Island Park Part 1

Just yesterday, we came home from one awesome vacation. I have been counting down the days until I could leave work and go to a place that i cherish with all of my heart. Island Park, Idaho. If you have not been up there - you are missing out. Currently my house is a complete disaster, but I don't care because I have to blog about IP. I cried yesterday when we left. It was a vacation that both of relaxed more than we have in a long time. 15 minutes in to the LONG drive home - Bryce was already making plans for next year.... Let me start from the beginning. (This will be in at least a 2 post series - possible 3). Oh and sorry for the picture overload. Apparently the 1,935 pictures I took wasn't enough!

On Tuesday our little adventure started. Both of us had to go to work - Bryce had a meeting and I had to pay some bills. I could not get out of there fast enough. The night before we packed my car to the brim with everything but our coolers. Around noon I got home, threw the coolers in the car and we were on the road. I have been on a diet the past 6 weeks and this was one week I was going to break my diet. It was well deserved. Since I was little little little, we had a tradition of going to island park. I have great memories of my grandma ward there. That was the only time I got to see her. You have Big Springs, McCray's bridge, Island park reservoirs, Henry's lake and of course West Yellowstone. I was a bit worried that this place seems so great to me since its the only place I have memories of my grandma, but since Bryce has already planned next year's trip - well that explains it all. Every time we would go to Idaho growing up (the 2 times - once for my dad's reunion and once for my mom's) we would stop at this burger joint. How was I suppose to know that it would be huge in my 20 something year!

Home of the 'big ben'. yep I got a big ben! It was as delicious as I remember.

After we filled our tummies, we made the remainder 5 hour journey to our home away from home. You could tell when we were getting close. i was so antsy. I kept looking at my phone and watching the little blue button following the highway until we needed to turn off. I was so busy watching that i failed to take pictures. I would point out 'That is the street to island park reservoir.' 'that is the street of my grandparents cabin' ' there is mack's inn!!!!!!' HERE IS OUR TURN OFFFFFFFFF!!!!!! yeah I was that girl. I was like a kid on Christmas. My family was so thoughtful to have dinner made for us when we arrived. We ate quickly and headed over to get things unpacked and situated for the night. We had 5 days of awesomeness ahead of us.

Wednesday morning came bright and early. As a little girl I remember doing a 'hunt for our breakfast'. I have awesome memories that I wanted to create for our next generation. Luckily my sister is a freak and wakes up before the sun is up to run... We got up just after she returned to set out breakfast. We tied cereal, juices and fruit around trees. When the kids got up, we had them convinced that the animals did it. The animals stole their breakfast. Even the adults got in to it. WARNING: pictures below may contain us in all our morning glory. Be prepared to run away screaming!

How did a picture of me end up in there????

After we took down all of the yummy food from the trees so we didn't have cute cuddly bears come visit us, we headed inside for breakfast. Us adults are a little slow because this is what I found after I was done eating:

Yep, that was the bottom of the entertainment center. That is what i call cheap entertainment.

After we got all of the kids ready along with ourselves we decided to head over to West Yellowstone to do some shopping. There was not one person who left without getting anything. I have a things for jackets (and scarves) and I bought this cute adorable jacket. I cannot wait to wear it! after a few hours of shopping, we were all hungry and since it was my sister's birthday, we decided to go out to eat. We found this cute little restaurant on main street. I cant remember what is was called but the food was pretty dang good. We still weren't finish shopping for the day, so after lunch we hit up a few more stores along with an ice cream store where my dad bought all of us ice cream. Our last stop of the day was this old school looking candy store. It has penny candies that i remember getting from when I was a little girl. I love that Yellowstone hasn't changed much in the past 25 years. They have added more houses but it still has the quiet town feel and it has all the shops I grew up with and loved. It was so fun to watch my nieces and nephews go in to the same stores I did when I was young and get excited to buy some new toy that cost a buck!

By the time we got back to the cabin it was near dinner time. Since we had a late lunch, we were not quite hungry yet and there was enough time to go tubing down the river - another classic since I was just a tiny little thing. I was expecting to do the short cut version but my mom told us she would drop us off a little higher since there was time. (this is where the only part of the trip went south). My sister A, Bryce and I took K, E, and J. This is what it looked like in the car:

and we still had 2 tubes strapped to the top of the roof.

