Sittin' on the dock of Monterey

I'm still not done with Christmas vacation. Whatev.  I'm cool with it.

So, a few days after we went to SanFran, Mike decided he couldn't live without a trip to Monterey Bay. It is super beautimous and I have never been before so we packed up the car and scurried out west to the edge of America again.

We started off with a little stop at Casa de Fruita.  The coolest little fruit stand/store/park thing in Cali.  Well, that I know of...

Upon arriving in Monterey we hit up Dennis the Menace park, which lemmetellya- is huge and fun! We filled our tummies with peanut butter and jelly and sand and let the kiddos run wild.  It was kinda epic.



uuuuhhhh- cutest girl ever?  yup. 



He never stops moving

Then it was OFF TO THE BAY!  We walked around the pier by the hugest aquarium ever and had a grand old time.  I'm planning a stupendous day long trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium the next time we are in Cali, but this trip we just breathed the salty sea air and enjoyed each other's company. 



My child and her weird faces. Oh, dear. 

                                               

Attempting a family pic.... didn't work out so well...

At sunset we drove around the coast to take pictures, and then went to dinner and had yummy fish.  Well, Mike did anyway.  I don't really like fish unless they're battered and deep fried and served with a healthy portion of fries and tartar sauce.  And at that point does it even qualify as fish anymore?  It was OOOOOH so tasty, though!

The thing I loved most about Monterey was seeing my husband there.   That man is just so at peace on the California coast.  Yes, we were crazy with our 2 kids, and Mike's siblings, and everything else, but it was worth it.  For some reason, the ocean calms and excites him at the same time.  I think it makes him feel alive, and when we truly feel alive our spirit is calm and we are at peace.  Same goes for me and my Montana mountains.  It's in the blood somehow.  And that is a great thing.   

I Left My Heart.......

A few days after Christmas, Mike's parents took us all to San Francisco.  Oh, my.  San Fran is so lovely and we had a wonderful wonderful day.   There is something that completely enthralls me about big cities!  Places like New York, Seattle, Chicago and San Fran have always fascinated me, even thought I'm a small town gal at heart. 

 

 SO anyway, San Francisco is one of the most beautiful, cultural, and fun places to visit! We started off the day with a tour of Alcatraz. I'm a history lover, so this was SO STINKIN' COOL. What was so amazing about it was that after the prison was shut down, everything was just left there. Nothing really changed. It's not like its all been "restored" to the way it was back then or anything, it just is. I loved every minute of it. And my kids were crazy (as per usual).  

 

These two girlies.  I tell ya- they were so funny together.
This pic is from the boat ride over to Alcatraz

 

The "1866" is from when the island was a fort back during the civil war era.
Stuff like this makes me giddy. (I'm a nerd! I know!)

The whole gang (minus Laura- who was sick.  Boo!)

Rachel's too sexy for her own good

I know this photo is silly, but Nolan had so much
 fun teasing his Grandpa Vincent.  He kept saying
 " I will 'neak up on Gampa, Mom!" 
This is why we visit California even if it takes a 24 hour drive to get there. 
Love, memories, and time with the Vincents. 

 

Looking at SanFran from Alcatraz

Nolan sure loves his Uncle Eric.  They're both goofballs!

I love my boys.

So, pretty much my camera batteries crapped out right after I took this picture.  BOOOOOOOOOO.  I have no pictures of our clam chowder bread bowls.  I have none of Ghirradelli square.  I have none of me whining and crying because my sciatic nerve hurt..... oh, wait.... you probably don't want those.  But anywhoo, the day was filled with family and good memories. 

 

August (also in November- but at least it's not December yet!! Go me!!)

Here's what we did in August: 

 

My extended family had a reunion!  Wooooooooot!  SO, I packed the two kiddos up and set off for the great beyond.  Well, Helena.  But that's pretty much the great beyond.  Because anything beyond the borders of this tiny town is pretty much great.  Well, once you get to Billings. Before then it's just bluffs and farms and stinky cows.

 AAAAnywhoo- my brother Jeff came up from Utah with his family and my brother Russ and his fam came down from Great Falls, MT and it was a fabulous time!!  I got to see my darling sister Janet (and fam) and brother Kenny (and fam) who both live in town.  We missed Ryan, but I get to see him in a few weeks at Christmas!!

Back to August, though:

 

Nolan and Stephen (Jeff's kiddo).  Nolan let me know
 "We's just fwowing wocks, Mom!"

Nolan is super tall and Stephen is a tiny bit on the short side for his age.
I think at first Stephen thought Nolan was a fun playmate, but then the 2 year
 old-ness of Nolan showed up with the hitting and pushing, and 3 1/2 year old Stephen
got a leeeeeeetle tired of it.  It's ok, though- in a few years they'll be great pals.

 

During the Saturday reunion, there was some down time and my SWEET cousin Beth and her two fun kiddos were there, so we headed on over to the carousel.

Nolan and Jasper- just holding hands.  'Cause that's what cousins do. 

Beth and her adorable girlie-q

Beth totally got the golden ring!  Free ride on the carousel!

All the chickletts



Outside on the playground... or art sculpture? 
We weren't sure, so they got to climb on it :) 

We had a fun backyard splash party at my parents house later in the weekend.  SOOOO many cute cousins!

