We spent a week in Jackson Hole with a side trip to Yellowstone, visiting friends and family. We woke up at 3 AM to start our trip, hoping that the babies would sleep on the plane. I was still sick, although thanks to my doctor we didn’t have to cancel our trip. It was a little worrisome there for a while. Still, even now I’m not back to my normal self and as of this writing I’ve been off work for four weeks now with no clear return date. We knew I would not be up to our usual level of adventure on this vacation. My mom accompanied us on both legs of the trip and stayed at the house with us and intersected with us a lot in Wyoming, although she kept busy with work and catching up with friends she hadn’t seen in a while.
Fan cooled twin
Our first day, after a long and frustrating time at the airport trying to get functional, non-expired car seats in our rental van, we met up with my dad and played on all of the motor vehicles in front of the house and then went for a walk up Curtis Canyon. Although we heard bad things about the weather and it was fairly cool and rainy when we were there, we managed to get outside quite a bit in between the storms. Claire and Ronin love going for walks and insisted on going out as much as possible. It was all the better for them to be in a new and exciting environment, with lots of running water and rocks and sticks.
Ronin and Grandpa, hike up Curtis Canyon
Claire thinks she's a little stronger than she actually is
That evening we went to a free family concert with zydeco music. People of all ages were dancing to the beat. The smallest children danced close to the stage. Ronin and Claire were dancing, enjoying themselves, when all of a sudden Ronin broke away and made a beeline for a younger boy who was grooving to the music right at the edge of the stage. I watched, ready to intervene if necessary, as Ronin ran up to the youngster and clasped him in his arms and gave him a huge hug. The boy’s mother, who was dancing right next to him, looked at me and smiled and I shrugged and smiled back. I have no idea why he did that since it’s not his usual behavior. I’ve seen other children at playgrounds go up to random children and hug them. Ronin is quite often the recipient of hugs from the very affectionate children, as a matter of fact. A few minutes later, Ronin did it again. He broke off from dancing, stepped directly over to the younger boy, gave him a quick enthusiastic hug, and then came back over to me. The only thing Justin and I could figure out is that the boy was dressed in clothes that looked very similar to clothes Ronin had owned, and had a similar appearance to a younger Ronin. Maybe he felt a sense of recognition.
Dancing to a zydeco band in the evening
The next day, we went swimming at Granite Hot Springs with my mom, our friend Chris, and another family. We did this last year also. It was a lot of fun. The water is warm and clear, perfect for relaxing or swimming or splashing. Claire and I stayed near the warmest part of the pool and watched the water flow in and Ronin enjoyed exploring and splashing more. When it started to rain and Claire started to shiver, we got out and ate our sandwiches in our cars, all warm and dry.
Justin and Ronin in Granite Hot Springs
Monday night Justin and I were invited to dinner at Chris’ house. He made a separate dinner for the adults and the children and it was a lavish feast. Claire and Ronin had a wonderful time both before and after dinner exploring outside and throwing rocks into the stream.
In our friend's front yard, after a lovely dinner
We drove up to Yellowstone on Tuesday, stayed at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge, and returned to Jackson on Thursday. The first day we were there I wasn’t feeling well and we couldn’t really venture out from our hotel room, which was unfortunate. Still, the twins got to see Old Faithful and surprisingly, they weren’t very interested. Another tourist laughed as Claire was examining ants on the ground, ignoring the geysers around us– “You travel all this way and they don’t pay any attention to the geysers, eh?” Still, I was happy to let her look at the ants as long as she wanted.
We saw so many bison they started to get almost boring. Claire and Ronin both were very good at identifying animals. At an art exhibit in the main room at the Old Faithful Inn, Claire ran up to one of the paintings and said “Moose! moose! moose!” (although she can’t say “s” very well, so it comes out like “Mooshe”). For the rest of our stay in Yellowstone, we drove around and made frequent stops with walks on scenic paths. The children did become more interested in the park’s unique features, such as the hot bubbling pools of different colored water. Ronin learned how to say “Steam cloud” and that steam clouds come from hot water, and it was quite endearing that those were the first words out of his mouth when he woke up the first morning in Yellowstone.
