West Yellowstone Five

1.  This is our fifth time attending KidsNSnow and each time I think we have more fun than the last!  In 36 hours we got to dogsled, swim, water slide, ice skate, snowmobile, sled, have s’mores, and take a snowcoach, all for the cost of one night in a hotel.  To show our appreciation for such a great event and saving us so much money on activities, I am happily willing to support the local economy with a few meals out :-).    If you haven’t been it’s well worth the trip for a weekend or even a long day.  Our trip almost didn’t happen as planned when Spencer spiked a fever after his shots and we were uncertain if John was finished with the worst of his cough from earlier in the week but here we were ready for our first fun road trip as a family of six, busting out of the seams of the van for an overnighter :-). Though to be fair, once you add swim and snow gear, another couple days wouldn’t have added much more gear.

2. First up was a ride with the sled dogs! 

 

Then it was pancake time 

And we searched for “animals” around town!

Though the kids could just play in the 2 and 3 story snow piles around town all day!

3.  We have learned to strategically book the Days Inn as they not only have a pool but a water slide as well! 

Fun with slo-mo!

Hot tub selfie!

4. The best part of KidsNSnow are their evenings in the park.  Even with exhausted kids, they stayed and closed the place down at 9p with skating, sledding and snowmobiling!

John was so proud of his skating skills and Catherine did really well too! 

John was also pretty enthusiastic about playing some hockey.





Catherine has gotten really good.  The lessons she took on her school field trip seemed to have really made an impact!

Spencer took some turns sledding:


Which was one of the few times we saw Matthew.  One of his friends was there so he abandoned us most of the evening for time with his buddy.  With one baby sleeping in the carseat under a blanket and 2 others who needed help on the ice it worked out well!

And all 3 big kids took a run on the snowmobile:


And s'mores time!

It was nearly 10p before we got everyone settled, but eventually they were all in PJs and even more surprisingly we all fell asleep in the same room.



5.  They had stopped offering snow coach trips for a while but are now back to offering these great opportunities.  While the 2 hour ride doesn’t get you in to geysers, it gets you into the park spotting wildlife and is the perfect length for little ones.  Plus the vehicles are super cool too!





One our first spots was a bald eagle:



Spencer slept most of the ride so we passed the baby to sleep and the big kids to spot and take turns poking their heads out of the roof hatch!

On the banks of the Madison.

John taking his turn riding shotgun with our excellent guide Bob.

Bison down by the river:


Another great year and great weekend and proof that we can all survive a short getaway together :-)