Kid Conversations on Vacation

Prepping for a red eye flight home

We just got back from a Utah/Yellowstone/Sun Valley family trip- spurred by Jay's cousin getting married in Sun Valley (Thanks Lauren!).

We flew into the Salt Lake City airport (cheaper! and to visit friends and family) and rented a car there.  Needless to say, we spent a LOT of time in the car.  I thought it would be generous to allow each child to pick out a "road trip treat" at Trader Joe's for everyone to enjoy and snack on together, during the long drives.

At our favorite burger joint in Provo

The Frog: [with great frustration and annoyance in his voice] The reason I don't like living in this family is because all we do is share!

He almost left his jelly beans behind so that he wouldn't have to share them.  We could not seem to convince him that some jelly beans were better than none.  (I still can't believe I was trying to convince my son to let me buy him some candy!!) Once he found out he would get to be the jelly bean manager, he decided it might be worth it after all.  (me thinks the sleep deprivation may have been talking all along...)

Toad's first In-n-Out

The next day after about hour 4 or 5 in the car Hazel was getting really fed up.
Hazel: The only things I want to do are eat cookies or GO. HOME!

Pretty soon we saw our first buffalo, and boy did that create some excitement!  We pulled over and everyone got out of the car so we could point to the one, tiny buffalo off in the distance.  Everyone got back into the car, more enthusiastic, and then we rounded the corner and there were seemingly hundreds of buffalo, EVERYWHERE, including crossing the road right in front of us.

Wedding welcome dinner w/ cousin P

When we got to our cabin that night, The Frog got the roll away bed and we didn't set it up properly, so if he didn't balance perfectly in the middle, it would fall over or close up on him.  We had a good laugh imagining him trying to sleep there all night.  Jay to the rescue- fixed it :)

Cousin A meeting Toad

We had fun convincing the kids there was a dragon living in "dragon's breath cave" at Yellowstone.  We enjoyed the general scenery, paint pots and bubbling mud pits, more buffalo, elk, a pronghorn and even spotted a coyote.  The burgers we had were actually good and reasonably priced- a very pleasant surprise after our overpriced, subpar meal at the hotel where we stayed.  The scenery was beautiful and it only felt crowded when we approached "Old Faithful".  Turns out their predicted times are not quite as "faithful" and even though we were there 45 min early to get a good seat, we ended up watching it shoot up into the air from the car as we were on our way to the parking lot.  After seeing the gigantic parking lot and how completely packed it was, we opted not to get out and deal with the post-eruption traffic that would soon emerge.

Treats at "The Chocolate"

We drove back through the Tetons, the next day, on our way to Sun Valley for a delightful 48 hours of outdoor wedding celebrations with kids everywhere and delicious food.  Bonus: our airbnb condo rental had a community pool, hot tub, and sauna.

Back to Salt Lake City to visit grandma, cousins, and friends.

Krispy Kreme!

After all this driving, you can imagine our surprise when The Frog suddenly exclaims: Hey! They have McDonald's in Utah!  I thought it was only in Massachusetts!

Jay and I got a good laugh out of that.

Me: They have McDonald's all over the world!
Jay: They have it in Paris!
Me: They have them in Hungary and Japan!
Peach:  [matter-of-factly, in a very know-it-all tone of voice] Of course they have it in Hungary, 'cause it's hungry!

These are all just cell phone shots.  I still haven't uploaded any camera pics.  Don't hold your breath.  It's been awhile since I've uploaded any photos, yeah?

Family Photos at Vassar!

I have so much I could say right now and a lot of catch up, but this blog has been photoless for too long, and I'm excited about how well our photo shoot went today, so I'm just going to put up some of my favorites.  We thought it would be fun to utilize all the cool old buildings at Vassar, so that's where we are!

Unfortunately, the family pics weren't great... we'll probably have to do them again (the downfall of using self-timer...) but I got some really fun shots of the kids!  One of our family shots would have been ok if the lens were just clean!! argh!!  You'll know which photo that is when you see it...

These are all without editing, except for the second family photo whose colors were completely washed out.

here's the dirty lens shot.  le sigh.

if only I had just scooted closer!!

The Frog suggested this picture.  I love that he was getting into the whole thing :)

Peach chose this spot.  It's one of my favorites! 

Candid, but I love this one!

Can you tell I love this door? Put it with these kids and I'm completely enamored!

3 of the same shot, sorry! it's so hard not to show them all!!

I finally got an all girls shot to replace my framed one of me with Peach when she was a baby

LOVE this girl!!

It is SO hard to get him to look at the camera!

Turns out, The Frog might be boy band material! ;)

It is sooo hard to get a good pic of Peach smiling.  When she smiles on command she really just squints her eyes and shows her teeth, haha

Funny small door.  "What's in there?"

My cute boys

I love seeing the hole where The Frog's 2 teeth are missing! :)

Family Photos- Takes 3 & 4

I've resumed trying to get a decent family photo before church on Sundays... these last two tries have produced decent results, but I think I may keep trying.

I wish I knew what Hazel knows...

 The Frog kept making silly faces this day, so I thought maybe if I let us have a silly-face photo shoot first, we could get it out of our system.

 It definitely helped!

He Was SO Mad...

Here's the result of last Sunday's photo.

 Why is it I always feel like everyone looks good except for me?

After church, I can't even remember why now... The Frog was upset and angrily proclaimed (I'm sure he got this idea from Mercer Mayer's I Was SO Mad)
"I'm going to run away!!"

I think I shocked him with my response- I put on a dejected face and said, "Okay.  You better go pack your things!  You're going to need extra underwear and something to eat... Where's your backpack?"

He immediately calmed down, ran around the house filling his backpack with things he would need for the road (mostly cars, though I think he did pack some underwear too).  I suggested he take things that don't need to be kept cold to keep from spoiling and when I suggested fruit snacks and crackers, he took the fruit snacks and said, "I don't have enough room for the crackers".

Peach also decided she should go with him, so she packed up a bag as well.

Before The Frog left, I told him I'd miss him and asked if I might take a picture of him to remember him by.  Surprisingly, he obliged.

We waved him off and told him to be sure and look both ways before crossing the street and that we would miss him, and then Peach ceremoniously left as well and yelled back that she'd be sure to look both ways also.

He sat outside in the front yard for about 30 seconds, and then knocked on the door needing help opening his fruit snacks.  He decided not to run away after all :)