Lance Reunion Day 1

 

 We had an amazing weekend with the Lance family in Island Park, ID. Major thanks to John and Courtenay for finding the cabin and getting everyone rallied! The reunion did not start until Thursday evening. We left Wednesday afternoon due to the LONG drive. We were ready to leave at 3:40 but somehow Amelia never showed up at the bus stop when she was supposed to. Phillip and I waited and searched for quite a long while. Around 4:15 I saw her sitting next to Zane as the bus zoomed by and headed to the country. After a while a lady got in contact with the driver who dropped Mia off at the high school at 4:30. Mia declared that was one super long bus drive. She was happy to sit next to Zane and eat pretzels. We pulled out of town nearly an hour later than planned.

*ate dinner in Cheyenne. Mia's seat belt latch was so gummed up that it would not latch. Justin and I unpacked the van in the parking lot, switched seats, and got her into a functioning buckle.
*arrived at Thermopolis at 11:30 pm.
*left Thermopolis at 9:00 am
*dawdled around Yellowstone, had lunch at the Fishing Bridge center, chased Phillip around, saw a herd of Bison fording a stream. Everett calls his binky "kitty" because he has a kitty binky. He saw the bison and pointed with a chubby finger saying, "ki-tty?!, kitty, bye!" It was adorable. Phillip was enthralled with the Bison and Weagles (those are eagles). Amelia was all over the idea of finding and circling wildlife we saw on a worksheet the Ranger gave us.
*toured Yellowstone lake and West Thumb
*found the cabin first, claimed the Master bedroom (yee-haw), fired up the ovens for dinner, John made baked potatoes.
*welcomed the family as they arrived, even Grandma Baerwaldt came for a change of pace.
*stayed up until James and Miekka arrived