So, 2008 was going to be a very sad year for the McGarry's. We couldn't seem to get our schedules together and had decided to just bag getting together this year instead of our annual camp out over the 4th of July. The 4th came and went but the next week we actually got together thanks to Kliss braving a drive up from Utah in an air conditionless car (thanks to the gas prices) and no husband (We missed you Matt!). I am glad we went through all the trouble to get as many of us together as we could. We missed out on Kelli, Shane and Shaylee but caught a night with Ashlee and Rob. This is a really long blog but "bear" with me, it was a action packed week. Here we are on a Bear Couch in West Yellowstone after going through a Bear exhibit. I don't know why my picture turned out in a wierd brown color, but you at least get the gist of how big the bear was.
Here we are at the mud pots where there is boiling water all around. Kliss and I told the kids some gory stories about how people had died falling off the sides and boiled to death. This was only to help the kids understand that being safe was important. I think we freaked them out a little too much. Haylee thought all the orange stuff we were seeing was people's skin and said she never wanted to go back there again. I could barely get Zack to walk at pace because he was being so careful. Ooops, lesson learned.
Old Faithful for us was lame. We arrived and hour or so too early and thought we would grab some souvenirs and icecream and then walked out only to have missed the geiser by a minute. Oh well, better luck next time. We were in too big of a hurry to stay and wait for it to go off again...we had to be at Bar J two hours away two hours from that point...
This is how the drive went. We seemed to get behind every slow travelor and even a moose stopping traffic in the road. I wonder what was so yummy that he didn't mind us all driving around him. (at this point Ben is feeling as if he is going to throw up from all the winding we were doing on the road) We were supposed to be at Bar J by now and could not afford to be slowed down anymore.
We finally arrived at Bar J and it was a packed house. Dad had to argue with people at the end of the table because they weren't giving us enough space. My what a large family we have. Kliss was there just not pictured...potty break with a few kids. We are also missing Kelli's fam but everyone else was there which was nice. The show was a lot of fun. It had been a long day and it was nice to relax.
Skipping ahead a few days we were at Tear Drop Lake camping. Thank you thank you to everyone who gave in to my requests to go there despite the gas prices etc. Dad even let the crew off for half a day and came up despite being in the middle of hay season. We were really glad you came up. It wouldn't be camping without you!
We stayed busy busy the whole time we were camping. The kids are making flags for an art project. The Mom's are trying to stay patient with paint and markers being handed every direction.
Haylee wanted to dress up like a princess so she could play with Zack. Zack came up with a brilliant idea just to use a towell. This is how the beautiful princess turned out...
Ok, sorry about my picture selection, I have not mastered this blog thing yet. Here we are back in Yellowstone at the bear exhibit. That is a real bear. He was huge.
Here is our tribe of kids we toted around the park with us. I can't believe we got them to hold still long enough for this shot. Aren't they all the best?
Ok, back to Tear Drop Lake. Here is Scott in his Scuba gear and Brandon braving it without a wet suit.
The kids played and played in these small kiddie floats. Who knew they would be so great.
Brigham and Brock taking a break. They looked this dirty the entire time. It was impossible to keep them clean. They played very well together and had a lot of fun.
The food was great. Here we are experimenting with fried food treats. We had Moose Balls (biscuit covered hershey kisses), fried twinkies and fried snickers dipped in pancake batter. They were delic!
All the kids loved to fish. We had to make fake fishing poles out of sticks with string tied to the end so the smaller kids thought they were fishing too. They loved it.
Here is our attempt at a family photo. We set our timers and ran. I thought I had a pretty good picture but this is blurry. If you got a better shot please email it to me.
Here are all the kids covered in dirt. Just the way kids like to be.
The kids also swam, swam and swam again. Even the little boys dove right in. It was tons of fun to have the water there.
Here are all the Mom's watching their kids at play enjoying some sun.
Brigham and Brock played bumper boats. Ben discovered he could use the noodle as a water gun. It was quite impressive. The older boys, Noah and Branson were really good to help keep the small kids safe in the water.
We all had a great time. I am glad the McGarry family pulled it off another year. Thank you for giving into my pleas and going to Tear Drop. It was a blast!
All ready for the first day of school. Haylee was sooooo excited. Ashtyn not so much.
Here is the neighborhood crew waiting at the bus stop. Every one of them is looking sharp in their new clothes and excited for the first day. Aren't they all so cute!?! Brigham was hoping to sneak on the school bus too. He was pretty disappointed to see the girls get to go without him.
Off they go. . . I am more sad this year losing two kids than I was last year. It was really quiet at home today. Hope everyone has a great school year. Check out below for their after school interviews.
