1 Family x 12 (August)

This month it was too hard to pick just one picture, so I included two!  God I love summer....we pack a LOT of fun and activities into just a few short months and it always means we get to see our favorite people.  

 

10th Annual Cuzzies Camping Trip - Turkey Run

 

Twenty three cuzzies attended our annual camping trip (Mason was napping)!  Our group keeps growing as the family adds new babies.  This group picture isn't quite as big as the one we took on Memorial Day but it's a close second!  These trips we started back 10 years ago are still going strong even though us McGrath's have managed to come late or nearly miss the entire trip  more than once.  We'll get better guys, I promise!

This year we went back to Turkey Run - if I'm remembering right, this is our 3rd time there as a Cuzzies Camping group.  It was hot, it's always hot.  And, some of the cuzzies decided to rent campers to make it more comfortable for the tiny babies (good choices).  We hiked some new trails and the Dads took the bigger kids down to the river on Saturday afternoon to do some rock jumping.  I was too hot to hike down there but now I'm sort of wishing I'd have sucked it up and gone along.  It sounded like they all had a blast in the river.  

And, a camping trip isn't complete without sparkers and smores and staying up later than normal.  These three big kids had the best time hanging out and I can't wait to plan more things for them together now that Jenny and Jack live much closer!

All in all, this was a very quick trip for the 4 of us McGraths - we came in late morning on Saturday and left right after breakfast on Sunday.  Ryan's travel really had us book ended in but I'm certain we'll be more prepared next year.  Now the question is - can we get sites at Indiana Dunes?  We tried so hard this year and everyone was ready to book the day they opened up to us.  But with so many people joining the camping ranks during COVID we weren't able to grab spots.  Keeping our fingers crossed for next summer!

Dear Abby (Age 9)

Well Pearly, another year is behind us and I've got some fun stories to share in this birthday letter to you.  If nothing else I hope that you stay kind and keep that sweet heart of yours.  I feel like we're starting to get peeks of what your teenage years are going to look like and while I'm excited for all the things ahead, I'm going to miss you at this age...big enough to do things, small enough to still want to, and still thinking Daddy and I are cool to hang out with.  I can't believe you're half way to college - sheesh, I shouldn't have typed that....made me have a tear or two in my eyes.  

Favorite Food: “Spaghettios and spaghetti and buttered noodles and Mac and Cheese”

Another consistent answer from years past.  Though, like I said in the “firsts” section, you have been better about trying new foods.  You can still get stuck in a rut where you decide you don’t like something and there’s no use in trying to convince you otherwise, but most days go past without too much whining and for that I’m thankful!

Favorite Outfit:   “I like all my clothes, they are all pretty”.

Unlike your sister you continue to not have a preference about clothes.  Sure, you have pieces you like and colors your prefer, but, for the most part you have no interest in picking out your clothes (either from the store or from your drawer for the day) and you’re happy with whatever I get for you.  Honestly, I’m perfectly fine with this for as long as it lasts.  It means that I get to keep picking things that I like and approve of and we don’t have to fight over this in the mornings.  I ask “do you want me to pick your clothes today or you?” every morning and I’m pretty sure it’s laziness more than anything, but you always respond “you”…and we move on with your days.  One thing I enjoy is picking out the cutest, most unique t-shirts for both you and your sister.  Overall I’d say that I dress you both pretty casually and t-shirts are a staple in your wardrobes year round.  Some of my current favorites are your “Two Scoops Please” shirt (are you surprised, we love ice cream around here) and the book t-shirts I pick up from Out Of Print.  I also can’t stop with the Wee Rascals shirts that are about empowerment, feminism and most of the less celebrated heroes of the past/present.

 

Some firsts this year:

·        Skiing – Daddy has been wanting to take you kids skiing for a few seasons now and this past winter you and Hazel were finally both old enough.  We put you and Stella in lessons (best decision we’ve made) and honestly, you really enjoyed it.  I am sure we’ll try to coordinate another trip for this upcoming winter.  Daddy’s dream is that we become a “ski family”….I’m not sure that we’ll get to THAT point, but it would be super fun to have a winter activity like skiing that we could do together.

