The whole fam:
We also played the same balloon game that we played with Ben's family to announce the gender of the baby.
And we had birthday cake for Tia, of course!
We said goodbye to Ben the next day. He had to fly home and get back to work. It was sad to watch him go, but the kids and I still had another week of fun planed in Idaho.
On Monday night, we went out to the St. Anthony sand dunes for a weenie roast. The dunes are always a fun time.
Everyone had a turn to get their picture taken as they jumped off the edge...
My brother, Thomas, tried (three times) to get a picture of me jumping off, but the best he got was this pre-jump shot.
I thought Ellie would have a hard time at the sand dunes.... sand in the eyes and the mouth, they're hard to climb, it's hard to walk around in the sand, etc. She absolutely LOVED it, though. She was climbing around and getting covered in sand like a pro.
The grand Tetons, as seen from the dunes.
My boys in silhouette...
...and my sister, too.
Pretty sunset before heading home.
The rest of the week was filled with fun things like the water park, movies and laser tag. We went to the splash park one afternoon and let the kids play in the water and ride the carousel.
Ellie hated the carousel last year, but this year she LOVED it. The only crying we had this year was when it was time to get off!
On our last day in Idaho, we drove up to Yellowstone since my kids have never been there. I was a little worried they'd be bored, but they loved it! Even Ellie talked non stop about the "gy-sas" (geysers) and how the water went "supa high".
Old Faithful was the highlight of the day. We were lucky and arrived only about 15 minutes before it went off, so we didn't have to wait forever!
The next day, we started our long drive home... just me and the kids. I was a little nervous, but they did great and we split the drive up into two days so it was more manageable. We had such a fabulous time visiting family! I'm so glad we're able to make the trip every summer.
