Our first real road trip

Maren:
July is here and all of a sudden our calendar is full!  We spent a few days right in a row on the river which is always a great way to beat the heat.  On one of the trips my best buddy Anna got to come along.  She had never been rafting before so it was really fun to take her along and share the fun.

Right before our trip to Yellowstone my favorite boy Jack passed away.  When mommy told me the news I cried really, really hard.  Mommy even shed some tears too while she was laying in bed snuggling with me.  Its hard to imagine going back to the ranch without him there when it was just a few short weeks ago that I was riding him.  I will miss him terribly!  

Our big summer trip this year turned out to be a bit different then what we had originally planned but it was awesome! We were supposed to go back to Pennsylvania to visit Auntie C, Uncle Tom, Hayden and Jimi but because of the Coronavirus we were a bite uncertain about flying and travel in general.  Pica definitely did not want to fly so mommy and Auntie C planned an adventure that none of us will ever forget!  Auntie C, Hayden and Jimi jumped on a plane and headed our direction, we rented a big passenger van and headed in theirs.  We met in Boise, picked Pica up in Twin Falls, and then drove together to Yellowstone!  Wow!  Mommy also rented an awesome cabin and we spent an amazing week together having great adventures.  Our first day in the park we arrived a bit late due to the drive in but we headed straight in to see Old Faithful and the geysers.  We ended up waiting for about an hour for the eruption because we were uncertain of the time but it was worth seeing for sure.  Then we walked around the series of boardwalks to see the other geysers/hot springs for a couple of hours. 
We spent a lot of time in the van driving from place to place.  Our cabin was about 20 minutes outside of the entrance of West Yellowstone and the park is huge!  Thankfully we had the van which allowed us to be together to share stories and laugh.  We saw a ton of bison... some of them that were walking right down the middle of the road!  One time we were driving right by one and mommy opened the van door.  We could have reached out to touch him he was that close!  Mommy was really nervous because as we drove by the bison turned and looked right at her!
Our very last day was one of the best on the whole trip. We went for a hike to a small lake called Ice Lake. The trail was about 3 miles of easy walking. The only major drawback was all of the mosquitoes that wanted to eat us alive.  We had a great time finding our own wands and playing Harry Potter casting spells on anything that would stand still!! After the hike we went back to the Firehole River for some swim time, then back to the cabin. Pica brought his guitar and we all sat in the living room singing songs together.  It was the perfect way to end our trip together. 

Maddox:
4th of July was a bit different for us this year since we usually spend it at Nonna's house.  This year we spent the day rafting and then went home for a barbeque and home made ice cream.  Uncle Frankie came a long and he spoiled us with a huge firework purchase.  I will say that it was a learning experience for sissy, mommy and I!  Watching daddy and Uncle Frankie light fireworks was a bit frightening... especially when they were throwing them at each other.   I finally gained the courage to hold my own sparkler... those darn things are scary!

Our big summer adventure to Yellowstone was really great!  It was a long drive, our first real road trip with 15 hours of driving to get there, but mommy had the van all rigged up to keep us entertained.  We had a huge basket of snacks... licorice, popcorn, pirate booty, sunflower seeds, corn nuts... movies, books (we started reading the Harry Potter series) and the time really flew by.  Before we knew it we had a van full of people and were knee deep in fun! 
We did a lot of hiking while we were there, at least one hike per day, and I was a super duper hiking champ!  Our first hike was almost 6 miles long and I made it the whole way all by myself!  Mommy and daddy were so very proud of me!  One of the days I gave them a bit of a scare when I tripped and fell on rock.  I landed right on my sternum which knocked the wind out of me.  I ended up having what looked like a seizure and stopped breathing for a little bit.  When I came around and saw mommy crying it really worried me.  That obviously took the wind out of my sails for a bit and I ended up gaining a shoulder ride out.  
One really great part of our trip was our daily ice cream break!  The have special huckleberry ice cream in Yellowstone and we made sure to have a cone full (or a special made ice cream sandwich) daily.  That was always a really great reward for our hiking efforts!  We also made regular trips to the Firehole River to swim and cool off.  Since that river runs right along the geyser basin it gets a lot of run off from the hot geysers which warms the water significantly.  We really enjoyed being able to swim and not have the river water be totally freezing!  

There was a lot of driving on the trip since our cabin was about 20 minutes outside of the park but we made the best of it. Mommy started reading us the Harry Potter series so that helped pass some time, we sang songs, and played games. The cabin was really awesome and Maren, Jimi, amd I had lots of fun building forts and playing outside. Unfortunately the mosquitoes were out of control and we had to use three different kinds of bug spray just to keep them away! 
On our way home from Yellowstone we were supposed to stay the night with Aunt Kristy, Uncle Forrest, and the girls. However, Hayden had gotten sick during the trip and had to be tested for Covid. His test results were not back yet so mommy didn’t feel right going to their house and possibly exposing them all. So, at the last minute we were able to find a hotel close to the airport whose pool was open. We spent our last night all together playing in the pool amd pigging out on Chinese food.  Mommy got up really early to take Aunti C, Hayden, and Jimi to the airport, we got a few more hours of sleep and then began the long trek home.