Montana, Montana. Glory of the West.

Ok.  I have quite a bit of updating to do.  It's been about 3 months since my last entry, but it only feels like 3 weeks!  This summer is going to be over before it's begun!  But it's been a pretty good one so far.  I have so much updating to do that I thought I would begin with a recap of our trip to Big Sky Country- Montana.  We were there for almost a month, so snuggle in folks.  This make take awhile.

When we first arrived in Montana, we stayed with Matt's parents who live on a stunning piece of land nestled up against the Mission Mountains. We spent a couple of days relaxing and visiting friends.  We took a quick trip into Missoula to see Matt's sister Julia and our good friends Joe and Stephanie and their darling little boy Will, who is a year younger than Max.

Will and Max

Later on Matt, Sue and I decided to take the kids over the the Bison Range to check out some of the wild animals, but quickly realized we wouldn't have to go that far to see some wildlife up close and personal.  As we drove toward the main road, we discovered to Grizzly bears in the neighbor's yard!  Yikes! We did still make it to the Bison Range and got to see some buffalo and deer, but it just wasn't as exciting as our earlier encounter.  The kids saw more wild life in two hours than they had seen before in their whole lives.

The next night we headed over to see some friends of Matt's family, Mary and Loren, and their adorable grandkids.  They also live on a beautiful property near Ronan and had horses and dogs that kept Max very entertained and happy.  He even got to ride a horse by himself!

Such a big boy

After that, Matt, the kids and I headed over to stay at my parent's time-share condo on Flathead Lake.  I absolutely LOVE that place- I've gone almost every summer for 20 years now.  Joe, Steph and Will were able to join us for a couple of days, and Sue and Don came up for Father's Day to have dinner. 

Max and Grandpop chalking it up

I'm ready to swim!

Two beautiful ladies!

With mommy's sunglasses

Future heartbreakers

Me with my swim babes

Matt and I were also able to spend a day with the kiddos up at Glacier Park.  I firmly believe it is the most beautiful national park in the country.  I don't think I could ever get sick of the gorgeous scenery there.  We went for a hike up to Avalanche Lake and experienced another bear adventure on the way back down.  Evelyn and I went ahead of the boys because she was VERY unhappy about being put back in her pack and I wanted to get the screaming baby as far away from other hikers as I could.  Once I got away from everyone, I took her out to see if I could get her to quiet down.  As I was attempting to get her to stop crying, a woman came running up to me to tell me that we were being followed by a bear.  Sure enough, about 20-30 yards away, there was a black bear walking alongside the trail with us.  He actually turned and started walking towards us, but luckily a large group of hikers showed up and spooked him enough to stay away.  Most people felt that he was just curious as to what was making all the noise (my darling little girl) and wanted to check it out.  He certainly didn't seem aggressive.  But I was still a bit shaken.  We quickly made our way down the rest of the trail and even got to see a buck about 10 feet away.  Quite the day!

Family shot at Glacier Park

Later that week, we were able to swing by my aunt Sue and uncle Bill's lake house.  Yet another beautiful place to visit in the Flathead valley.  The kids had a great time running around and Max even got his feet a little wet in the lake in spite the the chilly temperature of the water. 

We were also able to take a trip out to Rock Creek to see the cabin that Sue and Don have been building from the ground up (the LOTS of hard work from Julia and friends).  It was really impressive.  I can't wait to eventually see the finished product. 

Not bad for a "little cabin" in the woods

At the end of the week at the time-share, Matt and Julia ran the Waterton-Glacier relay race with 10 (I think) of Julia's co-workers and friends.  The did an amazing job.  Their team came in third place and were only beaten by a team of ultra-marathon runners and a team of triathletes.  It sounded like they had a whole lot of fun and really enjoyed the spectacular scenery along the way.  Way to go Team Adventure Life!  I have a feeling they'll be doing it again next year.

After that, we went back to Sue and Don's for a few days before the Matt headed back home and the kids and I took off for Great Falls to visit my relatives.  They (Sue and Don) had a BBQ for family and friends to come over and see the kids.  It was so much fun!  It was so nice to relax and hang out with everyone.

Julia, Evleyn (with an owl growing out of her head) and I.

