Our Trip to Montana!

We had an awesome trip to Montana! It started on Thursday night with at stop in Billings for the night at Amber and Steve's house. The kids were so excited to see each other and poor Kyle cried when it was time for us to go on Friday morning. The trip to Hamilton was uneventful (thankfully), but we did hear a lot of "how many more minutes to Pa's house?" and "are we almost there?" from Caiden. Both kids did sleep for a couple of hours after lunch so that was nice.
We arrived in Hamilton a little after 4pm and I went and got my hair chopped off. It feels awesome! I think I am meant to have short hair, especially in the summer. After some pizza for dinner, Chris and I headed to BJ's ( a local restaurant) for my 10 year high school reunion "meet and greet." It was so awesome to see everyone from my class, most of who I hadn't seen in 10 years! We all had a fun time playing a few games, chatting, eating, and having a few drinks. While we were there, my family took the kids to Qwivals for some go-cart rides, bumper cars, games, and prizes so they had a blast without mom and dad!

On Saturday, Mindy and I went and toured the old high school and we went to and the new high school that was built after we were long gone. Wow, what a nice school! Maybe my kids will go there someday! ;) Benj (Mindy's husband) and Chris headed up Blodgett Canyon to do some hiking, because really, they did not want to tour our high school! That afternoon, we headed to the family BBQ with the class of 98 and got to meet every one's kids. Some of our parents and old teachers were there serving up the food so that was fun to see them. After spending some time downtown and letting the kids bounce in the bouncy castle, we headed to my dad's house for another BBQ! My mom and grandparents and Chris' mom, my friend Derick, and Mindy and her family all came to eat some more food (I think that's all I did this trip!) and the kids had a blast jumping on the trampoline and getting soaking wet from the sprinkler. Later on, Chris, his mom, and I headed to the brewfest that was downtown and I wasn't planning on drinking anything until I found out that they had WINE! :) So, I had a few glasses and it was really good. There were a ton of people there and the band was really loud, but I met up with my friend Julie and her husband and it was fun to catch up with her.

The next day, I didn't feel so hot, but it didn't last long and by noon, we were headed up to our favorite lake, LAKE COMO! We spent the whole day there and had a blast. We don't have a lake like that around here and the kids didn't want to leave. They played in the sand and water all afternoon. I got a pretty good sunburn that I am still feeling, but it was all worth it! After getting home and making dinner, Lauren took the kids over to her friend Kristen's house to play and so my dad, Chris, and I headed to DQ for some blizzards. What a way to end the trip, right?! Bright and early (5am!) on Monday morning, we were out the door and on our way back to Belle. We stopped in Missoula to pick my sister Kelly up and she is here now visiting for the week. The kids fell back asleep soon after picking her up and they stayed asleep until 10am! So, that was a great way to start the long drive back. After a lunch stop and a couple of bathroom stops, we were home by 430pm - about 11.5 hours after we left Hamilton. It was a long drive back, but the kids did really well and there was minimal complaining! :) Overall, the trip was short, but such a fun time!!!