Today we packed up to head to the airport to send my sister-in-law and nephew back home. We all went so that we could then head back into the parks to turn in our Junior Ranger books and collect our badges.
This is our goodbye selfie! I am blessed to have a sister-in-law that I also consider a friend! Fun fact: She served as the “best man” at our wedding and we still love to tease her about that.
My MIL went into the airport to help Rose with the baby and all of the stuff they were hauling back. I don’t know all of the specifics, but it took FOR-EVER inside the airport. John and the kids and I just drove lap after lap after lap around the airport. The Jackson airport is very, very small, so we were basically circling the equivalent of a grocery store parking lot. For fun, we started playing the license plate game and calling out each new state as we found it. At one point, I believe it was Oregon, Levi calls out, “SALEM!” because he learned all of his state capitals in Pre-K. Two games in one! We passed the time looking for various state plates and then having Levi call out the state capital!
Finally, Maw Maw came back out and we set off for the parks! We started at Teton and went into the ranger station to do our thing! My kids have completed Jr. Ranger programs at a few different places and we know the drill. The rangers have always been super cool and they look through the kids’ books to see that they did some activities and maybe ask them some questions, but it has always been about the kids having fun and making an effort and hopefully learning something along the way. Now, let me tell you about the ranger at Teton… We took our books home and genuinely spent some time going through and working the books. My kids did do the required number of activities… however, they also did Yellowstone at the same time and there is way cooler stuff in Yellowstone (even though Teton is probably my favorite place on the planet). As a result, Levi was like, “Yeah! Geysers are AWESOME!” This ranger treated my kids (and me) like we were defending a thesis. He was not having it. I wanted to DIE, right then and there. He even threatened to not give the kids our badges until my kid (4 and 8 year old) had better answers to his questions, but ultimately relented. To be fair, Levi was like “Geysers! Geysers!” and Trista made a comment about what a great burger one of their buffalo would make… OY! Finally he handed over the goods and we hightailed it out of there as quickly as we could. I was MORTIFIED!
Then, we headed up to Yellowstone in pursuit of the same mission. So, check this out… when we came with my mom on TUESDAY, the park was packed, packed, packed! I was dreading bringing my kids back on SATURDAY expecting it to be far worse, but PROMISED the kids that we would complete their Jr. Ranger stuff. We went to both parks and there was hardly anyone around. Seriously. Who would have thought? Thankfully, the rangers in Yellowstone were MUCH nicer than the guy at Teton and they had way cooler giveaways- Pins, patches, pencils and a sweet Old Faithful bookmark! Redemption!
We first saw Jr. Ranger vests at Glacier. The kids wanted them badly, but I wasn’t too keen on the price tag (figuring I could find them cheaper online…HA!). I told the kids that I would, at some point, get them vests. I looked online and they were MORE expensive. I checked everywhere we went and they kept getting progressively more expensive. UGH! So, before we left Yellowstone, I bought the vests for about $5 more per vest than if I had just bought them the first time I was asked.
On our way back over the pass, we ran into my friend again… Still without his mama, but doing well. And my poor sister-in-law never gets to see the cool stuff!
We stopped for pizza on the way back into town and then went for a walk down by the river to see a tree that had been chewed over by a beaver! It was neat to see he teeth marks all in the trunk.
After our walk, Maw Maw and the kids started into a never-ending game of UNO. After we shuffled the deck for the 4th time, we had to call the game and head off to bed!
