June Camping: Under the Tetons

At the beginning of this season my husband and I made a commitment: camping every-other-weekend, at least.  So twice in June, we drove a little over an hour up the road and camped under this infamous granite spine.  We are loving our commitment, our family tent, the whole bit.  I'm short on words tonight but I will say: this is the first year in a lot of years that I feel like our girls are getting to see what we were like before kids.  We have so much to show them.  Our passions, which once seemed lost and estranged, are creeping back into our lives, our kids marching right alongside them.

Real quick, mostly photos tonight (I'm splitting this into two posts, for the two trips).
 
:: Evening at Jackson Lake.

:: Looking for bugs.  

:: In camp.  Juniper taught Hazel and now they both climb.

:: Definitely Hazel's favorite part about camping.

:: Next morning, boat ride across Jenny Lake to a trailhead.

:: I remember camping in places like Yosemite as a kid, my parents pointing to the granite domes.  We would look up, saying, "Cool," then immediately return to the more interesting task at hand: collecting giant pinecones, finding forts--or, snowbanks in June and water trickling down the trail.

^Hazel, incredulously, "I forgot about snow!"

::  Juniper, our wild thing, just takes off in any direction that strikes her fancy.  ("But I just wanted to see what's on the other side of that rock!")  Hazel follows and my man chases them both down.

:: Lots of fat and happy marmots along the trail to a waterfall.

:: The falls: bursting, gushing, like blood from a healthy heart.

:: Our snacking rock and where Juniper did a squat-and-pee entirely on her own without dribbling on her pants.  Whoo-hoo!  (Most adults can't even do that.)    

:: Juniper: "Okay, mom.  You.  And I.  Are Underwater Plant Experts...."  (And the lakeside adventures begin while my man fishes.)  

:: Hazel, caught red-handed.

*Notes: Early June in Grand Teton National Park is wonderful: relatively few tourists, campsites a plenty, no mosquitoes, wildflowers galore, no line for the boat across Jenny Lake, can fish with a Wyoming license.  Normally, we opt to camp on National Forest, but this was perfect.  Plus, we still don't have a dog (no dogs allowed in National Parks outside of campgrounds, really...and no picking wildflowers!).