Comparatively boring!

This week was just plain dull compared to last week. I have been busy catching up on errands and laundry, and I've been flooded with calls from potential clients.
Monday night we went to the Pioneer Day parade float preview party. They've got most (but not all) of the floats at the SouthTowne Expo center and anyone can go see them for free. The last couple years we've done this instead of the parade, and we really like it. It is air conditioned, less crowded, and you can see the floats up close and on both sides. Plus we get to vote for the People's Choice Award (and the kids get to vote for the Children's Choice!)
Here are some pictures:




We went over to Dennis & Marti's house to watch the parade on TV the next morning. She made pancakes & bacon and we had a nice breakfast. We enjoyed spending time with Spencer & Bonnie, who just moved back to Utah after Spencer got his law degree in Virginia. They'll be living and working in Odgen - he's doing some kind of clerkship in a court or prosecutor's office or something. I forget the details. (Tim, I gave him your number since he'll be taking the Utah Bar sometime soon.)

We had quite the thunderstorms here Thursday night. I was caught in it driving home from the hospital after teaching Thursday night. I managed through lightning strikes close enough I saw sparks flying from where it hit, power outages, and flooded streets, and through it all about the heaviest rain I've ever had. My fastest wiper speed wasn't enough. But I really felt sorry for the poor teenager I saw in an old Suzuki Samurai with no top on it. No doors, either. AND the poor kid wasn't even wearing a shirt! But I made it home and 2 of my 3 kids slept right through it all!

And finally, I have decided to go to the Lamaze International conference in Phoenix this September, so I have been having fun getting registered and buying my airplane tickets, etc.

Day 1 - Off to the great adventure!

Left home about 10, stopped about 10 times for various people to use the potty. Kyra wasn't feeling well. I should probably give a little background on that.
On Thursday morning, I got a call from the girl's camp director that Kyra had had a seizure that morning. I drove up to get her, and she looked awful. I took her to the pediatrician, who thought, based on Kyra's description of her experience and what the camp director told me, that in fact it wasn't a seizure, but rather simple fainting. We were relieved, took Kyra home, kept her well fed and hydrated, and she slept most of the day. But her headache never went away.
The next morning, she had a fever of 102 and said her throat felt "tight" so back to the doctor we went! I insisted on a strep test, wanting to know one way or the other before we made a decision about the trip, and it was positive for strep. So we got her on antibiotics and she pretty much slept away another day. The doctor felt we would be fine to still go on the trip as long as Kyra still wanted to.
By Saturday morning she was feeling much better, but still tired and so she slept a lot of the way up to Idaho.
So we stopped at the Idaho Falls Temple:

And at a few cemeteries to visit Darrin's ancestors. ("because it wouldn't be Lythgoe family vacation if we didn't visit dead people!" as Kyra put it. Those pics are on the genealogy site if you care)
We finally arrived at the cabin. It was so beautiful! Here are some pictures of the cabin and view from the cabin, taken all throughout the week:




These are all just the pictrues from Darrin's camera. If I have any fantastic shots when I get my film back, I may post some of those, too.

Day 2

It was Sunday, so we went to church in the Island Park Ward. The population of Island Park is 215 (according tot he sign at the city limits) and yet attendance for sacrament meeting was estimated at just over 1000! The water trays for the sacrament were stacked 4 high!
After church, we visited Mesa Falls. Incredibly beautiful there!




We went home, had dinner, and let the kids play in the lake a bit:


Caleb took the adults out for a spin in the boat. Sadly the boat broke down on Monday and Caleb had to go take care of something at work anyway, so it was the only time we got to use it.
Darrin took Brynn for a walk that evening and they looked at wildflowers. Brynn was amazed that they would grow "without anybody planting them!" and we heard her muttering that to herself many times throughout the rest of our vacation.

Day 3

Spent the whole day at Yellowstone!
Saw a bald eagle, some deer and a bison, and had a picnic lunch.


We then went to the artists paint pots, where we saw boiling mud, geysers, and steam vents that were quite loud!




Then it was off to Old Faithful!


Then, on our way back to the cabin, we stopped and waded in the Firehole River. The water was quite warm (a lot of it comes from hot springs & geysers) and shallow. There was an elk resting on the other side of the river from us.



Unfortunately, no one remembered sunscreen and we all got pretty toasted. OUCH!

Day 4

Woke up feeling tired and sore from the day before, and everyone was still sunburned. In the morning we just played around the house. Darrin & I borrowed bikes from Leslie & Jared and rode all the way around the island, then later went out on the kayaks. The kids waded and played in the lake.
In the afternoon, we went to Big Springs, a beautiful place where the river just comes up out of the ground and starts to flow. There are huge fish, a muskrat, and seagulls, all of them will eat bread you feed to them.



Look at all that water! It just comes up from the ground not 50 yeards behind where Darrin was standing when he took this picture!

Here is one of the "Big Springs" (They kind of form a Y shape with the river)

Day 5

Another full day at Yellowstone. We started out at the Midway Geyser basin, where we saw some pretty amazing stuff!


And finally remembered to put on sunscreen this time!



Then we went to find a picnic place, instead finding this bison RIGHT on the side of the road! We actually had to do a U-turn to get this picture from the other side of the road because we couldn't get a picture - he was that close!

After a nice picnic, we went to use the potty, but the same bison had followed us and was now camped outside the restrooms munching on weeds. SO it was on to West Thumb Geyser basin, where there were more amazing things. This first one is Fishing Cone. The story is that the old Mountain Men used to catch fish in the lake, then dip them in the boiling water coming up through this cone to cook them without even removing them from their fishing lines.

This one is the Abyss - the springs here were all remarkably clear, colorful and deep.




Next we visited Lewis Falls - a beautiful place just off the road.

Then we drove out the south entrance of the park and drove through Grand Teton National Park to Jackson Wyoming, where we had reservations to see the Bar J Wranglers. They do a chuckwagon dinner and western show. Callie was very excited to see the western show because of the one she'd done in school. And she was surprised to see one of her classmates was there, too!

The show ended just after 9, and we drove back to the cabin on small rural road, finally arriving at midnight.

Day 6

Hung out at the lake in the morning. Kyra became addicted to being pulled in the tubes behind the jetski:

It may not look like it, but Katie did have fun, too.
I took Callie out in a kayak for a turn around the lake:

And Brynn played in the mud, again. In fact, when we asked her what was the best part of vacation, she said "Playing in the mud."

In the afternoon, we went into West Yellowstone and let the kids pick out something. This is Brynn with "Buffy" the buffalo. (Who is NOT a girl, so don't call him a her!)

And of course, we couldn't pass the fire hydrants there without getting a picture:

Day 7

We just played at the lake all day. Kyra & Callie both drove the jetski with Jared (Callie did it again later with Mike):

Andrea, Leslie & Sarah all got towed in the tube, but it wasn't very successful with three adults:

We saw a mom & baby moose on the other side of the lake, Darrin & Brynn paddled over in the kayak to get this picture:

And even Brynn went out on the jetski with Mike:

(This is the ONE image she decided to draw to remember the vacation in her "journal" her primary teacher gave her. Notice the detail in Mike's beard and Brynn's hairstyle being accurate)
It was a nice, relaxing day!