4th of July weekend

We had a blast of a weekend and we are worn out! We headed to Missoula for the weekend to spend time with some of our friends from Laramie. The girls had an absolute blast and came home with power rangers, transformers and some "cool" new tricks that the older boys taught them!

The day we got there we set up the kiddie pool and slip and slide for the kids and let them run and splash.

And Morgan couldn't get enough so after dinner we went in the back yard and her and the boys raced back and forth about 103 times. Well, okay maybe just 47, but it was a lot!

Then we had a break in the action for ice cream.

Hot stuff munchin' on hers with her legs crossed. She has always been such a lady.

Then the following day (the 4th) we went down by the river (I don't know the name of it) and took a carousel ride, played at the playground and had lunch.

We just love these guys! And what a cute family aren't they?!

So, here is when things got interesting. We finished up with dinner around 8, so we had to decide what to do until it was FIREWORKS time. Well, this picture was taken at exactly 8:50, so you can see we still have LOTS of daylight to burn, and we have to keep the kids happy, and we have to keep the kids awake until the fireworks show. So we went to the park for a while and let them run around and swing and play. Great parks there!And a little teeter totter...

until in was finally dark. So we gathered at the mall (they launch them overhead there) and brought lots of snacks and drinks to keep the peace and settled in to wait...and wait...and wait. The fireworks finally started about 10:30! Gotta love NORTH America. I have a feeling winter is gonna be somewhat...hmmm, how can I put this...dim. But summer has pretty much rocked so far.

And can you believe that both our girls made it through the whole show and loved it. We were really worried that Morgan would hate the loud booming and cry the whole time, but she saw the big boys lovin' it and she joined in. Plus there was popcorn...and licorice...and caprisun...and the boys! They crashed and slept until 8:30!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeah, that's right! A new record for my "up with the sun" daughter Morgan. God Bless America and God Bless 4th of July! We had a great time!

Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

The Chronicles of pulling a U-Haul trailer 700+ miles:

We left at 6:30am Monday June 22nd and arrived in Bozeman, Montana at 9:30pm that night. It was a LONG day, but the girls were wonderful in that car and Papa did a great job of pulling that trailer. Don't be scared to visit! It really doesn't normally take 15 hours but we were pulling a trailer that couldn't go over 55 and we did have to go through wyo, which we refer to fondly as "windy wyo" so that set us back as well.

On your marks, get set, GO!

It really doesn't take much to put this baby to sleep! Even with tremendous amounts of sun in her eyes and gigantic headphones on her head...this was literally less than 30 minutes after departure. And about 1 hour since she had gotten up for the day.

This is pretty much consitent with what Morgan looked like the whole way there...

Except for about an hour of this...

And an occasional little something like this! Yes that is her microphone and yes, Skylar did try to chime in but really had a hard time trying to find the beat, so she went back to reading. It was just too speratic for her to jump in!

Is this not so funny?! She had like 5 stuffed animals and about 8 books on her lap, but it made for a good pillow, I guess!

Skylar really had a great chance to catch up on all her reading-she can check that off of her "to-do" list! Thanks Nanny for all the books!

And, while the girls did great, Morgan's feet had a little bit of an episode. She informed me here that her feet were "fighting." It was really funny. I have video if this thing will let me load two. Otherwise I will post seperate.

The girls were so excited to see their Daddy again after 6 days without him and 6 months with him! And then Morgan quickly realized that the Germers (who were our neighbors in Laramie and also live in Montana now) don't live next door to us anymore. We had to explain that they were in a different town, but we would visit them. So now, pretty much everyday, she says, "I want to go to the other Montana where Nick and Alex are."

Estes Park in a day

Well we recently visited Estes Park for the day and the girls and Bryan and I had a great time! It was a little foggy on the way up which made us nervous for a nice day but by the time we got to Rocky Mountain National Park there were no clouds in the sky and it was lovely! The last time we had been to Estes was when my bro and his wife got married and Morgan was only six weeks old so we thought it was time for a visit.

A nice family shot if only Morgan wouldn't have been quite as involved in the "junior ranger" packet they gave her-oh well, take it as it comes!

And Morgan with her signature half interested half smile to make her mommy happy she got at least one photo of her for the day.

And don't even think that Skylar is actually posing so innocently for the camera. She wouldn't stand still while we were trying to get a picture, so we had to sit her down on the ground. And this would be her thinking she is just as cute as can be trying to make it impossible to get a shot of her.

