Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Bear World, Yellowstone and Halloween

We took advantage of the warm weather and went on a spontaneous vacation.  Just me and the 3 oldest.  We drove up to Idaho and went to Bear World near Rexburg.  The best theme park I have ever been to!  Real Bears at your fingertips!  Amazing!  Not to mention deer, bison, wolves and other animals.  First you drive your car (windows UP) around a couple of acres, we counted 30 bears, some walking right in front of our car.  Then there is a petting zoo.  Then they have amusement rides with no lines.  To top it all off it was perfect weather.  AND having a 10, 7 and 5 year old is so EASY!







One of the highlights for the kids was the night before when we went out to dinner at Golden Corral.  I did not hear the end of how much they loved that buffet.

After bear world we took our time and saw some beautiful waterfalls in Idaho...
...then we kept heading north to the bear and wolf discovery center...

...and finally into Yellowstone Park where Tatum and Tai had a great time taking a dip into a hot springs..we saw this bison and lots of elk along the way.



That night we ate a a pizza parlor and even got a pitcher of rootbeer (never done that before).  We had no reservations or plans on where to sleep so luckily I brought the camping stuff and found a campground out of Yellowstone up this very dark windy road at the top of a spooky hill.  I'm glad it was already 11:00 by the time we got there cause I'll admit, I was scared.  I knew there were lots of animals around those parts and so we decided to sleep in the car instead of the tent.  I parked relatively close to the bathroom and after all that rootbeer I needed to go, so I took the lantern and went to the little outhouse.  When I came out I saw a WOLF next to our car.  I was petrified and went back into the bathroom hoping it would go away.  After 5 minutes I checked again and the wolf was gone but it was a very scary walk back to the car.

Then came sleeping in the car.  The kids did great!  Tag in the very very back on top of all our luggage.  Tai in the back seat.  Tatum in the front seat leaning back and me in the middle trying to get comfortable.  I did sleep for a couple hours.  But there was nothing worse than waking up and looking at the phone and it said 2:30 am, thinking it was going to be 6:00.  I had to go to the bathroom again! So instead of risking the WOLF I started up the car and drove to the nearest town and went to the bathroom at a hotel.  Tried to sleep a few more hours.  Definitely the worst part of the trip for me.

So early that day we slowly drove through Yellowstone, taking our time and doing a little hiking and sight seeing.
Here are some pictures.







We drove through the Grand Tetons and Jackson Wyoming on our way home and stopped along the way.  I have never taken a vacation like this and it was a REALLY good time.  We will remember this trip forever.




Halloween seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year with parties and festivities lasting more than a week.  It is ridiculous.  But we do it for the kids right?  Mark and I actually went to an adult party this year.  We were green and red grapes.  Balloons taped all over us.:)

Some of the kids got to change costumes with each occasion.


  thomas stayed in this position at our ward party for over 10 minutes not moving. (he was an apple by the way but refused his hat)
 then he got more scared...look at what he was scared of...ha ha