Summer Vacation

Oh what a wonderful three week break it was. The kids pretended to be pioneers in the wilderness, swam in the river, and basically needed minimal input from ME! In other words, I told them to go have fun and leave me alone. {smiley face}. I played with them some, too. Elaine was at EFY for the first week, Jeremy was at the National Scout Jamboree for the first two weeks, and Dave was working for the first two weeks. Then he hiked/trail ran 27 miles along the Teton Crest Trail in 10 hours with some other crazy people before joining us. Since Jeremy was gone, we had his cousin Bryce with us for those two weeks which was the greatest plan ever! Chelsea and her kids joined us for a week also, and Grandma and Grandpa were with us the first two weeks.

We saw bald eagles galore (4, to be exact), moose, fish, osprey, cormorants, pelicans, squirrels, chipmunks, dragonflies of myriad hues, Canadian Geese, swans, muskrats, and several other birds for which I need the handy yellow sheet from Yellowstone to remember their names.

We took several day trips to various locations including Targhee Creek, Ice Lake, Quake Lake, and Lava Hot Springs (I'll have to get pictures from grandpa). Of course we couldn't omit ice cream at the Old Faithful Inn. We didn't take the 3 hour float trip, but we took the 20 minute one several afternoons in the kayaks. Fun, fun.

We also got to spend time with Nana in Alpine where Jill got to play with her step-cousins. Mariah spoke in church for her farewell to JAPAN, which we attended and then hung out at their house for an afternoon.

One of the most fun things we did was watch the daily slideshows set to music that Grandpa put together!

I'm actually still feeling refreshed after being home for several days. There is something about the mountain air and Snake River and memories of childhood!