 

Stevie TOTALLY cracked me up!  He decided he was too cool
for swim trunks, so lightning mcqueen underwear
 was the next logical option.  SO FUNNY.

PS- how beautiful is my oldest?  HOLY COW. 





 

 



JAMIE!!  He is the cutest 'lil thing ever. 



While I was home, I got to go to the cemetery where my sweet aunt Vonnie was laid to rest right after her headstone was placed.  It is beautiful and I miss her.
 

One afternoon we all went to Lockey park and hung out! 



Mike REALLY wants her to be a climber when she gets older :)

These are Janets kiddos, Jeffs, Russells, and mine 
(well, most of 'em anyway).
 

The rest of August was great, but fairly uneventful.  I did get called to be the new Sunday School teacher at Church, so that threw a wrench into my plans to coast along unnoticed.  It's been good though- it forces me out of my comfort zone every week, so that's a good thing. 

AND, once again, if you made it through that mother of a picture heavy post- props to you!  September is coming soon!  Stay tuned.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July (in November...)

I'm still behind.  Although, I just looked back and realized that I stopped keeping up with my blog around the same time I started working a new job of a few graveyard shifts per week.  Correlation?  I think yes! Thankfully, (blessedly, wonderfully) I am done with graveyards and I'll now just be picking up a few day shifts here and there when they need me. 

 

Which means it's time to catch up and write all the fun things that have been happening in my little family. 

 

 

SO- Here's our life in July!!

 

July 4th was really low key this year.  I worked the graveyard shift from 11pm on the 3rd to 7am on the 4th, so low key was all I was up for :)

We went to the little lake here with our good friends and their little girlies.  Then we came home and ate sandwiches.  Delish.

Nolan the swimmer-man

Aaaand, he loves to terrorize the ladies.

Cutie pie Addy.

Smoke-stacks in the background

 

Later on in the month THE GRANDPARENTS AND UNCLES CAME TO VISIT!!!!

Does it get any better?  We were pretty excited to have them, since we don't get a whole bunch of visitors stopping through our bustling metropolis of Colstrip. 

 

We spent one afternoon at the Lake:

Uncle Eric and my lil Nolan

Grandma Bamma!

 

 

A teenager drove through our fence at the house we own in Billings,
 so Mike and his brothers went in and fixed it while they were here. 
We were SO grateful for their help!

 

Then, we took a trip to South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore!  The whole time CJ called it "Mountain Rushmore."  It was a BLAST and a half.

 

Is there anything better than hand in hand with Grandma?

I forgot my camera at home, so you all have to suffer through bad cell phone pictures :)

CJ is SO happy when Uncle Eric is around.

The crazies.

SEAN!!  Whom I like to call "Little Sean" just like "Little John"
 (Robin Hood's sidekick).  Except Sean is my sidekick?

The Father in Law (and honest Abe in the background)

Love me some crazy. 

 

 

Nolan got a lil tuckered out and needed a rest by Grandpa



Cj in the "flag walkway" thing.  All the state flags are
there at the entrance to Mt Rushmore.

We also took a detour (20 minutes) to Rapid City, SD.  And, while I've never thought much about South Dakota, I must say: this place has lots of awesomeness.  AND lots of FREE awesomeness. 

Dinosaur park is a bunch of concrete (life size-ish) statues of dinosaurs.
The kids can climb all over and run around and its awesome.

T REX. ROAR! (were you scared?!?)



Uncle Eric trying to keep them both in the same spot long enough for the picture...
 

We also stopped by a place called Storybook Island there in Rapid City.  Also free! WooHoo!!  It is the coolest/most random little place ever.  There are a bunch of little...... displays?  I don't even know how to describe it.  There's every kids character you could ever think of set up for kids to walk through and climb on and explore.  It's just cool.  It was raining cats and dogs on the afternoon we decided to visit, but it was a warm rain- so we just went with it!  It was almost empty and the kids had so much fun. 

PeterPeter Pumpkin Eater's house

Lucky the Leprechaun?  I told you it was random!

Snow White and the Dwarfs' house.

Readin' with the Cat in the Hat

"Ariel!  How you doin' kid?"

Lovely.

They also had a cute little train for the kiddos.  So fun.

He's 2.  I'm scared for 16 a little bit.

On our way home, we went the back way and stopped by The Crazy Horse Memorial (overpriced.... and not as cool as I had hoped.....)  as well as Devil's Tower.  Which I had never heard of, but apparently it was filmed in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."  It was in the middle of nowhere.  Really.  Nowhere.  I'm surprised we got out alive. 

Behind us is the mountain that will eventually become like the statue below. 
In like, 50 years or something.  I'm not kidding- that's how long the people
who are carving it think it will take. 

 

 

 

This is Devil's tower in all it's awesomeness.

 

And, any of you who know Michael's grandfather will love this next picture.  It was this random wood carving in a museum at the Crazy Horse memorial.  But it looks EXACTLY like Mike's grandpa Speed to me. It's like he drove to SD and posed for it or something.  Ok, maybe not.  But it looks a lot like him!

Speed in his role as "Hamlet"
ok, ok - just kidding

 

 

Whew.  Are you still with me?  Kudos to you if you got through that mother of a post.  Stay tuned for August- hopefully within the next few days?  We'll see if I'm that motivated!