Bear Lake Triathlon & family vacation

Josh and Sarah signed up for the "Bear Lake Brawl" triathlon in September, so we decided to make a mini-vacation out of it and rent a cabin for the weekend to support them, and have fun! Chelsea and Madison joined us, so the girls were thrilled.

 

Sarah competed in the Sprint course, and Josh did the Olympic course. They both did very well. Josh had a personal best time, and finished 5th in his age group. Sarah did awesome and finished 1st in her age group..and this was her first open-water swim.

Josh & Sarah went for a warm-up swim the day before, and it was pretty choppy!

 

It was a gorgeous on race day, so we got all the girls out to the park to cheer on the runners as they finished.

 

 Done! Now time to go get some food...and Raspberry Shakes for dessert.

We couldn't leave Bear Lake without doing some boating! The water was too cold for me, so we just did some "safe" tubing with the girls.

 It was a fun weekend with cousin Madison. The big girls had so much fun together.

 

 And Hadley, as always, was a perfectly content lil' baby.

 

Happy 3rd Birthday Scarlett!

Scarlett turned 3 on September 15th, and we had a full day of celebrations for her!

First, I got to volunteer at her preschool, which was a real treat because we got to do crafts and games together, and play together at the playground! Then we had special princess cupcakes after lunch.

 

 

 

After school, it was time to get ready for her party! Her friends from church are Kenna, Riley, Leah and Brittyn...but they all have big sisters that we're friends with too...so we invited them all for a splash party. We borrowed a friend's waterslide, set up our slip-n-slide tarp, and played some music to dance to.

Dad played babysitter and dj. Hadley enjoyed the festivities too!

 

 

 Cupcake time!

 

 

 We came inside to play musical squares, hit the piñata, have treats and open presents. It was full afternoon and Scarlett loved being the center of it all!

 

That evening we had our family party, and Scarlett opened special presents from her grandparents and her sisters. She was spoiled. I never feel bad for only getting one present per sibling, because her grandparents step in like its Christmas or something!

Happy Birthday my love! You deserve all the happiness that you have given me, and more!

First Day of School 2013

August 28, 2013

Lydia's first day of 2nd Grade, Arrowhead Elementary

Claire's first day of Kindergarten, Boulder Elementary

 

(I could get on my soapbox to complain about overcrowded schools and kids getting bussed to different schools for different grades...but alas...it turns out the kids don't really care)

Yes, my girls go to different schools. Arrowhead is our "neighborhood" school, but it's too crowded and so Kindergarteners and 6th graders get bussed to different schools. BUT at least they get to ride the bus together in the morning! I wish we could have made a bigger deal about the first day of school, but Josh travels every week and wasn't here to help see them off. So on the first day, Lydia just got on the bus on her own, and I drove Claire to her school and walked her to class. They were both excited about the first day, I never had to worry. I was a little concerned about Claire finding the right bus to ride home, so I came to pick her up after school. She was not happy - she was mad at me for not letting her ride the bus! Love my independent little girls!

 

September 4, 2013 - First Day at Mother's Day Out

Speaking of independent - Miss Scarlett also started school. She goes to Mother's Day Out at Grace United Methodist two times a week. It's one of the few programs in Billings that accepts 2 year olds. With a September birthday, Scarlett misses the school deadline and will actually have 3 years of preschool before she starts Kinder! Yikes!  But she is quite the entertainer around the house, so I'm happy to have more time with her.

Anyways, we were actually 30 minutes late on the first day because of a miscommunication, but when we rolled in Scarlett didn't miss a beat, and just went to play with her new friends. She is very excited to have a backpack and lunch bag like her sisters, and after school she now gets to be a part of the "show mommy what's in your backpack" routine with her sisters.

 

They are all growing up! But I am so happy with the lovely little girls they have grown to be.

Bighorn Canyon

Our last getaway before school started was a trip to the Yellowtail Reservoir in Bighorn Canyon. It's a true gem just a couple of hours south of Billings in the middle of the Crow Indian Reservation. The locals compare it to Lake Powell or the Grand Canyon, which seemed laughable, but when we got there we were in awe of this gorgeous canyon. Unfortunately my phone camera could not capture its real beauty, but man we had so much fun.

 

 

We rented a pontoon boat with our friends the Thomas's, who have two little girls that our girls just adore. We weren't allowed to tow any skiers or tubes because of the driftwood in the water, but we had fun just anchoring the boat in little coves and going for a swim. We also tried fishing, but with no luck.

 

 

 

Josh and Cameron did some cliff jumping, while the rest of us got our thrills just jumping off the back deck of the boat.

 

All the girls got a turn driving the boat. Not sure if that was legal, but the waters were pretty open, and the pontoon boat isn't too fast. Hadley was happy in her chair the whole day. She is such a content baby we often forget she's there!

 

 

It was a fun day, and we've checked off another item on our "Montana Bucket List." There's still so much to explore, but I imagine we'll be back to Bighorn every summer we are here :) 

 

Snapshots of Summer 2013

In May I panicked. I knew that in just a month I would have 4 girls at home for the summer, and no husband (he travels 4 days a week), in a new town where we weren't established with many close friends yet. I sat down with the local magazines and asked neighbors about things we could do in Billings this summer. It didn't disappoint. I put off blogging, working out, and other personal interests to give my summer to my girls. It was possibly the best. summer. ever.



We spent many days at the spraygrounds, wading pools, & swimming pools in Billings.



We rose early to jump on the trampoline nearly every day.

We did tennis camp

We visited all the parks for picnics and playdates

We played in panties

We took swimming lessons from our neighbor

We went on family hikes on the weekends

We visited Billings' waterpark

We enrolled in summer gymnastics

We shopped. A lot

We visited downtown festivals (like the Strawberry festival)

We visited the Billings Zoo (bears wrestling in the background!)

We went on bike/scooter/powerwheel rides through the neighborhood with friends

 

We visited the Montana Fair

We signed up for soccer camp

We used our firepit more, for hot dogs and smores in the evenings



And thank goodness for phones with cameras to capture these ordinary moments of our extraordinary summer.