so glad that we were able to go. What's more, going on vacation and not having to use any vacation time is pretty awesome!