Island Park 2010

Remember last year's trip to Island Park?

Well dangit, it was so much fun I decided we needed to do it again!

Early in the year I emailed my immediate family and my cousin's families and asked them if they'd be interested in another trip. As luck would have it, enough people were interested that it made the trip quite affordable. Fast forward to June 24th and we had our "2nd annual I.P. trip"! (Isn't there a Simpsons reference to "I.P."? Something about I. P. freely? ha ha ha!)

Anyway, like I was sayin'...

We had a blast!

First thing we did was get in the canoes and row around the reservoir. I use the term "we" loosely. I didn't canoe until the next day. :)


Sam is taking advantage of Carson's ever-improving canoe skills.


The best part about not having small children....you get to completely relax and not have to constantly wonder what your rascals are doing!


This little man was super happy, almost the whole time. If you know Cameron, you will know that a small miracle has taken place!


The water was FREEZING but that didn't stop my kids from playing in it. Crazy nut jobs. Carson's face is priceless here. He is either freaking out about the temperature or he is "relieving" himself. I pretty much don't really want to know the real answer so...moving on.


OH man, Parker splashed Cameron and this is the look Parker received in return. It was so funny! Talk about stink eye! He glared at Parker like this for a good 30 seconds! It reminds me of a teacher or an authoritative figure who has told you a thousand times to be quiet....and then you still talk. This is the look you get. Don't ask me how I know that...


Life is good! I'm already dreaming of going back next year!


The second day we decided to head to Yellowstone. Here we are at Firehole Falls. We had a bunch of boys with us (shocker). The amount of effort it takes to get a good picture is unreal.


But it's worth it....even if everyone isn't smiling. At least they aren't picking their noses!


This picture just screams "Yellowstone" to me. You got the fallen trees, the boardwalks, the steam, the tourists....it's so fun!


This was Prismatic Springs. I think that's what it was called...anyway, it was purdy. Real purdy.







Tatonka. They were everywhere.
You know what's awesome? I just googled Tatonka and "Urban Dictionary" had this definition: tatonka - Native American for Buffalo. In contemporary American society, word more commonly used to describe a really fat chick.
Do you think "chick" means a person or a baby chicken? I am praying noboby has ever referred to me as a "tatonka". My self esteem would crumble I think!

So after Prismatic Springs we were starving. We went down the road to an established picnic area with picnic tables. As we pulled in we noticed two big ol' buffalo just hanging out with the tourists. Awesome.

I showed my photographer brother this picture and said "look at this picture I took! Just go ahead and tell me how awesome I did!" He said "If the buffalo tail wasn't touching the tree on the left it would be better." Whatebs dude, my glass is half full! :)


As we were driving back to the cabin we saw a huge herd of tatonka! Then we took our eyes away from the tourists and saw a huge herd of buffalo! I'll be here all week!

This picture makes me giggle and point. Once an immature kid, always an immature kid. This is why I make a good mother of boys.


Have I mentioned there were lots of buffalo? Oh yeah, I think I did. We also saw a coyote, that was a first for me. No pictures though because I was gawking.


Hey Darren, don't let the buffalo tail touch the tree in your photo! ha ha!


Here we are at Big Springs feeding the fish. You can't tell by this picture, but we are literally being eaten alive by about 999,999 mosquitos! It was the craziest experience! When we got back in the van to go back to the cabin, we had about 182 mosquitos trapped in the vehicle. Not pleasant at all. The kids got real good and slapping and killing the pests! Carson was smart and didn't come with us. He stayed in the reservoir and played. He's hard core like that.


I didn't get many pictures of all my family and cousins hanging out at the cabin, dangit! But it was so nice! Nalani had a 5 week old baby so we all took turns lovin' on her!


Best picture ever! Check out Parker's shadow... for some reason I have a sudden desire to watch Pinnochio.


Sadly, this vacation had a really bizarre ending...The last night we were there Sam and a few of my cousins started feeling sick. They all went to bed early. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of Sam worshipping the porcelain God. Man was he sick. By morning I wasn't feeling too hot. I went upstairs to the fridge to get Cameron a drink. The smell of the food was all it took for my insides to rebel against my gag reflex. I horked. That started a chain reaction in my bodily functions and before I knew it, I was sick as a rabid dog. Most of my family got the same illness. My parents, my brother and his wife, and one cousin were the only ones unaffected out of the adults. The rest of us were moaning and writhing in pain all over the cabin. Flu? Food poisoning? Who knows? All I know is that the drive home on Sunday was the longest drive of my life! I never thought we'd arrive home in one piece. It was bad...real bad. A huge thanks to all the healthy ones who cleaned out the cabin before we left. I can not thank you enough! Every time I stood up to help I thought I was going to die. It was super awesome. I knew that eventually I would laugh about it, but I'm not quite ready to do that. Too soon. Ask me again next year.

So, who is with me for another reunion next year? It's totally worth the effort, I promise! Start saving your pennies now! :)

By the way, Happy Anniversary to my parents today. 42 years of marriage and they still love each other! Precious!!