Geyser Basin
We kept the children in harnesses on the paths in Yellowstone, because the crust is very thin in areas around there and if a baby were to break away and jump off the path, either the baby or a parent running after the baby could fall through the crust and get seriously scalded. I grew up hearing stories about injuries and deaths in Yellowstone. Like the other few times we’ve had them in harnesses, we get 95% positive comments and 5% negative. I let the negative comments roll off my back. I care that my children are safe, and besides, the twins are not bothered by them at all and ask to put them on. Most of the time, however, people ask where to get them or tell me they’re a great idea.
Claire reaching for the clouds in Yellowstone
Both Claire and Ronin came down with colds in Yellowstone, and Justin’s dreams of happily snuggling with the babies in between us in our gigantic bed composed of two double beds pushed together was frustrated by Claire crying and flopping around all night the first night, and then Ronin doing the same the second night. Luckily, despite being miserable while trying to sleep, the colds didn’t slow the babies down one little bit during the day. They continued to explore and frequently asked to go for walks. We took the long way back to Jackson and meandered through Grand Teton National Park, getting out and walking in between rainshowers.
Claire and Ronin in Grand Teton National Park
Ronin practiced his numbers as we walked, counting to 10 over and over again with us as he took steps, and by the end of the trip he was very good at anticipating the next number in the series, and somehow even recognizing some numbers that he saw. I don’t know if the number recognition was just from the brief lesson we had when he pushed the buttons to select the channels on the plane and I counted with him and showed him the numbers as they appeared, but he can now see a 3 and shout out “Three!” He sometimes counts to three now, but more frequently still counts “One, two, one.” We tease him about learning binary.
Ronin and Mommy
Claire and Mommy
When we got back to Teton Village we took them for a ride up the mountain in a gondola. We’d been looking forward to showing them snow for the first time, since we’ve been talking about snow and seeing pictures in books. I wanted them to see what it looked like and felt like in person. They loved the gondola ride. Ronin rode with his head out the window almost the whole way up, and Claire bounded from one end of the carriage to the other.
Gondola ride ~ Claire shrieking with joy
They did end up loving the snow, and probably would have stayed in it for much longer, if we’d let them. We went for a little walk down the mountain and then Claire and Ronin found something even more exciting than snow–a little stream caused by snow run-off. They spent time happily tossing rocks in the water until they both got wet and we decided it was time to leave. I’m sure they must have been cold, but they didn’t seem to care.
Ronin and Claire hugging on the mountain top
We had so much fun taking the gondola to the top of the mountain, we went back the next day and took the tram to the top of the mountain as well. They got to play in the snow a little more, see the whole valley spread out before them, and ride in something else that was pretty exciting.
One of the really endearing things that the babies started doing on this trip was that they would run up and hug each other if they hadn’t seen each other in a little while. It happened most often in Yellowstone, if I had one child with me and Justin was going faster or slower with the other one and then we caught up to each other, Claire would yell “No-no!” and both babies would run up to each other and give a big hug. It was very sweet.
On top of the world
Friday we had a get-together at a local park, for people to come see the twins en masse so we wouldn’t have to drive from one house to another. With the unpredictable weather, though, we didn’t get the word out too far ahead of time so the gathering was on the small side. Claire and Ronin played on the playground equipment while the rest of us chased after them. That night, we went for a walk up Cache Creek with my dad, and then played with him at the house. Claire’s favorite word became “Grandpa!”
It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here almost a week, and it’s almost time to leave! Time is running out on us and we still haven’t seen everyone we want to see. This is the hardest thing about visiting hometowns.
Ronin with wildflowers
The trip home was much easier, probably because we didn’t get up at 3 AM and nobody was sleep-deprived. It was a good trip. I know Claire and Ronin enjoyed themselves immensely. It was good practice for our trip to Canada in three weeks, which is going to be a lot more traveling, no electricity, and no chance to run to the store if we need anything, so we’ll have to plan well.
