I'm always sad about the end of summer before summer has even begun. And this year I knew that we weren't going to get nearly enough Gummow time so as soon as Stella was done with classes and we had a couple of days with Porter, we hopped on a plane and headed up to exciting Idaho Falls. I took the new camera because I wanted to get more familiar with it and also play with it in in really harsh light and dark light. I'm still getting the feel for it now, months later, but I got a good start on this trip.
On our first day there we went to this tiny splash pad that is right by the Gummow homestead. Worst light ever, so I took the camera to practice. The kids had the most fun playing a wild game of hide-n-seek. Stella kept us in stitches as she hid from Cy for a very long time by using this large umbrella from some fellow park goers. Every time Cy got close she would walk around it so she was always hidden from him. It was very clever.
One of the things we were looking forward to the most was attending some baseball games, but we didn't get to see even one of them because of rain. We went to one of Cy's games and I think they played a half an inning before calling because of lighting. Stella and Heidi were so cute eating their dinner in the car, but I didn't take too many pictures because I didn't want my camera out in the pouring rain.
After the cancelled game, we went to Dave and Barb's house and I helped Stella and Catcher build a blanket fort. It was a pretty fantastic fort and we were all really proud of it.
One morning we went on a walk and bike ride along the Snake River. We stopped and visited the Japanese Gardens and had ourselves some shaved ice. I was so afraid of the brutal sun that I walked around under Wyn's broken cartoon-themed umbrella to protect my lily white skin. I didn't get a picture of it, but the fact that I was walking around with it in public is real proof that I am too old to even care that I'm not cool anymore.
We decided to make a little day trip to Jackson Hole and go to Grand Teton National Park. It was very pretty, but still not as amazing as Yellowstone, sorry Grand Tetons...you are still grand but, I mean, Yellowstone has hot steam flying up in the air from the middle of the earth...it is hard to compete.
We took a boat across Jenny Lake, then walked up to a raging waterfall, and then hiked back to where we had gotten on the boat. It was a LONG hike. I don't remember how many miles now but it took a long time. Especially as we had to stop and wait for Catcher to salute the view and sing "My Country 'tis of Thee" each time he saw an amazing lookout point, or even an average lookout point. It was there that we also learned about "DeMansion," the man the song is really about. He was an early settler of this country and had many accomplishments that sounded made up but Catcher swears they really happened. Not sure about the educational system in Iona, Idaho these days...
On our way out we had to stop and take some pictures of the actual Tetons. (Note, my favorite pictures in this group are a picture of Catcher walking, a picture--taken by Stella--of Catcher's hand, and a picture of Heidi by the road. All of those pictures are test pictures or accidents, but they are all great.)
We made it to Jackson Hole in time to get some pictures by the famous antlers before we got in a fight with a German little person lady about our kids being in the way for her pictures. I guess it is not nice to get in fights with someone who is a little person, but she was extremely rude. I'm always very impressed with people who can insult you in a language that is not their first language, so in a way I think sharing this story is a compliment. We then staked out our spots to watch the Jackson Hole shoot out. Soon, we and some other small children were pushed out of the way so that a Chinese fellow could video every single second of the show. I had to take a picture of him for the memories, because he was my favorite part of the shootout. It really wasn't that exciting of a show, so I am not sure why it all had to be filmed for his family back in China...but I do know one thing...all the fake gunshots scared the crap out of poor Wyn. We then had a barbeque dinner before we headed home. Stella and Catcher laughed in the backseat almost the entire way home from our adventure. She sure loves her boys.
We had a few other adventures like doing a hot dog roast and hanging out on the back patio with Barb & Dave, and of course Stella had to go roller skating...and dang, she is really good at it. But soon we had to get back to Utah and after one failed trip to the airport we did make it home...eventually. I'm so glad we went because as the summer is coming to a close I now know that we didn't get enough Gummow time, and this trip helped cement the fact that we are their favorites. Which is something that is very important to Stella and me.
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