·        More adventurous food choices – You’ve never been the most adventurous eater, and you rarely try things just to try them, but this past year, you’ve been doing better at trying new things.  In just the past few months you’ve tried dragon fruit (even Hazel wouldn’t try it!) and alligator bites.  Admittedly we had to trick you a little to try the alligator (we told you it was chicken) but once we told you what it was, you decided that you liked….and, you LOVE telling people that you ate alligator now.   

·        First sewing project – Both you and Hazel really like crafts and being a crafter myself, you know it’s a hobby I can’t help but cultivate.  This past year we tried quite a few new things – cross stitch, latch hook, friendship bracelets and sewing projects.  Probably the most successful (lasting) was a little “My First” sewing project Grandpa bought you when you and Hazel spent the night with him one weekend.  You sewed a cute little deer for your sister and a little animal for your friend Katrina.  I hope you continue to love crafting as much as I do…and I can’t wait to teach you how to knit. 

·        Tying your shoes! – Somehow you got out of needing to know how to do this until you were in THIRD grade.  That’s probably my fault.  Hazel learned it in kindergarten and I suppose maybe you did too?  I must have shied away from buying you shoes with laces but now that I know you know how to do it…laces are the way to go!  You really nailed this skill down back in March…you’d been wearing mostly snow boots to school each day, because, well, WINTER.  But back in March as the seasons started to change you wanted to get out on your bike and start riding….I’d purchased some new shoes for you (with laces) and you needed to figure it out if you’d planned to use them.  You spent 15 minutes watching a video on YouTube (Dang you eLearning…Pandora’s box…I’m telling ya!) and in that short amount of time you’d locked down the skill and were ready to ride.

·        First big sleepover away – just a few short weeks ago you spent an entire WEEK in Missouri with your friend Mati.  She’d moved away last summer (summer after 2^nd grade) and I honestly didn’t think that your friendship would still be going strong a whole year later.  But, you FaceTime’d often enough over the school year, even creating a little art club together.   When Mati’s mom asked me if you’d want to come and spend a week with them I was pretty sure you were ready to do a long sleepaway like that, but I also had a feeling you’d be ready to come home at the end.  But, in the end I think the fun overpowered any nerves or reservations you had.  You called me each evening with a run down of what you’d done – it was a lot!  You went to the zoo, went to a science museum, had a campout in their backyard and went to Six Flags!!  Sounds like you were a little too nervous to ride the roller coasters, but I have a secret (Daddy and Auntie are taking you to Six Flags for your birthday in a few weeks and I have a feeling you’ll be feeling braver with them!).  

Favorite Movie: “Raya”

This answer has more to do with proximity in time than with what your actual favorite movie is.  Raya just came out on Disney+ a month or so ago so it was top of mind when I asked these questions.  That being said, I’m not sure that I could come up with a better (or more accurate) answer.  Ever since we showed you how to run Disney+/Netflix/HBO Max, you and your sister have been exploring lots of new shows and movies and doing less re-watching of things over and over again.  So, for 2021, we’ll say your favorite is Raya!

 

Favorite Color:  “Blue and pink.”

Blue has always been your favorite color…no surprise there!! 

Height/Weight:  52 lbs and 4 ft 2 inches

Well sweet girl, you made it back into the 10% club!  I could tell the doctor must have had a little pause in last year’s numbers when she came into the room this year saying “I’m glad to see you had a growth spurt!”.  Last year you slipped down below 95% of other kids your age and while our pediatrician didn’t give me any reason to worry about your numbers last year, hearing her say that this year means that she was just as happy as I was that your percentages were going up.  I don’t worry too much about it, you remind me of me when I was your age (and I turned out just fine, right??).  But, I’m glad to see you growing and putting on a little weight this year.  We’ve bumped you up to size 8 clothes (though most of the pant sag off your tiny waist), you’re tall enough that if I buy pants to fit your waist you end up in high waters!  In fact, I had to start sizing you up because your sister is ready for some of the clothes you still have in your drawer these days.  It’s nearly time for back to school shopping which means jeans, which is a struggle for me every year.  Gotta start eating bigger meals Pearly!!

