I hadn't realized that April was the last post I made. That's essentially right after our Spring break trip to Santa Fe.
So. What happened. Obviously, school ended mid-May. I remember the first couple of weeks after school ended, we had quite a bit going on with kids' activities. Emmeline had tennis camp, I believe, and then Connor had his Boston trip that he went by himself with the middle schoolers. He had fun on that I think. He did come back super late on the last day because of plane delays. Like, 1 or 2 in the morning. Then, the next morning he had some scouts thing.
Oh, after that, Emmeline had her scout camp for a few days as well. She had fun I think with her friends but I felt bad because it was so hot already during that time and they were in cabins with a few other people with no A/C.
Then, finally, after that (I had to look at the calendar real quick), it looks like we had a couple of weeks to relax a bit. Although, Connor had decided he wanted to do baseball during the Summer with the good team from PCO. He had fun and won a few, but I think they were outmatched at the tournaments by the other players.
Anyway, then came mid-July and it was time for our big trip of the Summer to Yellowstone. We'd be there quite a bit, but a few of the days would be strictly for travel, so actually not as long as you would think. We did A LOT of driving. Driving out there caravan-style was, I think, a bad idea. I didn't like it and having to stay in line was horrible for me. Plus, if we ever go back, I'm flying straight to Jackson Hole.
The first day, we drove all the way to Cheyenne. A long day, but it didn't feel like it, actually. We stopped at our usual places along the way, with the last stop at Firestone to eat with Chris. We got to Cheyenne at like 8 or 9 I think and we just went straight to bed. The next day we would be driving into Yellowstone. This was a stressful day because there was a lot of passing and staying together that I had to manage. We were all getting to Yellowstone to the same location, so I don't know why we had to stay together. Anyway. We arrived at Lake Yellowstone, I think, and right off the bat, we saw a mother bear with 2 of her cubs walking along the lake. It was pretty far, but we had brought all our binoculars. Good thing I still had my semi-good binoculars from when I was a kid. I don't even know where I got it. Pretty sure it was my brothers that I just took or something like that.
We stayed and traveled basically every day, so I can't really remember all the stops and stays we did. Heck, I can't even remember the first place we stayed. I think it was Lake Yellowstone lodge, with the big yellow building. Every time we stayed, we would have to bring in so much stuff because of bears and then bring it back out the next morning. The next day, I think was the day we saw wolves. I didn't think we would see any, but we were driving around and we saw this wolf-tracker van and group and they were looking up at something, so we parked next to them and tried to look. It took a while, but we were all able to see this tiny little black speck WITH our binoculars moving around. I guess that still counts as a sighting. Afterwards, I thought it was cool and didn't think it was THAT rare, but apparently there are only like 100-120 wolves in ALL OF YELLOWSTONE, divided into like 9 or 10 packs. If you think about it that way, seeing the 1, and however many there actually was up there, that's pretty cool.
Afterwards, I think the next stay was the Roosevelt Lodge, where we had 5 or 6 small lodges with a tiny bed to share 2 a piece in. I stayed with Connor and Laura stayed with Emmeline. He woke me up so many times. Plus it was super loud with people walking by our lodge. Not even a lodge, more like a shack. I didn't like this stay. The area was nice, but bathrooms were communal. Laura did sign us up for a chuckwagon dinner, though, and that was cool. We departed right near our lodges and then took a carriage ride to a location where we ate stake and stuff. There was a guy singing country songs, pretty well, actually, and just hanging out in general. It started to rain for about 20 minutes or so, but it was actually nice because it kept the mosquitos away and kept it cool. We stood under the trees during it and stopped pretty quickly, so it was all good. It also made the carriage ride back not dusty at all, so that's another plus. The steak and dinner was good.
The next day, I believe was the day Laura couldn't find her credit card. That was stressful. We were basically driving the same way we came from, so we tried to backtrack and, thank god, it was found at the stop we had made the previous day. I don't think this was the day we went to the Tetons...maybe it was. No, I think it was another lodge along the other side of Lake Yellowstone. It was a much better stay than Roosevelt Lodge. We had a little stressful dinner because of our seating arrangement, but it was fine.
