8.11.2010

Oh WHAT a Summer!

We have had so much fun the past six weeks; The stuff lasting memories are made of! School starts on Monday so it's back to the real world. I'm trying to frantically get caught up on everything from housework, to email, to haircuts (no kidding, Landon hasn't had a hair cut since June!), to all the errands and responsibilities I've been putting off the past month and a half.

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Most recently, we gave ourselves our first ever real family vacation. The first time we weren't traveling to visit family (although, you know we love to do that! And there are plenty of pictures of us doing that this last month too - we had a great time with our families this summer). Just the six of us; we went to Big Sky Montana. Montana, you ask? Yes. Montana. A resort town 40 miles from West Yellowstone. The perfect combination for a family of {mostly} boys all different ages. It was a great great week.

click on images to enlarge (it REALLY bugs me the way this all downloaded - sorry about the spacing and jumbled sentences. I might try to fix it later, or not. Gotta get going on dinner and then Young Womens... no rest for the weary, I tell ya!)

We spent an afternoon eating at a motorcycle-theme resteraunt and watching the kids do "rides".








We took the kids to Toy Story 3 one day, after a hike, exploring Bozeman, lunch at a great mexican place, and play time at a park. Isaac loved the 3D glasses and called them his Popcorn Glasses from the Popcorn Place. {I think that's the only reason he cares about movies - popcorn}

We stayed in a 3 story town home in the middle of the woods at the top of a huge peak. It was so beautiful there. In the winter you can just and ski down to the lifts from your front door. (200 acres of lifts) We were at 8,000 ft and surrounded by trees and mountains. We saw a bears just outside our "little house" twice.









We spent a day at Yellowstone Park, of course. The kids LOVED it. So did I, actually. They kept saying how awesome it was. Isaac kept telling us it was
"goy-geous". Perfect place for three little boys to run around. How do you know they had fun? They were covered in dirt by the time we were done.


One morning Cameron took the older boys on a white-water raft tour (I wanted to go but the hotel daycare was closed for the summer - next time!!). They all had a blast, and came back exhausted. While they were doing that I walked around "down town" with the little kids, and explored. Isaac found a tee-pee and a playground so we were quite entertained.











More pictures of Yellowstone. It is beautiful there.


























The wildlife was unbelievable. I've never seen so many buffalo! We probably saw over 200 - including one up close and personal in the parking lot where our car was. We saw every animal listed on the map of animals in Yellowstone. Seriously, we were in wild-life heaven.
























Ella was an angel-baby, as usual. She was so so good. Didn't mind the stroller, car, or strange bed. Little champ. I love her!
To be honest all the kids were so well-behaved. We had little fighting and lots and lots of family bonding.


I love how he is so excited about little things like this tree trunk.
Good kids, I have. I just love 'em!

5 comments:

Emily said...

Looks like an awesome trip! Your kids are getting so big! We miss you guys so much, Brian and Jessi are moving to North Liberty, and Ben and Jen are moving to Kalona - We're going to be the only ones left in the neighborhood!!

Colleen said...

It sounds like such a blast! What beautiful photos. Aren't family trips so fun?! Glad it was for you.

maynardmoments said...

What a trip! I am glad you all had such a great time. Loved the pictures.

Hillary said...

What a fun and busy summer. We took the boys to Yellowstone 3 years ago and they still talk about it. Defiantly a boys heaven on earth!

shay said...

So fun! What a great place to go! I just miss your family! It's been way to long!