The first night we had dinner as a big group. There were my sisters and their families, my dad, Suzanne (my step mom), and six of their friends with three more kids. I think there were 27 total, but my count might be off. It was so much fun to get together as a big group in the activities' room and hang out. After dinner we brought down a cake and present and sang to my dad whose birthday was the day before. He was totally surprised, which was awesome!
The next morning, we had a snow coach pick us all up at 8 am and take us through the park. It was amazing to have a guided tour with such an awesome tour guide. He knew so much about all the little trivial things you would never notice. It was so informative and fun to be able to take even the little kids with us through the park in the snow. Dylan was a sponge - as usual -and could not get enough of the animal and nature talk from Doug (the guide). One of the kids who came with us was the co-pilot and before long, Dylan was the co-co-pilot sitting up there with him. He was best friends with Doug in no time. They were true kindred zoologist spirits! We ate lunch in a yuert (warming dome thing) at Old Faithful and spent some time there. Most of the group took a walk after we watched Old Faithful in action, but it was nap time so I hung out with Marcos while Preston took a short nap on my lap (it was all we got nap-wise that day). We went on a little hike with Doug and learned all about geysers and ancient bacteria and physics and chemistry that I really should remember, but didn't. So cool! We got back to the condo at 5pm, made dinner and headed to the pool for a couple hours. Preston took a minute to warm up to the idea and then couldn't get enough of the water. That night we gave Connor his month-late birthday present. We hadn't seen them since New Year's. It was the Geo Trax airport and he loved it!
Morning number two, we woke up early and got the guys packed up and on their snowmobile trip. Apparently there were some issues with climbing difficult hills and rolling off of machines, but I'll leave that for the guys to tell. They had a great time and came back around 1pm for half of us to head out. Nate, Alicia, Marcos and I went out for a couple hours and holy cow it was AWESOME! I forgot how much I love the great outdoors. I really am just a sporty chick deep down! I have to say I impressed my hubby with my so-called "skill" and daring moves. The kid kept egging me on trying to pass me. I mean, what's a girl to do? Nate found a couple of play spots for us that were awesome. He found a huge hill to climb and went on up. After he came down, I tried to get Marcos to go up and finally decided to hold my breath and go for it. SO BRAVE! What an adrenaline rush, not to mention earning major bragging rights with Marcos. After a few minutes I was able to convince Alicia and then Marcos to try it and I'm glad I did. It was pretty cool! Then Mr. Confident followed Nate up a little side road, didn't lean his weight and ended up riding off the side of a little hill into a patch of trees. We were chest-deep in snow trying to dig the machine out and ride away, but no harm was done. Just a little eating of humble pie by Marcos. :) We headed back with some serious speed and switched the other half machines so they could go for a ride. Melissa apparently had a little sinking moment in the snow when she followed Justin off the path for a minute. Good times! We had another delicious meal (Melissa and I shared a condo so we cooked together) and headed to the pool yet again. After that, Tony and Dylan went to Grandma and Grandpa's condo to listen to the wolves howl and have some birthday cake. Everyone was exhausted after tending kids, playing on the snowmobiles and swimming so we headed to bed.
In the morning, the guys decided to go for a ride again. A little more than we had planned, but I'm glad we decided to do it. The girls stayed back to be mommies (sometimes you've got to sacrifice a bit, but we've got a serious girls' night out coming after this) while the guys (and my dad, Suzanne and their friends) headed up to Two Top. They said it was awesome. Apparently Justin and Marcos rode their machines on some ice so I'm glad I wasn't there to freak out about it. Good guy bonding though so I'm glad Marcos could go with them. We got together to have cake and hang out in our condos together. It was fun chatting, but the snowmobilers were exhausted and we were pretty much done too. That day was a little long in the condos with the kids and trying to clean and pack. Melissa and I took our kids and headed to a gift shop to see what we could find and get out for a bit. Angie headed home that night (in a huge snowstorm) and Melissa and I tended Alicia's kids while she and Nate went to the store (basically so she could have a little break after a long day). We went to the pool until 9pm and then got the kids to bed again.
The last morning we got up, packed up our things and got ready to go. We said goodbye to Dad, Suzanne, Barry & Lisa and headed over to a bear and wolf preserve. They actually have a cool program where kids 5 and up can hide the food for the bears to find and eat, but it wasn't until later so we just looked around. I kept the kids (mine and Tony) at the exhibit while Marcos and Melissa headed back to help Nate pack up the truck. Nate, Alicia and their kids came over to look around, we got a couple things at the gift shop and headed out. We hit a couple of snow flurries, but it wasn't as bad as we were expecting. We made it home in one piece, after several bathroom breaks and a lunch stop, got partially unpacked and put the kids to bed (which took forever because Dylan and I had a talk about being nice to ALL the cousins and hurting Tony's feelings and it turned into a sob-fest, major remorse, and apologizing on the phone to Tony). After that, Marcos and I stayed up way too late catching up on some of the recorded shows we missed and then when I should've gone to bed, I came down to blog about it all. :) So there's the short version. It was awesome time spent with family and friends! I'm so grateful Dad and Suzanne invited us and were able to provide such a nice trip for all of us. Thanks again! There were too many pictures to try to post so you can find a bunch of them HERE.
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