We are off! (let me remind you that this was at almost 6 at night)

I was told that the shortcut was less than 20 minutes from the bridge. As a child, we would float about a mile down the river, pass mack's inn, go under the bridge and get out, where my parents were waiting to hauls us back up and do it all over again. I figured we were about a mile up. The water was freezing but the sun was still out so we were fine. Normally, I wouldn't mind the relaxing trip down but about 2 hours in, I kept asking A 'have we passed the shortcut yet?' and she would tell me no. None of the route looked the least bit familiar. We had a group that climbed in at the same time as us. Somewhere along the way we gained the lead, then they would pass us, then we would pass them. At this point I had 3 very cold children who were shivering with lips chattering. I grabbed E and stuck her on my lap, wrapped my legs around her and continued to rub her legs to give her some sort of warmth. About 30 minutes in to our ride the sun hid out behind a huge cloud. We are now sitting close to 8 with the short cut no where in sight. We were ahead of the group that got in at the same time as us but not by far. We rounded a bend hoping we would see the bridge. And there she was. A giant MAMA MOOSE. The people behind us had no children. I saw things going south really quick. They were noisey, yelling, waving their hands trying to get the attention of the mama who was 20 yards from where I was floating (with a Young child on my lap that did not belong to me). What they didn't see was about 10 yards in front of her was 2 babies. I got really nervous when I saw that moose turn and start coming right where we were. I know that 1. you don't cross a moose - especially a mama and 2. they can run a hell of alot faster than I can in water and 3. I had children that I was responsible for and expected to protect. As that moose turned and started coming towards us I gently grabbed the back of E's life jacket. Luckily i was right next to my sister A. I was ready to throw E as far as I could in case mama M decided it was time to attack. about 3 seconds after that is when her babies ran behind her and she turned back towards them. I have never been so scared in my life! It was a second and a half after that, that I started yelling at the people behind us to 'shut up' because we had young children. I was frustrated that they were trying to get the moose' attention when they are full grown ups and should know better.

after my heart slowed down a bit we kept floating down the river. I could see the kids shivering more with the teeth chattering away. We were hungry and cold. I could even see Bryce start to slowly wear away also. after 30 more minutes I grabbed J and told him to run to a cabin to call his mom. as he got half way up there A yelled that she thinks we were on the last bend to the shortcut. Sure enough she was right. And instead of floating all the way from the shortcut to the bridge my mom was there waiting at the short cut drop off. I was tired and concerned for the kids. I had got out right after the moose incident to pushed Bryce and E while A pushed K and J. Here we are coming around the bend - I know we don't look happy. 

I was the first to get out - I jumped out and grabbed blankets, told my mom to turn on the heater. One by one, we plucked the kids out of the water - took off their shoes and life jackets, wrapped them in towel and put them in a warm vehicle. Next I grabbed Bryce, wrapped him in a towel (He was spasming at this point) and stuck him in the front seat. We had the car turned up to 90 degrees. toasty warm. A and I tied the tubes to the roof and home we went. We got home shortly after 9 to nice warm soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. We threw the kids in a nice warm bath and let them eat there (gross I know but they were cold and hungry) By 10:30 we were fed, warm and in bed.

To be continued....

Current favorite

During the summer time, we spend alot of time camping, driving through the canyons and enjoying the outdoors with new activities. Last year, my brother introduced us to this little gem. It is called the Hub Cafe in Heber Valley. We love just swinging in for a homemade scone and a fresh lemonade. We find any excuse we can to take a detour through Heber just so we can visit the Hub. Next time you are in the area, stop on by. you wont regret it! :)

current favorite...

One of my goals for the year is to start my 'current favorites'. I have so many things I love from a variety of categories that I really really want to share with everyone. Now is a better time than ever. I encourage everyone to try my favorite things, leave feedback, email me your current favorite thing and I will definitely share them. To start off my current favorite.... Pop Drops!

