Island Park

 The day after we got to Montana, we turned around and headed for Island Park, Idaho for the Francis Family reunion.  It was a blast!

There were baby Bison and the oldies were rubbing off their winter fur.  It was fun to see them again!

We got to meet Caitlin, Matt's fiancee and I am so excited she's marrying into the family!  She is so fun and makes all of the kids feel like her favorite.  They really compliment each other well and I'm excited for them to be married!  Wohoo!

Heidi and Darcy are the best sister-in-laws and have always made me feel loved.  They both were without husbands for the more part of the trip and maintained their sanity!  How they do it?  I have no idea!

Greg and Christian.  I look up to my father-in-law very much.

Sandy read books to the kids as we awaited Old Faithful's blast.  She is so prepared and loving.  I hope I can be more like her someday.

We roasted marshmellows and Tyson thought it was awesome!  He would roast them and let me eat them since they were too sticky!  I thought that was a perfect plan!

Here's a taste of the cousins :)

Austin and Clara were ADORABLE together!  Clara is so precise and smart and was so nice to Austin.  I think they will be good friends :)

One day we were able to 'go off the beaten path' so to speak with one of Greg's friends who used to be a ranger in the park.  It was my favorite experience of the trip!

We went on a hike and just saw hot pots, and geysers and HUGE mud pots which were just out in the middle of nowhere!  Hyrum nearly jumped in and I really thought how hard it would be to jump in after him.  I'm glad he didn't jump!

It started to rain and everyone had to grab a kid and book it to the car.  It was a crazy time!  For some reason it reminded me of what it may have been like for the pioneers...but a lot more fun!

Isn't that amazing?

Here we are booking it for the cars!  It was crazy since we were supposed to only step where the guide had stepped so as not to fall through the earth.  We fell a little bit behind taking pictures :)

I was glad I'd brought towels in case we went hot potting!

I regretted not listening to the prompting to grab a blanket :)

We made it out alive!!  I think we would've been good pioneers :)

The last day we tried to take a picture of all of the grandkids....good luck with that one!

Aubrey and Hyrum (the two cousins closest in age to Tyson)

On our way home we stopped at Big Springs.  It's the 'big spring' that forms the Snake river.  It is beautiful and crystal clear...and cold!

 Brielle liked making handprints on Christian's shirt!  She thought this was hilarious!

Then we went over to the other side to feed the huge fish that live here!  The night before we saw three Moose and a baby.  It was really neat!

Hyrum being nice to Austin.

Feeding the....Sea gulls?  They and the mosquitos were everywhere!

Isn't is beautiful?  You could almost call it Montana :)