I love my family!!!

Apgar's 50th

This July marks the 50th year that Brett's family has vacationed in Glacier National Park at the Apgar camp grounds. We hadn't made it to Apgar during the family reunion since the summer after we were first married. Ellie had her first experience with staying in a tent with Dad. Adelaide and I roughed it out at the house in Columbia Falls ;)  (we did stay at the camp grounds for a couple of nights in the trailer but opted out of staying the whole week, instead we just drove in and out of the park each day). 

We ate lots of huckleberry ice cream from Eddie's, rode our bike's to West Glacier, rode the hot dog tube, kayaked, and relaxed on the beach at Lake McDonald for hours on end. We also decided to float the river in a big group (about 15 kayaks) and as I maneuvered over a beaver dam, I managed to flip... good thing I was almost the only person NOT in my swim suit. Honestly, it was just funny and a bit embarrassing because almost everyone in Brett's family got to witness it ;)  I did get to see a beaver though so it was worth it! I think Jeff got some picture of me, I'll try to add them later.

Ellie convinced her cousins to play SO many games on hide & seek while we were visiting. She also loved having a new audience to show all her tricks and tell stories to.

All the cousins with their Great Grandpa & Grandma Shaw.

Our travels home started off so promising. Our flight was out of Missoula, MT and there happens to be a Cafe Rio only a few minutes from the airport. I've been missing and craving Cafe Rio for the past 3 years so I was VERY excited and it lived up and surpassed all my memories :) 

We had a close connection in Denver that we were a little worried about so we decided to check both our car seats rather than bring them to the gate. Our hands were full as it is... We made our connection just fine, especially because lightning delayed our plane by about an hour. We were originally supposed to arrive in Houston around midnight so we could already foresee this becoming a very late night. We finally arrive in Houston and we wait and wait and wait for the luggage. We brought 2 carry on bags, and our backpacks, so all we need are the car seats. Well, around 2 AM it's finally our turn to be helped and they say our car seats are in Salt Lake City with a different airline. Nobody knows why, but my 2 overly tired screaming children and myself are feeling a bit frustrated... thank you united airlines... thank you. They let us borrow a car seat for Adelaide but they don't have a car seat that fits Ellie... so we put Ellie in a booster (not safe at all and illegal but we're running out of options here) and go to walmart and buy Ellie a new carseat that the airline says they'll reimburse us for and we begin our drive to Temple. All in all, we pulled into our garage almost exactly at 6 AM and everyone is so beyond tired, just call us zombies :) 

*also, Remus pooped all over the office so our house smells like cat pee... we missed you too buddy...

**We really are glad to be back home though and after a good night's sleep I think we'll all be happy again :) :)

Oh Canada: It's been too long

We took a 2 week vacation to Canada & Montana to visit Brett's side of the family. We started out in Canada where Ellie FINALLY got to visit Grandma & Grandpa on the farm. (we'd been counting down the days)

Grandpa spoiled her a bit by letting her ride a horse, meet his cows, feed the fish, pet more than 20 kitties, chase chickens, and so much more. Ellie was truly in heaven because she is absolutely obsessed with animals right now.

We also took lots of rides on the golf cart and quad, went up to the ridge to admire the view, and had a day in the city (Lethbridge) to get our fix of pierogi pizza and shopping. Brett also took me on a date to the Cardston summer theater where we saw 'Into the Woods'. It was by far the best community theater I've ever seen; I loved it!!

We also squeezed in a trip to Waterton where we hiked Blakiston Falls and enjoyed some Weiners of Waterton :) 

Not pictured are the hords of Canadian chocolate bars we ate and brought home, but here is Ellie with her first Kinder surprise. (she didn't care about the chocolate) Also, poutine, I guess we really enjoy eating out hah