4th of July in Jackson Hole

We had so much fun in Jackson last year for the 4th of July that we decided to go there again and we invited Layne's fam to go with us. This time we rented a 4 bedroom condo just outside of town at a place called The Aspens. It was awesome! We had the most unbelievable view out the back of the condo as well as a cute little creek with a bridge out the front. There were lots of coyotes in the meadows. Every night they would sit outside very close to the condo and howl at each other. It was pretty cool.

Jama and Jampa Reed, Jess & Arnauld, Kevin, Benita and Arnauld's mom Ginny who was here visiting from Africa all went with us.

On Saturday, we decided to take a drive through Yellowstone to show Arnauld's family. Grandpa wasn't feeling well so he and granny stayed behind. We had a great little trip. We went on a few little hikes and saw a lot of beautiful scenery. There were less animals in the park than I am used to seeing, but we were able to see a few. Upon entering the park, there was a bear that was down in some tall bushes that we stopped to see, but after some time the park ranger assured us that we were going to have "lots of opportunities" to see more bears in the park so we left.....lying broad!!! Needless to say...we didn't see another bear! We did, however, see a BIG brown beaver (haha). There were lots of people lined up along the road so of course we thought is was a moose, a bear, or something cool. Then some people informed us that it was a beaver and we started to laugh that people were stopped to see it......that is until we saw it for ourselves. It was huge and actually pretty cool to see.

We also saw a some elk and were able to get pretty close to a few bull's.

On our way out of the park the truck in front of us pulling a brand new million dollar boat hit a big elk and totally mangled their vehicle. We stopped to help them out and actually ended up pulling their boat back into town for them so that they didn't have to call a wrecker. Holy cow....am I glad that it wasn't us!

Sunday was the 4th and we got up early to go to the breakfast on the square. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. After the breakfast, we went and sat on the main drag and watched the local parade. Scoots was excited about all the candy he was collecting...with the help of many! Arnauld and his family joined Layne, Corbs, Granny and I for the parade and it was fun to have them there. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at all the little shops. Layne and I got the bright idea to get Scoots a some little guns. OH MY!!! I had no idea I was raising a little serial killer. From that moment on...he has been absolutely obsessed with the guns and shooting anything and everything possible. It was kinda funny cuz a few of the guns needed to be cocked before each shot and it was too hard for him to do by himself so he had to ask for help each time. He learned that if he smiled a little manipulative smile...and asked softly..."will you help me?" that most of the time he could find a sucker to cock the gun for him.

That evening we went to a nice dinner at the Gun Barrel and then to the fireworks at Snow King. It was a bit nippy, but the firework show was excellent...as usual.

I think everyone had a great time and we are glad that Layne's family was able to go with us!