Homeward Bound

After lots of goodbyes and some cleaning we began our way home.  We decided to go home a different way and see a few things on the way.  I have fond memories of going to Mt Rushmore on the way home from Idaho as a kid, so we opted for that route.  We were amazed continually on the whole trip how different and amazing the landscape was from one moment to the next (until we got to KS/OK - boring!).  

We found another small road to stop on to play in the snow for a bit when we were at our highest point in the trip.

We drove until about midnight so that we could wake up and visit Mt Rushmore first thing, but the stomach bug hit Jackson in the night, so he and I opted to hang out at the hotel for a while longer while the others visited the majestic presidents.

With the stomach bug in our midst we opted not to even try to stop again (other than many bathroom breaks!)  Jeff boldly drove us all the way home, arriving at 4am.  I could never do that, I'm so grateful that he can! 

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family, to have these amazing experiences and to cherish the memories we've made.  I'm one lucky lady.

Tuesday & Wednesday

We had a stomach bug running through the family and it hit quite a few people on Tuesday morning.  We had planned our second river trip, a very mild river where even the small kids could come along and the numbers signed up to go kept getting smaller and smaller as the morning progressed.  Everyone was also worn out from our big Yellowstone day the day before.  My family was spared the bug, so we joined the small group on the lazy river.We had one raft and lots of ducky's.  Jeff rode in the raft with Lincoln and Harrison and I was in a ducky with Jack. We had a great time, the water flows smoothly and swiftly and all you really have to do is steer.  There was plenty of splashing of the other boats going on and it was a perfect, relaxing ride.  About half way through I bumped into a bush and a really cool caterpillar landed on my arm.  It was big and colorful and Jack and I tried to keep it from getting wet for the remainder of our trip, showing it off to others as we passed each other.  I wanted to show it to Lincoln and Harrison, but we couldn't find them.  It turns out they had taken a detour through a side stream that they thought would connect right back up, but it detoured them for almost a mile!  They ended up finishing just a few minutes later than the rest of the group.

Jerry told us that the biggest danger on the river would be running into a Moose.  He warned us to just stop and let the moose move away before we proceeded if we saw one.  Mom ran this river a few years ago and there was a moose in it that day.  We were lucky that we got to see the moose, but it got there after we had already unloaded the boats.  We saw it from the spot where we took out and were preparing to go.

The next day we saw another moose on our way to Jenny Lake in the Teton National forest.

It was amazingly beautiful there, but my family was so tired and cranky!

We tried to hike around the lake, but didn't make it very far with tired, grumpy kiddos.

Harrison perked up in an area where he could climb rocks, but then fell apart as soon as we told him he had to leave.

The adults were enjoying the beauty!

We left the group and headed back toward the cabins.  On the way there we decided to stop and touch the snow.  Jack hadn't done it yet, so he was excited to hike up and have a snowball fight.  There was a man there from Germany and I mustered up the courage to ask if I could practice my German with him.  Our discussion was cut short by the kids laughing at how weird we sounded.