The Celtic band Malarkey

Aunt Sue, Mom and I

A few grads of Ronan HS '97 and their little ones

After that, Matt headed home and the kids and I were off to Great Falls with my mom.  The night before we left, Max had a fever but it was back down again before we left.  Once we got there we got to spend some quality time with my Grandma, who is undergoing chemo for lung cancer.  It was great to catch up and see that she was doing well and feeling strong.  We stayed there one night before heading up to Havre to visit the Steinmetz family- Krystal, Steve and precious Moriah.  I hadn't seen Moriah since she was only 5 weeks old, so I was really excited to see her now at 13 months.  Moriah and Evelyn got along great!  Moriah and Max...well, let's just say he treated her the same way he treats his sister.  He wasn't into sharing and really didn't like her touching him.  The poor thing just didn't know quite what to make of this rude boy in her house.  We still all had a great time.  The girls played well, we got to spend some time at a nice park, eat some ice cream and most importantly, I got to catch up with Krystal.  I miss that gal.  I could have used MUCH more time there.  Hopefully next year...

This picture pretty much sums up their relationship

Krystal took Max's temperature right before we left and it had gone back up to 102!  I like to think that partially explains his less than courteous behavior.  So back to Great Falls we went.  It was pretty obvious at that point that Max was pretty sick, so we decided to lay low and see how he did.  Sadly, we had to stay away from my Grandma since her immune system wasn't at it's strongest.  We did get to spend time with my aunts Abby, Connie and Pam, my uncles Ron and Mark and my cousins Aaron, Spenser, Riley, Kirsten, and Meghan, so it wasn't a complete waste.  I love them all so much and wish we could spend more time together.

A very sick Max snuggling with Grammy

The kids playing at Nana's

With aunts Pam and Connie (missing aunt Abby)

Riley, Aaron, Max, Spenser and Kirsten

Evelyn and her Nana

We headed to Missoula after that to spend a few days at Julia's house.  My plan was to spend as much time with my Missoula friends as possible and let the Grandma's take care of the kids while I had some fun.  Sadly, it didn't pan out that way.  The kids seemed to be feeling ok the first night in Missoula, so I did get one great night out with Julia and Steph, but when we got back, Max was about as miserable as could be.  Sue went with me the next day to an urgent care clinic (it was on a Sunday and a holiday weekend), where we discovered both kids had ear infections and Max had to go to the emergency room for chest x-rays because they thought he might have pneumonia.  Needless to say it was an absolutely awful day.  There is nothing worse than having a child in pain and not being able to fix it immediately.  I was feeling so guilty for not taking them in days earlier and for going out and having fun when they were sick.  It was an emotional roller coaster.  Then we discovered Evelyn is allergic to penicillin.  We ended up taking the kids back to Sue's house where we could all rest and recover before going home.  I am soooo grateful that both grandmas were there to help out.  I don't know what I would have done without them.

My one night out with a couple of wonderful gals

My dear friend Mira came out to Sue's to see us before we left.  She was so sweet to come all the way out there and see us in spite of the kids being sick.  And I'm so glad she did since she left for Europe shortly after.  She will hopefully be working there indefinitely, which is great, but she will be sorely missed over here in the states.  We were also able to visit with Janet, Sue and Don's neighbor and friend.  She had been in traveling in Europe and we almost missed her, so I'm relieved we were able to catch up with her!

Mira bonding with Evelyn

And finally, Mom and I were able to make one more stop before heading back to Portland.  We took a quick trip to Missoula once the kids were feeling better to visit with our old family friends, Janice and Erin.  I've mentioned Janice before, but she's the mom of my oldest friend Anna and Erin is Anna's sister.  Walking into Janice's house is like getting a warm hug.  I have so many wonderful memories there and feel so at ease whenever I visit.  We had a relaxing afternoon and Max had a great time playing with Janice's dog named...Max.  It was so fun to catch up!

Erin, Max, Janice and Evelyn

Whew!  I think I covered it all.  It was a great trip in spite of the ear infections.  I'm sorry I didn't get to see the rest of my Missoula friends while we were there, but we plan on heading back over there some time this winter.  Hopefully without any emergency room visits.  :)