First Stop: Afton, Wy

Our first stop on our vacation was Afton, Wy!  We went straight to my grandma’s house to surprise her and my Aunt Carolyn!!  They were definitely surprised!  After saying hello, my kids immediately wanted to play outside.  They loved all the SPACE to run and play and explore!

For the past several years, we have only been to my grandma’s in the spring and there was still quite a bit of snow.  So it had been a while since even my older girls had really gotten to explore at great-grandmas.  We went on a little exploring walk together, and they started to remember some of the fun things there: the bridge, grandpa’s kitchen, grandpa’s shop and grandma’s bunkhouse.

The kids loved the playhouse that my grandpa built.  There were a bunch of beehives inside that we had to knock down before they could play, but then they spent lots of time cooking and playing!

Jared really loved the swingset.  My kids also all loved the treehouse!! 

Grandma sent us out to eat at Burger King for lunch, which thrilled my kids.

That evening, we went on a hike up to the geyser.  Growing up, we would make this hike every year.  It’s been a few years since we have done it.  The first part of the hike is a pretty easy walk.  The kids all loved it.

We got to the base of the geyser and stopped to eat our dinner.

After dinner, came the crazy part of the hike.  It is pretty steep and there are lots of loose rocks.  Half way up, the girls were all scared and started crying.  Jason and I kept talking them through it and encouraging them each step of the way.  They were troopers and we finally made it to the top!!

We filled our water bottles with the water from the geyser.  Best water ever!

After a bit of a rest, it was time to head back down.  Down can sometimes be worse than up, but the girls were brave and with our help they were able to make it down!  Hooray!!!  We were so proud of them for making this hike!

We then got to end our night relaxing in the pool!

Jared, with his new swim shorts channeled his inner Spiderman!

It was the perfect end to our day!!

The next morning, we stopped in town to get a picture of us on the “cowboy” bench!  Jared really liked all of the cowboys!

We also took a picture by the elkhorn arch. (can you even see us?!?)

We spent some of the morning with grandma before heading off to our next adventure!