We took a road trip to Montana for a family reunion on my mom's side. My mom and I took off at 5am Thursday morning for the 8 hour drive. The kids did pretty well, sleeping for about 3 hours of the drive, listening to a book on tape for an hour, singing songs for a couple hours and then crying for the last hour or so. They were really excited when we finally pulled up to the hotel.
The hotel we stayed at had a theme of bears, and they were all over the place. There were bears outside the hotel looking into the windows, bear tracks throughout the hotel and bear carvings and pictures everywhere. The kids had a blast looking at everything.
They were also excited for the indoor pool!
So excited that they did a little dance in the hallway
That night we picked up Luke and my dad at the airport and then Friday we started visiting with family. We drove to Roundup where my mom's Aunt Sandy lives and where my mom spent most of her summers as a child
Aunt Sandy with Nani, Lily, Wade, Eileen and Jack
Jack and Lily outside Sandy's house
Papi, Eileen and Wade on the porch
Sandy is quite the cat lover with several cats and kittens all around.
Since Jack is pretty allergic to cats we couldn't stay at Sandy's house long so we went to a nearby park to do more visiting.
Lily's pout pout face
Relaxing on the grass
The whole group
My mom with her Aunt's
Later that night we drove back to Billings for more visiting. This time we had a BBQ at my mom's cousin Patsy's home.
Jack was excited for the pool and for a new friend
Craig, Papi and Luke hanging out.
The next day we went and visited my mom's aunt on her dad's side
Then we took the kids to a local splash park for a break in the visiting schedule.
Then we headed to a brewery for our break
It was quite the tight fit for all six of us in the car...especially since people kept giving us mementos to take back home
That night we went back to Patsy's for another BBQ
Everyone was having a great time!
Family from all over the states came to visit.
And the beer kept coming:
We broke out some card games
And played some poker:
Jack was in heaven with his new friend
The next day we went back to Patsy's house for a visit
Then we went over to Pyro's house and knocked until he came out
We spent some time catching up with him
Even got him to take a picture with the kids
Jack and Lily played in the rocks while the adults visited
Then we made a visit to Grandma Ruth's house
We looked at old photos
Spent time with Grandma Ruth
Lily fell in love with a duck
Then we went to downtown Billings to grab some lunch at another brewery
And headed back to Patsy's
where the kids played in the water
Papi (and Luke) dozed on and off
Took some more pictures
And then went back to the hotel and let the kids swim
And then relax in the room
The next morning we were up at 3:30am and the guys got a 4am shuttle to the airport while Nani and I started our drive back. The kids did much better this time sleeping almost the entire way. We decided to surprise the kids on the way back and stop off at somewhere fun...
Here are some more pictures from when Luke's family was visiting
Lily wearing Amanda's glasses
Bedtime with Auntie Amanda
At WaterWorld with Uncle Josiah
Bubbles with Uncle Josiah
Nap time with Amanda
After Luke's family left we had to find some more things to occupy our time. We went shopping:
Can you spot Jack?
Spent lots of time at Water World since we have season passes
The best part about Water World is how good it tires out the kids. Lily usually can't even stay awake for the stroller ride to the car
We took advantage of Chick Fil A "dress like a cow" day. With 10 minutes notice, the kids and I cut out cow spots and cow ears for each of us.
We all got free meals so I guess it was worth it...
My grandparents came out for a visit. Lily got some quality time sleeping with Papa
We all went to the Loveland Loves BBQ and Brews festival
Jack got a chance to show off his dance moves:
I went out for a girls night out with my mom and some neighbors to a painting/beer drinking night.
The kids and I went to a community event where they got to ride the train for free
And take a ride in an ambulance for fun.
At this festival I also discovered the perfect school to send Jack to which ended several months of worry/uncertainty for me.... but that deserves a post to itself.
