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| Our most favorite stop in Yellowstone- the Grand Prismatic Spring |
Traveling with my family around the country was a huge part of my life growing up. We camped, stayed at KOA's, visited National parks and museums, and made sweet memories I still carry with me. But most importantly and completely unexpectedly, all of this adventuring instilled in me a deep love of the outdoors, nature, and an overwhelming desire to share this love with my own family.
I planned a trip to Yellowstone for us the day after school got out. There was just one tiny problem- a major cold front blew through the area, and it actually SNOWED there on the first day of summer (the day before we arrived). So I read up on how to keep small children alive in sub-zero temperatures in a TENT. A lot of people recommended we warm up water bottles and put them inside sleeping bags. I'm pretty sure my kids would open those lovely water bottles to quench their sudden middle-of-the-night thirst, spill them, and then they would be freezing AND wet. Holy nightmare.
warm water bottles
I liked the idea of a tent heater much better, but the tent would need to be ventilated and the heater would have to stay far away from flammable sleeping bags. I thought we might be able to manage that, so we bought a little tent heater.
I packed the kids' winter coats, hats, and gloves, and Kyle bought them real sleeping bags (because those cute ones for sleepovers at my moms would definitely not cut it).
For those poor parents who unexpectedly find themselves in a similar situation, here's what worked for us during those sub-zero nights:
The kids ended up sleeping two to a sleeping bag, with a second sleeping bag on top, each with two pairs of pajamas, fluffy socks, and their snow hats. Combined with the tent heater...TADA!
We finally got to our KOA just outside of the West Yellowstone entrance just after 7 pm. I asked Kyle to get the fire going right away so that I could prepare hobo dinners while he set up an enormous 16 man tent. That poor fire went out over and over and over again... I think the wood we bought was really young or something! The whole time Kyle struggled to set up the tent alone and we both struggled to keep the fire going, Elle cheered us on with:
"You're doing such a great job!"
"Wow, that looks great!"
"You're working so hard! I'm proud of you!"
It helped calm our stressed-out nerves, and made us both laugh when we really needed to! It was 10 pm and dark by the time the tent was finally set up and our really delicious dinners were finished.
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| eating dinner by the light of a lamp! |
The next morning, I went to our duffel bag to put on my tennis shoes. Now....Kyle and I have matching black Nike's with a white swoosh. It turns out, I had packed my right tennis shoe and also KYLE'S right tennis shoe. So I walked around all morning, making breakfast and chatting with our camp neighbors, wearing two right shoes, one of them
four sizes too big. Kyle and I laughed so hard! Luckily, there was a little country store a few miles away, where they sold Yellowstone souvenirs, milkshakes, moccasins, cowboy boots, and a single pair of blue women's tennis shoes...which I obviously purchased! Disaster averted.
After everyone enjoyed a milkshake, we set out for Old Faithful and the Upper Geyser Basin. My kids could NOT get the name right. They called the world-famous geyser Old Grateful, Old Thankful, and occasionally by its correct name, Old Faithful.
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| Their first elk sighting! |
The kids loooved the geysers and beautiful, colorful pools. It was like they couldn't see enough or say enough about each one we walked past.
"Mom, what's this one called?!"
"Mom, look at this one!"
"Mom, this one is boiling!!"
They would've walked forever, on a quest to see what we called "the rainbow pool" at the top of the basin. But the mother in me knew that we still had to trek for miles all the way back to the car, and my kids were exhausted. So we turned around and headed back to camp for a much earlier bedtime than the night before!
Juliette kept saying, "I can't believe we're really camping!!! This is the best trip EVER!"
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| s'mores every night... |
The following day, we planned to take the kids swimming in a river, where a hot spring flowed in and the water felt as warm as a bath. However, over night, the forecast had changed, and we were up against a huge freezing rain and thunder storm. We opted instead to hurry to the Grand Prismatic Spring before the storm hit, and then the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. London was really really upset because swimming in the river was what she was most excited about. BUT when she saw this amazing blue pool, she forgot all about the swimming!
