It's not quite the fourth if we don't find ourselves deep in the pine trees, laughing around the campfire, getting ice cream in West Yellowstone, chasing bears (that story is to come) and making lots of new memories with our awesome family. This year was another memorable trip, and I can't think of anywhere I would rather be celebrating the birth of America.
This year was pretty special because nearly the entire family was together. Sadly our missing pieces were Jace and Ash, Taigen and Grady, and Sam. We missed them too much! Everyone else in the clan was there bringing our grand total to 46.5 peeps (baby sister counts!), 6 tents, 4 trailers (actually 5 trailers plus three more people for half of the time as my grandpa's sister and her son and his wife were there for a bit), four dogs (one who is blind and deaf- poor Chipper), and lots of vehicles. I am not sure how we all fit on my grandparent's property, but we made it happen!
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| The legend himself |
Because we knew so many of us were going to be together this year, some of my amazing cousins and sisters decided to put their rad skills to use and do a few things to remind us all what a great family we have.
Mexican Horseshoes has always been a favorite activity at the park, and nearly every year we have a big tournament. We all put a few bucks in the pot and the winning team splits whatever we have gathered. Ryan has actually won a few times and even made it into the finals again this year. A few years ago we were having a little flag ceremony before the tournament began. As we were all belting out our national anthem, my dad comes running onto the playing field holding a little flag. Just as we hit the words "and the home of the brave," he hits a tent stake and face plants it right in the dirt. We still all pee our pants laughing at that memory! So in honor of him (and his love for Nacho Libre) we played in our first official Nacho Libre Mexican Horseshoe tournament this year, complete with our awesome shirts designed by Emily.
We also enjoyed a lovely display of family talent including a family cheer for old times sake and, of course, a riveting performance from Miss Stella Rose. Her rendition of The Little Mermaid's "Part of Your World" is sure to please.
We also watched a slide show full of family pictures from the last 30+ years, and presented my grandparents with a few special gifts. Just as we did for my dad we all wrote letters to my grandparents that Kyrsten then compiled into a book. We all provided photos and the little kids even drew pictures that were scanned in. Kyrsten even made a page from my dad using excerpts from his journals and a paper he wrote on marriage that she found. It was pretty special to have a "letter" straight from Heaven included among so many other touching tributes.
We also decided to present grandma with a blanket crocheted out of squares provided by every girl in the family. Grandma always crochets blankets for us as we have gotten married, and we decided it would be a great way to show her how much we love her. And a labor of love it was! While a few of us knew how to crochet and were pretty much pros, the rest of us sort of struggled. I was one of the later. After watching endless YouTube tutorials and still failing miserably, I finally had to recruit my 14 year-old young woman to help teach me. Emily put together all of our imperfect squares into a perfect gift for my sweet grandmother. Grandpa loves his suspenders, so we all signed a little note on a pair and gave those to him.
What a wonderful legacy the two of them have created. We certainly aren't a perfect family, but we truly love spending time with one another and can laugh like nothing else when we get together. I feel so blessed to still have my grandparents as a part of my life, along with the close relationships I have with my aunts, uncles and cousins. The older I get, the more I realize just how rare that can be.
And just when we thought all the excitement was over, we decided to throw a bear into the mix. On Saturday night around 11:30, a large group of us were hanging out around the campfire eating hot dogs and making some other delicious treats when Ryan decided to walk to the other end of the property to use the restroom. I didn't even realize he had gone, but only a minute or two later he was back and in his ever calm demeanor says, "I am 100% certain I just saw a bear." No screaming, yelling or terror in his voice- just as matter of fact as he always is. In the three seconds it took all of us to freak out I thought to myself "Why is he joking about that? That really isn't like Ryan's personality to joke about something like that. Holy crap! He's not joking!"
Everyone sprang into action grabbing dogs from the yard and yanking sleeping kids out of tents and putting them in trailers. The boys all grabbed flashlights (and a few pistols) and walked to the edge of the property where the bear had run off to. They shined their lights across the road to find him still sitting there (the next morning we realized he was eating some hamburger buns he had managed to find) and when he started to move out of the the trees towards them they made a ruckus and chased him off. A park ranger showed up not long after to let us know there was a bear in the area, and in fact there was both a black bear and a grizzly that had been spotted throughout the area over the last couple weeks.
Thankfully no one was ever in any danger, although Ryan was alone when he encountered it on the property. As he was walking to the trailer (with his trusty headlamp) he heard something tip over about fifteen feet from him near my uncle's fifth-wheel. He looked over to find a black bear staring at him and a ravaged Tupperware tub on it's side. The bear only stood there for a couple of seconds before it ran off in the other direction, and I am ever thankful he decided to go back the way he came instead of at my husband. We found some tracks the next morning (after a night out of our tent and in the back of our car!) and a few days later after hearing a thud on the side of his trailer my uncle came out to find more paw prints. A little scary for some of us, but quite the adventure as well. We have never had a bear encounter in all the years we have been visiting Island Park. Ryan himself was positive he would never see a bear in that area, especially during the fourth of July. Now we know, and I think we will all be a little more "bear aware" during our coming visits.
Bear and all it was another successful trip to Island Park. It's a place that holds so many wonderful memories, and also stings a little each time we make a the visit without dad. We all miss him so very much! Can't wait for next year's adventures- let's just leave out the bear!
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