Nicknames:

The two nicknames we’ve had for you pretty much since day 1 still stand, Pearly and Peanut, though, Peanut seems to be falling by the wayside as you get older.  Pearly though, I’m hoping that one sticks and I’m sure Grandma feels the same.  And, no matter how old you get, or who many growth spurts you hit, you’ll always be my little peanut.  

Favorite TV show:  “Bluey”

We finally joined the 21 first century back in the winter and signed up for Disney+.  We’d made it so long without having a subscription service that it was finally time for us to contribute to the collective family subscriptions.   Well, having access to “play the next episode now” functionality means that you and your sister have been zooming through shows left and right.  You watched Tangled, tons of Barbie shows, Miles from Tomorrowland, and so many other shows I can’t even remember them all.  Bluey though is your current binge and you guys are hooked on it.  I can’t tell if that show makes me feel like a good parent, or a bad one, but it’s probably best if I don’t study it too hard and just not care.  

A sweet story about you: 

A few months back you convinced the whole family to head to the basement and play Mario Kart for a while.  I’m not sure what movie or commercial you’d seen but while playing you said something like “Mommy, did you know that some kids take their Nintendo’s to college with them?”.  I laughed, first because college still seems (thankfully) far away, but also because I envisioned some college kid somewhere sitting in a dorm room playing their Nintendo while the rest of the college campus buzzed with excitement and fun just outside their door.  Also – you’ve been adamant that you aren’t going to college when you grow up, which I think has more to do with the “little kid-ness” of thinking you’ll live with us forever and marry your daddy and all the other sweet things we adults know will never happen.

Anyways, back to the story.  So, when you made this comment Daddy and I both laughed and I said “Pearly, when you’re in college you’ll be doing lots more fun things than playing Nintendo…being in college is like having a sleepover for 8 months!  There are no adults around and you get to decide what you are going to do each and every day”.  You asked “But if no adults are around, how will I know what things I shouldn’t do?”  Big questions for a little kid, and lots more insight than most 9 year olds if you ask me!  I asked you “Like what things?” and you said “Like, how will I know not to touch the stove”.  To which I quickly answered “Well, it sounds like you already know not to do that….so, cross that off your list of things to worry about.  But, honestly Abby, us parents have 18 years to try and teach you how to do the right thing, how to make good choices, what’s safe and what isn’t, how to make friends that are good influences and how to be a good person.  That’s our jobs as parents.  And then, when you are 18, you get to take all the things we’ve tried to teach you and start using them in the real world…that’s called growing up”. 

It’s a sweet story, and one that I want both of us to remember in 9 years when you’re turning 18 and about to head off to college, or, if not college, than whatever you next path looks like.  It seems so crazy to me that we’ve had in you in our lives for 9 whole years.  Those nine years seem to have passed in the blink of an eye, but also we feel like we’ve lived a lifetime in those 9 years.  We’re half way to you being an adult, leaving home, and the thought of that both excites me and saddens me.  And that, I suppose is the way it goes for every parent out there.  But, all that said, just know that Daddy and I are and will continue to do the very best we can to prepare you for the future.  You’ve got a bright future ahead of you and we can’t wait to see how far you fly!

 

Bears or Packers?  “Um, I like them both”

You’ve taken this stance for a long long time now.  I should probably take this question off the list because it makes you a little uncomfortable to know that Daddy likes one and I like the other and I’m asking you to pick sides.  But, you are so sweet, and, someday you’ll pick one (or not!  Maybe you won’t ever care enough to pick).

Favorite Toy:  “Owies.” 

Forever and for always, your two sweet owies are part of our day.  I love how much you love them and honestly, I hope you never grow out of them.  I think you’re starting to get a little self-conscious about them, but I can tell that in your heart of hearts you still want them around, and I will be so sad on the day that you decide you’re too old of them.  

Our Big Family Road Trip (Part 4)

Our final stop on the trip took us right back to the beginning - the Black Hills.  Instead of camping inside the state park though we stayed at a camp ground recommended by Mom and Dad called Big Pines - just to the west of the town of Custer and so very close to everything we wanted to do.  The campground was beautiful and we lucked into some of the best campsites in the entire campground - backing right up to the state owned forest.  Saying we lucked into them is a lie though - Mom and Dad knew exactly the campsites to reserve and they called on "opening day" of the reservation window to make sure we landed the best sites in the whole place.  

