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We arrived at the KOA , 6 miles out of West Yellowstone, on Sunday at noon. We were excited and nervous, where you make your temporary home can make or break your holiday, especially with a bunch of needs to satisfy. The baby wanted to be held, the toddlers (my 4 and 6 year old sons included here) wanted to run and the older three needed to stake out territory. But our cabin wasn’t going to be ready till 2 p.m.. So we drove into West Yellowstone and decided to look around. The General Store, across the road from the Museum of the Yellowstone, was our first stop, it was a great store. No one counted as we walked through the door and the store-clerks were attentive and sweet, so no-fussy that we browsed to our hearts content and left mostly relaxed.

Down the block was another fun little store "1c to $!" lots of inexpensive souvenirs. But the hit was the huge teepee across the street in front of the Museum of the Yellowstone. Finally to run, play and explore.

Back to the KOA - our cabin was ready. The only surprise being that in addition to the $49.95 per night was an additional charge per child, but for 3 nights that was only $43 for all 7. The cabin was cute and fun. Two rooms, 2 sets of bunk-beds in the back room with a desk and a queen bed in the front room with a desk. Not huge but the porch added a little extra room and had a porch swing. Out side the cabin a picnic table and fire pit and so we unpacked.....

For dinner we used our 14 inch Dutch Oven and cooked two turkey breasts, 21 peeled potatoes and 15 carrots altogether. A little lemon pepper and bouillon cubes was the seasoning and cooked over 30 coals and 20 on top, it took about 4 hours. Jim replaced cold coals as needed. Then we dumped three pint jars of pie cherries in the 12 inch Dutch oven and added two cake mixes on top(prepared as for cake) and cooked that on top of 15 coals with 15 more on the lid. We fed8 adults and 12 children and had lots to spare. Yummy!!!!!

Monday was Old Faithful day, we drove slowly stopping to take photos of animals, children and sights, the board-walks are a great way to stretch bored little legs. We spotted Moose, elk and bison along the way. At the entrance to the park each child was given a page of animals to find and we added an additional game. We made a list of states and started to see how many license plates we could match. But Tuesday evening we had spotted every state except New Hampshire, Connecticut , Hawaii and Rhode Island. Our 11 year old especially enjoyed doing this.

At the Old Faithful Inn, the children were awed by the space in the building and the tree-house -like design. The restaurant was definitely not Large family Friendly and was disappointing, the prices were reasonable $2 - $5 for the children’s menu and starting at about $6 for the adult entrees. 6 children’s dinners and 2 adult dinners, excluding dessert because after it not being served for 45 minutes we left, cost $40.

The board-walks at Old Faithful were inspiring, there are two routes, we accidentally were separated from our friends and we ended up on the shorter walk while they ended up on the very long one, it worked out well though because we had the little children and the long walk would have been too much. The Long walk lasted at least an hour while the short walk was about 1/2 as long. Our 2 year old and 4 year old were especially fascinated by a chipmunk that seemed as fascinated with them as they were by it. Also a Mountain Blue Bird sat perched in a tree near the board walk and it was wonderful to watch it though binoculars, which I highly recommend taking.

That night it started to rain and it did till we left Wednesday morning.

So Tuesday morning we drove up to Mammoth, we saw on the way lots of Elk and Bison and the scenery was lovely but the rain prevented us from getting out and walking any board-walks, not so fun when a 60 mile trip takes two hours and little people get car-sick from swiveling their heads in the car to look at elusive animals.

At Mammoth, elk grazed on the lawns and squirrels and chipmunks darted from under one bush to another with my children after them. Cute photos!

Back at he KOA we rented an Italian Sirenetta, which is a 4 -wheeled pedal-powered surrey with 3 adult size seats and 3 toddler size seats, they also have single ground-level bikes. This was very fun, the surrey was $6 for 1/2 hour and the other was $5 for 1/2 hour. We also took the children swimming, the pool is indoor and goes from 3 feet to 5 feet but was not too clean, couldn’t see the bottom. There is also a Jacuzzi, children under 14 not allowed in it.

The KOA has single and two- roomed cabins, drive-through trailer spots with hook-ups and tent sites. There is a very busy laundry room, a games room, a play ground and showers in the ablution blocks, a small store (which does not have swimsuits, in case you forget yours) and offers breakfast and dinner in case you don’t feel like cooking.

Our best eating experience was at the restaurant located at the Holiday Inn. The service was fantastic, accommodating without patronizing, and the kids ate free. We tried things like Buffalo Meatloaf and Elk Filet Mignon.

Vacationing with 9 doesn’t have to be intimidating to you, your family or the place you choose to go. Keep an eye on this site for more stories from the front lines.