Yellowstone and the biggest caravan yet

Today I'm thankful for: #1- More family time. This is probably my favorite family activity to do. I love the summer family tradition. We all meet early at Uncle Frank's. Then loaded into 7 different cars. My favorite was all the little kids finding seats in cars next to their cousin friends. Gracee was with Kolby. Porter and Max found their way into Jonathan's car with Lilly. It makes me happy. I just hope they remember this family fun. #2 -A grandpa who has given all of us a love of the beauty of Yellowstone. This family trip is not going to be the same when grandpa is no longer able to make it with us. He has shared his love of Yellowstone with all of us. He rode up with Jed and Amanda and Amanda said, "It's so neat to hear him tell his stories." And it's true. There is something so wonderful to hear him tell all his stories of Yellowstone. He's seen it change quite a bit over his life time - from hundred of bears coming down to the open garbage pit to feed to helping fight the big fire of 1988. My grandpa is a pretty neat guy. #3- Memories that will last forever. This is how life should be. We should be constantly making memories that will not just last in this life but through Eternity. I think this is why this tradition has become one of my favorites. Every year we add a layer onto my memories of the park and my love of family. #4- $5 matching t-shirts. About three years ago we discovered that every Wednesday Yellowstone has park costumer appreciation day and sells $5 t-shirts. We made everyone in our group buy one and put one on for our traditional picture outside of Old Faithful lodge. We planned this trip on Wednesday for the precise purpose of everyone buying shirts. This group shot is my favorite so far. Not only did we have a record 7 cars caravanning but we had the most grandchildren and great-grandchildren of my grandpa with us. This I think is what life is all about - loving families bound together forever. #5- Watching Old Faithful and eating lunch. This year we made it to Old Faithful before eating lunch we quickly took our cool group shot and then pulled up a couple of tree trunks and settled in to eat lunch. Between all of us we had quite the feast and we sat and watched Old Faithful go off for the second time since we got there. #6- A hike and seeing more geysers. After lunch Jed and Amanda, Bethany and Terry, and Aunt Debra and Grandpa all headed home. The rest of us decided that we'd explore some of the trails around Old Faithful. We had a great time walking to some cool different geysers and seeing some very pretty pools. The only bad thing about this was the horrible heat. It got a little too warm for my taste by the time it all ended. #6- Ice cream in the lodge and watching Old Faithful a third time. As soon as we got back I had told Lilly I'd buy her an ice cream so we got in line and to get us some. Soon the rest of the family was back and everyone was getting some delicious ice cream. While we sat in the lodge cooling off Old Faithful went off for a third time since we arrived. #7 - Smooshing pennies with the girls. I smooshed several pennies with Lilly, Gracee, Emme, and Lucie. Pretty cheap entertainment and they were so excited about them. I'm sure they'll be lost before they can make it home but it was fun anyway. #8 - Eating dinner before starting out on the lower loop. By the time we'd done all this we were hungry again. So we found some benches and started to enjoy more sandwiches. The kids played tag and we all enjoyed visiting. Then we started out on the lower loop. It was about 7 by this time. Usually we leave Old Faithful by 2 so we were later but there was no way I wasn't driving the whole loop. Everyone agreed to set off even if it meant getting home really late. #9 - Watching Old Faithful for a record 4 times in one day. As we drove away Old Faithful erupted again. This was a record for our family because we usually watch it once and then head off on our way. Definitely one for the memory books. #10 Fun chats with Kera in the car. Since Aunt Debra headed home early Kera climbed in with Ruffin, Liz, and I. I just love this cousin of mine. She's growing into such a beautiful women. She told us a big secret that she's will be submitting her mission papers on Sunday. Which was a surprise to me because I had no idea that she was even considering it. We'd had a talk about missions back in April and she said she didn't think a mission was for her. So this makes me so happy for her. She's going to do great and will love it! #11 - A snow ball fight on the Continental Divide. We stopped just as we crossed the Continental Divide and jumped out of the car to play in the snow. We didn't play long because the mosquitoes were awful. We had a great time throwing snowballs at each other. #12 Getting separated from each other but finding each other again. Jonathan gave me a walkie- talkie as we left home this morning and we had fun talking back and forth on them all day. Then through Hayden Valley we got separated and couldn't get connected again for quite a while. We couldn't see my favorite falls of Yellowstone so we just kept driving. That was ok because it was getting late. We got to see plenty of buffalo and the rivers were all running really high because of all the snow this year. And of course there was Yellowstone lake which I just love to see. It was a wonderful day. We were all very tired but it was definitely worth the fun day.