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Keeler Family Reunion - Part 2

After visiting Grand Teton we went to the Bar J Chuckwagon near Jackson, Wyoming. We went to the Chuckwagon when we were kids and there was a similar one in Colorado Springs that we went to when we lived there. The one in Colorado Springs actually burned to the ground while we lived there during a really bad fire season. I think they have finally rebuilt it, five or so years after the fire. I'm glad this one is still around.

Here we are before the show.

And during dinner.

I thought the dinner was fun, but the show was pretty long, especially for the kids, so maybe it wasn't the best idea. But I liked it. We drove back to the cabin that night.

The next morning, bright and early, we headed to Yellowstone. It was about one hour from our cabin to the West Yellowstone gate. We got in before the crowds. We stopped at Fountain Paint Pots first.

Next we headed to Old Faithful. We knew we were getting there barely in time for it to erupt so we rushed out. We made it just in time to see it go off. Some of the other cousins missed it. :(

We visited the visitor center there at Old Faithful and walked around the boardwalks in that area to see the other geysers while we waited for Old Faithful to go again. It erupts about every 70 minutes.

I think that's Old Faithful in the background. We were able to see it go off twice this trip.

Emma covered up part of Scott's face so he could only see half of the park. We had fun at Old Faithful. We picnicked at Old Faithful with all the cousins and then most of us headed back to the cabin.

On the way back we stopped at Upper Mesa Falls near the cabin.

It was really pretty

Kate and Emma at the Mesa Falls Lodge

Those two had lots of fun together.

More adventures to come.

Keeler Family Reunion - Part 1

After hanging out with my parents in Utah for a few days we headed to Ashton, Idaho for the Keeler family reunion. We rented a cabin for a few days there. The cabin was really cool and right by Henry's Fork river. We could walk down the hill to the river. It was really pretty.

The first night we were there my dad invited my Aunt Nancy (my dad's sister) who lives nearby. Her three kids also came. This is my cousin, Andrea, who is my age and my aunt Nancy. Andrea and I and two other girl cousins who were our age always had so much fun at our family reunions. She lives in Oregon now.

Here are Scott and Dana (my sister's husband) in the cabin.

Another view of the cabin.

River views

We had tacos the first night in the cabin and visited.

The next day we headed to Grand Teton National Park. It was about 90 minutes away.

There are the Tetons.

It was super crowded at Jenny Lake where we wanted to have lunch. It took some doing for us to all get parking spots. And there were no lunch tables there. But eventually we found a place to eat by the lake. We sat on logs and rocks and the ground but it was OK.

Here is Matthew eating some of his lunch by the lake.

Emma by the lake

It was crowded in the parking lot but on the lake it was nice and peaceful.

Here are some pictures on the lake.

I tied some of the tubes to a tube I was in and we went on a little voyage.

We rented a canoe and took turns paddling around.

Canoes are much harder to steer than kayaks.

Cousins hanging out on the shore.

As we were heading to the car at Jenny Lake it started to rain...then pour...then hail.

So we got a little wet. But it cleared up pretty quickly.

After the big rain we stopped at String Lake nearby

It's smaller and more shallow and supposed to be warmer but we didn't swim there.

Jenny Lake wasn't actually that cold

It would have been nice to have more time but we had a nice day.

More adventures to come.

John is 5!

John's birthday is one day after Anna's. They are birthday neighbors. So we celebrated his birthday in Utah. Here he is in a shirt he made on Anna's birthday. It's a sun shirt! Great for the eclipse!

John is five!

Such a big boy.

For dinner we went to Freddy's Frozen Custard.

John was so excited he barely ate and kept chit chatting with all of us during dinner.

John has been asking for a police birthday for some time.

Because he wants a police car for his present.

He's also planning to be a SWAT police officer for Halloween.

Here is his cake. :)

Happy Birthday John! He's a big five year old now.

We'll have another small birthday celebration once we get back to California.

Anna is 9!

We celebrated Anna's 9th birthday while we were in Utah.

First we went to a pottery painting place and painted. Anna chose a peacock.

Emma chose a kitten to paint. She painted for about five minutes then goofed around and screamed for the rest of the time. Can't wait until she outgrows the shrieking thing. Oh, I hope she outgrows it.

John and Grant both chose an airplane. It didn't take John too long to paint his either.

Matthew picked a large dragon. I helped him with some of the painting.

We also went to See's Candies after and got some chocolates.

Later in the day we tie dyed t-shirts. I'd never done that before but it was fun!

We played some impromptu party games.

Cut the flour. You try to cut part of the molded flour without making the coin fall.

Cookie face

Get the cookie in your mouth without using hands.

Spider races

Using a straw to blow plastic spiders (leftover from Halloween) across the table

The kids had to figure out something to do with the flour after we were done.

Scott was working this week out of his company's offices in Salt Lake.

So we were glad he could be with us.

For dinner Anna chose El Pollo Loco She is crazy for their red rice. I tried to make some for her once at home and it didn't measure up (in my defense I thought it was good). So she was excited to have the real thing for her birthday.