We spent Tuesday driving from the Tetons to Black Hills - mileage wise I think this was our longest day.  I mentioned when I started the blog series about our trip out west that we had 4 big driving days, and this started our trek home and was our 3rd of 4 big days of windshield time.  Luckily Ryan and I stumbled on two good podcast series - Dolly Parton's America and Thai Cave Rescue so while this day was super long, we were engrossed in the Thai Cave podcast and the time slipped past rather effortlessly.  Though, we were ALL glad to be out of the cars by the time we got to the campsite.

(Stick with me - I know the pictures don't match the story here...I'll get to the ATV in a minute).

We had two final days in the Black Hills before heading out on the last leg of our journey to home.  Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday we all decided was going to be a rest day of sorts.  A day to sleep in, do a few less things and just recharge.  We'd been going strong for basically the entire trip - out the door early to either site see before the crowds or to get miles under our tires on the driving days.  So, we all agreed we'd sleep in and we'd head out to Wind Cave (the last stamp we were trying to get in our books) when we were ready - knowing that we might not be able to get a tour because things sold out so quickly.  There are two National Park Caves near Custer, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave.  We decided on Wind Cave because Jewel cave wasn't offering tours due to COVID - apparently they use an elevator to get down into the cave system and social distancing couldn't be enforced there.  

We left the campsite around 9:30 am on Wednesday and went to Wind Cave.  We arrived there before 10 (guys, that's not even that late in the day!!).  The boys dropped off Brenna, Ro and I and circled to find parking while us three girls stood in the line to get tour tickets.  We were probably in line for about 30 minutes and we got to the counter just in time for them to announce that the were selling tickets for the final tour of the day - at 4:30 pm.  B and I decided none of us wanted to hang out there for 6 hours waiting on the tour, so we jumped out of line, found the rest of the group, did a quick lap around the little museum/gift store and decided it was time to find a new activity.

We debated going over to Jewel cave to look around, hiking around Wind Cave, or even trying to track down the buffalo on the wildlife loop - but, you know what we picked?  Lunch at Mount Rushmore Brewing in Custer, and honestly, it was the best choice we could have made.  We didn't have to wait, the place was pretty empty, the food was good enough, we gave the kids iPads, ordered ourselves some beers and just sat.  It was lovely!  

After our "day of rest" on Wednesday we were right back at it with activities on Thursday morning.  I think the ONE thing Ryan wanted to do on this trip was to rent ATV's and go out on the trails.  When we were in the Black Hills on the way out Ryan made sure to note a few rental places and we booked two ATV's for Thursday morning.  Our group in the Black Hills was pretty big!  We had the 4 of us, plus the three Murphy's, then Mom and Dad but we also added Marsha and Ed and Aunt Jane/Uncle Dave and their grandson Ryker to the group.  With a group that big, we ended up splitting up because everyone had a different idea of what to do on Thursday.  There was the 7 of us on the ATV trip and then the rest of the group took a train ride from Hill City and back.  We only rented the ATV's for a half day which, I think was the prefect amount of time - though, the kids LOVED his adventure and I'm sure Ryan would have enjoyed a few more hours of mud splashing.  I was ready to get out and take a shower by the time noon came - I mean, we all had a great time, don't get me wrong, but I'd had enough overstimulation and was ready to get out by then.

We rented ATV's in Hill City, less than20 minutes down the road from our campground.  At the rental place they had us download a trail map app on our phones that would work without service.  Honestly, I think that app made the trip for us.  We could tell exactly where we were (our location showed with a tiny dot and moved along with us as we went) and it was plotted out on a very well defined trail system.  We'd have been totally lost or stuck to the main roads without that app, and knowing exactly nothing about the area or the trails.  Similar to the horse back ride, being on the ATV's let us see some areas that we could have never seen by foot. 

Chris and B led for awhile and took us to a nice overlook area, after exploring up there we decided to make our way towards Jenny Gulch (not Jenny Lake in the Tetons).  We ate lunch there at the gulch, and, if we'd have had more time we could have hiked and played around in the lake for a bit.  We needed to turn back and start heading toward the rental place but I thought we'd have time for one more stop along the way.  We picked Edelweiss Mountain - the climb to the top was extreme - I was overly worried we'd tip over but the boys had a great time navigating us to the top and views up there were amazing (the picture above and the few below were all taken there at the top of Edelweiss Mountain.  

