Camping in Grand Teton National Park

Last week, in an attempt to distract ourselves from other stresses, Nels and I took the girls camping for a couple of nights at the Grand Teton National Park.

We headed up through Jackson Thursday afternoon. It was a lovely day. We'd hoped to get out of town a little sooner, but things being as they are, four kids and camping just require a lot.

By the time we got into the Park, most camp spots were full. I had no idea that it was such a busy place on a Thursday evening! We finally found a great spot and got all set up. Normally camping within a campground isn't quite our cup o' tea, but seeing as how we have four girls and a VERY pregnant mom that often have to use the toilet during the night, it just worked out best this time around. :)

Friday morning we got up and decided to drive down to Jenny Lake and take the ferry across to a short trail leading up to a waterfall at the base of the Grand Teton. The girls had a great time playing around the campsite as we cleaned up breakfast. They imagined several of the trees into animals for riding and pretended all sorts of He-man stories. (He-man is their new favorite cartoon. :) As they were running to and fro, suddenly Elsie was crying. Hazel came running back to camp saying that Elsie had fallen on a stump. Not too big a deal, but as she was coming back up the trail, she was walking funny and kind of hysterical. Hazel then revealed that as they'd been playing by the stump, Elsie's foot had gone into it and bugs came out. AHHhh! We ran to Elsie to see bees all over. We immediately pulled off her pants, swatted them away, and ran all the kids either back to the tent or to the van - to wait for the bees to disperse.

Amazingly, she'd only been bitten twice. Once on the bummy and once on the hand. She was pretty scared and it hurt for a bit, but she was just fine. Thankfully.

We finally made it down to Jenny Lake and had a wonderful little hike!

The hike was absolutely gorgeous! What a beautiful area. 

No pictures can actually do these mountains justice!

Vi tried, but just couldn't hold onto consciousness. :)

Up, up, up. That was the nature of this 1 mile hike. 

Violet doesn't look thrilled, but that's just because she'd only just woke up and 

was feeling a little disoriented. :)

"Okay, Nels. Smile!"

 "Nels, you're not even looking at the camera! Okay, again."

 "Nels! Are you kidding me!? You're as bad as the kids!"

"NELS!!!"

Sometimes dad's should be more patient with their children. No?

Hooray! Even at 8 1/2 months pregnant, I made it. :) 

Can I just tell you that I hate when people make a big deal about me doing 

things that they, personally, would not do? 

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're doing this pregnant!"

Elsie won the award for being the best hiker of the day. She was fabulous. 

Stayed up the whole time and didn't complain even once. Sweet little bug.

Love this picture of Lilie. What a ham!

Hazel was SO tired! Half a mile up just did her in.

"Poor Hazel. Poor, poor Hazel. She'll never smile again. 

She's. Just. Too. Tired!"

"Don't smile, Hazel!"

"What's that?! I SAID, Don't SMILE!!"

I love annoying smiles out of my family. :)

As we were packing the day before, Nels found some old, unused shoelaces. And used them as a bribe to get Lilie to help with some of the work. (Lilie loves to tie up anything and everything, so shoelaces are very appealing.) Once in the van, Lilie also found an old hook that I believe broke off of one of our suitcases. She tied the two together and spent all weekend carting around her awesome tool everywhere. Hooking branches, sticks, rocks, sisters, shoes, etc. It was great entertainment. 

At the lake, she was determined that she'd be able to catch a fish with it and had lots of fun dipping it off the dock while waiting for the return ferry after the hike. Eventually, she allowed Hazel in on the fun --- who promptly threw it out into the lake BY ACCIDENT. 

Lilie was devastated. And WAILing.

And everyone waiting there with us was staring.

As I tried to calm her down, Nels (being the awesome dad that he is) quickly stripped of his shoes and socks and waded out to retrieve the priceless toy.

A shoelace. With a hook tied to it.

Hooray!

And then Violet took a nosedive off the bench onto her head on the dock and started wailing.

And everyone waiting there with us was staring.

Again.

Awesome parenting moment #57,156.

We finally made it back onto the ferry with our little circus. 

As everyone else was having a great time enjoying the boat and watching over the side, 

true to form, Elsie almost immediately made friends with a stranger from Australia 

and asked her if she could sit on her lap.

What a funny little social girl we have!

Tired and hot, we headed back to our campground, changed into our swim gear 

and headed down to Jackson Lake to cool off.

We all had a wonderful time together.

Camping with little children is a LOT of work. But it is always SO worth it. For our children. For the memories that we make. For the friendships that we build. 

I love my little family!