YELLOWSTONE TRIP DAY ONE AND TWO

August 3-7, 2016

I was so excited that my mom was going with me to YELLOWSTONE with Zach and Mikell and Mikell's family. I knew we would have a great time. I was excited to show her how beautiful YELLOWSTONE was. It's great going with the Beckstead's because they have gone every year since Mikell's mom was a baby! It's awesome having our own tour guides.

Because this will be a long post, I will separate it in each day. That will also help me keep track in my records. Well, we did have a fabulous trip. My mom was in awe of how big YELLOWSTONE is and we were always oohing and aahing over every beautiful thing we saw. You get beautiful meadows, streams running through them, forest, mountain ranges, a huge lake with a sandy beach, etc...I mean this landscape was always changing. Mom said this was one of her favorite trips ever! I am so glad I got to spend this time with her. We had some great laughs too. We always laugh so hard when we are together!

Day One: We drove into West Yellowstone and got out to do some shopping. Then headed up to our hotel in Yellowstone. We stay in Canyon Village every year. Mikell's parents and grandparents have trailers, and Zach and Kell always stay in a tent. I usually stay with them but this time we (me and Mom) stayed in the Lodge. Oh my heck! I will never tent it again!!

We got all situated then went to the campground to have a nummy dinner of steak and the best bacon cheesy potatoes. Of course we roasted marshmallows afterwards.

Here we are! Roadtrippin' for 5 hours to YELLOWSTONE!

We stopped at Ashley's on the way to say hi and play with the kiddo's for a few minutes. On the drive to Yellowstone, we made up the funniest skit! We laughed so hard! We cannot wait to have our Jimmy Fallon Party for our family. Just need to figure out a time to have this party!

 We met everyone here before going shopping. We wanted our pic taken where it said Montana!

 We ran into this fella while shopping in West Yellowstone. Mom bought a really cute watch.

 This is Boston patiently waiting for the fire to make coals so we could make s'mores!

DAY 2:  We woke up early and headed over to the campsite to make breakfast for everyone. It turned out SO GOOD! We made breakfast burritos and yogurt parfaits for everyone and it was delicious! (Everyone takes a turn making a meal for everyone). Then we headed out for some pretty amazing sights!

(It was so nice to have a soft bed, a warm shower and the ability to curl your hair while staying in the Lodge!)

We first went to my favorite place in Yellowstone. The UPPER FALLS is amazing! The power of that rushing water is phenomenal! I could stare at it all day. I am fascinated by water. But how cool to watch it so closely go over that waterfall! Everyone needs to see this!

 This is how it starts out all nice and pretty and then...

 Zach, Shirley and Neal. Neal was telling Mom all about this amazing waterfall and river.

 This is the UPPER FALLS. This is on top of the waterfall. It is a very powerful rushing of water that is mesmerizing when you're there!

 Mikell with her family and my mom. Nan and Pops weren't in this pic but they were on this trip.

Me and my cute family!

 After the waterfall it lands in this river. It really was beautiful!

                                                      Mikell and Waylon

                                       Here is Mom overlooking the Falls

                                                             One last look!

                              Boston and his cousin, Evie climbed up on the big rocks.

                                                               Me and Mikell

Then we were off to see the GRAND CANYON OF THE YELLOWSTONE. So majestic and beautiful. Definitely know where they got the name YELLOWSTONE!

This is really zoomed in to see the river below! 

                                     I love this beautiful yellow rock!

 Boston and Waylon were already done looking at the camera on the first day with 2 grandparents (Me and Melanie) and their parents taking pics! Ha! Ha! Poor kids!

Boston and Zach taking in the breathtaking views

Then on to the MUD POTS:

 Boston loved looking at Dragon's Breath. It not only smelled like it but it sounded like it too!

Mom, Melanie and Neal taking a look see at the mud pot! 

 Had to include a pic with Stacy (Kell's Sister-in-law and her kiddo's).

Loved seeing all of this cool stuff with this cutie!

Next we went to the RIVER to have lunch:

                              Cousins checking out the little fishies

 It felt so good to walk out in the river. Loved playing with Boston and Evie

 Boston trying to find the little fishies. There were tons of them!

                                  Mikell and Zach. So cute! They LOVE Yellowstone!

                                 Waylon and Owen had fun playing in the water.

                                         Zach joined the kids trying to catch little fishies!

Mikell and Grandma Shirley

This was so relaxing! We had a great time playing by the river.

Next, we decided to let Zach and Mikell, Dan and Stacy and Neal go FLY FISHING while the 3 Grandma's watched all the kiddo's (5 of them). We all stopped at FISHING BRIDGE to get an ice cream and get their fishing licenses.

Then we took the kids to a little museum and they loved it!

 Then we walked out the back door, down some stairs to the best little beach for the kids to play on. We had so much fun! They built sand castles, buried my legs (why do the kids like to do that to me? LOL )

                                  Emmett, Evelyn, Boston, Waylon and little Owen

                                      The kiddo's with Grandma Shirley and Grandma Melanie

                                           Waylon kept saying, "Watch me! Watch me!"

 Trying to squeeze in a selfie with Boston...kind of failed but what the heck?!

 These two cousins had the best time playing with each other. They were best buds!

 Waylon would squeal with laughter when I would say EWWW! to his sandy hands!

 Eww! Boston! They loved acting like they were going to get me and Grandma Shirley!

                                                Evie and her awesome castle!

 I asked Boston to jump up to show me how excited he was to be playing at the beach!

                                    I love this awesome jump!

                                       Boston almost did the Chinese splits!

After playing at the BEACH we went back to CAMP and built BEAR TRAPS, played games, got dinner (French Dips with this nummy salad, were amazing!)

 Waylon was SO FUNNY! He had everyone laughing as he was playing Simon Says. He wouldn't let anyone else have a turn and the big kids were having so much fun following him around doing the craziest things, that they just let him be Simon!

 Then we made S'Mores.

 Mom held Owen the whole time. He loved Grandma Shirley!

                                      Boston made the best S'Mores!

Me and Mom went and checked in at our CABIN and we saw these little baby elks outside our window.

We stayed in this cabin. And Mom kept laughing because I guess I said it like 10 times that this was the best night sleep I have had in years! I didn't even roll over. I was snoring before my head hit the pillow! We had the BEST DAY!

Now if you made it to the end of this long post, you are a gem! Now get ready for DAY 3 AND 4! They were amazing!!