The route home was the muddiest part of our drive and I can promise you that Ryan did everything in his power to make sure we came home as muddy as possible.  The kids, in the back, stayed pretty clean, and I'm wishing I'd have taken some pictures when the mud was still wet, but you can see in the picture below that my shirt was basically soaked with mud.  Ryan was in paradise and had so much fun driving on the trails.  And, I think he's totally sold the kids on getting fancy 4 wheeler and doing more trail rides.  I'm not sure that's in the budget right now, but maybe some day!

 
We finished off our last real day of vacation with dinner at Alpine Inn in Hill City.  Ed and Marsha had been in the area for a few days before we all arrived and they'd scoped out this restaurant and managed to get reservations for all 14 of us - not a small feat!  The restaurant was a mix between a steak house and diner?  I'm not sure how to describe it.  They only had two menu options, a bacon wrapped filet for $15 or Spetzel with steamed veggies on top.  We weren't sure what to expect, but it turned out perfectly.  After placing our orders with the waitress I asked to see the dessert menu (I mean, sometimes you have to eat according to your dessert plans, so I like to know what's available before the food comes).  We were surprised when the waitress came out with a FOUR page dessert menu!  Two menu options for the main mail - 4 pages of desserts.  Honestly, that's when I knew this was my kind of restaurant.  By the time it was time to order dessert I'd sold the whole table on ordering something and we had a true dessert sampler - we even got the kids their own bowls of rainbow sherbet.  My favorite was the peanut butter pie Mom and Dad ordered.  

Friday morning we packed up and headed east again for our fourth big driving day.  We camped in Albert Lea, MN.  Picked specifically because we wanted to be able to put Minnesota on our camper map - our rule is that we have to spend one night in the camper in a given state to be able to put the sticker up.  So, on this trip we added 4 states to our map - though we drove through many more.  I don't have any pictures of our campground in MN, but we stayed at Myre-Big Island State Park and it was beautiful!  It's about 5 hours from our house, so a little on the long side for a weekend camping trip, but Ryan and I both want to go back and camp there again.  They had brand new bathrooms - including individual shower rooms.  You could hike around the campground right at the edge of the lake, and we'd have to do some research, but we saw a boat on the water at one point so it might be possible to rent a pontoon there too.  I might even try proposing it for a future Cuzzies Camping trip location.  Though, it would be a haul for everyone to get there.

We arrived home on Saturday afternoon which gave us a day and half to get our lives back together before heading back to work on Monday.  We were gone for 16 days and it was one of the most memorable trips we've done to date.  

Our Big Family Road Trip (Part 3)

(I love these "everybody be silly" pictures so much!)

The Grand Tetons are only just a few hours south of Yellowstone so when we were planning this trip and plotting out our stops, it seems like a logical add to the itinerary.  Many people choose to do Yellowstone/Tetons then head south to Colorado and also include Estes National Park in this big "out west" loop, but we opted to stay on the northern route, at swing back through the Black Hills on our way back home.

In my ten or so years of planning these big camping trips I've learned that moving too often ends up being more exhausting than it's worth and that no matter how hard you try, when you get somewhere you'll find something you just don't have time to do.  So, returning back through the Black Hills was my built in way to allow us to pick up and do some of those things we'd missed on the way out.  I'll share more about our final leg of the trip in the next post, but I've gotten ahead of myself - back to the Tetons.

Saturday morning we left Yellowstone (Mom/Dad, Dan, and us McGraths) to head down to the Tetons.  We exited the park through the south entrance, meaning on this trip we'd been through three of the four entrances - missing only the Northern one.  I think we were all glad for the short driving day we had that Saturday.  We joined Chris and Brenna, who'd left when we went outside of the park for the family reunion at our campground in the Tetons.  It was so nice because they had 3 days to find all the good spots for us when we arrived on Saturday.

