Yellowstone & Grand Teton National Parks

{Entering the park from the North Entrance | Roosevelt Arch and Mammoth Hot Springs}

It is no surprise that this little blog of mine has fallen to the wayside since life has gotten so busy. Even during the COVID-19 lockdown...quarantine...whatever it is...I continued to go into work and life didn’t really slow down a whole lot for us. But all that aside I want to catch up on past travels we took in 2019. In January of 2019 we visited Grand Cayman Island for a week and now I’m going to get into the details of our trip to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

We’ll start with days 1 and 2…

We had a late flight arriving into Bozeman, MT so we opted to stay the night at the Residence Inn by Marriott and use our annual free night that comes with our Marriott co-branded credit card. We checked-in, cleaned up and went to bed. The next morning, we woke up and headed to Yellowstone National Park where we met up with a longtime friend of mine, Jack.

{Lower Lookout Point at The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone}

After entering the park, we made stops at Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Falls and Lower Falls. And then, we were supposed to meet my family at the Canyon Village Visitor Center. We arrived here but it proved to be difficult to locate each other since there was ZERO cell service and no Wi-Fi. We started to comb the parking lot for my Dad’s truck when my mom spotted me! I had been wearing a neon green shirt that helped! After seeing the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, we continued on our way south and made one more stop at West Thumb Geyser Basin. NOTE: All the locations I listed above have minimal walking, we did have a 4-year-old with us after all.

{Grand Canyon of Yellowstone}

After West Thumb Geyser Basin, we continued south to Teton Village; where we would be staying for the next few nights. We dropped our things at the AirBnB we had rented and went to dinner at the Mangy Moose. This trip also happened to take place over our anniversary! We were celebrating 9 years of marriage!

The next day we focused on Grand Teton National Park. We took the first boat ride across Jenny Lake and hiked to Hidden Falls. We also made a short stop at String Lake. Then I had to head to the Grant Teton Half Marathon Race Expo! I needed to gather my race items for the 5K that night and the half the next morning. My 5K was not a personal record but it was good 5K and gave me a feeling for what was to come the next day.

{Jenny Lake | Hidden Falls}

What a great start to the first few days in some of our nation's most iconic national parks! 

How to Look After Yourself as a Working Parent

We all know how difficult it can be for working mothers to strike the right work-life balance, but making time for yourself can be another challenge entirely. Between your work duties and family responsibilities like preparing healthy kids meals, self-care can easily be forgotten, leaving you feeling drained and burned out.

Fortunately, having a job and children doesn’t mean you can’t find room in your schedule for a little self-care. These tips will help you find the time for yourself that you need to recharge and reconnect with your passions and interests.

Get Up Early

Your mind and body both need adequate sleep to be at their best, so you should always try to maintain a consistent sleep schedule. Even just fifteen to thirty extra minutes in the morning can be enough time to make yourself a drink or a light breakfast and relax a little before the busy day begins.

The early morning is typically the quietest part of the day, making it the perfect time to spend on the things you want to accomplish. Whether you’d rather work out, start a new book, or just have some time to wake up more leisurely, you’ll appreciate setting your alarm a little earlier.

This is something I do and have done. Twice a week I wake up at 4:10am to meet a friend for a 4:30am run. We run 3 miles and are done by 5am. Leaving me plenty of time to clean up, get dressed, pack my lunch and get to work on time. On days that I don’t run, I started setting my alarm just 5 minutes earlier, so I don’t feel so rushed to get out the door.

Set Your Own Goals

When you’re a working mom, it’s easy to let other people’s interests and goals become your own. While there’s nothing wrong with that, you may eventually feel like you need more space for your own interests and aspirations.

Try to take some time out of your day to work on your personal goals, whether they’re related to an interest, secondary source of income, or anything else. Having something to work on that’s entirely your own will be empowering and help you feel more confident.

Spend Time with Other People in Your Life

There’s no way around the fact that our children take up a lot of our time, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only people that matter to you. Partners, friends, and other family members are all important, so try not to let too much time go by without seeing them.

Some of these people may also be able to offer a helping hand with a few of your parenting tasks, so don’t feel bad about asking for or accepting help when you need it. It can be isolating and discouraging to feel like you’re taking care of these things all on your own.

Being a working parent is an incredible challenge, but it’s also a rewarding experience that allows you to focus on your family and career at the same time. If you find yourself spread too thin to focus on your own goals, keep these self-care tips in mind and try to make time for other things that matter to you.

We have a set bedtime in our house; this gives my husband and I the time we need to chat about our days without having to sensor your language and talk about things we might not want our child to hear.

I also make time for friends, as I mentioned above, I run a few times a week with friends and prior to COVID I attended a monthly ladies game night!

How do you look after yourself while being a working parent? 

Autumn

Time to get the scarves out and unpack those winter wardrobes y’all! Being a native Texan a true fall…and winter for that matter… were completely new concepts for me when we moved to Wisconsin four years ago.

An exciting bonus to the weather was getting to shop for an all new wardrobe! Sweaters, boots and jackets oh my! But our weather up here in Wisconsin can be frigid! This means we have to dress for function and not fashion, so that takes the fun our of it a little.

We don’t typically travel during the autumn season. We did spend a weekend in Door County, Wisconsin a few years ago and it was nice, fall colors everywhere! And we did visit Iceland in October in 2018 but that is considered a shoulder month for them, so on the cusp of winter. But we do like to travel over the long Thanksgiving weekend! In the 10 years my husband and I have been together we have taken Thanksgiving trips to Key West, Hawaii Island, Kauai, Louisville, Chicago and Bay Harbor, MI. Six out of 10 years ain’t bad! The other years were still settling into a new house (x2), had a baby and COVID…

If I were going to take an autumn vacation, I would definitely want to visit New England, probably Vermont. And I have being wanting to take a trip to Quebec City, they probably have a nice fall season.

Where would you like to visit in the autumn?