This was a Big horn we saw on our way into the park. They were just walking along side the car in their pack. Um...no I don't have any food for you. I can read park signs! And Skylar, once we said sheep, "baa-ed" for about 45 minutes.

Once we were in the park there were elk everywhere! They must just know they can pretty much chill there. We had a great little picnic in the park and then headed back down to town. Morgan, all the while wondering where Estes PARK (as in playground) was.

She gave up on looking for it for a minute. Thinking Mommy and Daddy were big fat liars telling her we were going to a park all day!

So instead of Morgan thinking we were totally lame we did find a park and it was beautiful! And the girls had lots of fun. It was even right off of Lake Estes so we went down by the water and daddy showed them how to skip rocks. Skylar wanted to go in-of course!

Oh come all ye Faithful...

Well, today we took an all day trip to Yellowstone and got to see the All-Mighty Old Faithful in all its glory! And it was so cool! In Morgan's words, "WHOA!" She thought it was pretty cool. Tomorrow we are going to be taking it easy with perhaps another Nemo swimming day and then Saturday it's fasten your seatbelts-we're comin' home! Pray for us-it is a long drive! And we could very well loose our minds!

Here we are with Old Faithful behind us in slumber...

And here he is right on time for the 2:20 viewing...

NEMO!

We found a Nemo pool at Kohl's before we left so we blew that bad boy up today and had a great time watching Morgan and Skylar kick and splash. Today was a relaxing day catching up on our naps-Morgan took a 3 hour nap and Skylar has been down 3 hours and counting...

This was how we spent our morning-

Gondola Ride!

Today we went into Teton Village and rode the Gondola up to the top and had lunch. Morgan wanted to ride over and over-convincing her that George (a.k.a. Curious George for those that aren't familiar with the obsession) had done it. She loved it because every gondola had a great big steamboat on it (the bucking horse)! On the way down Bryan saw a moose, so he is now satisfied that he has seen every wild animal that he has ever wanted to on North America (well, except a wild boar, but he had that for lunch!).

Here we are at the top of one of the Grand Tetons looking down on Teton Village.

Checking in from Idaho

Hey everyone! Just wanted to stop in and say hi! Our trip is going well and we are all realaxing and having a great time. The trip here to Driggs took 10 hours from door to door-Morgan and Skylar did amazingly well! Thank goodness for DVD players! So we spent Saturday driving (I really don't want to drive back. I wish I were Elizabeth Montgomery in Bewitched and I could just wiggle my nose and we would be home) and we spent Sunday relaxing and checking out the town of Driggs. We all seemed to have blinked at the same time because we missed it and had to turn around to see it again. HAHA! But it is a small little town-they do have a stop light though! We found a place for lunch that was authentic Mexican food and it was sooooo yummy. Bryan and I vote it top 5 best we have had! The weather here is really amazingly pleasant. In the mid 70's most of the day and the nights are cool-we may be retiring here...in like 50 years!

Today we headed into Jackson and spent the day perusing the shops having ice cream and playing at the park.

This is a picture of Morgan "showing us her pretty smile." Which, by the way this picture was taken during the last leg of the trip and she was actually still smiling!

Morgan enjoying the sunshine and the park in Jackson
She is actually enjoying herself...I promise!
A view of the Tetons from the car on our way through the park en route to Driggs, ID
Here is a picture of the house we are renting for the week. It is so cute and the perfect house! We love it! It is newly built 3 bedroom with a creek running through and a walking trail. Do we have to come home?

Vacation

We took a week long vacation to Colorado and visited with friends and family while Bryan was out recruiting the area a little. We had a great time and we miss everyone already. Skylar is getting so big and is starting to sit up a little-hey, whatever gets her closer to catching up with her sister she is all for it! She is expecting everything we give her to be edible and is drooling like crazy. No sign of any teeth right now, but watch out! You can't leave anything around this little one without getting it back soaked in drool. Skylar has discovered the joy of the exersaucer and has that much better of a view of Morgan-it really is all eyes on Morgan for her. And Morgan can get her laughing so hard. It is really too cute.

And Morgan had a great time with some warm weather days. She didn't know what to do with sandals on her toes and a sun hat on her head! That little girl was in hog heaven!

Can you say Spring Fever!?!