Saturday was pretty low key - we grabbed our Teton's stamp at the visitors center and got our campsites all set up but didn't have any activities planned for that day.  But, first thing Sunday morning we were back at it bright and early with horse back riding!  We'd enrolled the girls in horseback riding lessons back over the winter, partly in preparation for this trip and partly because Ryan's been wanting to put them in lessons since we moved to Marengo.  This ranch allowed kids 6 and older which was perfect for us because Hazel had turned six just a few weeks earlier.  I think the owner was a little nervous to have Hazel be so little, but I knew she'd be fine and she did great on the horse.  I think our guide was thoroughly entertained by her during our tour.  

Characteristically, Abby ended up with the slowest horse of the bunch - Dotty.  In her weekly lessons Abby's been struggling with holding the reins in a way that the horse isn't getting mixed signals.  Abby wants the horse to trot, but when she gets nervous she starts to lean back which means she's inadvertently telling the horse to slow down.  Dotty I think was just slow in her own right and sensed that Abby wasn't a "strong enough" rider to make her listen.   

We signed up for a 2 hour trail ride which honestly, was all any of us needed.  Our group included Mom and Dad, Dan, the 4 of us and Chris.  Rowy was way under the age cut off and they didn't allow riders with backpacks (or kid packs) so Brenna stayed home with Ro for this adventure.

The trail ride was one of my favorite things we did on the whole trip.  We got to see parts of the Tetons we couldn't have on foot, we climbed 2,000 feet in elevation that day (is that right?  All of a sudden I can't remember) and I can tell you for CERTAIN there was no chance that any of us would have hiked the trail we were on with the horses.

The day we rode there were quite a few forest fires nearby.  None close enough to be a danger to us, but close enough to cast a foggy/orangey haze over everything that morning which you can certainly see in these pictures.  Looking at them now it almost seems like we added an "olden days" filter to them but we didn't - that's just the way the sky looked that day.  It was a little unfortunate because we couldn't quite see the Tetons in their full glory but we had a great time none the less.

I'm sure this will be a memory both kids remember for many years to come.  It was such a fun experience and I'm so glad we were able to do it.

We arrived back at our campsite just after lunch time and hooked back up with Brenna and Ro.  We'd decided that B could pick what we did that afternoon since she had to miss out on the horse back riding so while we were gone that morning, Brenna was out looking for adventures for us!  She suggested we take a gondola ride at Teton Village and do some hiking up at the top of the ski slopes.  In the summer the ski runs are converted to mountain biking trails so it was fun to see the mountain in a totally different season that we're used to.  

We'd take the kids skiing back in February of this year but they stayed on the bunny hill with the rope pull, so this was the first time they'd been on a ski lift - which they all LOVED after Abby got over her initial hesitation about the whole thing.

I don't know that any of us really knew what we'd do when we got to the top (note the shoes the kids are wearing), but, when we got up there we found a few hiking paths so we decided we'd hike up until we were tired and then come back down.  Turns out the Tetons, and the hike here at the top of the mountain and Jenny lake - coming up next - were the two most strenuous hikes we'd do for the entire trip.  Neither of them were planned and neither were well thought out.

Notice the difference in the sky and pictures from just a few hours later in the afternoon.  By the afternoon much of the smoke/orangey color had cleared though you can see here we were still left with a haze for the rest of that day.

This hike here the top was maybe one of the prettiest ones we did, they'd covered this section of the mountain to prairie plants for the summer so there were flowers blooming everywhere.

Saturday evening, after our day of horse back riding and hiking Mom and Dad hosted a true cowboy dinner complete with steak dinners for everyone, and a fancy cocktail made with Yellowstone (the TV show) whiskey.  When I brought up the idea of doing a trail ride there was an option to add a steak dinner to the ride - but, unsurprisingly it was expensive and, being cheap, Dad and I both said "we could do that for less ourselves" so that began the plans for the big cowboy steak dinner.  Mom and Dad hauled fancy steak cuts all the way from their butcher in Illinois, carrying them in their freezer for over 3 weeks just so we could pull off a steak dinner on this evening.  I'm happy to say it turned out great and we all loved our meal for that night!

On our final full day in the Tetons (Monday) we decided that we wanted to see Jenny Lake.  Of all the places we went on this trip the Teton's section was my least planned.  I knew we wanted to go there, but what we'd do, and when was pretty wide open.  Dad had a list of the "top things to do in the Tetons" and we used that to guide some of our choices.  I'd never heard of Jenny Lake before this trip, but it was on the list, so we set out to see what it was all about.

