We were thrilled that we were still able to go on our 3 year planned Yellowstone trip. We had planned to go in 2009, but the 4 of us siblings had baby girls that summer so we re-scheduled for June 2011. When Avery got diagnosed with ALL we didn't know if we would still be able to go. It worked out that Avery was off the steroids for a few weeks and although she had started at home Chemo 6MP, it seemed to be somewhat milder. When we first got to Bear World, Avery started getting mouth sores on her lip, which she has at twice before as a side effect to Chemo. Her lip gets really swollen. This time she also said her throat hurt where sores can be also. Luckily after the magic mouth wash & a few hours, they disappeared. Our family really needed something to take our minds off of all the crazyiness in our lives for awhile and be together as a family. For Avery, it gave her something to take her mind & worries off of her sickness and to enjoy being a 5 year old again. For Kelsi, she too has struggled with all these changes in her live & has had a rough time. They both had a blast! Our first stop was Bear World which Avery loved the petting zoo & being able to feed the animals. She talked about it for the rest of the trip. Kelsi also loved the animals and was thrilled to just have her Mom & Dad pay special attention to her. There were deer, goats, pigs, and peacocks. One of the goats loved the food pellets. When Johnny put a quarter in the machine to get some pellets for the girls, he couldn't get them out because the goat would come right up and ate them straight from the machine. The girls loved this! 
Kelsi wasn't afraid to go on the rides. At first, she wasn't too sure about the roller coaster, but then she got brave and gave it a try. Avery loved all the rides. We kept using the sanitizer on her hands before & after every ride. This is just one of the times I appreciated Uncle Kyle being on sanitizer duty & constantly helping us make sure her & all the others keep their hands cleaned. He not only is her life coach, but life saver making sure she was having fun, not left behind, and was right there getting her a stroller if it was too much for her to walk & most importantly keeping her hands clean! Thanks!
Enjoying Old Faithful & some stinky Mud Volcanoes!
We seen a lot of pretty waterfalls & just enjoyed being together!
So my SIL's parents have been going to Yellowstone for years and have never seen a bear. They teased Avery that she was in big trouble if she seen any bears. Well....we seen 7 bears & Johnny seen 11. A lot of them were off the side of the road & we had awesome views. Johnny seen 4 more this us, the night in Lamar Valley when we went back to the motel because Avery started getting mouth sores. Besides bears, we seen Elk, Deer, Antelope, 1 moose in Jackson Hole, and tons of buffalo. Lamar Valley was Johnny's favorite place because the country looks a lot like what he's used to & where else besides Yellowstone can you stand in one spot and at the same time see: Black Bear & a Grizzley Bear, Elk, Deer, Antelope, Big Horn Sheep and a Coyote. That was neat!
The last day of the family vacation we stayed at Jackson Hole, WY. We went on a fun stage coach ride, watched a cowboy shootout, and had an excellent dinner at Merry Piggly's diner.
The kids had so much fun! Exploring, shopping, playing at the park, spotting animals & especially swimming.
It was so nice to be together as a family and try to forget the stress of home. We are so grateful it came at a time we were able to still go on our family vacation and have such a great time!
1 comment:
I love the vacation post. It was so much fun being with all of our family and enjoys laughs and good times. It was a great break for us all.
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