Camping

Let's see...what have I done in the last week? Well, I went to Missoula with Ami and my aunt, Bridget, on Thursday. We stayed overnight and did lots of shopping. By the time I returned to Helena on Friday afternoon, Marc and the kids were off camping. I enjoyed a nice, quiet Friday evening by myself...I just kind of wandered around my house aimlessly...I guess I forgot what to do on a Friday night with no kids! On Saturday morning, I got up and went for a great walk/run/hike, went grocery shopping, and visited with my Dad. Then I got busy baking cupcakes and a snickerdoodle cake for Marc's birthday.

Later in the afternoon Marc's folks and I drove up to have a birthday dinner with Marc and the kids. Aunt Ann and Uncle John and Uncle Sean and his sweet girlfriend, Vanessa, came up, too. John and Ann and I stayed while the others drove home to sleep in comfortable beds. Have I ever mentioned that I am NOT much of a tent camper? Well, I'm not. At all. I like camping, but I really dislike sleeping in a tent. I hate to admit this, but I'm always afraid a bear is going to attack our tent so I always end up being awake all night....listening to every single noise. We are seriously considering buying a camper in the next couple years....otherwise, Marc is going to be doing a lot of camping with three children....all by himself. Anyway, here are some great pictures from the camping weekend:

Leslie Lake

Three happy...and very dirty...kids!

Our Little Beauty

So, today Megan and I went to visit Patty, my hairdresser. Great Clips just wasn't cutting it (no pun intended!) as far as Megan's hairstyle. We've been growing out her bangs for awhile and it was time to give her a "style". This is what we ended up with:


While we were there, we both got our eyebrows waxed. Megan was very brave about it...but I bawled like a baby. Not really...but my eyes did tear up.....maybe a little bit more than Megan's....

Fishin'

After an amazingly rainy week, the sun finally returned today! It was a beautiful evening....a perfect evening for fishin'!

The water was moving a little too fast to catch anything, but the kids had a great time anyway. We're planning on trying again next weekend....but I think we'll have to explain "catch and release" before then. I can't really see myself cooking a fish...or eating a fish. I like fish from the store, but I'm not big on dealing with fish bones.

A Little Trip

So, this last weekend we travelled to Bozeman for a little recreating with Auntie Ann and Uncle John...we saw waterfalls, ate dinner in a bar, swam in a pool, and shopped a little.

On Saturday afternoon, after a delicious lunch of tacos specially made for us by Ann, we packed into our Dodge Grand Caravan and drove to Big Sky. We hiked on a really nicely groomed trail to this:

Ousel Falls

It was only about a mile or so from our vehicle and the kids did great. They got a little tired on the way back, though.

Thank goodness for Uncle John!

Kellan

Megan

We were all starving after our hike so we decided to have dinner at The Corral...a little bar/restraunt up the road from Big Sky. The food was great! We drove back into Bozeman and checked into our motel. Despite the late hour (it was 9:00, which is late to me!), we spent some time in the pool for a bit, watched a little Toy Story, and then tucked everybody into bed. For some reason, I thought it would be a great idea to share a bed with Megan and Kellan and give Marc and Jacksen their own bed. I don't know what I was thinking...that was a terrible idea! After repeatedly getting hit in the head, I finally decided to join Marc and Jacksen...sometime around 1:30 in the morning. Let's just say it wasn't a really restful night for anybody.

After a refreshing 8:30 am swim for Marc, Megan and Kellan, we ate a quick breakfast, made a quick stop at Murdoch's for some new boots for Megan, and then met John and Ann for our next adventure. We drove through Hialite Canyon and then hiked to Palisade Falls...

Palisade Falls

After all of this exercise, I still had enough energy to hit a great sale at Old Navy. Then we drove home and went to a birthday party...and we all slept like logs last night!

Funny Boys

Kellan and Jacksen have been pretty funny lately....

Today, when we were pulling out of the driveway at daycare, Kellan said "Mom, you should buy some no-calorie Splenda. It looks like sugar and it tastes like sugar, but it isn't sugar!" He then explained that it's America's leading sugar and it's even good in cookies. I asked him where he heard about Splenda and he said he saw it on TV. That boy has an amazing memory!

Arlene, our daycare lady, told me that Jacksen was talking on a pretend phone today and he was repeating "Heeeellllloooooo, Georgeous!" When she asked him who he was speaking with, he told her it was me! Guess I'm doing something right....

Tomorrow is the last day of school...Marc and Megan are sooooo ready to sleep in and play all summer....and the boys are ready for a break from daycare, too. I only hope they are as entertaining for their father as they are for Arlene!

Stitches...Take 2

Jacksen got his stitches taken out on Saturday morning....and he got them put right back in today! While eating breakfast at daycare, he turned his head and hit it right on his owie on the counter. It sounds like this time was a little more painful for the little guy. Marc took him to our pediatrician's office and they cleaned it out with soap and water and then injected anesthetic right into the cut before they stitched it up. The ER uses numbing gel, which I think is a lot more kind! Anyway, he was a happy camper when I met them at McDonald's for lunch afterward.

Manners

So, today we had a little discussion with our children about manners. It all started when Marc noticed Megan licking her chips during lunch. Seriously. I have to admit that I laughed when I saw it....but her father wasn't amused. He launched into a big....um....lecture concerning manners at the table. But that wasn't the end of it. Oh no. He then proceded to read an article in the newspaper about....yep, you guessed it....not licking your chips and using good manners. I thought it was an amazing coincidence that that article appeared in our local newspaper on the very day Marc caught Megan licking her chips...Wierd.

Guess I better go do something about Kellan...he's presently hanging over the back of our couch yelling "Bring it on, Blondie!" to his sister....now those are some good manners....

Memorial Day (Part II)

I know, I know...I was supposed to finish this post on Tuesday, but I was a little busy and distracted all week...so, anyway, here it is...

In my previous post I mentioned that I had been looking forward to Memorial Day because we finally got a headstone for my grandparents. My grandparents were an inspiration to me in so many ways...they were married for over 66 years and I miss them terribly. It is so hard to believe Grandpa Morrison has been gone almost three years already - sometimes it seems like we said goodbye just a few days ago - and my dear Grandma passed away about six months ago. It's nice to think of them together in Heaven.

Tonight Marc and the boys mowed our lawn for the first time this year. Well, when Marc started the mower, the noise took me back to summers at my Grandparents' house...picking raspberries and eating them fresh off the bush, drinking lemonade on the deck, riding bicycles with Grandpa, their beautiful garden, and sitting on Grandpa's lap while he mowed the lawn. The reason why is because he was using Grandpa's mower. You see, a couple years before he died, we came home one afternoon to find his mower parked in our driveway. He'd gotten too old to mow his yard so a lawn service had taken over the job. He LOVED both his mower and his lawn...and he kept that mower in perfect condition from the day he bought it. It meant so much to know that he wanted us to have it because it one of his favorite possessions.




I am so thankful to have been given such wonderful grandparents...and I know I will think of them and miss them for the rest of my life...