Arriving at Jenny Lake was just like showing up at so many of the other national park sites we saw on this trip - the parking lot was packed with people by 10 am.  We lucked out and got a really really good spot randomly, but Chris and B had a full half mile hike just to get to the visitors center. While we waited on them we checked out the gift shop (of course the kids nagged us to get a stuffed animal - we were officially stuffed animal'd out by that point and gave it a hard no!).

Ryan found a ranger and got some information about hiking and the ferry at Jenny Lake.  He learned that there were two options.  You could take a ferry from the ranger station across the lake and back.  Or you could hike to the other side (half way around the lake) and then just ferry back.  What he did NOT ask about was the length of the hike depending on which way you went around the lake (clockwise or counter clockwise).  Turns out the 7 mile hike around the lake was not exactly split in half - two miles one way, a whopping 5 the other.  In hindsight, the ranger should have mentioned this because, as you can probably already tell, we took the 5 mile route and regretted it once we put all the pieces together.  This is what happens when you start out without a plan!  I know better than this!  But, I was living in a moment of whimsy...a moment of "can someone else figure it out and I'll just float along"...a rare moment in which I didn't feel like I needed to be in charge.  So. Much. Regret (Kidding!!)

Hey, at least the kids had hike appropriate shoes on this time!  Honestly though, this hike was beautiful.  It was more than we were ready for - I think Mom and Dad didn't even think we'd hike that day and we bit off more than we could chew with this hike, but the kids finished it.  If we'd have known what we were getting ourselves into we wouldn't have done it and we'd have missed out because I know I heard both Ryan and Brenna say that this was their favorite hike of the trip and I think B said it was her favorite hike of all time!  Top 5 for sure.  I mean, with a review like that, we can't be too sad it happened!

The hike started off in the woods (shade) and as we rounded the one end of the lake it opened up to be much more shrubby with lots and lots of open areas and flowers.  We hiked right along the lake for a lot of it and then had to jut inland to get around where the river flowed into the lake (that's the part that added quite a bit of mileage we didn't expect).  Murph wanted to try and forge the river (picture below) with the kids on our backs to avoid the out and back to the bridge but the rest of the group decided that didn't sound like a good idea.

We had limited snacks and water (because we weren't trying to do a 5 mile hike) and I had to pull out every trick I had to get Abby to keep hiking and stop whining but we made it.  We were hot and tired when we arrived at the ferry but we made it!  I'm a little bummed we were too tired to make it to Hidden Falls and Inspiration Point (both sites we heard were amazing from other hikers) but we all knew we were pushing our luck if we tried to get the kids to take 10 more steps - LOL!  Someday, honestly, not too far away we'll be able to easily take hikes like this without a second thought.  

We got home, cranked the AC and let the kids plop and watch Disney+ in Chris and Brenna's camper.  I think we all needed that kind of a break.  On our last evening in the Tetons we ate at my favorite restaurant of the trip (Mom and Dad's steak meal aside).  Right next-door to our campground there was a little Italian restaurant called Calico.  Finding a reservation for dinner in Jackson Hole was like finding a needle in a haystack.  If you're planning to visit during the summer months, do your research and make a reservation for something before you even leave your house.  We had a big group, 10 total but I could not find a single reservation anywhere near us, on a MONDAY night.  Brenna had started looking when they arrived in the area on Thursday and had zero luck as well.  So we decided we'd go to Calico right when it opened at 4:30 and see if we could get on the wait list.  Luckily for us, eating at 4:30 pm meant we could be seated, together and have a lovely dinner before the rush.  I'm glad we tried because it was probably my favorite meal of the trip....well, hum - maybe not quite.  It might be a tie with Alpine Inn in Hill City - more on that in my final post.  

Anyways, we had fancy pizzas, a giant salad, Aperol Spritz's and fancy Huckleberry cocktails and it was a lovely evening.  Course it didn't hurt that I landed myself at the "adult table" and Ryan and Chris were left to manage the kids at a totally separate table.  That may have contributed to my overall rating of the dinner - LOL!