Montana 2012

About to take off!

Our Montana trip was so fun!  My parents, the kids, Tank and Fargo (my parent's dog) all headed out in my parent's RV June 18th for our road trip to Montana.

DAY 1

We left around 8am and got into our first stop, Oklahoma City, OK around 4pm.  It was a long day with no naps.  We try to keep the kids strapped into the car seat for as long as possible, so it was a challenging day.  Isabel did pretty well and was content to watch her shows and play on the iPad, but Logan got bored around 8:15am.  We stayed at the same place in Oklahoma as we did on the way back last year.  It was a really nice place with a fun pool/splash pad that we took advantage of.  We swam, ate and the kids went to bed.  This year we decided to put Logan in the pak n play in the back bedroom of the RV (like last year) but instead of my parents sleeping back there I slept in that bed with Isabel.  It was so nice!  I king-sized sleep number bed.  My parents were stuck on the queen bed in the kitchen area.  At least the adults were able to have a glass of wine (or 3) and watch TV while the kids were sleeping.  Last year Isabel was in the pak n play right in the middle of the kitchen and would NOT sleep with the TV on.

Day 2

Once again we were on the road around 8:15am.  The back bedroom folks slept great.  Not sure about the grandparents!  Our destination today was Oakley, Kansas.  Basically in the middle of nowhere. We were following the same route as on our way back to TX from last year, so we knew the place was fun, but WINDY.  Last year they had all of these old school play structure things and a little splash pad.  They also had this really cool barn that had games and was just a place to run around and relax.  Unfortunately this year they were using the barn as a staging and construction area for the pool that was being installed, so it was closed.  :-(  The kids had another sort of challenging day.  Logan slept for 20 minutes total.  That kid just will not sleep in the car.  It is amazing how he fights sleep in vehicles.  The grandparents went to the steakhouse for dinner while I stayed with the kids and had dinner in the RV.  It was SO windy.  All night I kept thinking that at any second the RV would start rocking back and forth listening to the wind howl, but it was rock solid.  Thing didn't move an inch.  I guess that's what happens when it's like 45 feet long.

 He road up and down the sidewalk and had a blast!

Windy!  The construction zone and barn are the background.

Day 3

Left around 8:30am today.  Headed for Fort Collins, CO.  I was really looking forward to this campground.  Getting into the mountains, cooler weather, fresher air, etc.  We arrived and I went for a 3.5 mile jog.  SO nice!  They had a really nice pool and a great little play house and playground.  We met a little friend and played for a while before hitting the pool.  The pool was pretty cold.  I just got my legs wet, but the kids and Grandma took a splash!

Day 4

Got going a little earlier today due to the time change.  I think we were on the road by 7:15am or so.  Today's destination:  Buffalo, WY!  I really loved this RV park too.  Such a great little gift shop, pool and playground.  The town is really fun to see too, but this trip we skipped the trip in to walk around.  The pool was looking amazing though.  I think they must drain and paint it every year!  We swam for a long time.

Day 5

Montana!!!

Finally a little chilly!

Stop at the Bass Pro Shop for shopping and lunch.

Yesssss!

OMG....he slept for about an hour!

Great Falls

We stayed in Great Falls for a few days to get acclimated to the altitude a bit before headed up into the mountains and to do some grocery shopping and laundry.

They had so much fun running the cars up and down the incline.

Rough housing with Grandpa

GGB has the hook up with the balloon guy at the Farmer's Market.  She volunteers at the hospital with his wife.  Score!

Gibson Park.

Tea!

BRAVE!

 

 

 

In the Mountains
 This year we spent the majority of the time on vacation in the mountains at the cabins and I loved it!  We did head into Lincoln often and made a trip to Missoula and the girls headed back to Great Falls one day to watch Magic Mike.  GGB told us that we had to see it if we wanted to stay in the family.  She is serious about her Channing Tatum.  I'll photo bomb this post now.

Logan check out the place

Loving his motorcycle

Checking out Robin, Omar the sheepherders horse.

Marrying Grandma.

Marrying Logan.

GGB always working.

Daddy!!!

Throwing rocks in the pond.  Something we did 80% of the time.

Enjoying s'mores.

The result of burning 200+ dead trees.  Silly pine beetle.

Logan loves s'mores.

Izzy enjoying hers

Awesome (and only) park in Lincoln.

Roofing the outhouse.

GGL playing the accordian

Logan fighting the power.

Miss Thang getting ready for the 4th of July parade.

GGL giving us a wave.

There will always be water and mud when Aunt Cathy is around.

Logan pondering life.

Roofing the telephone shed.

Going over plans.

GGB, Grandpa, Mike (after his surgery) and Sam

Watching a movie and holding hands together.

Riding in the plane GGL made.

Major project of the year.  Tearing out the bottom log that was 1/2 rotted.

Work work work

Learning how to play Tic-Tac-Toe with Grandpa.  She did amazingly well!

In Missoula at the fastest carousel ever.  I seriously thought I was going to fly off.

Looks like a little shower.

Elk herd

Giving Aunt Vicki her order.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Always

In a couple of years!

Somebody needs to teach Grandpa how to properly get on a tube.

Giving his best GW

 

Grandpa and Grandma play

At the beef jerky factory.  Isabel is sitting on "Santa."

First ride!

GGP and GGL drawing with Isabel

In front of GGG and Vivian's tree that was planted the year after they died.

 Back in GF.  We headed back in to Great Falls to get ready to fly back to Austin.  Aunt Cathy got tickets to see the stock car races.  Isabel had an absolute blast and REALLY got into it.  She still talks about how she cheers for the 'number 3 car.'  Logan...not so much.  He loved Uncle Mike walking him around and letting him play and sit on things, but sitting in the stands.  Not going to happen.  I took him home after about an hour.  Isabel stayed for the entire thing and got home at 11 pm!  We had our flight the following morning, so I was a little worried about how she would do being so tired, but both kids did GREAT!  I mean, it was seriously the best possible flights I could imagine.  It was a lot of work to keep them both happy, but we did it!  Usually we try our best, but sometimes (always) we can't prevent a screaming fit or meltdown.  This time I seriously could have cried from happiness at the end.  Besides our gate checked roller for the 30+ lb car seat we carried on getting checked through to Austin, it was a perfect travel day.  We were pretty pissed about that who mishap, especially since Brain doubled checked with the gate agent in Great Falls to make sure we had it on our 3.5 hour layover in Denver after the lady said 'you don't need this in Denver, do you?'  Brain was like 'uh, we absolutely need that in Denver.'  Can't win them all.

Eating by ourselves (without Daddy and Logan) because of the cluster eff that is Frontier's gate agents.  Thanks guys.  Great work.  Way to screw up the gate check.

Tired boys.

Partying girls.

Sooo...it was such a great trip!  Glad that we flew home though.  I think we were all ready to get back and into a routine again.  Waking up between 5-6am and going to bed well after 9pm did not make for rested kids (or adults).  I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa appreciated getting to enjoy the trip back to TX by themselves.  Almost 4 weeks straight of a 2 and 3 year old 24/7 is a lot for anyone but parents to handle.  This trip we brought too many shorts and not enough long pants!  Also, too many jackets.  Hopefully I can pack better next year.  It gets better each year, so fingers crossed next year we actually use everything we bring.

I think Grandma and Grandpa might be coming up this week with the rest of our crap that we left in the RV.  Namely warm clothes and toys.  I know Logan will freak when he sees his motorcycle!  THANK YOU Grandma and Grandpa for letting us tag along and mooch off of you guys!  Huge thanks to Grandma and GGB for watching Logan and Isabel so that we could work on things and go for bike rides!