We went to Yellowstone National Park over a weekend and then, we went again the next weekend with family! It was a little crazy, being home for 3 days to do laundry and grocery runs and then head back the same place but it was so much fun to be in the park.

We lounged in hammocks with friends and the kids played a game based on Pokemon for hours together.

We walked up the road to the lake shore and the kids swam and kayaked and played in the sand.

We huddled under a canopy and played games while it rained and then roasted marshmallows as it sprinkled.

We dipped our feet in the Firehole river and picnicked with the company of jays, ravens, chipmunks, a deer.

We walked miles and miles and waited and waited to see several spectacular geysers as well as really wonderful smaller ones. We admired hot springs and fumaroles.

There are all kinds of surprises in Yellowstone, but I didn’t expect this one: a smily face out of nails in the boardwalk.

We even got a game or two in while camping! (We LOVE games in this family!)

We spotted bison, including two who were head butting each other. We saw elk lounging by the river and crossing streets. We saw deer and a fox. We heard Sandhill cranes in the mornings. We even spotted a swallow landing in a hole in a post on a walkway bridge. We looked inside and saw two baby swallows looking back!

The kids built a fire with minimal assistance and happily tended it while Chris and I worked to make breakfast and pack up camp.

It’s a beautiful place and we thoroughly enjoyed it.