July 20-24

B and I first went to WY alone back in 1995 and had a great time going to the rodeo and rafting down the snake. We went again in 1997 when I was seven months pregnant with Lelu with Jeff & Christina and Roma & John – that was the time we got kicked out of the KOA campground.  We, um, have a little history there. The last time we went to Jackson Hole was 13 years ago.  I put a photo from each trip on the Aub blog.  It was probably not a great idea to take two 18 month old toddlers to a place where you want to hike and be near water and mosquitoes are biting and stuck in the car for a long while – so I’m going to guess I was traumatized by the experience and am pretty sure that’s why we had not gone back.

Master D’s girlfriend Maddie is from Jackson and talking to her last Spring, we thought it’d be a great idea to take the twins and also visit her too this summer.  Planning a time to go was tricky so we fit it into our ‘not-that-busy-July’….haha.  We left like a herd of turtles on Wednesday and barely made it in time for our first event – the rodeo.  Sadly, Maddie had to have her tonsils out the week before we came and was having a difficult time recovering, so she couldn’t join us for a lot of our adventures.

I was taking the photo above and these cowboys came running over because they were positive we’d want them in our photo.The next day we took the chair lift up the mountain with our mountain bikes and rode down the hill.  Now TT and B are very adept at this kind of riding, however Ari and I were pretty much first timers. Downhill mtn biking is a whole different crazy scary animal! We took the “easy” trails (that I am proud to say I never crashed) and the boys took the advanced.  TT wiped out pretty good once but overall wasn’t super impressed with the trails and jumps – he’s been to Whistler and I don’t think it gets any better than that.The same day we biked, Maddie’s parents and little sister invited us to eat at this local chuckwagon dinner place with live music (by the local elementary school principal) and then down to String Lake to paddle board. They were and are very welcoming, kind, generous and personable people! It was also amazingly beautiful, the water was brisk and clear, and the twins and B loved it.  I opted out of the paddle boarding because I’d already showered twice that day and didn’t care to go for round 3. I was completely content staying on the shore taking photos and watching.On Friday we drove up through Yellowstone to see Old Faithful and got stopped behind a fatal car accident that closed the highway for an hour and a half.  A lot of cars turned around and went back but we were in it for the long haul and arrived just in time to see it go off.  Phew! Because it only goes off every 90 minutes and we weren’t planning to stick around that long. Honestly I think the soft serve ice cream was all of our favorites. The next day we took a gondola almost to the top to go hiking on this cool trail that looped all the way to the top. Sorry but I had to take some photos of the cool little flowers that grow wild on top of a mountain. No hike would be complete with these two without summiting the highest most dangerous part and making me sick to my stomach until they come down. B loves Rocks.  Yep rocks…He spends a lot of time in the backyard with his waterfall and his rocks.  I think it is safe to say he is obsessed with his rocks.  We collect rocks where we travel and he brings them home to meticulously place into his waterfall masterpiece.  When we hike he’s like a little boy filling his pockets with rocks only instead of pockets – it’s a backpack and it generally weighs 30 lbs+ making his hike much more challenging. This beauty he’s working diligently to unearth was no different. He hauled that 30 lb baby up and then down the mountain and it is now nestled happily at home. By the time he’s finished (if ever), our waterfall will be a global treasure in the heart of Draper.

After hiking, they took another few runs down on the bikes.

We were so happy Saturday night Maddie was feeling much better, and she and her family invited us over for dinner.  They treated us to steak, halibut, bbq chicken, bruschetta, asparagus, berry shortcake and then smores on their back deck with an unbelievable (truly it looked fake) view of the Tetons. Maddie’s grandparents came over and we had a great time laughing and visiting, hearing about life in WY.  What an idyllic place to grow up and live.  And of course I wish we took more photos when we were there, I left my phone in the car.  This is the only one and Ari took it.

On the last day before we left Maddie came over and ate breakfast with us. I’m so grateful we followed through on our plan and fit it in.  Believe it or not but the twins mostly got along and even seemed to like each other, but don’t tell them I told you that. Okay so we did see ‘a bear’….