Our Trip to Montana!

We were so excited to have the chance to go to Big Sky Country (Montana!) for our family vacation this summer. Kim's sister (Amy) and Matt's brother (Jason) live in Billings, so that's where we flew into on Friday, June 17th. We were so excited to see them!! We had a great time talking, playing, and seeing the updates to their beautiful home. Since Matt's other brother (Jonathan) was getting married in Montana, Amy and Jason played host to lots and lots of family members including us. They were gracious, patient, and accommodating hosts -- planning yummy meals and fun activities for us to do the whole time we were there!

The next morning, Amy and Jason invited us to participate in the Heart and Sole Run. Matt and Kim walked/jogged while Amy and Jason ran (read: smoked us!!). :)

Grandpa and Grandma babysat Ian during the race. They enjoyed playing together at home and then watching for Momma and Daddy along the race course. Ian appreciated all of the activities at the end of the race -- free popsicles, an inflatable slide, tunnels to crawl through, etc. What a fun morning!

Uncle Jason taught Ian about croquet while "the guys" and Grandma were at the park together.

Then, we all met up at Billings' Best Yogurt (one of those amazing self-serve frozen yogurt places where you can put toppings on your choice of yogurt). Momma loved every (LARGE!) bite of her creation.
What a yummy treat! :)

And, of course, Ian got lots of play time with Grandma and Grandpa while in Billings. Grandma read Ian lots of stories (including some new books Grandma brought as a surprise!). Ian's favorite snack while we were in Billings was Aunt Amy's caramel corn, which he's eating as Grandma is reading to him.

Grandpa and Ian had fun playing with trains together.

On Tuesday morning, we started heading to Kalispell for Jonathan and Chelsea's wedding. We stopped to take some pictures after we headed through Red Lodge, MT, and got to Beartooth Pass. There were some beautiful views and also some very tame "squirrel-monks" that we fed some Goldfish crackers. Ian was delighted by the chipmonks!

Isn't Montana simply beautiful? You'll notice that we're wearing jackets, sweatshirts, or jeans in most of the pictures! What a welcome break the cool weather was from our Texas heat!
As we continued through Beartooth Pass, we saw lots and lots of snow! In some places, the snow piles were WAY higher than our car!

We enjoyed seeing all of the wildlife, too ... even if it meant that our car was stopped for a short time while these bisons crossed the road.

We stopped to see some sights along the way -- including the Upper and Lower Falls.

We took a hike down to the brink of the lower falls. Ian absolutely LOVED riding in the hiking backpack we borrowed from some of Amy and Jason's friends. He sang songs most of the time he was in it!Then, we made our way to Old Faithful geyser right before dinner time. We met up with Kim's parents there.

We watched another geyser (Grand Geyser??) go off while we were waiting on Old Faithful.

And then we saw Old Faithful! Ian was very interested (at least the first 30 seconds). :)

After dinner at the Old Faithful Lodge, we saw some more sights of Yellowstone. (It was helpful it stayed light until 10:00 P.M.!!)

We saw some neat steaming springs of various colors.

Ian absolutely LOVED walking through the sulfur steam but kept asking, "What's that smell?" (see video for Ian's huge smile while walking through the steam)

It was also fun to see some of the bubbling "paint pots." (see video)

The next morning, we headed to Kalispell. We stopped for lunch in the college town of Missoula. After eating some yummy pitas, we headed to the carousel in downtown Missoula.

Ian chose the horse that he and Daddy rode on. We all chose horses along the outside edge so that we could grab rings from a dispenser while the carousel was in motion in an attempt to grab the coveted gold ring meaning a free ride. Ian kept saying, "More! More!" after the carousel ride ended.

Luckily, Uncle Jason got the gold ring and won a free ride for himself and Ian! What fun! (The rest of us were glad to not have to keep going in circles. We loved watching Uncle Jason and Ian from the side!)

By Wednesday at dinner time, we made it to Kalispell. In the next blog entry, we'll share some great pics of the rehearsal and the wedding, including Ian's moments of fame as a ring bearer. Stay tuned! :)