 

I love these things! I love that I don't have a stick that gets all soggy and gross. (I would not recommend this for children. They are smaller than the normal sucker and may become a choking hazard.) These even have the tootsie roll centers. Right now I am on weight watchers and I keep these at my desk. I can have 4 of them for no points. It is enough just to pop one in my mouth and give me the sugar I am craving and keep me from other bad things I may eat that I shouldn't have (like a chocolate bar) 

I found these at fresh market and Walgreen's (so far).  

A desk and A trip

It has been a while. I am always meaning to update on everything that is going on yet I just don't do it. This week has become somewhat busy and I figured I needed some down time. So why not put down some good happenings with us. In the early month of May I finally got my desk that I am waiting ever so patiently for. I have been very excited, and now that it is here I am even more excited. It fits in perfectly with the purple room.

In the middle of May, Bryce and I were invited to go with a big group to Moab. This was the first time for Old Silver to go out at all. Baby Hardman has been out before but not to Moab. We have been to Moab 3 times now and every single time we have been there, it has been something different and new to experience. I was a bit nervous to climb the very slick red rock but who better to do it with than a bunch of people that do it all the time.

A video our friend, eddie, made of the trip... Pretty cool if I do say so myself!

On our way down  we were doing really good until 40 miles outside of our camp. Our truck started to go. I am so glad we were on mostly flat roads. We would lose all power on our truck. Slowly but surely we made our way to camp. We didn't get there until late so we basically set up our bed and crashed.

The next morning we were up bright and early. Today's trip is going to be Kane's Creek. No worries - it is only 95 degrees! We were well prepared with sunscreen and 'mist'ers. For anyone who knows me I get heat stroke super easy and I fry like bacon! It is a great combination. The universe aligned for me this day. This trail had a ton of creek crossings to keep us all cool.

 

 

There is brit and eddie. Oh that wall of water...? That is us!

 

Friday morning we had our toughest trail of the day, behind the rocks. I was a bit nervous before we left. Ok I wanted to throw up. I hate cliffs and I am not a Adrenalin junky! This trail did not come off as bad as it seemed. I was expecting scary cliffs, holding on by one tired kind of thing... but if we rolled, at least it would be in to a giant rock! Bryce attempted a few of the obstacles like high dive and upchuck but after seeing me get so upset he backed off. The roller coaster was a thrill.... on my own two feet. We made it to white knuckle but the entire group was in agree-ance to not attempt that. We like our toys too much... so back up to roller coaster. for my own benefit I had to stay in the razor at least once. and this is what I got:









 

 

I didn't know what had happened until it was all over with. I expected to be all sorts of shaken up but I wasn't. Thinking back on it, it could have ended up bad. But it didn't. I can officially say I did it! I didn't get out and walk down the trail.

Saturday morning started early once again. We loaded up the razors and headed off to Fins N Things. This is what I figured we would be doing the entire time. Lots of slick rock, climbing up huge rocks and then back down them again. This trail was my least favorite. It was good but just not the best one that we did on our trip. This trail was also very short. The remainder of the group headed home after this trail while we stayed behind with our friends. We went back to camp, cleaned up and headed in to town for some good food, good laughs and SHOPPING!!!!! We spent 4 great hours on main street weaving our way in and out of shops and stopping for dinner. By the time we got back to camp, we were exhausted and we had to think about our way home and the truck problem... remember?

  Sunday we packed up and headed out. We first hit hole in the rock. It is this cool place that these dead people (they werent dead at the time) built a house inside a giant rock. I wish I had pictures of the inside but they don't allow it. It was very cool to see... not worth $6 to see a 2nd time. We then hit the road. 10 miles in to our trip, it was not looking good. I sent numerous text back and forth to my brother who was waiting for us to call him to come rescue us so we weren't stranded. Nice and easy... slow... all the way home, we took our dear sweet time. Bryce and I were on pins and needles the entire time. I just wanted to sleep but couldn't. Needless to say, we made it home! I have never been so happy to be home as I was at that moment. Bryce and I unloaded the bare minimum, showered and crashed. We were both so exhausted! It was a great trip and we had so much fun meeting new people and spending time with our friends. It is something that we would highly consider doing again.