Silver Mountain's Indoor Water Park

The indoor water park was a BIG hit for the entire family! It didn't matter that it wasn't warm enough outside. We even got to try the boogie board! What fun! Josh & the boys did pretty well! I even took a stab at it. This area was a hit with all ages even adults & teens! Since we stayed the night our package included the water park for the day & the next day too. The hot tubs were also a hit. The room had a full kitchen so we ordered a pizza & made breakfast the next day (Yolks was walking distance). They even have a BBQ you can use.

My Princess...

I love it! She would ask me to help her put the dress on. Three minutes later would ask me to take it off. Two minutes later she would ask me to put back on & so forth a few more times. I quickly snapped a few pic's while she had the dress on. This was one of those rare moments in which see actually wanted help. Hummmm, she reminds me of someone.......but I can't quite figure it out.

Cousins

Jacob & Jacksun

<- Justin, Jacob, Lexi & Ashley

Pictured below is LaDonna, Rose & me


The kids & I went to Montana to see my mom & our cousins for a few days. We had originally planned to go camping at Blue Bay on the Flathead Lake in Western Montana but the weather did not permit it. I was even optimistic & brought our camping stuff in case it cleared up. One the way over we had our wipers on high for an hour & a half straight... & some. I think it was following us! The weather finally got sunny & warm the day we were to part from Missoula to head home.
It worked out for the best & were able to stay with my favorite cousin LaDonna & Jacksun. Jacksun just turned 6 years old this summer. The boys had a lot of fun with him. Thanks LaDonna for letting us invade your house for a few days. We spent some time with my mom, Daniel & Kevin. Thanks Daniel for watching the boys while my mom, Ashley, cousin Kevin & I went shopping! We also were able to visit with my cousin Rose & Alexis for an evening at LaDonna's place. Ashley just loved playing with her cousin Lexi who was only one month older than her. Watching two three year old girls play was a adorable! The boys were full of energy & loud. Unfortunately my grandmother was in the ICU over there but I was able to visit with her a bit too. We LOVE you Grandma! Get well soon! All in all we had another great time in Montana for our annual summer visit. Maybe we will make it to Polson & Blue Bay next year to visit & camp if the weather permits.

Whooohoo! I did it!

Another triathlon under my belt. This was my second time participating in the annual "West Plains Wunderwomen Triathlon". I love this course! Well, my only other comparison was the "Valley Girl Triathlon" which took place in July. All I have to say is that it was HOT, HOT, HOT! By the time it was time to run it was in the mid 80's. Running & hot weather do not work for me or most other runners but I think I did well. My swim was Great! No problems this time except the first 3rd of the 1/4 mile swim a women kept swimming like a mad person into my legs & such. I finally had to turn around to tell her to STOP THAT! Crazy women! My bike ride was great too & I had my friendly competitor who I met last year pass me on the bike ride & then I trailed her the whole way until the run where I crushed her with my running speed! Okay I didn't really crush her but it was fun. If you are reading Kristi, thanks! You are AWESOME Brenda! Thanks for getting me started in these! I feel better than ever. While I am thanking people, thank you Josh, Jacob & Justin for coming and dragging our sick child Ashley to watch me & support me! It means a lot. It is such a relief when they are OVER! I didn't meet my goal of doing better than last year but the course was a bit different & much hotter (by at least 20 degrees). I also had a wet suit last year. It might not mean much to most of you reading but I had a total time of 01:10:28:15 (70.5 min). This year my time was 01:12:28 (72.5 min). If you are confused because of my time in the picture don't forget to subtract 10 min for my later starting time. If you have never tried one yet, you should try a "TRI"!

Fun With Friends!

Chillin at The South Hill Water Park!

"Life is Good" or is it?

In case anyone was wondering, Justin threw the tree swing at her. The funny (is that bad to say) part is it bounced off Ashley's face & then hit Justin in the head. Is that bad Karma or what?

Hiawatha pictures!

Howdy Hiawatha!

Last Saturday we joined the Ward family (including the grandparents) on the Hiawatha Rail Trail! You know the trail with that 1.7 mile long tunnel that they call "St. Paul Pass" ("Taft"). Our adventure got off to as slow start with Helen crashing in the tunnel but we had a very memorable time! Justin was only 40 feet into the tunnel when he started crying saying he was not going to go through. Luckily, there was a nice couple behind us, who were regulars on the course; they helped coach Justin and got him to go through with no problem. I was really close to turning around with Justin and due to the excitement Josh & Jacob were long gone! I keep wondering if I would have been able to get him back in there if we had turned around. After Justin calmed down a bit & his eyes started adjust, he shouted "hey mom, it keeps getting better the further we go"; This ended up being his favorite part of the trail!
We had a lot of fun and I highly recommend this trip to others contemplating the Hiawatha adventure. We ate next to the trail on some handmade large flat boulder benches, went through many tunnels, zoomed fast, went slow, stopped for pictures, had some mechanical issues with Jacob’s bike & much more. Oh yeah, sorry Helen for the terrible fall in the "Taft" tunnel - what a trooper! Helen had no previous bike trail experience and kept up with us with no problem. I hope everyone's bottoms are better now.
Jacob had to hold onto his bike while Liz pulled him behind on the trailer after his rear derailleur blew apart. What a great sport! Suzie was thrilled to partner up with Ashley in our bike trailer. They loved riding in the LONG, DARK tunnel together on the way back (yes, after the shuttle you get to go back through "The tunnel", again. We were thankful that Jacob's mechanical problem didn't start until after the shuttle. They were all such troopers the whole 14.4 miles! I was very worried that the boys would have a difficult time with this long trail. Yes, they went solo! We would do it again.
Later, we stopped at 1313 in Wallace ID to have some dinner. What great service! We left from the Ward's at about 10:00 am & got home at 9:45pm (?). Something like that.

Back Yard

How do they come up with these things?

Huckleberries

The whole family went huckleberry picking on Sunday. This use to be an anual event before the second child was born. Although, it is a somewhat new location I can tell you that it was still at the same exit as we had gone before. We stopped by the Idaho Fish Hatchery first. No, we didn't mean to. If you have never gone picking before it might help to let you know it that these "little" huckleberries are usually in a "hard to find", remote location. Which ususally makes the adventure so fun. Okay, not so fun for the little ones at first since they don't care for the nearly two hour drive (this did include the time it took scavaging for the right spot). After we stumbled upon our new spot the adventure had begun.
The wilderness mountains were flooded with huckleberries! Oh, the excitement....for the first hourish. Finally, bordem kicked in. To my surprise Ashley said "this is fun mom!". She lasted longer than I thought she would. A lot longer. Of course, she used the "Great outdoors" to pee. She did not complain much unless she fell into a prickly bush or something. The boys said they saw several spider webs & Jacob said he ran right into one of the webs with his face. He mentioned that that was his least favorite part of the trip. Justin kept saying "There are huckleberries infinity".