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| The Grand Prismatic Spring was THE BEST. |
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| We're a family of aggressive cuddlers. |
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| Juliette and Elle were really concerned about Dad's messy camping hair. |
It started to rain as we left the Grand Prismatic Spring. We drove for about forty minutes through the park, toward the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. I wish I would've recorded the kids' reactions when they saw this magnificent waterfall. They were so amazed!
It was still raining that evening when we exited the park, and I was
not about to cook dinner over a fire in freezing rain! So we went to a fancy pizza place in West Yellowstone for our first non-camping meal in three days. It was so warm and relaxing and actually delicious. The kids all colored their place mats and were really proud of themselves.
We ended the evening with homemade ice cream from a cute little creamery stand because I wanted some and I'm clearly insane. We were all shaking and freezing to death and it was still raining- and it was totally worth it!
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| The twins are exceptional pancake makers. |
My take from this wonderful adventure:
#1. It's all worth it. All the preparations, the packing, the planning, the meal prep, the driving across the country with four kids, the sleepless nights in a tent---e v e r y t h i n g. So
get out there and make really wonderful memories with your kids! The look on their faces when they saw their first bison, or each and every geyser, or when we made our meals together over the fire, it was worth every single effort put forth by me and Kyle.
#2. Tent camping is hard. We should rent a trailer next time.
#3. I am beyond grateful for my sweet, hilarious, fun, intelligent, curious, adventurous, and really GOOD kids. How did I get so stinking lucky?! (I'm not crying. You're crying.)
#4. I like doing life with Kyle.
Now, where should we go next?! I want to start planning for next summer! I'm thinking the Carlsbad Caverns might be nice...
So I did the only thing I know how to do, which is everything humanly possible to get him to move head-down. I tried spinning babies, the chiropractor, hot and cold compresses, an inversion table---but he never did. London was born via emergency C-section, and an 8 week recovery with 5 small children to care for was not exactly in my plans. Finally, on a Monday morning, two days before I went into spontaneous labor, my doctor scheduled a version. Kyle called it medieval torture, but it was basically the doctor pushing REALLY hard on my belly to manually turn the baby. The pain was excruciating, but only lasted a few minutes, and he turned immediately! I'm convinced it was because of all the prayers offered by the people I love the most!
I played volleyball with my favorite teenagers from church the following evening, even though my mom tried to stop me. Our team was amazing, despite my laughable attempts to waddle towards the ball and bump it with my arms, rather than my enormous baby belly. "You're going to go into labor!" my mom called from the sidelines. "Sounds good to me!" I replied.
I woke up the next morning, got Elle ready for school, and immediately climbed back in bed. I was having some uncomfortable contractions, but nothing I couldn't handle. I'd volunteered to make South African food for a homeschool group London meets with on Wednesdays at 10, and I realized I had to get out of bed right away and get to the kitchen. We made it to the group, and the other moms dished up the food for me, while I sat at a nearby table, breathing through contractions. These lasted all day, until a phone call with my mom around 7 pm.
"No, Mom, I'm fine....Yes, I'm timing them....Yeah, but they're not that bad....I can still talk through them. I'm fine....I-----------" and then I had one of those BIG ones. You know, the contractions where tears pour from your eyes and you can't speak?
At the hospital, I was told I needed 2 rounds of antibiotics before I could deliver. They wouldn't break my water until 2 am at the earliest- so I laid in the hospital bed, contracting every 2-3 minutes, for HOURS. Around 1 AM, I was sooooo done with the pain and requested an epidural. Normally, the epidural man is my favorite person on earth. The moment he puts that magic medicine in, I nearly leap off my hospital bed to kiss his face. This time, I didn't feel much of a difference after he rolled out of my hospital room. I pressed the "boost" button with each and every contraction, and still wasn't getting any relief. The nurses called him back in after he completed a C section, and sure enough, the epidural was defective. "No problem!" he declared. He would do it over again.
I leaned forward, and he began his work. I suddenly started feeling really nauseous. The nurse handed me a bag, and then came the dizziness. My vision blurred, and I managed to tell the nurse so before falling onto her shoulder. I could hear the nurse and the anesthesiologist speaking, but I couldn't respond. "Give her another one!" I felt a needle go into my arm. "Another one!" I heard once more. I smelled alcohol close to my nose. The adrenaline they gave me made me shake for a while afterward, but I was finally able to rest!
