Old Faithful, Jenny Lake, and Jackson Hole

Here I sit, 3 months later, and I still can't believe how much fun we had on our Fall Break! The Earth really is so beautiful, and it is my goal in life to explore as much of it as we can with our kiddo's. These memories with them is So Important!

Anyway, back to the Fall Break Goodness.

Saturday, we didn't really have much left to see in Yellowstone except for Old Faithful, you know, nothing spectacular ...

After Breakfast, I left Greg in the hotel room with a sleeping Quincey and 2 girlies happy as clams to be watching a movie on the tablet, and I set off down the stree to do some shopping. I was determined to find a Yellowstone shirt, dangit! Well, I must have spent a little too much time perusing the shops, because when I got back to the hotel room, Greg was a little frantic because we were way behind schedule as to when the next projected Old Faithful eruption was to occur.

We quickly loaded the car and drove as fast as we could to Old Faithful. Greg was determined to see it, so I let him jump out of the car and run to the site while I tried to find a parking spot.

Well, you guessed it. Greg missed Old Faithful by mere seconds. Again. Poor Guy. We decided to wait around the next 90 minutes or so. He's a good sport. We had a quick snack in the car and waited for cousins to arrive. My Sister and her family were in Yellowstone for Fall Break as well but hadn't been able to meet up until we were leaving. It was fun to see cousins!

Quincey's new thing is pulling her socks off. 

We walked around the History Center and read about Old Faithful. Have I mentioned yet how cool Yellowstone is?

The group!

These two are hilarious!

I'm including both pictures simply because I can't choose between the two.

It happened!

There she blows!

They aren't joking when they say "Third times the charm." Poor Greg.

front row seats!

We're not sure what this thing is for, so we had Sofi stand on it.

We said our Goodbyes to Old Faithful, Yellowstone, and cousins by heading out Yellowstone's South Entrance. If you think coming in from the West was beautiful, we were awestruck at the view! There were valleys, forests, waterfalls, and beautiful Fall foliage. Greg and I took in the splendor while the girls were completely oblivious in the backseat giggling away to yet another movie.

My sister mentioned stopping at Jenny's Lake, and I had no idea what that was, so in true FOMO fashion, I told Greg we were stopping there as well, and I'm so glad we did. 

It. Was. BEAUTIFUL! 

Like, so beautiful I'm going to plan a trip just to go back there. 

Let me show you what I mean...

Look at that view! 

The real MVP.

Sof [im]patiently waiting for us to catch up to her.

Rock hunting. Then throwing.

Splash!

By now, Claire was all pictured out and headed back to the car.

We saw a fox!

We were starting to get hungry, so we got back in the car and headed toward Jackson Hole, where we were to stay for the night. On our way in, we saw a lot of cars parked on the side of the road. In true tourist fashion, we found a spot and jumped out. We found a mama and baby moose shading themselves in a river wash. Look really close and you might be able to see them.

Moose are only safe from a distance. And, how funny is it that we seemed to see more wildlife outside of Yellowstone than inside? 

By the time we got to Jackson Hole, we were all pretty much starving. We decided to eat at a Mexican place, because it seemed the safest bet to have something at least most of us would eat (I'm looking at you, Sof).

We all managed to eat something, the place really wasn't that great, and afterwards we had fun walking around the streets and admiring the beauty of Jackson. 

Sof found a bear.

After the girls were able to find a fun souvenior, we headed back to the car to go check into our Hotel for the night. We were given a room with a mini bar, couch, and two beds. It was fairly spacious, which was a perk. Greg took the girls swimming while I put Quincey to sleep. Afterwards, being the stellar parent that I am, I left her and went to join them.

Sof had made a fun friend in the pool and was thrilled to learn that they lived in Clearfield. So, I got the Mom's number to coordinate a playdate with the girls one day.

Claire's Mermaid dreams came true when someone let her borrow their mermaid tail. I have to admit, she was a beautiful mermaid.

Our hotel had a couple of different buildings. It was pretty cool how they engineered the pool to be inside the main building on the 2nd floor. 

We had a fun day!

Wait until you hear the story of what happened that night, but that's for another post 😲.

Fall Break - Driving for Hours on Friday

We were up and loaded in record time because we had a lot of places to see and we wanted to beat the morning rush. We still hit the rush, but managed to turn left when it seems everyone else turned right, so that was promising.

Yellowstone is COLD in the mornings, but it made the landscape look so cool with all of the steam rising everywhere. We realized Fall is the best time to view Yellowstone, because you get the beautiful Fall foliage, and you also get the view of the steam in the morning. It makes you realize how many hot spots there really are.

We managed to find what seemed to be the longest walk, the first thing in the morning. While Greg was blissfully enjoying the view with these two, I was busy pushing the stroller and Claire ...

It's a good thing she's hilarious.

Here's a baby hot spring just bubbling away.

She knows when she's being difficult. 

We stopped for a lunch break. The girls were excited to eat their lunchables!

Here is the Trip's MVP!

We found a massive waterfall!

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be in Claire's head for 5 seconds ... I'm not sure I'd be able to keep up with her.

The girls loved sitting in the front seat with us as we drove for miles and miles. It's the only thing that kept them sane. We wouldn't let them watch a movie while we were in the Park.

A different angle of the Massive Waterfall. It really was incredible!

The story of this hot spot was pretty cool. It has slowly stopped bubbling over time. It was found in the 90's and no longer bubbles over the rocks, but you can still hear the steam and the waves inside the cave.

On our way back to the hotel for dinner. The girls finally got to watch their movie. They inherited Greg's joy for watching movies, and it's hilarious every time! I love hearing all 3 of them giggle in the backseat.

It was recommended to us to try the Italian Restaurant on Main Street. It was alright.

We found Yogi Bear!

We got a picture of the sign on our way back to the hotel. It was genius to do it when there wasn't a line!

Meanwhile, everyone swam to their heart's content while I was putting Quincey to sleep.

Round 2 of S'more kits.