Yellowstone Trip

So, I'm catching up on blogging, and by the dates at the head of these posts, one can see that I had good intentions.




My grandparents are very generous and arrange these fun family reunion vacations every once in a while. This year, we went to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. To the left, you'll see our lovely family picture. Really, couldn't have asked for a better backdrop; it's just a bummer that 3 members of the family couldn't be in it (darn airlines, darn mission)!




Because of several family members' generosity, Nate and I got to take a rock climbing class with lots of family. It was SO fun.



Experiences like the rock climbing are why this was the first family vacation we have taken our children on that made us think, "Oh, this is why people do family vacations." In the past, we have been convinced that family vacations were a perverse form of torture (and if you took a 3 year old Asher and a 1 year old Luke, you'd know how we arrived at that conclusion).

Not to say this vacation didn't have a few bumps. Asher and I were rather sick on this trip (we came home and found out we had strep throat). We went through most of the trip in a haze of a fever. And, I was dumb and decided to try and teach two classes during our vacation. So, Nate and I put in some late nights grading.



Luke was awesome--sleeping in his own pack n' play most nights without a peep. We had some balcony concerns, but overall, with a nanny and a blanket, he was a peach.



Asher was a trooper considering how sick he was, but we had a few problems. Asher has learned that it's ok to pee outside, but you know, that etiquette about when it's ok to pee outside is difficult to figure out. So, that picturesque photo shoot above? Well, while some cousins were doing their pictures, Asher went over to the bushes at the Grand Teton Lodge (if you click on this link, squarely in the middle of the picture, you can see the very spot) pulled down his pants and put his back to the bushes and peed. It was mortifying while being rather hilarious at the same time. I don't think the tourists getting the lodge tour thought it was as funny as Nate and I did, though.

Thank you, Granda and Grandpa for a lovely vacation, and thank you to the K. Clydes for putting it all together!