Trip to West Yellowstone

As far as vacations this summer, we kept it pretty simple by only going on one inexpensive trip to Nate's parents' and the cabin. Felicity still proves to be a terrible sleeper away from home making vacations not very restful, and we didn't want to spend much money this summer due to the arrival of our baby boy this fall.

We left for West Yellowstone on Tuesday the 23rd and headed straight to the cabin for an afternoon of playing on the beach and in the lake as well as visiting with my extended family. The weather was plenty warm (a little too warm for me but cooler than home), and we enjoyed our afternoon there before heading over to Nate's parents' house on the other side of the lake.

Bridget and Felicity enjoying the lake with second cousins Jackson and Abbie.

On Wednesday, we headed back over to the cabin for another day with my family and some more playing in the lake.

Playing on the beach with my cousin Steve's kids (Ashley, Madison, and Tyler) and my cousin Lori's daughter, Gwen.

Wednesday night, Bridget and I went on a mommy daughter date to the Playmill Theatre in town. I have many fond memories of trips to the Playmill during my childhood and youth and was excited to be able to share it with her. We went to Beauty and the Beast, and she loved it! In fact, as we walked out and drove back to Scott and Alice's house, she kept saying over and over, "That was so great!" It was the first play/musical she's ever been too, and I look forward to many more trips to the Playmill with her in the future.

The rest of our trip was spent at Nate's parents' or in town for what was supposed to be a family reunion with his siblings and their families. It ended up just being us and his brother Matt's family. Bridget and Felicity had a blast over the next few days playing with their cousins Tanner and Jackson, and Grandpa kept busy keeping them all entertained.

Here's a few pictures documenting the rest of our trip:

The girls loved getting their picture taken with as many of the animal sculptures as possible located around town.

More animal sculptures

One of our usual outing is a trip to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. We only spent about an hour there because the weather had turned a little chilly that day plus they've been there a few times before. I think they spent as much time playing on the playground there as they did looking at the bears, wolves, and birds.

One of Scott's projects while we were there was putting together and fixing up a playhouse/swing set for the kids to enjoy.

We also played several rounds of horseshoes one evening.

And while we're enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery, we can't leave out doing a fire pit and making s'mores.

Grandpa and Uncle Matt also took the kids (minus Felicity) target shooting. I didn't know if Bridget  would be interested in actual shooting and thought she might just watch, but she surprised me. And when they got back she had a large bump on her forehead that Grandpa felt pretty bad about. He'd been helping her hold the gun and he let go for just a second in which time she shot the gun and it recoiled hitting her in the forehead. She's pretty tough though and wasn't bothered by it. Instead she kept telling the story over and over of how she "shot herself in the head."

 

Other than that, the kids played all sorts of things outside, followed Grandpa around, and went for several RZR rides. Hopefully we'll have a better turnout for the next "reunion."

4th of July

When it comes to holidays, two things stand out for me as far as making them special - family and food. Most of the day we spent together as just our little family of four, and overall we had a great holiday.

We started off the day with a festive breakfast - pancakes with fat free vanilla yogurt topped with blueberries and strawberries. Yum!

That afternoon, I had to make dessert to take to the family BBQ we were going to later. Being the cake lover that I am, I opted to go with a beautiful and delicious bundt cake and then made some homemade ice cream to go with it. Sadly, I didn't take a picture once we cut into it, but it was red, white, and blue on the inside as well.

While I was busy slaving away inside, Nate took the girls outside to enjoy the new pool we got. They love the water, and had a blast.

That evening we headed over to my Aunt Jennine's for a BBQ with several members of my extended family. We had a great time visiting, eating, and ended the evening with fireworks.