December 2010 - Blacktail Mtn

This was our first family ski trip of the season, just a couple of days after Christmas. Somehow I didn't manage to get any outside pictures.

Christmas 2010

One of our most pathetic looking trees to date. But he served us well.

Squirt looooves Christmas. He loves to attack the glass ball ornaments on the tree and watch them break on the floor. And of course he loves the wrapping paper mess.


What more could a girl ask for than an air compressor, nailer and a Kindle? Life is good. (Maybe next year I'll ask for some non-'white trash' pajamas)

Nap time.

Sledding at Grandma Lola's until dark...

Then back home to play. Andrew didn't last longer.

The end.

Christmas Eve 2010

We were milling around the house on the morning of Christmas eve not really doing anything. Tim was in the office tying flies or something and Andrew and I were out in the living room. Andrew plunked down in front of the tv bored out of his mind. I told him if we were going to have the tv on on Christmas eve to at least find something 'Christmasy'. As he was flipping through the channels at man-speed, I caught a quick glimpse of The Nutcracker and told him to go back.

For the most part, I actually hate the Nutcracker...having danced in it myself more times than I care to remember...the music kind of grates on my nerves.

Anyway, Andrew verrryy reluctantly changed the channel back to the ballet.

It was the Sugar Plum pas de deux.

Seeing a guy in tights is no big deal to me at all. I grew up with men in tights. A guy in jeans, a guy in sweatpants, a guy in tights...it's all the same to me.

But something about this particular Sugar Plum Cavalier was more than a little eye popping. Lets just say he was very genetically blessed.

I just sat there watching the tv trying to concentrate on the dancing. Then I peeked over at Andrew. He was literally frozen in his chair, staring at the television with a look of pure disgust, confusion and dismay on his face. I was hoping it was just because of the simple fact that I was making him watch ballet and not for the other reason mentioned above. But no...

Without taking his eyes off the tv, Andrew scrunched up his face even further than it already had been and said in the most horrified voice,

"Did that guy stuff something down his pants?"

Ahhh, priceless.

Thanksgiving 2010

We spent our Thanksgiving with my sister and her family in Plains this year. Nothing much to report other than the usual...like too much food and that kind of boring stuff. We always have fun going over to visit them. They have seven kids so it's a lot like going to the circus.

We spent a good part of the day sledding down their road. In need of more sleds, Tim and Sam looked around and realized the kids' plastic fort had some panels that would work perfectly, so apart came the fort. Boy Scouts sure paid off for those two.



Go Lilly!

Halloween 2010

Andrew absolutely loves Halloween. It comes a very close second only to Christmas in his list of favorite days of the year. This year he found a great costume...so perfect for his personality.

It dawned on me one morning before school that his costume might not be entirely appropriate for the school Halloween party the following day. You never know who you're going to offend these days. So, as I was scooting him out the door for school, I told him to explain it to his teacher and make sure it would be alright to wear.

When he got home later that day, he was really excited because apparently she said;

"Yeah, I don't see a problem with it...let's just hope you don't make any noise when you sit down."

What a great answer.

So, the next day...


We tried stuffing it with balloons for the church party. It was a little awkward.

Unfortunately, Andrew got sick the night before Halloween. He did the rain bird sprinkler style vomit all over the bathroom in the middle of the night - partly my fault, trying to make him turn around off the toilet. Anyway, he tried trick or treating with his best friend Ben but only lasted about 5 minutes and came back home. (I have NO idea what Ben's costume is supposed to mean by the way).

Birthday Girl - October 7, 2010

So, I'm getting pretty old these days. The big 3-4. Eek. I'm not sure why I'm even doing a birthday post because it's been so long ago I don't remember anything about it. I think the three of us went to dinner and came home and had cheesecake. Pretty exciting. We're livin' it up these days. But honestly, that's all I care about. Get me my cheesecake and I'm a happy camper.

Andrew helping me sing 'Happy Birthday'

Garden 2010

I love having a garden. We got tons of the yummiest tomatoes last fall, along with a few other things, but home grown tomatoes are my favorite.

I even grew some boy ones...silly me, I didn't know you could do that.

Squirt's Chair

And my personal favorite...it doesn't look very comfy but he sat in this weird position for a really long time without moving a muscle.

In hind-site, I'm thinking he was probably stuck.

Flathead Lake - August 2010

We had such a cold, wet summer that we really didn't get up to the lake nearly as much as we normally do. I think if you added up all the sunny, warm days, we maybe had a total of 3 weeks of summer weather. So sad. But now that we are in the dead of winter, I would do just about anything to be in the middle of a cold, wet summer right about now. These pictures make me miss the water something fierce! Seriously, who needs some big, schmancy, expensive, exotic vacation spot when you have this at your fingertips...or toetips?

Wow, sometimes these old farts look like they actually do like each other ;)

Kelsey and gramps...

Andrew

Madyson

Andrew and cousins Bailey and Maddy

Bayzilla blowing bubbles with nothing but dish soap and her hands. Quite the master.

Pretty 'Maddy Patty Duke'

Bailey

Andrew LOVES to snorkel

Smokin' hot Grandma Sue

And a smokin' hot Grandma Sue skiing

Ringing Rocks - Aug. 2010

On our way home from the caverns, we stopped at the ringing rocks...one of just a couple of places in the country where the rocks do this. It was pretty interesting. Some of the rocks don't have the bell sound at all and the rocks that do are all a little different tone. It was pretty cool for a while but I got bored a lot quicker than the boys and really had to pee. Anyway...

L & C Caverns trip part 2

Just some more random pictures of our little trip.


We headed back to our cabin and had some lunch and then packed up.

Naturally Tim was itching to fish the Jefferson, so on our way out, we stopped along the river for a little bit.

Andrew played with an orange he found floating in the river.

I don't think Tim ever figured out what they were biting.


Next stop, Ringing Rocks...

Lewis & Clark Caverns - Aug. 2010 (part 1)

Tim and I realized that although we've both lived in Montana our entire lives, neither of us had ever been to the Lewis and Clark Caverns. It's vaguely familiar that maybe my parents took me and my siblings there years ago but who knows. So anyway, I got online to look things over, decided to rent one of their little cabins, threw some things in the van and off we went. Yippee!

We got in later than planned and I was very glad to not have to set up a tent in the dark and the rain. Even Tim, uber-outdoorsman that he is, was perfectly happy to just walk into a cabin and turn the heater on. Man we're getting old and lazy.

We brought our things in, made some hot cocoa and got ready for bed. The MOST uncomfortable beds on the planet! Yeah, we're getting old. Andrew spent most of the time up in the beams.

The next morning we got up and did a little hike around in the hills, then went back because it was so flippin' cold and wet. Then we headed up the mountain for the cave tour. The nice thing about the crappy weather and going on a weekday, was that our tour group was tiny...us and like 5 other people.

As we got closer to the top, with the fog and the stone steps, it felt a little like we were headed into Mordor.




At the entrance...

And inside...
Our tour guide was a bat nut. She gave us a big lecture on not disturbing any bats we saw, and then once inside she kept stopping us and pointing out every freakin' bat she could find and making us stop to look at them. Seriously, one bat looks just like the next. She got a little mad with us with the first bat she found because we bypassed it without noticing it, so she whistled and called every one back to admire the thing. Freako'...





To be continued...