August 10 - 13, 2014
#42 - Visit Wyoming
Wyoming didn't know what hit it when ALL of the Glade Merrell clan invaded its beautiful state. My parents planned a little family getaway while Jeff was in town from Washington D.C. Our entire family (with in-laws and nephews we are up from the original 6 to a whopping 14) was able to make time for this trip. We left after church on Sunday and made our way to Jackson Hole. Roads were winding quite a bit for a portion of the drive. I was riding with my parents and little brother and we were able to make it without any trouble. My older siblings weren't so lucky! Both of them ended up with a carsick little boy puking in the back seat. On top of cleaning up a puke mess, my brother and his wife had to deal with a flat tire. Due to the delays we all arrived at the house at different times. Our parents had found a house/cabin that would fit all 14 of us so we could stay together. The name of the house was Three Bears Track and was decorated after it's name. There were bears all over; including a stuff bear on each bed, various bear statues, bear light switch covers, bear toilet paper holders, and a pet bear. Okay so there wasn't really a pet bear but that would have been cool.
All of the families arrived at different times so we spent Sunday evening unpacking and getting everyone situated. Our cabin had two levels and there was a porch/balcony area the wrapped around the back and side of the second level. When it wrapped around the side of the house, there were two steps going down to an area with a table and some chairs. After dinner the little boys had gone outside to play. My two oldest nephews, Reed and Carter, were playing a rousing game of Monkey in the Middle with my brother-in-law, Brett, on the back porch area. I decided to join in on the game and things went down hill from there. At one point I was the monkey in the middle with Carter. Brett threw the football to his son but Reed missed it. I went running to get the football before my nephew and forgot about the stairs. I missed the stairs and went down taking Reed and two chairs with me in the process. My ankle got sprained but I'm pretty sure my pride was what hurt the most. After making sure Reed was okay and reassuring my family that it wasn't my knee, I hobbled into the house and sat on the couch.
My sweet mom instantly went into coach/trainer mode and told me that I needed to put my foot into a ice bath to prevent swelling. This didn't sound very appealing to me but if it helped my ankle, I would deal with it. My dad got a garbage can and filled it with cold water. I put my foot in and they gradually added the ice. It was SO cold!! While I sat with my foot in the garbage can of ice, I had some time to think. What I realized is that I am cursed when it comes to family vacations. More specifically the first day of family vacations. Back when I was in the 7th grade our family took a trip to Hawaii. Our first day on the island, we went to the beach. We hadn't been at the beach very long when I decided to run into the ocean. There were miles and miles of beautiful, sandy beaches on both sides of us. I found the one spot on that beautiful beach that had a hole hiding under about a foot of water. My ankle has never hurt so bad or gone so black/blue/purple in my life. Day #2 of our Hawaiian vacation, I spent the day at our hotel with bags of ice on my sprained ankle while the rest of my family got to explore the island. Everyone except my mom because she stayed behind with me. I worked on homework (boring) and she wrote post cards. Fast forward 16 years and there we were again, me sitting with my ankle in a bucket of ice and my mom sitting near by timing how long my foot had been in the ice. All the while the rest of my family was down in the hot tub enjoying life. When the hot tub adventures were over, a few of my nephews decided touse me as a jungle gym keep me company.
All of the families arrived at different times so we spent Sunday evening unpacking and getting everyone situated. Our cabin had two levels and there was a porch/balcony area the wrapped around the back and side of the second level. When it wrapped around the side of the house, there were two steps going down to an area with a table and some chairs. After dinner the little boys had gone outside to play. My two oldest nephews, Reed and Carter, were playing a rousing game of Monkey in the Middle with my brother-in-law, Brett, on the back porch area. I decided to join in on the game and things went down hill from there. At one point I was the monkey in the middle with Carter. Brett threw the football to his son but Reed missed it. I went running to get the football before my nephew and forgot about the stairs. I missed the stairs and went down taking Reed and two chairs with me in the process. My ankle got sprained but I'm pretty sure my pride was what hurt the most. After making sure Reed was okay and reassuring my family that it wasn't my knee, I hobbled into the house and sat on the couch.
My sweet mom instantly went into coach/trainer mode and told me that I needed to put my foot into a ice bath to prevent swelling. This didn't sound very appealing to me but if it helped my ankle, I would deal with it. My dad got a garbage can and filled it with cold water. I put my foot in and they gradually added the ice. It was SO cold!! While I sat with my foot in the garbage can of ice, I had some time to think. What I realized is that I am cursed when it comes to family vacations. More specifically the first day of family vacations. Back when I was in the 7th grade our family took a trip to Hawaii. Our first day on the island, we went to the beach. We hadn't been at the beach very long when I decided to run into the ocean. There were miles and miles of beautiful, sandy beaches on both sides of us. I found the one spot on that beautiful beach that had a hole hiding under about a foot of water. My ankle has never hurt so bad or gone so black/blue/purple in my life. Day #2 of our Hawaiian vacation, I spent the day at our hotel with bags of ice on my sprained ankle while the rest of my family got to explore the island. Everyone except my mom because she stayed behind with me. I worked on homework (boring) and she wrote post cards. Fast forward 16 years and there we were again, me sitting with my ankle in a bucket of ice and my mom sitting near by timing how long my foot had been in the ice. All the while the rest of my family was down in the hot tub enjoying life. When the hot tub adventures were over, a few of my nephews decided to
#26 - Go on a Hike
Our second day of the family vacation started with some family pictures taken on the porch with the beautiful pine trees and nature behind us. Only a few minor meltdowns occurred and then we were off for the day. Everyone piled into the cars and headed for Jenny Lake. We took a short boat ride across the lake for a hike. Remember how I sprained my ankle the first night? Someone thought it was a good idea to go for a 2+ mile hike on this sprained ankle. The hike wasn't too difficult and everything was just beautiful but my ankle wasn't enjoying any of it. When we got to a bridge that crossed over the river, I decided that it would be best if I waited there while everyone else went on ahead. Once again my mom stayed back behind with me. Since we would be waiting for a while and I had nothing else to do, I used nature's ice pack, the river, for my ankle. The river was pretty cold and actually felt really good on my ankle. I did sit in a glob of sap while putting my foot in the river so nature wasn't overly helpful.
#31 - Spend Time in a Hot Tub
Because I missed out on the first night of hot tubbing, my nephews (oldest four) and I had our own neon hot tub party. We waited until it was dark and then headed down to the hot tub wearing various glow-in-the-dark bracelets and necklaces. The boys loved seeing everything glow, both inside and outside of the water. Our biggest problem was trying to make everyone happy in the hot tub. One boy wanted jets but no lights; another wanted lights but no jets; third boy wanted no lights & no jets; fourth boy was oblivious or just didn't care either way. I became the light/jet monitor and we took turns with the settings of choice.
Grandpa came out on the porch above us while we were in the hot tub to take pictures. He set up his camera and tripod and took some long exposure pictures as we waved our glow sticks all around. I wanted to try and get one spelling my name. Doesn't sound like it should be too difficult but when I had to prevent 4 little boys from participating things got a little crazy.
Time spent in a hot tub isn't truly complete without a post-hot tubbing show (Grayson Girls you know what I'm talking about). I left grandpa watching the boys in the hot tub and headed upstairs. There was a can of whipped cream sitting on the counter. I decided to share with my family the joys of whipped cream flipping that I had experienced in college. My first attempt was very successful but the second and third weren't. Surprisingly, nobody else wanted to participate in my activity! Luckily I was already headed for a shower. :)
-Em
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