family fun

Family Fun Traditions: Summer Traditions at Island Park

family funfamily fun-traditions

Thousand of years ago, the word "tradition" was used as the by the Romans as the concept of inheritance. In modern times, they've come to mean a great deal more. Traditions within the family have become the yearly Christmas breakfast or, in my family, the weekend at the cabin.

Our grandparent's cabin is roughly the same age as me. So many of the traditions that we have there began in order to provide something for the grandchildren to do. Island Park is the destination of our yearly cabin tradition, which is about 30 miles away from Yellowstone National Park.

Boating is one of our family traditions while at the cabin. The top most requested activity is "flooding the boat." One of the uncles mans the boat, creating circles of waves and then takes the boat into the middle where a group of grandchildren (wearing life jackets) await the impending waves to come crashing down. Always sure to invoke a few laughs.

Another tradition is geared towards the naturist. Years ago, Grandma bought little bug collection jars. The boys can always been seen in a competition collecting things from spiders to lady bugs. At the end of the competition, the creepy crawlies are released back into the wild.

The girls on the other hand, always prefer interactions with something cute and furry. On tree stumps, we leave nuts and seeds that are meant to attract birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. Over time we've even been able to get the animals to come on the porch. Much to the exasperation of our grandmother.

An activity for the younger grand-kids centers around bubbles. We arrange wire clothes hangers into shapes, making an original bubble wand.

Another tradition that was created three years ago, started when the eldest granddaughters were hungry, drove to the gas station, bought a bag of rolls, and proceeded to make scones at 2 a.m. Of course, they woke everyone up in the process. This has become a repeat offender at the request of the younger grandchildren the last two years.

And of course, no cabin experience would be complete without a night spent outside roasting hot dogs and making s'mores. We especially love to get the bags of marshmallows that have giant marshmallows. FYI: the bag of giant strawberry flavored marshmallows, not well received. Original is the best.

Photos provided by Marissa Huntsman

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