A few weeks ago, Danny decided that he thought it would be a great idea to take the next opportunity available and take a trip up to Great Grandma's Cabin in the Woods, as it has come to be known. The next opportunity came about 10 days ago, when Danny had an off-Friday. We loaded up the kids Thursday evening and headed to Island Park.
Danny's favorite place in the world is this cabin. It rejuvenates his soul. It's a beautiful home, with a wonderful spirit. And it's become a very special place full of fun memories for Danny and me and our little family. It's where we honeymooned, and had the best week of our life. Since being married, we've been there five times (including our honeymoon). This was our sixth visit, and with the exception of our honeymoon, it's the only time we've been there with just our family. What a special time it was! We loved watching our kids play and make memories, and we got to do or not do whatever we wanted! A little taste of earlier honeymooning days. :)
As I mentioned, we left Thursday evening, so we didn't get into the cabin until almost 10:00 pm. It was way after the kids' bedtime, but considering they slept a decent portion of the drive and it was a chilly 50 degrees in the cabin upon our arrival, everyone cuddled up to watch a movie until things warmed up enough to call it a night.
After a good night's sleep, we enjoyed a lazy day on Friday. The girls were ready to get out in the snow, but I made them wait until closer to lunch time. They busied themselves coloring in their new color books, which turned out to be a favorite activity for Claire while we were there.
At last, it was time to bundle up our little snow bunnies and send them out to play! My little Southern California kids had no idea that there could be so much snow. Daddy bundled up too, and they all went out to play. I got Johnny bundled up first, so by the time I got the girls ready and got ready myself, he had already been out for about 20 minutes. So he was ready to come in by the time the camera came out! But Danny assures me he had a ball. All I know is he looked too stinkin' cute in that Buzz Lightyear hat!
Speaking of cute, my girls make adorable snow bunnies! They know it, too...
I could never enumerate all the ways that Danny amazes me. But pretty high on that lengthy list is how much fun he has with our kids. My Dad wasn't really the playful type, so sometimes it just takes me by surprise how easily Danny gets on the floor (or in this case the snow) and just plays with them. I'm kind of glad to say, I don't know that our kids will ever know how lucky they are. I'm sure they'll grow up assuming every Daddy does that. And I'm okay with that.
Claire was so excited to get up on the snow drifts and find "buried treasure". She spent some time trying to dig this tree out of the snow. Little did she realize that in actuality, that tree is quite a bit taller than she is! Just goes to show how deep that snow really is!
Like I said, this place is just rejuvenating. And how could it not be? Just look at the view! I'm not a fan of winter, but if it looked like this where we lived, I think I could take a shining to it. :) Simply gorgeous.
We enjoyed a quite evening at the cabin after we were done in the snow, eating pizza and watching "Hook". It was the first time the girls had seen it, and they loved it! I swear, they just don't make movies like that anymore. Saturday dawned as bright and beautiful as the day before, but unfortunately Sophie had been up sick that night, Johnny spent a fair amount of time coughing in his sleep, and Claire had a runny nose. So Mama put the kibosh on snow play for the day. The kids colored and played with blocks while Danny and I did...well...I don't even remember! Which only goes to show how wonderfully relaxing the trip was!
When Johnny woke up from his nap, we decided it was time to get out of the cabin for a while. Both Sophie and Claire were feeling better, and Johnny wasn't coughing anymore. So we headed to West Yellowstone for some touristy fun!
First up was some amazing Huckleberry Ice Cream! The area is kind of famous for the stuff, so it's something of a tradition to get some while we're there...winter or not. We tried a new ice cream parlor, and I think it just might be our new ice cream place. It was amazing! Danny and Johnny shared a huckleberry cone, I enjoyed a huckleberry shake, Claire got a blueberry cone, and Sophie decided on a strawberry cone.
When I say that Danny and Johnny shared, I mean that as soon as Johnny got the first lick, he was in control of that cone! Danny would swipe it occasionally to keep it from dripping all over the place. But Johnny mostly finished it off on his own. He was one happy guy!
But he ran into a problem once his cone was gone and his tummy was full of wonderful ice cream goodness. What is one to do with a full tummy and an elastic waistband? Well, Johnny came up with a solution!
Anytime we turned our backs on him, the kid had his pants around his ankles! The first couple of times, we were all laughing so hard it was hard to make him realize we were serious about him keeping his pants on. Once he realized we were getting a kick out of it, he wouldn't stop! We decided it was best to move on from the ice cream parlor at this point. It was just getting embarrassing. :)
With it being in the middle of winter, most of West Yellowstone was closed. There were a few gift shops open, however, and the kids loved walking through them. The girls were especially fond of all the giant stuffed bears.
And the buffalo hats. :)
After an hour or so of walking around the shops, the kids started to get a bit tired. We took a quick rest before making our way back to the car, and headed back to the cabin. But we had a great time in West Yellowstone!
We got the kids home, gave them some dinner and a bath, and sent their cute butts to bed. Danny was already beginning to sulk around, knowing that the next morning we had to get packed up and head back to reality. He hates that part. He was in such a weird mood, he decided all he wanted to do with the evening was put in an old movie, pop some popcorn, and work on a puzzle together. I told him we could totally do that, and I'll admit I wondered if Danny had been replaced with a rather good-looking geriatric. Turns out, we had quite a nice evening! Unfortunately, Danny picked the hardest puzzle there was, and we worked on it until almost midnight. We were getting close to being finished, but had the hardest portion of the 550 piece puzzle still ahead of us. That's when Danny threw up his arms in defeat and decided he was going to bed. That didn't sit well with me. We'd spent so much time on it, there was no way I was going to bed with it unfinished! But alas, I couldn't do it on my own. So I begrudgingly went to bed, leaving our puzzle on the table to taunt me.
And taunt me it did! I didn't sleep well at all, and because we were up so late doing that stupid puzzle, we didn't quite make it out the door for 9:00 am Sacrament Meeting. I was feeling a little mad, and while I was eating my breakfast at the same table that that puzzle mockingly sat, I decided it wasn't going to get the best of me! We spent another hour or so, and finished that stinkin' puzzle. All but one piece. Which was missing. Can I just say how annoying that is? :)
Once the puzzle was finished, we couldn't delay our departure any longer. It always takes a couple of hours to get packed up and get the cabin cleaned for the next lucky visitors. Johnny spent that entire two hours watching "The Lion King" on the iPod. What a cutie!
The last thing we had to clean up before we left was Claire's art studio on the fridge. Like I said, she spent a lot of time coloring!
We made it home without incident, and felt so much better for our time spent there. We are so grateful to Great Grandma Lovell for letting us use her home. We're grateful for such a beautiful place that Heavenly Father created just for us to enjoy. One of the perks of being back in Utah is that we live that much closer to the cabin, so I'm sure we'll be planning our seventh visit very soon!
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