May adventures

 After the Hiawatha bike trip last year, we decided we needed to save some money for better bikes.  We found out that there is a bike swap in Bozeman every year and we decided to go.  However, we were told the wrong weekend.  But, that didn't stop us!  We still found used bikes at great deals and are loving the new rides.  We even got a no-peddle bike for Aleck.  So we also decided to go enjoy the Museum of the Rockies.  It is always a fun place to visit.

 

 

 Here we are in the planetarium. It was about space and it kept both kids' interests.

 

 They also had a fun dinosaur display.  Aleck was in heaven.

 

 One day I found them outside like this.

 

This is Whiskers.  She found us in February or March and quickly took over the other cats' territory.  She was more tame with the kids and let them pet her often.  She was a good cat.  I had noticed she seemed to be filling out in the belly section and wondered when she would deliver.  We were leaving to go somewhere on a Friday morning and she was laying down on her pillow in the garage and wouldn't get up.  I had wondered if this was the day.  We came home 4 hours later and I found her in the litter box with 2 kittens.  David was not happy at this point.  But the kids and I were happy to be watching this little miracle.  She ended up with 4 completely black kittens. A few days went by and she was still in the litter box.  I had to physically move them into a box a couple times because she kept moving them back.  Anyway, we had a fun, eventful  6 weeks with them before we gave them away.  Now Whiskers has a new home at the farm.  We love to spoil her when we go visit. (as of yesterday, 9.3.16 she just had another litter but couldn't tell how many since they were under the hay bales)

 The weekend of Mother's Day, we traveled to Missoula to see Brian and Jessica's new house.  We also went to participate in our first 5k event. 

 Maci walked most of the way, Aleck rode almost all of the way.  The four of us as a family ran the last bit to the finish line.  We did it all in just under an hour.  It was a lot of fun. Maci's favorite part was getting water along the trail.  It might even be our new tradition.

Easter

The nearest McDonald's is 70 miles away.  Maci and I are the only two in the house that like mint flavored things.  We just happened to be traveling on St Patrick's Day so I convinced the driver to let us stop and get a Shamrock Shake.  Maci loved hers, me, hmmm, not so much.  I haven't had one in years..... maybe my taste buds have changed, who knows.

 

 Just a little fun in Walmart

 One day the kids and I were shopping at the store.  Go ahead, look closer... the little man is sleeping!  LOL!  He fell asleep like that, his head tucked down toward Maci's hip.  Hey, at least it was a quiet shopping trip so I didn't complain.

 Easter time is always fun with dying Easter Eggs.  We found a glitter kit that was pretty amazing.  The kids had a great time and only cracked a couple of them.

 They both enjoyed finding the hidden eggs Easter morning.  Such excitement!  The Easter bunny left them some candy, umbrellas, kites, and a bug catching kit.  We had to pry the vest off of Aleck before church.

 

 

 

Breakfast of champions right here.  This is the one day a year they can eat chocolate for breakfast.

Mom's birthday weekend

When March comes around, we start to get a little stir crazy from the long winter.  So for my birthday, we decided to head to Rapid City for the weekend.  There is a hotel down there that has an indoor water park.  It turned out to be a fabulously fun, desperately needed, weekend. David took us to these dinosaurs on the hill that he hadn't been to since he was a kid.  These dinosaurs were 80 years old and a lot of fun to climb on, plus a ton of steps up the hill. 

We also drove past Mt Rushmore.  Aleck was asleep so he got to see it on our way back.  Our goal for that day was to find our way through the Needles Highway.  We had never been and had heard great things about it. 

We were so happy to have found this treasure!!!  We went through 3 different tunnels like this. The rock formations were beautiful and fun to climb upon.

This tunnel was BARELY wide enough for our Pilot to fit through

We even had a few turkeys cross our path.

Shortly after this picture, Aleck slipped on the ice and fell down hard.  Poor guy!

Then, on our way home we were excited to stop by this lovely, amazing place.  I haven't been here since I was a kid and David had never been.  What a fun place!  This is Devil's Tower in case you didn't know. 

There were even 6 people climbing it.  Very impressive!

We were just going to take the short path but ended up going all the way around.  We saw a lot of squirrels and heard woodpeckers.  Plus, the kids had fun collecting their own treasures.

Gotta love this picture posing girl!

Since visiting here, it made me want to watch Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Come to find out, David had never watched it!!!  Unbelievable! So, we did.  I think the movie did well back in the 80's, definitely not an Interstellar.