A Day in West Yellowstone

The day my family left for home, Jake's parents as well as Jordan, Kate and Mae arrived at the cabin. It was fun to get time with both our families in one trip this year, although we did miss Ike and Abe's families. Esther, Josh and little Walter got to the cabin the next day to add to the fun. Earlier that day, me, Jake, Jordan, Kate and little 2 year old Mae took the raft out on the river. It was mine and Jake's 3rd time, but it never gets old! It's just such a beautiful stretch of nature, and a fun little adventure on the water. I forgot to mention that on our first raft trip, we saw a moose and her baby right on the riverbank. The raft started veering towards them, and we hurried and steered away before the mom's protective instincts could kick in!

I always like to keep an eye out for animals and birds when we go, and usually see some kind or another. It was fun rafting with little Mae, because she's so teensy and just sat in the middle with Kate and peeked over the top of her lifejacket and never got scared. We sang some Disney songs to entertain her. The only real action on the river happened at the very end at take out, since we somehow ended up on the opposite side of the river as we were supposed to be. We stroked double time but the boys still had to jump out and stop the raft before we passed the spot called "Last Chance" (which makes it sound nerve racking). Jordan ended up hurting his leg on the rocky bottom, and one of the raft pillows that go in the middle started floating away, but we got it back and all was well.

The next day, we all went to West Yellowstone to walk around town. That's always a fun part of the cabin stay. There are lots of stores that provide hours of window shopping if that's your thing, and there's a plethora of souvenirs and things made of huckleberry. I wanted to take a picture with this sign, which is right before the entrance to Yellowstone Park. Classic.Cami enjoyed riding around in her stroller...part of the time.

Grandma made her happy with some Yellowstone animal cookies, and some silly bandz bracelets from the cute little kid store we visit every year.

Cami and Mae, posing with the souvenir shop stuffed animals.

After walking around for awhile, we all were ready for lunch. We were about to go find a restaurant, when we remembered that we'd seen a carnival in the park and decided to check it out. As soon as we got there, someone asked us, "Would you like some cotton candy? How bout a snow cone? It's all free!" Heck yeah! Who doesn't love free stuff? Especially Jake and I...the bargain seeking freebie lovers. Cami loved trying cotton candy for the first time.

And I actually loved eating it for the first time in years! A wad of cotton melting to sugar in your mouth is quite enjoyable actually. A nice carnival volunteer led us over to the rest of the food....popcorn, hot dogs, soda and cookies! Man, it just got better and better. We all enjoyed a yummy lunch on the grass, and learned that this was all put together by a Baptist church. They did a few skits, passed out some plastic glow in the dark crosses, and didn't want any donations or anything. Very nice people, those Yellowstone Baptists are. The kiddoes also got to choose balloon creations made by a nice clown. Mae was so cute in her pink princess crown.

Here's Cami in her big sun hat, waiting in line for her balloon. haha, my little baby waiting in line for something just seems so weird!!

Yay, she got a purple flower to match her outfit! How cute is that. She loved it and wanted to carry it around, even when she went into the little bounce house. We all loved the free carnival- it was a great way to celebrate the day which happened to be Pioneer Day!