The next day, we were on our way to the Tetons to meet up with the McGuires, if I'm not mistaken. We got there a bit before check-in and met them at this huge lodge/great hall area. The view was great. I took a lot of photos there. We all hung around until our rooms were ready and it was dinner time. Dinner was good at this little diner-type restaurant. Afterwards, we went outside to the overlook outside and the view was amazing. This might have been my favorite day/time. I really wish I had my camera - or any camera at that, since I currently don't have one. Something about looking at the Tetons during sunset and seeing it all hazy and how vast the view was, made me want to get a camera and start shooting again. I kind of imagined that was the same feeling one would feel if you had summited Everest and stood at the top. Everything quiet and you're just staring into the horizon thinking about how insignificant you really are compared to these huge mountains. We saw the "grand canyon of Yellowstone" earlier in the trip and that was pretty cool, but something about the Tetons was different.
The next day, we did some day hikes at Jenny Lake after yet another stressful time driving, this time because we needed to find 4 parking spots for 4 HONDA ODYSSEYs. To boot, we had gotten to a late start and everything was full. It didn't help that the first place we stopped at, we all were able to find spots...then we left to head to Jenny Lake, but that was completely full, so we had to go back and it was just a mess. It ended up all fine, though. That night, we stayed at the lodge for a 2nd night, for the first time during our trip, and ate at the diner again. We hung out that night because the boys and Emmeline were slated to white water raft the next day in Jackson Hole.
Oh, we did visit the Grand Prismatic Spring and Old Faithful as well. I forgot when that was. I think after the chuck wagon place but before the Tetons. The Old Faithful Inn was pretty cool. However, it was the first time during the trip that I was overwhelmed with how crowded it was. The parking lot literally looked like the parking lot of Disneyworld or something. Anyway, we sat around and watched Old Faithful go off a few times.
Last day was in Jackson Hole. White water rafting ended up being pretty fun. First time in a wet suit and first time rafting, so. The rapids weren't too bad, either. It was just right. I felt bad that Emmeline and Joseph were cold after they got wet the first time because they both had shirts under their wet suit. If I had known, I would have told them to not do that. Oh well. They all had fun. It was nice that our raft was an 8-person one and we filled it up with just us.
Afterwards, we hung out in town, went shopping, and then ate at this fancy place that Dave and Karen liked to go to. It was pretty good. We hung out for the rest of the night and the next way, we would have to be leaving at a decent time because we had to get all the way to Colby that day. A longer drive than our first day to Cheyenne. To boot, we had decided we would take a detour to Independence Rock and Laramie on the way, so that added a couple of hours to our drive. The other parties went straight there and got there a couple of hours earlier. Independence Rock was pretty cool, though. I still think Laura should have climbed the rock, but she was in sandals anyway. Seeing Laramie was cool, too. I still miss Laramie when we lived there. We saw our old townhouse, which wasn't take care of, it seemed. It was still white like we painted, though.
After getting to Colby, it was straight to bed since it was like 10pm. The next day, we got to Edmond in time to pick up Libby. Oh, to add to the stress - about halfway through the trip, Laura got a call from the kennel saying Libby hadn't eaten the first several days. She finally ate some wet food or something, but yeah. She did the same thing for a little bit at home, but then finally started to eat again. She had lost like 3-4 lbs so she was looking pretty skinny/healthy, actually. I think she's gaining back some weight now, though.
After we got back, a couple of weeks went by and now school has started. THANK GOD. I think the kids were getting bored, too, anyway. It's looking to be a busy year, especially if I intend to do some of the things I was thinking about. I want to do a photography enrichment cluster this year. Not sure if I can pull it off, but I still have a month or so to think about it. Then there's academic bowl and during the back to school day, I had put out some interest sheets for a possible chess club and computer club. There were a lot more sign-ups than I had imagined. Good thing it's not a definite thing. Still, I would like to do it, maybe even as a monthly thing. Dunno yet. I think I'm trying to juggle too many things, but it's something I'd like to do.
Anyway, Laura and the kids are in St. Louis tonight watching the game that just ended. I'm about to head to bed. I woke up early today for some reason. I always do when they're gone...They'll be back on Sunday, I think. That's going to be a long day because they need to be at the confirmation meeting at 3:45. Gonna be an early start.