Yellowstone...

Right before the kids headed back to school we decided to take a last minute road trip and ended up camping in Yellowstone. Yes, we are those crazy people that actually CAMP in a TENT in the middle of bear country! Judd assured me that there weren't any bears there and I actually wasn't too worried about it until the park ranger gave us a 30 minute briefing on locking up all of our food securely in our vehicles, not washing our hands, or even brushing our teeth outside the locked bathroom and leaving NOTHING with any odor whatsoever out. Every dumpster seriously had multiple locks on it, and in every camp site there were signs on what to do to if you come in contact with a bear.

Well, consider us warned... We didn't get so much as a fruit snack or capri-sun out of our cooler after dark for fear that the bears would surely hunt us down and find the wrappers under our pillowcases!

But besides fearing for our lives every night once darkness set in, it was a pretty stress-free, worry-free weekend that ended up being our favorite family vacation yet! I actually love going camping with Judd because he does everything. He cooks us yummy dutch oven dinners, cleans up, blows up the air mattresses, and pretty much sets up the tent himself . He is a good guy to take camping. My only job is to sit back, relax, and complain about not being able to shower...and I am pretty good at that :)

The boys were in absolute heaven, they were so excited the entire time! Even little Cooper, who didn't really know what was going on, had the time of his life! He would get waken up every few hours to the boys shouting about something cool, get hauled out of the car, and discover a new and different wild animal in his face every time. He loves animals but I think he was a little confused when we would be driving down the road and a whole herd of buffalo would walk out in front of our car!

I think the highlight of the trip for the boys was becoming Jr. Rangers. They have this program there that is SO much fun for the kids. Depending on their ages, they get these cool books that tell you all of the things they need to learn about and do to become a Jr. Ranger. They have all kinds of tours, shows, and programs for the kids to participate in where they learn about wildlife, the outdoors etc. They had worksheets they had to fill out and certain places they had to visit and learn about. It was so fun for them and such a great way for them to learn about Yellowstone. They took it totally seriously and were so excited at the end when they got to be sworn in by a Park Ranger and they even got these darling little official Jr. Ranger patches. It was the cutest thing ever!

We saw SO many different animals, did SO many cool things, and saw SO many beautiful places, it was seriously breath-taking! The pictures really don't even do it justice. It was such a fun trip that we will all remember forever. I have to say it was even worth all the worry about the bears attacks! We will definitely be going back...but maybe in a trailer next time :)

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